Chamacoco affixes in Kadiwéu

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from Ciucci (2014:17), citing Sandalo (1995:47–49). The relationship between the Kadiwéu and Chamacoco people is said to have been hostile. However, the form given here is argued to be very likely borrowed because affixes with such grammatical functions are typologically rare and there are no other possible sources attested for it in Kadiwéu. Ciucci (2014) identifies a number of other similarities in the morphology of Zamucoan, Guaycuruan, and Matacoan, but, for these, the circumstances and the direction of potential borrowing remain unclear.

1 number agreement prefix

  • o- ‘plural human verbal participant’, e.g. o-j-awe (plural-3-blow) ‘they blow’, o-j-alakatidi (plural-3-remember) ‘they remember’. The corresponding morpheme in the source language (a third person plural pronominal form) is also only used for humans and sometimes large animals.