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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 41:3 (2017) ► pp.660–716

Agreement with the internal possessor in Chimane [*] *

A mediated locality approach

| Independent researcher, UK

The paper examines a type of clausal construction in Chimane (or Tsimane’, unclassified, Bolivia) in which possessors which are apparently internal to patient- or recipient-like possessive phrases can control object agreement on the verb. Various aspects of the construction point to an analysis in which the internal possessor is doubled by an external representation or ‘proxy’ in the clause which mediates the agreement relation between the possessor and the verb. The construction bears some resemblance to external possessor constructions, albeit with the added complication that the possessor itself remains internal to the possessive phrase while its argument function is borne by the external proxy. The paper examines features of the construction and contrasts it with similar or related phenomena which have been identified in other languages.

Keywords: Chimane, Tsimane', possession, prominence, agreement, locality
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language background
    • 2.1Language name
    • 2.2Genetic affiliation
    • 2.3Geography and demography
    • 2.4The number of speakers
    • 2.5Sociolinguistic situation
    • 2.6Environment, subsistence and culture
    • 2.7History
    • 2.8Previous studies
  • 3.The data
    • 3.1Elicitation
    • 3.2Picture description tasks
    • 3.3Other stimulus materials
    • 3.4Corpus
    • 3.5Glossing and example naming conventions
  • 4.Grammar background
    • 4.1Possessive noun phrase
    • 4.2Clitic status of bound possessors
    • 4.3Clausal syntax
  • 5.Prominent internal possessor construction
    • 5.1Previous analyses of pipcs in Chimane-Mosetén
    • 5.2NP-internal status of possessors in pipcs
    • 5.3Applicative -bi
  • 6.Potential analyses
    • 6.1Head-dependent reversal
    • 6.2Structurally prominent NP-internal possessor
    • 6.3Incorporation
    • 6.4Mediated locality
  • 7.Proposed analysis
  • 8.Summary and further questions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 25 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.41.3.05rit
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