The Zamuco languages spoken in the Chaco Boreal region (between Bolivia and Paraguay) are today identified with Ayoreo and Chamacoco. These two languages not only have grammatical structures that differ markedly from those of other ethnic groups living in the same region, but they also have some very distinctive typological features. Particularly interesting is the duplication of the nominal system, which provides two morphological manifestations for each noun and adjective: a "basic" form and a "full" form. The latter is used in the strictly argumentative function of nominals, while the former is used in particular in the predicative function. The examples, taken from Ayoreo, thus show a very particular (and apparently unique among the world's languages) manifestation of the tendency of Amerindian languages to reduce the distance between nouns and verbs within the predicative function.
11:00 - 12:00
Guest lecturer
Nominal arguments and predicate nominals in ayoreo (zamuco)
Pier Marco Bertinetto
11:00 - 12:00
