Body-parts and possessive constructions in Mataguayan languages

This paper argues for the existence of an early possessive classifier *t(V)- that may have distinguished body-parts from the rest of the inalienable nouns in the Mataguayan language family. Evidence of this is the documentation of a t(V)-form or a t(V)-form series in the possessive flexional paradigms in this family. In most cases, it is synchronically reanalysed as a possessive prefix fused to the pronominal possessive prefixes, while in others, *t(V)- seems to have been fused to the root. This suggests that, in Proto-Mataguayan, there may have been only one pronominal series indexing possessor, and that *t(V)- was related to the meaning of the root. We also posit there is a relationship with a formally similar verbal prefix, which classifies agentive intransitive roots, and a presumable semantic extension of *t(V)- from body-part nouns to agency in intransitive predicates.Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociale

Del 'Kaschibo' de Tessmann al cashibo-cacataibo contemporáneo: algunas notas para la comprensión de la historia lingüística de un pueblo pano

En su clásico volumen de 1930, Günter Tessmann ofrece una lista léxica del idioma <Kaschibo>, que corresponde a la lengua que actualmente se conoce, entre otras denominaciones, como cashibo-cacataibo. La lista de Tessmann ofrece 31 palabras en los tres dialectos <Kaschibo> que el autor identifica más 81 entradas con información solo sobre uno de ellos: <Kaschinõ>). En el presente artículo ofrecemos un estudio comparativo de los materiales de Tessmann a partir de datos contemporáneos sobre los distintos dialectos de cashibo-cacataibo (Zariquiey 2011b). La comparación nos enfrentará a problemas de interpretación sumamente interesantes y, a la vez, nos permitirá descubrir algunos cambios fonéticos y fonológicos relevantes para la comprensión de la diacronía de esta lengua pano

Switch-reference and case-marking in Aguaruna (Jivaroan) and beyond

The paper describes the switch-reference system of Aguaruna, a Jivaroan language spoken in north Peru. This language has two formally distinct subsystems, one marking canonical same/different subject, the other marking coreference relations involving both subjects and non-subjects. Historical evidence is presented to show that the development of these two systems involved oblique (locative) and core (nominative and accusative) case marking respectively, and cross-linguistic parallels involving the grammaticalization of case markers into switch-reference are discussed

Typology of Pluractional Constructions in the Languages of the World

The aim of this book is to give the first large-scale typological investigation of pluractionality in the languages of the world. Pluractionality is defined as the morphological modification of the verb to express a plurality of situations that can additionally involve a plurality of participants and/or spaces. Based on a 246-language sample, the main characteristics of pluractionality are described and discussed throughout the book. Firstly, a description of the functions that pluractional markers cross-linguistically express is presented and the relationships occurring among them are explained through the semantic map model. Then, the marking strategies that languages display to express such functions are illustrated and some issues concerning the formal identification are briefly discussed as well. The typological generalizations are corroborated showing how pluractional markers work in three specific languages (Akawaio, Beja, Maa). In conclusion, the theoretical conceptualization of pluractionality is discussed referring to the Radical Construction Grammar approach