Abstract

DIETRICH, Wolf. PRONOMINAL SYNTAX IN THE MAWETÍ-GUARANÍ LANGUAGES:. Lingüística [online]. 2017, vol.33, n.2, pp.69-95. ISSN 2079-312X.  https://doi.org/10.5935/2079-312x.20170018.

In this contribution I analyze, in the languages of the South-American Tupi-Guarani family, the syntax of what are object pronouns in English or Spanish. The description of word classes in Tupi-Guarani languages with its fuzzy distinction between nouns and verbs is the basis of the word class switching we observe in Tupi-Guarani pronominal syntax. The existing hierarchy 1 > 2 > 3 is shown by active syntax in the case of 1,2,3 > 3 and 1 > 2. Inanimate 3 p objects are included in the active verb forms and are not expressed by a special object pronoun. However, if the personal objects are higher than the subject (3 > 1,2 or 2 > 1), we observe a switching from active syntax with verbal person marking for subject function to nominal existential constructions. There is no more any active verbal form marked by a verbal person marker, but a nominal predicative construction characterized by nominal determination devices.

What is an object pronoun in English (“she saw me”, “you called me”) appears as a Tupi-Guarani personal pronoun which determines the noun-verb (“possessive” construction, such as “my seeing” = “seeing me”). Instead of saying “she saw me” speakers of most Tupi-Guarani languages say “there was her seeing me”. Many basic “verbs” behave as nouns whenusing relative inflection. For instance in Mbyá:

a'e xe r-exa

3.pron 1sg.n rel- seeing,usually translated by ‘he/she saw me’.

The translation, however, being pragmatically correct, does not allow understanding the structural meaning of the Mbyá expression.

Keywords : Mawetí-Guarani family; object pronouns; active voice; existential phrases; word class switching.

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