Hierarchical agreement and split intransitivity in Reyesano

Abstract

This paper discusses, for the first time, the peculiar system of person marking in Reyesano, an Amazonian language from northern Bolivia. Person marking in Reyesano is quite unusual. First, it is discontinuous, involving a prefix slot for the indexation of first and second persons and a suffix slot for the indexation of third persons. Second, the use of the person markers in the slots is conditioned by the complex interaction of distinct factors, involving the grammatical function of the participants (S, A, and O), their ranking on a person hierarchy (2 > 1 > 3), and their number (singular vs. plural). © 2009 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.