Abstract
This paper presents a comparative analysis of the verb system of the three known Zamucoan languages, namely Old Zamuco, described by the Jesuit father Ignace Chomé in the first half of the eighteenth century, plus Ayoreo and Chamacoco, still actively spoken in the Chaco area between Bolivia and Paraguay. The analysis has confirmed the internal consistency of this language family, allowing us to build a plausible reconstruction of the Proto-Zamucoan verb system. The analysis has unsurprisingly pointed out Old Zamuco as the most conservative language among the three; Chamacoco, by contrast, appears to be the most innovative. This notwithstanding, Chamacoco also has conservative features that turn out to be particularly relevant for the purpose of linguistic reconstruction.
Abbreviations
- AY
Ayoreo
- BF
base form
- CH
Chamacoco
- DIM
diminutive
- ELAT
elative
- EXIST
existential
- F
feminine
- FS
feminine singular
- GP
greater plural
- IMP
imperative
- IRLS
irrealis
- M
masculine
- MP
masculine plural
- MS
masculine singular
- OZ
Old Zamuco
- P
plural
- PE
plural exclusive
- PI
plural inclusive
- RLS
realis
- S
singular
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Note:
This paper is largely based on the comparative analysis of Ciucci (2013a). The authors have discussed all details and share responsibility for any claims made. Special thanks goes to two anonymous reviewers, whose suggestions have been gladly incorporated.
©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Pronoun innovation in Middle English
- A diachronic view of Zamucoan verb inflection
- A new interpretation of Lachmann’s Law
- Event-centrality and the pragmatics–semantics interface in Kikongo: From predication focus to progressive aspect and vice versa
- The origin of the causative prefix in Rgyalrong languages and its implication for proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction
- Exaptation and phonological change
- Reconstruction and idiomaticity: The origin of Russian verbless clauses reconsidered
- The historical phonology of Mawé glides
- Reviews
- David Willis, Christopher Lucas, and Anne Breitbarth: The history of negation in the languages of Europe and the Mediterranean
- Coulter H. George: Expressions of time in Ancient Greek
- Kim Gerdes, Eva Hajičová & Leo Wanner: Dependency Linguistics. Recent advances in linguistic theory using dependency structures
- IE.com: Websites relevant to Indo-European Historical Linguistics
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Pronoun innovation in Middle English
- A diachronic view of Zamucoan verb inflection
- A new interpretation of Lachmann’s Law
- Event-centrality and the pragmatics–semantics interface in Kikongo: From predication focus to progressive aspect and vice versa
- The origin of the causative prefix in Rgyalrong languages and its implication for proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction
- Exaptation and phonological change
- Reconstruction and idiomaticity: The origin of Russian verbless clauses reconsidered
- The historical phonology of Mawé glides
- Reviews
- David Willis, Christopher Lucas, and Anne Breitbarth: The history of negation in the languages of Europe and the Mediterranean
- Coulter H. George: Expressions of time in Ancient Greek
- Kim Gerdes, Eva Hajičová & Leo Wanner: Dependency Linguistics. Recent advances in linguistic theory using dependency structures
- IE.com: Websites relevant to Indo-European Historical Linguistics