Pilaga Directionals and the Typology of Associated Motion

VIDAL, ALEJANDRA; PAYNE, DORIS

Associated Motion

DeGruyter

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2021; p. 451 - 482

Pilagá (Guaycuruan) has fourteen directional verb suffixes that code location, spatial configuration, and deictic and non-deictic path. The directionals also sometimes have applicative and some associated motion (am) functions. This study focuses on the am function of the deictic directionals -ge(ʼ) itive and -get ventive and on the non-deictic directional -ege opposite. The extent to which an am meaning is evident with these directionals depends on a combination of communicative pragmatics and the lexical root semantics. The system is technically vague as to whether an am is interpreted as prior to, or simultaneous with the action of the lexical verb. Am targets an intransitive S or a transitive O argument, thus displaying absolutive alignment. This is counter to Guillaume´s (2016) prediction that if an O can be interpreted as undergoing am, then subjects (both A and S) can also be so interpreted. Part of the explanation for the Pilagá absolutive pattern may be the conflation of am with an applicative function. Keywords: deixis, deictic motion, Guaycuruan family, applicative, absolutive.