Cover not available

Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 50:2 (2026) ► pp.294–351

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

A for antipassive, I for inverse

Rethinking transitivity and voice in Chiquitano

ORCiD logo with link | Universidade Federal de Goiás
Published online: 11 November 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.24001.nik
Abstract
In Chiquitano (Macro-Jê), multiple constructions are used to translate other languages’ transitive clauses. The language has traditionally been analyzed as a nominative–accusative one, with almost all transitive verbs taking more morphological marking than the intransitive verbs. In this contribution, I put forward an alternative proposal, whereby Chiquitano is considered to be an ergative–absolutive language. The constructions traditionally analyzed as basic transitive clauses are shown to be representative of voice alternations — antipassive or inverse —. I further show that the language has a class of pseudo-transitive verbs, which can likewise enter a kind of inverse construction (“pseudo-transitive inverse”). I conclude the paper by comparing my proposal to previous analyses; my account of the facts fares better with regard to the syntax of subordination in desiderative clauses, typological plausibility of lexicalization of certain predicates as transitive, and economy of exponence.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Chiquitano and its person marking
  • 3.The problem
  • 4.Proposal
    • 4.1No voice morphology
      • 4.1.1Intransitive and impersonal clauses
      • 4.1.2Transitive clauses
      • 4.1.3Pseudo-transitive clauses
    • 4.2Antipassive
      • 4.2.1Deaccusative clauses
      • 4.2.2Deobjective clauses
      • 4.2.3Erstwhile deobjective clauses
    • 4.3Inverse
      • 4.3.1Canonical inverse
      • 4.3.2Inverse in pseudo-transitive verbs
      • 4.3.3Erstwhile pseudo-transitive inverse clauses
      • 4.3.4Status of the inverse
    • 4.4Defective voice paradigms
    • 4.5Summary
  • 5.Consequences for the typological characterization of Chiquitano
    • 5.1Subjecthood
    • 5.2Pervasive transitivization vs. pervasive lability
    • 5.3Highly transitive predicates
    • 5.4Economy of exponence
    • 5.5Lexical exceptionality
    • 5.6Morphosyntactic alignment
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Sources
  • References
References (64)
Sources
Chuvirú García, Brenda, Eliana Peña Choré, Gabi Irene Ípamo Ipi, Johan Pedriel Rodríguez Cesari, Jorge Andrés Guizada Palachay, Juan Said García Chuvirú, Mary Isabel García Parapaino, Victor Hugo García. 2021. Fotovoz: reconexión Monkóxɨ. Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Editorial NUR.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parapaino, Felipe Bailaba. 2014. Auki bésɨro. In Pablino Parapaino Castro and Isabel Rodríguez Pachurí (eds.). Iipiakáx aukina anánkatai mapanaunkúx. Saberes de la cultura chiquitana, p. 19–30. Cochabamba: FUNPROEIB Andes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rozo L., Bernardo (coord.), Alejandro Barrientos S., Nicolás Supayabe, Mary Luz Suárez Ch., Julia Chuvé Anacleto, and Parapaino Nicolás Chuvirú. 2011. Curaciones de luna nueva: saberes, prácticas y productos musicales en Lomerío. La Paz: FAUTAPO-ProAa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2 Corinthians = 2 Corintios. In: Manityanati Tupax: axɨna aɨbo akoro nuraxti Tupax auki Bésɨro. Cochabamba: Sociedad Bíblica Boliviana.
References
Adam, Lucien & Victor Henry. 1880. Arte y vocabulario de la lengua chiquita. Con algunos textos traducidos y explicados compuestos sobre manuscritos inéditos del XVIII siglo [Art and vocabulary of the Chiquito language. With some translated and explained texts composed based on unpublished 18th-century manuscripts]. Paris: Maisonneuve y Cia. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
Adelaar, Willem F. H. & Pieter C. Muysken. 2004. The languages of the Andes (Cambridge Language Surveys). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anonymous. No date. Grammatica de la lengua Chiquita [Grammar of the Chiquito language]. Unpublished manuscript, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
Arkadiev, Peter. 2023. Unmarked resultatives in Abaza and passive lability. In Nina Sumbatova, Ivan Kapitonov, Maria Khachaturyan, Sofia Oskolskaya, Samira Verhees (eds.). Songs and trees: papers in memory of Sasha Vydrina, 485–505. St Petersburg: Institute of Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
Bas Aguilera, Benjamín. No date. Vocabulario de Benjamín Bas [Benjamín Bas’s vocabulary]. Unpublished manuscript, San Miguel de Velasco.
Bloomfield, Leonard. 1946. Algonquian. In Osgood, Cornelius (ed.). Linguistic structures of Native America, 85–129. New York: Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Castro Alves, Flávia de. 2004. O Timbira falado pelos Canela Apãniekrá: uma contribuição aos estudos da morfossintaxe de uma língua Jê [Timbira as spoken by the Apãniekrá Canela: a contribution to the studies of the morphosyntax of a Jê language]. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas Ph.D. dissertation.
. 2014. Aumento de valência em Canela [Valency increase in Canela]. In Francesc Queixalós, Stella Telles, Ana Carla Bruno (eds.), Incremento de valencia en las lenguas amazónicas, 191–209. Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ciucci, Luca. 2020. Los clasificadores del chiquitano (bésɨro) [The classifiers in Chiquitano (Bésɨro)]. Paper presented at Bobikíxh — Kusɨ́rɨbo Oberabakáx ñomé Mumanityakatoe aukí na Nikɨ Mamonkóka, November 13.
Creissels, Denis. 2014. P-lability and radical P-alignment. Linguistics 52(4). 911–944. Available at: (last access 3 September 2025).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W. 1994. Ergativity (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, 69). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W. & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald. 2000. Introduction. In R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds.), Changing valency: Case studies in transitivity, 1–29. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Falkinger, Sieglinde & Roberto Tomichá (eds.). 2012. Publicación de los manuscritos Gramática de la lengua de los Indios llamados Chiquitos y Vocabulario de la lengua de los Indios llamados Chiquitos, conservados en la Biblioteca Estense de Módena (Italia) [Publication of the manuscripts Grammar of the language of the Indians called Chiquitos and Vocabulary of the language of the Indians called Chiquitos, preserved in the Biblioteca Estense of Modena, Italy]. Cochabamba: Instituto Latinoamericano de Misionología / Itinerarios.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Galeote Tormo, Jesús. 1993. Manitana auqui besüro: gramática moderna de la lengua chiquitana y vocabulario básico [Let’s speak correctly: a modern grammar of the Chiquitano language and a basic vocabulary]. Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Imprenta “Los Huérfanos”.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. Chiquitano (Bésɨro). In Pieter Muysken & Mily Crevels (eds.), Lenguas de Bolivia, v. 3: Oriente, 259–301. La Paz: Plural Editores.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Galucio, Ana Vilacy & Antônia Fernanda de Souza Nogueira. 2018. From object nominalization to object focus: the innovative A-alignment in the Tuparian languages (Tupian family). Journal of Historical Linguistics 8(1). 95–127. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geniušienė, Emma. 1987. The typology of reflexives (Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 2). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Girard, Raphaël. 2014. Agreement without similarity: the case of Chiquitano nasal (consonant) harmony. Poster presented at Agreement by Correspondence-ABC Conference, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, May 18–19. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
Givón, T. 1994. The pragmatics of de-transitive voice: Functional and typological aspects of inversion. In T. Givón (ed.), Voice and inversion (Typological Studies in Language 28), 3–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin & Thomas Müller-Bardey. 2004. Valency change. In Geert E. Booij, Christian Lehmann, Joachim Mugdan & Stavros Skopeteas (eds.), Morphology: A handbook on inflection and word formation, v. 2, 1130–1145. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Available at: (last access 3 September 2025).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2013. Argument indexing: a conceptual framework for the syntactic status of bound person forms. In Dik Bakker & Martin Haspelmath (eds). Languages across boundaries: Studies in memory of Anna Siewierska, 197–226. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015a. Transitivity prominence. In Andrej Malchukov & Bernard Comrie (eds.), Valency classes in the world’s languages: a comparative handbook, v. 1, 131–147. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015b. Defining vs. diagnosing linguistic categories: a case study of clitic phenomena. In Joanna Blaszczak, Dorota Klimek-Jankowska & Krzysztof Migdalski (eds.). How categorical are categories?, 273–304. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. Indexing and flagging, and head and dependent marking. Te Reo — The Journal of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand 62(1). 93–115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024. Inflection and derivation as traditional comparative concepts. Linguistics 62(1). 43–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haude, Katharina. 2024. Between symmetrical voice and ergativity: inverse and antipassive in Movima. International Journal of American Linguistics 90(1). 1–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2025. An Austronesian-type voice system in an Amazonian isolate? Comparing Movima and Tagalog. In Iker Salaberri, Dorota Krajewska, Ekaitz Santazilia, & Eneko Zuloaga (eds.). Investigating language isolates: typological and diachronic perspectives, 71–102. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haude, Katharina & Fernando Zúñiga. 2016. Inverse and symmetrical voice: on languages with two transitive constructions. Linguistics 54(3). 443–481. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul J. & Sandra A. Thompson. 1980. Transitivity in grammar and discourse. Language 56(2). 251–299. Available at: (last access 3 September 2025).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janic, Katarzyna & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich. 2021. The multifaceted nature of the antipassive construction. In Katarzyna Janic & Alena Witzlack-Makarevich (eds.). Antipassive: typology, diachrony, and related constructions, 1–39. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klaiman, M. H. 1991. Grammatical voice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Larsen, Thomas W. 1984. Case marking and subjecthood in Kipeá Kirirí. BLS 101: 189–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Letuchiy, Alexander. 2009. Towards a typology of labile verbs: lability vs. derivation. In Alexandre Arkhipov & Patience Epps (eds.), New challenges in typology: transcending the borders and refining the distinctions, 223–244. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lipski, John M. 1996. El español de América [Spanish in the Americas]. Madrid: Cátedra.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malchukov, Andrej L. 2005. Case pattern splits, verb types and construction competition. In Mengistu Amberber & Helen de Hoop (eds.), Competition and variation in natural languages. The case for case, 73–117. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meira, Sérgio. 2000. The accidental intransitive split in the Cariban family. In Spike Gildea (ed.), Reconstructing grammar: comparative linguistics and grammaticalization (Typological Studies in Language, 43). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nichols, Johanna, David A. Peterson & Jonathan Barnes. 2004. Transitivizing and detransitivizing languages. Linguistic Typology 8(2). 149–211. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nikulin, Andrey. 2019a. Alinhamento em Chiquitano Migueleño [Alignment in Migueleño Chiquitano]. Paper presented at V Simpósio Internacional de Linguística Funcional, Universidade Estadual de Goiás, Goiás, May 31. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
. 2019b. Contacto de lenguas en la Chiquitanía [Language contact in Chiquitanía]. Revista Brasileira de Línguas Indígenas 2(2). 5–30. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
. 2020. Elementos de la morfofonología del chiquitano migueleño [Elements of Chiquitano Migueleño morphophonology]. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 201. e020015. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2021. Fonología segmental del chiquitano migueleño [Segmental phonology of Migueleño Chiquitano]. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas 16(2). e20200054. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023a. Morfología de finitud y estrategias de subordinación en chiquitano migueleño [Finiteness morphology and subordination strategies in Migueleño Chiquitano]. AMERINDIA 441. 71–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023b. Nasal harmony in consonants in Chiquitano and its origins. Journal of Language Relationship 21(3). 184–200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parapaino Castro, Pablino. 2008. Isiukiché nikorokó Bésɨro. Guía de escritura del idioma Bésɨro [A guide for writing Bésɨro]. Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Unión de Artesanos de la Tierra-UNIARTE.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pellejà, Josep (?). No date, a. Gramatica de la lengua de los indios llamados chiquitos pertenecientes al Govierno de Chuquisaca en el Reyno del Perù doctrinados por los PP. de la Extinta Compañia de Jesus de la Provincia del Paraguay [Grammar of the language of the Indians called Chiquitos, who belong to the Government of Chuquisaca of the Kingdom of Peru, indoctrinated by the Fathers of the extinguished Society of Jesus of the Province of Paraguay]. Unpublished manuscript.
. No date, b. Bocavulario de la lengua de los indios llamados chiquitos escrita por un misionero de la Compañia de Jesus [Vocabulary of the language of the Indians called Chiquitos, written by a missionary of the Society of Jesus]. Unpublished manuscript.
Polinsky, Maria. 2013. Antipassive constructions. In Dryer, Matthew S. & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), WALS Online (v2020.4) [Data set]. Zenodo. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prieb, Tiffany. 2022. Algonquian transitivity mismatches: A study of AI+O and TI-O verbs in Munsee, Ojibwe, and Innu. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba MA thesis. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
Ribeiro, Eduardo Rivail. 2012. A grammar of Karajá. Chicago: University of Chicago Ph.D. dissertation.
Riesberg, Sonja. 2014. Symmetrical voice and linking in western Austronesian languages (Pacific Linguistics, 646). Boston: De Gruyer Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sans, Pierric. 2010. Éléments de sociolinguistique et de phonologie du bésɨro (chiquitano). Langue en danger des basses terres de Bolivie [Elements of sociolinguistics and phonology of Bésɨro (Chiquitano), an endangered language of Bolivian lowlands]. Lyon: Université Lumière Lyon 2 MA thesis. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
. 2011. Is nasality an autosegmental feature in Bésɨro (a.k.a. Chiquitano)? In Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara Cabral, Aryon Dall’Igna Rodrigues, Jorge Domingues Lopes & Maria Risolêta Silva Julião (orgs.). Línguas e culturas Tupí, v. 3, Línguas e culturas Macro-Jê, v. 2, 237–248. Campinas: Curt Nimuendajú; Brasília: LALI/UnB.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013a. Un alignement « quadripartite » en bésɨro ? Quatre arguments nucléaires dans la langue des Chiquitanos de Bolivie [A “quadripartite” alignment in Bésɨro? Four core arguments in the language of the Chiquitano of Bolivia]. Bulletin de la société linguistique de Paris 108(1). 419–440. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013b. Elementos de la gramática del Bésɨro. Sociolingüística-Fonología-Morfología-Textos. Con la colaboración de Lucas Chorez Quiviquivi [Elements of Bésɨro grammar. Sociolinguistics–Phonology–Morphology–Texts. With the collaboration of Lucas Chorez Quiviquivi]. Unpublished manuscript, San Antonio de Lomerío. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
. No date. Une grammaire du chiquitano. Docummentation [sic] et morphosyntaxe de la langue des Chiquitanos de Bolivie [A grammar of Chiquitano. Documentation and morphosyntax of the language of the Chiquitano of Bolivia]. Unpublished manuscript, Université Lumière Lyon 2. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
Santana, Áurea Cavalcante. 2012. Línguas cruzadas, histórias que se mesclam: ações de documentação, valorização e fortalecimento da língua Chiquitano no Brasil [Intertwined languages, interwoven histories: actions to document, value and strengthen the Chiquitano language in Brazil]. Goiânia: Universidade Federal de Goiás Ph.D. dissertation. Available at: [URL] (last access 3 September 2025).
Tsunoda, Tasaku. 1981. Split case-marking patterns in verb-types and tense/aspect/mood. Linguistics 191. 389–438. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1985. Remarks on transitivity. Journal of Linguistics 21(2). 385–396. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vigus, Meagan. 2018. Antipassive constructions: correlations of form and function across languages. Linguistic Typology 22(3): 339–384. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zúñiga, Fernando & Seppo Kittilä. 2019. Grammatical voice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue