Article published In:
Studies in LanguageVol. 17:1 (1993) ► pp.53–73
The Development of Tense Markers from Demonstrative Pronouns in Panare (Cariban)
Two synchronic tense-marking auxiliaries in Panare are derived etymologically from demonstrative pronouns. The original pronouns differed in spatial deixis, one marking proximate ('this'), the other distal ('that'). They came to be required between predicate noun and subject in predicate nominal clauses, and thus evolved into copulas. As copulas, the deixis of the pronouns shifted to time, with proximal becoming present or immediate future and distal becoming past (but also sometimes interprétable as distant future). These copulas then evolved further to become tense auxiliaries for a new generation of main clause verbs.
Cited by
Cited by 11 other publications
Diessel, Holger
2006. Demonstratives, joint attention, and the emergence of grammar. Cognitive Linguistics 17:4 
Gerner, Matthias
2019. Chapter 24. Towards diachronic word classes universals. In Historical Linguistics 2015 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 348], ► pp. 502 ff.
Gildea, Spike
2018. Chapter 14. Reconstructing the copulas and nonverbal predicate constructions in Cariban. In Nonverbal Predication in Amazonian Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 122], ► pp. 365 ff.
Gildea, Spike & Jóhanna Barðdal
2023. From grammaticalization to Diachronic Construction Grammar. Studies in Language 47:4 ► pp. 743 ff.
Killian, Don
2022. Towards a typology of predicative demonstratives. Linguistic Typology 26:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Kuteva, Tania, Bernd Heine, Bo Hong, Haiping Long, Heiko Narrog & Seongha Rhee
2019. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization,
Mwinlaaru, Isaac N. & Foong Ha Yap
2017. A tale of two distal demonstratives in Dagaare: Reflections on directionality principles in grammaticalisation. Language Sciences 64 ► pp. 130 ff.
Overall, Simon E., Rosa Vallejos & Spike Gildea
2018. Chapter 1. Nonverbal predication in Amazonia. In Nonverbal Predication in Amazonian Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 122], ► pp. 1 ff.
Rijkhoff, Jan
2008. Descriptive and discourse-referential modifiers in a layered model of the noun phrase. Linguistics 46:4
Rutkowski, Paweł
2006. From Demonstratives to Copulas: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective and the Case of Polish. Journal of Universal Language 7:2 ► pp. 147 ff.
Yamada, Racquel-María
2011. A New Approach toky- and -ngin Kari’nja: Evidentiality or Something Else?. International Journal of American Linguistics 77:1 ► pp. 59 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 november 2023. 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.