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Article published In:
Diachronica
Vol. 34:3 (2017) ► pp.283–330

Possessive inflection in Proto-Zamucoan

A reconstruction

| Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
| Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa

This paper presents a comparative analysis of possessive inflection in the three known Zamucoan languages: Ayoreo and Chamacoco – still spoken in the Chaco area between Bolivia and Paraguay – plus †Old Zamuco, described by the Jesuit father Ignace Chomé in the first half of the 18th century. The comparison allows us to build a plausible reconstruction of Proto-Zamucoan possessive inflection. Old Zamuco appears to be the most conservative language among the three, while Chamacoco appears to be the most innovative, although it exhibits relics of special importance for reconstructive purposes. Our analysis identifies in Zamucoan a series of features of general interest for the typology of person marking.

Keywords: person marking, diachronic reconstruction, possessive morphology, verb morphology, Zamucoan languages, kinship terms, syncretism in person/number marking, Chaco region
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Zamucoan
    • 1.2On Zamucoan noun and verb affixation
  • 2.Old Zamuco possessive inflection
    • 2.1Person inflection
    • 2.2The generic form
  • 3.Ayoreo possessive inflection
    • 3.1Person inflection
    • 3.2Thematic nouns (Ø – thematic vowel – root)
    • 3.3Prefixal nouns (prefix – thematic vowel – root)
    • 3.4Radical nouns (Ø – Ø – root)
    • 3.5The generic form
  • 4.Chamacoco possessive inflection
    • 4.1Person inflection
    • 4.2Thematic nouns (Ø – thematic vowel – root)
    • 4.3Prefixal nouns (prefix – thematic vowel – root)
    • 4.4Radical nouns (Ø – Ø – ROOT)
    • 4.5The generic form
  • 5.Comparison
    • 5.1Thematic vowel
    • 5.2Root allomorphy
    • 5.3Prefixal nouns (prefix – thematic vowel – root)
    • 5.4On the attraction of the 3rd person by the reflexive
    • 5.5Radical nouns (Ø – Ø – ROOT)
    • 5.6Loss of possessive inflection
  • 6.Reconstructing the Proto-Zamucoan possessive inflection
    • 6.1First singular
    • 6.2Second singular
    • 6.3The third person
    • 6.4The reflexive person
    • 6.5First and second plural persons
    • 6.6The generic form
    • 6.7Verbal and possessive inflection in Proto-Zamucoan
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.34.3.01ciu
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