Determination and definiteness in Ayoreo (zamucoan)

SANTIAGO DURANTE

Foz do Iguazu, Brasil

Congreso; 57º Congreso Internacional de Americanistas (ICA); 2023

UNICENTRO (Brasil) - Sociedad de Americanistas

The Ayoreo people are a hunter-gatherer group of South American Gran Chaco. Census data on population and housing carried out in 2012 in Paraguay and Bolivia showed a total of 1862 Ayoreode in Bolivia (CEDIB 2012) and 2481 in Paraguay (DGEEC 2012). Ayoreo (Zamucoan family) is the language of communication in communities of the Paraguayan and Bolivian Chaco, although signs of linguistic retraction have been registered. The contact of the modern Ayoreo with the surrounding society is relatively recent and un-contacted communities are still found in the north of Paraguay. This situation and the infamous characterization of the Ayoreo as fierce warriors have so far generated little analysis of their language and culture from a scientific perspective.There is no corpus-based study on determination and the expression of definiteness in Ayoreo yet. The language lacks a clear paradigm of articles. However, definiteness may be marked by possessive prefixes and demonstratives serving as determiners of the noun (mandatory for body parts and kinship terms) and demonstrative pronouns.(1)Ajojaich-ised -achid-i.Ajojai3-find3POSS -pet-MSGAjojai finds his pet.1(2)Benitoudeayo-eEngaSantiagoUdepooo-i.BenitoDEM.PROX.SGayore-MSGCONJSantiagoDEM.PROX.SGwhite-MSGBenito is ayore and Santiago is white.In addition, indefinite (specific and non-specific) referents may be marked by an indefinite article and by some quantifiers.(3)Y-icadiguijetigay-ioediecucha-pibos-ode.1SG-forgetSUB1SG-buyany-food-MPLI forgot to buy food.(4)Tamoco-iquepo.dog- INDF3-barkA dog barks.Within the frame of reference theory (Kibrik 2011; Lehmann 2017, among others), a first characterization of determination and definiteness is intended. This research combines the analysis from an onomasiological perspective (Lehmann n.d.) of a segment of the functional area of the establishment and tracking of referents in discourse (determination and definiteness), with the in-depth study of the grammatical and discursive resources that a language in particular (Ayoreo) unfolds to express the mentioned functions.The specific questions guiding this communication are as follows:a) What role does determination play in the reference establishment?b) How does the Ayoreo language carry out the expression of determination?c) In which way does the language indicate definiteness?d) What are its formal-structural properties?e) How are they used in specific constructions?