Formal Approaches to Languages of South America

Preface
Contents
About the Editors and Authors
Editor's Bios
Authors' Bios
Contributors
South-American Languages in a Formal Perspective
1 Linguistic Diversity in South America
2 Formal Approaches to Human Languages
3 Part I: South-American Sign Languages
4 Part II: Linguistic Innovations at the South of the Romania Nova
5 Part III: Indigenous South-American Languages
6 Conclusions
References
Part I South-American Sign Languages
The Morpho-phonology of Nominal Plurality in Argentinian Sign Language (LSA)
1 Introduction
2 The Phonological Representation of Plurality in LSA
2.1 Ipsilateral Movement as an Epenthetic Property
2.2 Handshape Insertion
3 A Phonological Typology of Nouns in LSA for the Expression of Plurals
4 More on the Epenthetic Nature of Ipsilateral Movement
5 Concluding Remarks
References
The Grammar of Agreement in Libras
1 Introduction
2 Some Relevant Aspects of Libras Grammar
3 Agreement in Space
4 Deriving Agreement Syntactically
5 The Pervasiveness of Agreement in Corpus Data
6 Final Remarks
References
Argument Structure in Peruvian Sign Language
1 Introduction
2 An Invisible Language
3 LSP Grammar and Externalization of Arguments
4 LSP Basic Argument Structure
4.1 Classifiers
4.2 Classifiers and Argument Structure
5 Some Loose Ends
6 Conclusion
References
Blending Libras and Portuguese: Acceptability Variables
1 Bimodal Bilingualism
2 The Present Study
2.1 Participants
2.2 Materials and Procedure
3 Results
4 Discussion
References
Part II South-American Romance Languages
The Grammaticalization of Igual in Argentinean Spanish
1 Introduction
2 On the Properties of Igual
2.1 Igual: A Comparative Predicate
3 Igual as an Epistemic Marker Expressing Uncertainty
4 Igual as a Concessive Marker and Emphatic Marker
4.1 The Concessive Value of Igual
4.2 The Emphatic Value of Igual
5 Semi-lexicality, Grammaticalization, and Variation
6 Final Remarks
References
Corpora
Approaching the So-Called Topic-Subjects in Brazilian Portuguese from Below
1 Introduction
2 “Topic-Subjects” Are Not Topics, But Subjects
3 Changes Within vP and DP
4 The Role of Inherent Case in “Topic-Subject” Constructions
5 Further Issues on Person Asymmetries and “Resumption” in “Topic-Subject” Constructions
6 Conclusion
References
Is Chilean Spanish a Canonical Pro-drop Variety? On Subjecthood in Chilean Spanish
1 Introduction
2 Background
2.1 Background on Chilean Spanish
3 The Pro-drop Properties of Chilean Spanish
3.1 Morphological Ambiguity in Verbal Agreement and Subject Properties
3.2 Overt Subject Pronouns and Their Surface Semantic Effects
3.3 Inversion in Wh-Questions
3.4 Infinitival Subjects
3.5 Use of Personal Pronouns for Inanimates and the Use of Generic Uno “One”
4 Chilean Spanish as Non-canonical Pro-drop Language
4.1 Chilean Spanish vs. Partial Null Subject Languages
4.2 Other Issues and Future Research
5 Conclusion
References
12ptCORPORA
Ways of Number Marking: English and Brazilian Portuguese
1 Introduction
2 English and BrP: Ways of Number Marking
2.1 Nouns That Need a Measure Phrase, and Nouns That Don't
2.2 Plural Inflection in the Noun and Not in the Noun
2.3 Bare Singulars in Argument Position: Grammatical or Not
3 A Model Theoretic Approach to Language Variation
3.1 Chierchia's Semantic Parameters
3.2 BrP Bare Singulars in a Model Theoretic Perspective
4 Ways of Pushing It Even Further
5 Conclusion
References
Part III South-American Indigenous Languages
Compounding Processes in Three Macro-Jê Linguistic Branches
1 Introduction
2 The Languages Considered in This Study
2.1 Maxakalí Language
2.2 Krenák Language
2.3 Akuwẽ Languages (Xerente and Xavante)
3 Derivation in the Four Languages
3.1 Derivation in Maxakalí
3.2 Derivation in Krenák
3.3 Derivation in Xerente and Xavante
4 Compounding in the Four Languages
4.1 Phonological Criteria for Identifying Compounds
4.2 Morphosyntactic Criteria
4.3 Semantic Description
5 Conclusions
References
Poro-/mba'e- Antipassive Prefixation in Paraguayan Guarani
1 Introduction
2 The Antipassive Voice
3 Relevant Aspects of the Grammar of Paraguayan Guarani
4 Properties of poro-/mba'e- Prefixation
4.1 Poro- and mba'e- Encode Generic Semantic Patients
4.2 The Aspectual Interpretation of Poro- and mba'e- Is Unconstrained
4.3 Poro- and mba'e- Cannot Express Non-patient Arguments
4.4 Poro-/mba'e- Derived Predicates Are Syntactically Intransitive
4.5 Poro-/mba'e- Prefixation Is Productive
5 Discussion
5.1 Contrasting the Antipassive with Noun Incorporation
5.2 Mba'e- as a Result of Grammaticalization
6 Conclusion
References
Argument Structure and Morphology in Cochabamba Quechua (with Occasional Comparison with Other Quechua Varieties)
1 Introduction
2 The Thematic Domain and -chi's Place in It
3 -ku Is a Reflexive Argument Clitic
4 -pu Is a High Applicative and a Raising Applicative
5 *-pu-ku/*-ku-pu: One Mystery's Solution Leads to Another's
6 Conclusion: Investigating Affix Order and Interpretation in Quechua and Beyond
References
Definiteness in A'ingae and Its Implications for Pragmatic Competition
1 Introduction
1.1 Definiteness Cross-Linguistically
2 Background on A'ingae and the Cofán People
3 Expressions of (In)Definiteness in A'ingae
3.1 Indefinite Noun Phrases
3.2 Unique Definite Noun Phrase
3.3 Anaphoric Definite Noun Phrase
3.4 Bridging Definites
3.5 A Lack of Complementarity Between Unique and Anaphoric Forms
4 Pragmatic Blocking Is Incompatible with A'ingae Definiteness
4.1 Competition Between Covert and Overt Determiner Form
4.2 Maximize Presupposition!
4.3 Bare Noun Blocking
5 Toward a Semantic Alternative to Pragmatic Competition
6 Conclusions and Future Directions
References
Index