Ebook: Unmarked transitive verbs in Melanesian Pidgin

In: Kenneth A. McElhanon and Ger Reesink, A Mosaic of languages and cultures: studies celebrating the career of Karl J. Franklin, 227-
245. SIL e-Books, 19.Dallas: SIL InternationalAlthough all four major varieties of Melanesian Pidgin mark transitivity by a verbal suffix
of the form -Vm , there is a small group of verbs in each of them which are unmarked
when used transitively—more in Bislama and Broken than in Tok Pisin and Pijin. I will
show that there are different kinds of explanations for different cases of zero-marking
involving the origin, function, or form of the verb.