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In:Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and Diachrony
Edited by Sonia Cristofaro and Fernando Zúñiga
[Typological Studies in Language 121] 2018
► pp. 289–308

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Chapter 8
Are the Tupi-Guarani hierarchical indexing systems really motivated by the person hierarchy?

 | Dynamique Du Langage (CNRS/Université Lyon 2)
Published online: 26 July 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.121.08ros
Abstract
Tupi-Guarani languages are supposedly perfect examples of hierarchical indexing systems, where the relative ranking of A and P on the 1 > 2 > 3 person hierarchy determines the selection of the person markers. This chapter questions the relevance of the person hierarchy as a synchronic and diachronic explanation for such systems, with data from 28 languages. First, only SAP > 3 can really be posited in the actual languages, and second, it explains only part of the facts that it is supposed to account for in Proto-Tupi-Guarani. The chapter ends by suggesting that these systems do not result from the person hierarchy as a functional motivation. Instead, they may result from grammaticalization of pronominal paradigms lacking third-person forms.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The person hierarchy and hierarchical indexing systems
  • 3.The Tupi-Guarani indexing systems in synchrony
  • 4.The Tupi-Guarani indexing systems in diachrony
    • 4.1 The Proto-Tupi-Guarani system
    • 4.2The genesis of the Proto-Tupi-Guarani indexing system
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
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