View source for Reciprocal construction

{{Short description|Sentence with two or more simultaneous agents and patients}}
{{other uses|Reciprocal (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Grammatical categories}}
{{Transitivity and Valency}}

A '''reciprocal construction''' ([[list of glossing abbreviations|abbreviated]] '''{{sc|recp}}''') is a [[grammar|grammatical]] pattern in which each of the [[Thematic relation|participants]] occupies both the role of [[agent (grammar)|agent]] and [[patient (grammar)|patient]] with respect to the other. An example is the English sentence ''John and Mary criticized each other'': John criticized Mary, and Mary criticized John. Reciprocal constructions can be said to express mutual relationships.

Many languages, such as [[Semitic languages]], [[Altaic languages]] or [[Bantu languages]], have special reciprocal [[affix]]es in verbs. For example, [[Turkish language|Turkish]] reciprocal constructions which might also have slightly different meanings than the verbs they originate from, have the suffix {{lang|tr|-iş}} ({{lang|tr|-ış}}, {{lang|tr|-uş}} or {{lang|tr|-üş}} depending on the [[vowel harmony]]):

{| class="wikitable"
! infinitive form
! English
! reciprocal form
! English
|-
|{{lang|tr|tanımak}} || ''to know'' || {{lang|tr|tanışmak}} || ''to know each other''
|-
|{{lang|tr|sevmek}} || ''to love'' || {{lang|tr|sevişmek}} || ''to make love''
|-
|{{lang|tr|bulmak}} || ''to find'' || {{lang|tr|buluşmak}} || ''to meet each other''
|-
|{{lang|tr|öpmek}} || ''to kiss'' || {{lang|tr|öpüşmek}} || ''to kiss each other''
|-
|} 

Other languages, including English, use [[reciprocal pronoun]]s such as ''"each other"'' to indicate a mutual relation. Latin uses the preposition {{lang|la|inter}} and its [[reflexive pronoun]] {{lang|la|inter se}} (between themselves) when the verb is third person. Most [[Indo-European languages]] do not have special reciprocal affixes on verbs, and mutual relations are expressed through [[reflexive verb|reflexive constructions]] or other mechanisms.  For example, [[Russian language|Russian]] reciprocal constructions have the suffix {{lang|ru-latn|-sja}} ({{lang|ru|-ся|italic=no}}, 'self'), which also has reflexive and [[Passive voice|passive]] interpretations.

==See also==
*[[Reciprocal pronoun]]
*[[Reflexive verb]]

==External links==
* [[Martin Haspelmath|Haspelmath, Martin]]. 2007. [https://zenodo.org/record/1133872 Further remarks on reciprocal constructions]. In: Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. (ed.) Reciprocal constructions. 5 vols. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2087-2115.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reciprocal (Grammar)}}
[[Category:Transitivity and valency]]
[[Category:Semantics]]

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