Word formation in Vilela (Argentinean Chaco).

GOLLUSCIO, LUCÍA; SWINTHA, DANIELSEN

Leipzig

Workshop; “Word formation in South American languages”; 2011

Institute of Linguistics, University of Leipzig

In this presentation we are going to present an overview of Vilela word formation strategies. Vilela is a moribund language from the Argentinean Chaco, which has been classified together with the already extinct Lule language (e.g. in Adelaar & Muysken 2004, Lozano 2006). Even though Lule and Vilela seem to be related structurally, there are different views on their relation to be either genetic (Adelaar & Muysken 2004, Viegas Barros 2001) or areal (Comrie, Golluscio, Gónzalez & Vidal 2010).We will first show some general typological characteristics and word formation strategies, observed in Vilela. In the main section we will focus on the most interesting part of Vilela morphology: verbal root compounding, or the serialization of verbal roots. The serial verb constructions of Vilela are different from what has frequently described as verbal serialization, because they represent one phonological and grammatical word (1). However, they are similar to what has been described as the serial verb constructions in the Mixe language Olutec by Zavala (2006).(1) maoqol inaq-ki nah=ne-bis-efox child-1SG 1SG=come-ask_for-3‘The fox came and asked me for my child.’The serial verb root constructions in Vilela are a particular challenge to the analysis, because the same roots, such as nV- ‘come’ in (1) and kV- ‘go’ in (2) can occur in the first or the second position of the complex verbs.(2) kire umhos-ke-n-oh-kiwood take_out-go-PERF-FUT-1SG‘I will go and take out firewood (I don’t know when).’We will therefore present an analysis of the different types of verbal roots that play a role in the serial constructions, and attempt to understand their different functions.