Datapoint Mauritian Creole/Reflexive constructions

In reflexive situations with coreference of agent and patient, three expression types exist (Value 1, 4, 5). Note that in contrast to Seychelles Creole the use of so lekor in Mauritian is today limited to physical contexts that lend themselves to a literal interpretation of "body" as direct object. Grooming verbs (to wash etc.) are typically unmarked (for an interpretation see Kriegel 2000).

Baker believes that examples with the relevant body part named are far more frequent than examples without, e.g. peny so seve 'comb his/her hair', lav so lame 'wash his/her hands', bros so ledan 'brush his/her teeth'.

Values

Compound reflexive pronoun with emphasizer Frequency: 77.8%

Example 55-159:
li swany li-mem
li
3sg
swany
look.after
li-mem
3sg-emph
He takes care of himself. OR: He looks after himself.
Example 55-162:
li fin paṅdi li-mem
li
3sg
fin
compl
paṅdi
hang
li-mem
3sg-emph
He hung himself.
French: Il s'est pendu.

Source: Corne 1988: 78

Confidence:
Very certain

Ordinary anaphoric pronoun Frequency: 11.1%

Example 55-161:
li fin paṅdi li
li
3sg
fin
compl
paṅdi
hang
li
3sg
He hung him(self).

Source: Corne 1988: 72

Confidence:
Certain

Reflexive pronoun with ‘body’ or body-part Frequency: 11.1%

Example 55-158:
Jamamuv ti tuy so lekor
Jamamuv
Jamamuv
ti
pst
tuy
kill
so
3sg.poss
lekor
body
Jamamuv committed suicide.
Example 55-160:
li fin paṅdi so lekor
li
3sg
fin
compl
paṅdi
hang
so
poss
lekor
body
He hung himself.
French: Il s'est pendu.

Source: Carden and Stewart 1989

Confidence:
Very certain