In:Nonverbal Predication in Amazonian Languages
Edited by Simon E. Overall, Rosa Vallejos and Spike Gildea
[Typological Studies in Language 122] 2018
► pp. 339–364
Chapter 13Evidence for the development of action nominals in Awetí towards ergatively-marked predicates
Published online: 21 August 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.122.13rei
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.122.13rei
Abstract
Non-verbal predicates without any copula occur at a high frequency in Awetí discourse. Especially numerous are action nominals as heads of action nominal constructions (ANCs) with the structure of possessive NPs. There is evidence that in this Tupian language action nominals of a specific type have lost their pragmatic markedness and undergone a reanalysis as nuclei of main clause predicates. This tendency of a reanalysis of nominalizations has been observed in a variety of South American language families. As monoclausal constructions, ANCs have properties and possibilities which are absent in clauses with finite verbs. One of them is their consistent ergative person-marking and ordering of constituents, compared to Awetí finite verbs with their asymmetrical indexing pattern, and a constituent order in clauses with finite verbs which is motivated by discourse-pragmatic principles. Another is the possibility of a change in perspective in 3rd person arguments marked by an ‘antipassive’ on an action nominal, while 3rd person reference on finite verbs is determined by a person-animacy hierarchy.
Keywords: Tupian, nominalization, reanalysis, antipassive, corpus study
Article outline
- 1Introduction
- 2.Predicate nominal clauses
- 3.Verbal clauses
- 4.Action nominal constructions (ANCs)
- 4.1Morphological form
- 4.2Argument structure of ANCs
- 4.3Use of ANCs inside the NP
- 5.ANCs as main clause predicates
- 6.Development of ANCs in main clause function towards verbal function
- 7.Discussion
Notes Abbreviations References
References (21)
Awetí Documentation. 2006. A Documentation of the Awetí Language and Aspects of the Awetí Culture. By the Awetí Language Documentation Project: Sebastian Drude (principal researcher), Sabine Reiter (researcher), Hans-Heinrich Lieb (project director), with the assistance of Waranaku Awetí, Awajatu Awetí, Yakumin Awetí, Tawyjat Awetí, Parawajru Awetí and others. DOBES Project, 2001–2006. Project overview: <[URL]> Archive: <[URL]> DoBeS Archive > Aweti>
Campos Castro, Ricardo & Fagundes Camargos, Quesler. 2014. Estruturas antipassivas em Tenetehára. Paper presented at Amazônicas V, Belém, 26–30 May.
. 2011a. Nominalization as a possible source for subordination in Awetí. In La structure des langues amazoniennes, Ana Carla Bruno, Frantomé Pacheco, Frances Queixalós, Stella Telles & Leo Wetzels (eds). Amerindia 35: 189–218.
. 2011b. Derivational verbs’ and other multi-verb constructions in Aweti and Tupi-Guarani. In Multi-verb Constructions: A View from the Americas, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald & Pieter C. Muysken (eds), 213–254. Leiden: Brill.
Franchetto, Bruna. 2010. The ergativity effect in Kuikuro (Southern Carib, Brazil). In Ergativity in Amazonia [Typological Studies in Language 89], Spike Gildea & Francesc Queixalós (eds), 121–158. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gabas Jr., Nilson. 2006. Tupian languages. In Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2nd edn, Vol. 13, Keith Brown (ed.), 146–150. Oxford: Elsevier.
Guirardello-Damian, Raquel. 2010. Ergativity in Trumai. In Ergativity in Amazonia [Typological Studies in Language 89], Spike Gildea & Francesc Queixalós (eds), 203–234. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Haig, Geoffrey, Schnell, Stefan & Wegener, Claudia. 2011. Comparing corpora from endangered language projects: Explorations in language typology based on original texts. In Documenting Endangered Languages. Achievements and Perspectives, Geoffrey Haig, Stefan Schnell & Claudia Wegener (eds), 55–86. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Jensen, Cheryl. 1998. Comparative Tupi-Guarani morphosyntax. In Handbook of Amazonian Languages, Vol. 4, Desmond C. Derbyshire & Geoffrey K. Pullum (eds), 487–618. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2003. Action nominal constructions in the languages of Europe. In Noun Phrase Structure in the Languages of Europe [Empirical Approaches to Language Typology EUROTYP 20–7], Frans Plank (ed.), 723–759. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Malchukov, Andrej, Haspelmath, Martin & Comrie, Bernard. 2007. Ditransitive constructions: A typological overview. <[URL]>
Meira, Sergio. 2006. Stative verbs vs. nouns in Sateré-Mawé and the Tupian family. In What’s in a Verb, Studies in the Verbal Morphology of the Languages of the Americas, Grazyna J. Rowicka & Eithne B. Carlin (eds), 189–214. Utrecht: LOT.
Monserrat, Ruth. 2002. Línguas Tupi e ergatividade. In Línguas indígenas brasileiras: Fonologia, gramática e história. Atas do I encontro internacional do grupo de trabalho sobre línguas indígenas da ANPOLL, Ana Suelly Câmara Cabral & Aryon D. Rodrigues (eds), 191–202. Belém: Editora UFPA.
Polinsky, Maria. 2013. Antipassive Constructions. In The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds). Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. <[URL]> (31 October 2014).
Queixalós, Frances & Gildea, Spike. 2010. Manifestations of ergativity in Amazonia. In Ergativity in Amazonia [Typological Studies in Language 89], Spike Gildea & Francesc Queixalós (eds), 1–25. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
. 2010. Linguistic vitality in the Awetí indigenous community: A case study from the Upper Xingu multilingual area. In New Perspectives on Endangered Languages. Bridging Gaps between Sociolinguistics, Documentation and Language Revitalization [Culture in Language Use 1], José Antonio Flores Farfán & Fernando F. Ramallo (eds), 119–146. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 7 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.