Applicativelike

Applicativelike refers to a class of constructions in natural language that resemble applicatives in their effect on the valency of a verb, but do not necessarily meet formal criteria for a language’s canonical applicative construction. In applicativelike structures, a semantic role such as beneficiary, instrument, or goal is expressed by modifying the argument structure or by using a morphosyntactic device that introduces or highlights an extra participant in a way that mimics the applicative’s function, without producing a standard applicative alignment across the language.

Syntactic realization can vary: some languages employ a dedicated applicative affix or clitic attached to the verb; others rely on periphrastic means such as results with a prepositional phrase, a serial verb construction, or a composite predicate. The effect, semantically, is usually to reassign prominence to a secondary argument and to adjust the transitivity pattern, sometimes by promoting an oblique object to a direct object-like position or by encoding a beneficiary/instrument directly on the verb.

Typical applicativelike functions include benefactive (for someone), instrumental (with an instrument), and goal or locative roles. These constructions are of interest in typology because they reveal how languages vary in how they encode relational roles within predicates, and they are used in comparative work to distinguish genuine applicative systems from convergent devices that produce similar meanings.

In relation to true applicatives, applicativelike constructions may lack a unified, language-internal morphology or a dedicated applicative paradigm; they may also interact with other valency-changing processes in diverse ways. The term is primarily a descriptive label used in cross-linguistic discussion and research.