Disentangling a versatile prefix: the nature and development of a polysemous marker in Arawak languages

Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (2018) Disentangling a versatile prefix: the nature and development of a polysemous marker in Arawak languages. International Journal of American Linguistics, 84 (1).

[img] PDF (Published version) - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

View at Publisher Website: https://doi.org/10.1086/694608
 
5
5


Abstract

A number of the world's languages have a special morpheme marking a generic human participant or possessor, roughly translatable as 'one', or 'someone'. In the course of language history, a generic marker may undergo semantic change and take on further functins - those of (a) a first person inclusive, (b) a marker of possessor coreferential with the subject of a clause, or (c) just a third person. The versatile prefix *pa- attested in a number of Arawak languages of South America offers new insights into clusters of function involving a "generic person." The prefix is a feature of a variety of languages in the Upper Rio Negro region and a few other Arawak languages spoken north of the Amazon, in addition to a few south of the Amazon. We discuss the meanings of the prefix in individual languages and present a scenario of its historical development.

Item ID: 51503
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1545-7001
Keywords: Arawak languages, person marking, impersonal marking, prefixes, coreferential possessor, reciprocal, inclusive, Amazonian
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2017 03:01
FoR Codes: 47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4704 Linguistics > 470409 Linguistic structures (incl. phonology, morphology and syntax) @ 100%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970120 Expanding Knowledge in Language, Communication and Culture @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 5
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page