Person hierarchy in Avá Guarani : a study of distributed morphology / Hierarquia de pessoa em Avá Guarani : considerações a partir da morfologia distribuída
AUTOR(ES)
Maria Luisa de Andrade Freitas
FONTE
IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO
31/03/2011
RESUMO
This master thesis describes and analyses morphological and syntactic processes related to person hierarchy in the Ava-Guaraní language (Tupi-Guaraní language family / Tupi stock). The work employs a general Generative framework, guided in particular by the principles of Distributed Morphology (HALLE; MARANTZ, 1993; HALLE, 1997; MARANTZ, 1997). Person hierarchy is a morphosyntactic grammar pattern where the arguments person category (if 1st, 2nd or 3rd) interacts with morphological and syntactic phenomena. Systems like these have been found in several languages, and they are featured in descriptions of most members of the Tupi-Guarani language family. The purpose of this research is to discuss in greater detail the exact patterns displayed by the Avá-Guaraní 1 >2 >3 system. Thus, this work demonstrates that the argument marked on transitive verbs can be either Subject or Object (external or internal), depending on the involved person-number features. In addition to analyzing the interaction of person hierarchy and agreement, it is possible to demonstrate that the hierarchy also triggers a syntactic order change in Avá-Guaraní. As discussion of a grammatical interface, this thesis elaborates two analytical steps: At a syntactic level, it establishes a remarkable relationship between person hierarchy phenomena and the syntactic object displacement following the approach of Jelinek e Carnie (2003). Additionally, it is demonstrated that this relationship provides evidence for the morphosyntactic notion of inversion (Cf. PAYNE, 1994b). In a subsequent section, taking into account insights of the Distributed Morphology framework, the analysis suggests that the hierarchical structure generated by syntax is interpreted and modified by the morphological component, insofar as it performs post-syntactic operations and implements phonological content to the abstract features manipulated by syntax
ASSUNTO(S)
Índios - línguas Índios avá-guarani hierarquia (linguistica) morfologia sintaxe (gramatica) indian languages ava-guarani indians hierarchy (linguistics) morphology sintax (grammar)
