Yakima Sahaptin Bipartite Verb Stems<superscript />

This paper investigates the Yakima Sahaptin bipartite construction and identifies the syntactic and semantic qualities of the morphemes that combine in these constructions. Four types of bipartite constructions in the language are identified and described: (1) change of state (COS): lexical prefix and COS stem; (2) caused motion: lexical prefix and locative/directive stem; (3) motion/location of an entity: lexical prefix and locative/directive stem; (4) manner of motion: lexical prefix and locative/directive stem. Additionally, less readily categorized outliers of bipartite constructions are discussed, including verbs with the causative prefixes shapa- and cha- and the formation of bipartite and tripartite stems based on the roots wii- ‘go, go with speed’ and wya- ‘while going’.