Coding choices in argument structure: Austronesian applicatives in texts

The syntactic properties of applicatives have received a large amount of attention. Despite this there have been almost no attempts to explain the reasons behind the choice of an applicative coding of an argument when there is an grammatical oblique coding strategy available. This study focuses on dynamic applicative constructions in Tukang Besi, an Austronesian language of central Indonesia, and examines a large corpus for reasons why applicative coding is chosen over oblique coding. Factors such as semantic role information and animacy are as important as textual prominence in the coding decision.