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In:Body Part Terms in Conceptualization and Language Usage
Edited by Iwona Kraska-Szlenk
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 12] 2020
► pp. 169–192

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Multifaceted body parts in Murui

A case study from Northwest Amazonia

 | James Cook University, Australia
Published online: 23 March 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.12.c08woj
Abstract
Based on the firsthand data from Murui, a Witotoan language spoken in the Northwest Amazon, the study demonstrates how the body part terms ‘back’, ‘face’, ‘mouth, and ‘body’ grammaticalized into the domains covering spatial orientation, time, comparison, counting, and the reflexive. Murui body part nouns did not grammaticalize in isolation; to become grammatical markers, they were obligatorily followed by case marking. This allowed those nouns to preserve the original semantics of the case suffixes, and then to extend their semantics into other domains. For instance, the noun ‘back, spine’, followed by the locative, became a postposition meaning ‘above, on top’, and later also ‘over’, a marker used in comparative constructions and counting. In the contexts in which this process took place, ‘back’ lost its semantic content and many of its original morphosyntactic characteristics.
Article outline
  • 1.Typological profile of Murui
  • 2.Murui body part terms and grammaticalization
    • 2.1The domain of spatial orientation and time
    • 2.2The domain of comparison
    • 2.3The domain of counting
    • 2.4The domain of ‘self’
    • 3.Summary
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (26)
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Bowers, Jack
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Coler, Matt, Bertie Kaal & Edwin Banegas-Flores
2022. The use ofnayra‘eye’ in Muylaq’ Aymara. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 79 ff. DOI logo
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Danielsen, Swintha & Lena Terhart
2022. Body-part terms in Baure and Paunaka. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 238 ff. DOI logo
Facundes, Sidi, Marília Freitas & Bruna Fernanda Lima-Padovani
2022. The grammar of body parts in Apurinã. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 269 ff. DOI logo
Fleck, David W.
2022. Vestiges of body-part prefixation in Marubo. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 401 ff. DOI logo
Hasler, Felipe, Mariana Poblete, Consuelo Sandoval, Felipe Neira, Daniela Aristegui & Ricardo Pineda
2022. Body-part terms in Mapudungun. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 335 ff. DOI logo
Labrada, Jorge Emilio Rosés
2022. Body-part categorization and grammar in Piaroa. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 149 ff. DOI logo
Lehmann, Christian
2022. Foundations of body-part grammar. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 14 ff. DOI logo
Mithun, Marianne
2022. Topicality, affectedness, and body-part grammar. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 286 ff. DOI logo
Nercesian, Verónica & Alejandra Vidal
2022. Body parts and possessive constructions in Mataguayan languages. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 310 ff. DOI logo
Silva, W. D. L.
2022. A typology of body-part words in Eastern Tukanoan languages. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 188 ff. DOI logo
Valenzuela, Pilar M.
2022. Plant and animal body-part terms in Shiwulu grammar. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 373 ff. DOI logo
Zariquiey, Roberto, Jaime Montoya, Juana Ticona, Luz Carhuachín, Yessica Reyes, Roxana Quispe-Collantes, José Paz & Aarón Torres
2022. The grammar of body-part expressions in Iskonawa. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 425 ff. DOI logo
Zariquiey, Roberto & Pilar M. Valenzuela
2022. Body-part nouns, prefixation, incorporation, and compounding in Panoan and Takanan. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 441 ff. DOI logo
Roberto Zariquiey & Pilar M. Valenzuela
2022. The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, DOI logo
Zariquiey, Roberto & Pilar M. Valenzuela
2022. Introduction. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. List of Abbreviations. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. xi ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Copyright Page. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. iv ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. List of Figures. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. vii ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. List of Tables. In The Grammar of Body-Part Expressions, ► pp. ix ff. DOI logo

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