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Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences
Edited by Rik van Gijn, Jeremy Hammond, Dejan Matić, Saskia van Putten and Ana Vilacy Galucio
[Typological Studies in Language 105] 2014
► pp. 309–340

Clause chaining, switch reference and nominalisations in Aguaruna (Jivaroan)

| James Cook University

This paper describes reference tracking strategies in Aguaruna, a Jivaroan language of north Peru. I take a functional and holistic approach to the description, and argue that different types of dependent clauses, tail-head linkage, and some nominalised clauses all function as a unified system of reference tracking in discourse. What these formally disparate constructions have in common is the marking of reference tracking information on verbs rather than on the referring NPs themselves. The analysis raises the question of what factors motivate the selection of a given clause-chaining construction in a given context, and I suggest some answers on the basis of discourse structuring principles. Keywords: Amazonian; nominalisation; clause-chaining; subordination

Published online: 5 March 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.105.11ove
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Overall, Simon E.
2016. Switch-reference and case-marking in Aguaruna (Jivaroan) and beyond. In Switch Reference 2.0 [Typological Studies in Language, 114], ► pp. 453 ff. DOI logo
Overall, Simon E.
2018. From verb to noun and back again: Non-referential uses of nominalizations in Aguaruna (Chicham). STUF - Language Typology and Universals 71:1 ► pp. 133 ff. DOI logo
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