The word as a domain of linguistic level interactions in Wichi (Mataguayan)

NERCESIAN, VERÓNICA

Boston

Congreso; SSILA/LSA Annual Meeting; 2013

Polysynthesis and agglutination profiles of a language trigger multilevel interaction phenomena within the word, such as morphophonological and morphosemantic adjustments and constraints, and morphosyntactic relations involved in the word. Indeed, the "word" has been defined combining phonological and grammatical criteria (Dixon & Aikhenvald 2002). Since these multilevel interactions take place in the same morphological unit and in word formation processes, they challenge the wordhood and integrity of this unit. This paper analyzes different types of linguistic level interactions within the word in Wichi (Mataguayan) and argues that they are of two types: overlapping, on the one hand, and conditioning and alteration, on the other hand. The following examples illustrate some words where linguistic level interactions take place: (1) /to.'wu.jis.hi/ to-w'ujis+(i)hi UNDF.POSS-blood+exist "somebody's spleen"; (2) ( x)( x ) /i.wù.ˈpó.se.ta/ iwu+poset-a 3SUB:do+beak-IC "(S)he whistles."; (3) n'-tkatin-'am-ey 1SUB-jump-2OBJ-APPL "I jump all the way to you (you are far)."; (4) a-t'ische-yaj 2POSS-to_laugh-NMLZ "your laugh"; (5) asnam-yaj 3SUB:blind-NMLZ "his/her blindness"; (6) la-chefwen-ek 3POSS-to_teach-NMLZ "his/her student". In example (1) the phonotactic rule, by which the /h/ is deleted after a fricative consonant, is blocked in the compound with the verbal root. In (2) stress assignment and metrical parsing change with the noun incorporation word formation process (this is a special prosodic structure applied to incorporation). Example (3) shows the overlapping of the word and a clause ?note that the grammatical relations within the word are marked by the pronominal affixes. (4)-(6) illustrate the semantic conditioning on selecting the nominalizer; the suffix -ek only combines with agentive verbs and refers to the product or result of the event. Examples (1)-(2) and (4)-(6) show the conditioning in the morphology-phonology and morphology-semantic interactions. In all cases the grammatical word overlaps with the phonological word and a semantic unit. Thus, I will conclude that conditioning occurs only in the morphophonology and morphosemantics interactions. It occurs in and for the well formation of the word, following wordhood requirements. Conversely, the overlapping is in the interaction of all levels: the phonological word and the grammatical word in the morphophonological relation; the word and the simple clause or nominal phrase in the morphosyntactic relation; and the word and the semantic unit or concept in the morphosemantic relation. Linguistic level interactions within the word are not a peculiarity of Wichi. Rather, it is a common phenomenon to be found in languages of the Americas which tend to polysynthesis and agglutination. In this sense, this paper contributes to the recent discussions on defining the word in Amerindian languages.