INVESTIGADORES
GOLLUSCIO lucia Angela
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Converbs in -(e)l, clause combining, and discourse in Vilela (Lule-Vilela, Chaco)
Autor/es:
GOLLUSCIO, LUCÍA (COMP.)
Lugar:
Nijmegen
Reunión:
Workshop; Workshop "Subordination and Information structure: South America and beyond"; 2011
Institución organizadora:
Max Planck Institute
Resumen:
Vilela is a little-known and
extremely endangered Chaco language. The
location of two elderly speakers in recent years has made it possible to
conduct language documentation and description. No Vilela grammars or
dictionaries exist. Neither is there known work on the simple clause structure and the combination of clauses, the
topic to which this paper intends to contribute.
The Vilela language exhibits
two types of multiverbal constructions: root serialization (ke-jasi-e [go-sit-3] s/he went and sat) and
the sequence of converb(s) in -(e)l + an inflected verb (1-3).
The paper describes the converb in -(e)l, whose development as
syntactic and discourse recourse appears to be a contemporary innovation. It
identifies the types of converbal constructions, examines structural and
semantic relationships between the converb and the matrix clause, and
determines uni- or multi-clausality. It places Vilela converbs in the typology
of these constructions (Haspelmath 1995, Nedjalkov 1995) and compares them with the serialized verbal roots
(Aikhenvald 2006, Zavala 2006).
The literature closely relates
serial verb constructions and converbs (Bisang 1995, Genetti 2005, Shibatani
2009, among others). In Vilela, these two verb sequences manifest formal and
semantic similarities: (a) the same verbs (e.g., motion verbs) can participate
in either construction, (b) they share similar constraints (e.g., V1
cannot be inflected), and (c) they differ from complementation clauses (latoj-el k-it-e [jump-CONV go-CTR-3] S/he went off
jumping vs latoj-om nam-oho-ki [jump-2SG.IMP
2SG.OBJ-tell-1SG.SUBJ] Lit.: Jump, I tell you).
However, while the serial
verbal root constructions are always monoclausal and show advanced
grammaticalization and lexicalization processes (kire um+k-it-ki [wood give+go=carry-CTR-1SG] I
carried some wood), the clauses with converbs in -(e)l evidences
different degrees of syntactic complexity (1-3). Specifically, the converbs
function as the nuclei of event-oriented clauses (either sequential or
non-sequential) (1-2) or of participant-oriented clauses with a secondary
predicate function (3). Differences between the serialized verbal roots and the
combination of clauses with converbs express diverse values on a formal and
semantic event integration continuum (Lehmann 1988, Givón 1990, 2009).
Moreover, said combination of clauses offers a productive alternative to
highlight the events in the clausal chains, modify and qualify them and their
participants and, finally, organize the rhetorical structure of the narrative
(Matthiesen and Thompson 1988; Thompson et al. 2007).
(1) (mole-mot-te) wah-el ahto-l wakel-el
hapel-e
mule-POSS.an-DET
eat-CONV finish-CONV turn.around-CONV back.up-3
(His mule) ate (the cake),
finished (it), turned around and backed up. (Lozano 2006: 55; our
translation)
(2) hate na-l
nie jope umo-e
man come-CONV
fire pot:CL
set-3
When
the man came, he set the pot on the fire. (ML, own data)
(3) nah ilah ahjuh-ki [ateka-we-l] SEC.PRED porop-be maje-be
I COP wander-1SG
young-ES-CONV canoe-LOC bank-LOC
I am the one that
roamed down the river bank in the canoe when young. (ML, own data)
Abbreviations: 1, 3 first, third persons; CL=nominal
classifier for manufactured objects; CONV=converb; COP=copula; CTR=control
marker; DET=determiner; ES=essive; IMP= imperative; LOC=locative; OBJ=object;
POSS.an= possessive marker (for some domestic animals); SEC.PRED=secondary
predication; SG=singular; SUBJ=subject.