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Article published In: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2025
Edited by Kristel Doreleijers, Remco Knooihuizen and Eva van Lier
[Nota Bene 2:2] 2025
► pp. 413–429

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Nominal purposive constructions in Wapishana and Taruma

 | Radboud University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Radboud University Nijmegen.

Published online: 31 October 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/nb.00041.ser
Abstract
The Indigenous languages of South America employ varying strategies for nominal purpose-marking; for instance, the markers used in this construction include benefactive case (in Macushi, see Abbott, Miriam. 1991. “Macushi.” In Desmond C. Derbyshire and Geoffrey K. Pullum (eds.), Handbook of Amazonian Languages, 23–160. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and possessives (in Lokono, see Pet, Willem JA. 2011. “A grammar sketch and lexicon of Arawak (Lokono Dian).” SIL e-Books 301.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), but also specifically purposive adpositions (Kokama-Kokamilla, see Vallejos, Rosa. 2010. A grammar of Kokama-Kokamilla. PhD dissertation, University of Oregon.). In this paper, I analyze and compare nominal purpose marking in two languages which are in close contact: Wapishana (Arawakan) and Taruma (unclassified). In Wapishana, the morpheme used in this construction is a TAM marker for non-present tense or irrealis mood which also functions as a nominalizer (dos Santos, Manoel Gomes dos. 2006. Uma gramática do Wapixana (Aruák): Aspectos da fonologia, da morfologia e da sintaxe. Campinas, SP: Universidade Estadual de Campinas dissertation.; Wapishana Language Project. 2000. Scholar’s dictionary and grammar of the Wapishana language. Porto Velho, Brazil: SIL International.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). I argue that the nominal purposive construction is essentially the subordination of a nominal predicate. The Taruma data stemming from recent fieldwork shows that the marker in question functions as a purposive marker and might also be a subordinator.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: The nominal purposive construction in South America
  • 2.Language background and language data
  • 3.The nominal purposive construction in Wapishana: Tense/mood marker =nii
  • 4.The nominal purposive construction in Taruma: Purposive =karo
  • 5.Summary and future research
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • List of glosses
  • References
References (14)
References
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