The inverse system in Mapudungun and other languages
1996; University of Concepción; Volume: 34; Issue: 34 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0718-4883
Autores Tópico(s)Language and cultural evolution
ResumoThe typology of inverse is a relatively loose definition which has been applied to languages such as the Algonquian languages, Cherokee, the Tanoan languages, and Korean. After a survey of several inverse languages, I conclude that the central defining characteristic of an inverse language is that it has two morphological verbal paradigms for transitive verbs, and the choice between these two paradigms depends on the relative status of the two arguments, where the status is determined by a person hierarchy, discourse status, or both. After looking at several inverse languages, I present the morphosyntax of Mapudungun, the language of the Mapuche people of Chile, and argue that it also shows an inverse system. I furthermore suggest that the inverse verbal paradigm in Mapudungun involves the reversal of the mappings between Grammatical Relations and thematic roles, based on evidence from morphology and word order.
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