the syntax and semantics of relativization and quantification

10
1.3.2 Morphosyntax
In this section I provide a brief introduction to some of the basic facts of Quechua
morphology which will be relevant to examples presented throughout the dissertation.
Many of the details vary substantially among the Quechua languages, and
since here I am unable to provide more than the most relevant general information I
refer the reader to some of the excellent grammars available (notably [Cusihuamán
1976/2000] for Cuzco Quechua, [Cole 1985] for Imbabura Quechua, and to [Cerrón-
Palomino 1987] for an overview and comparison of a number of dialects, as well as
to the other references listed above.
The Quechua languages have a basic Subject-Object-Verb word order but with
a great deal of variation allowed. The unmarked word order in a main transitive
clause is illustrated in (1.4) from Cuzco Quechua (CQ).
(1.4) Juan
Juan
waka-ta
cow-acc
‘Juan bought a cow.’
ranti-rqa-n.
buy-past-3sg
(CQ)
The order of constituents is largely determined by stylistic and pragmatic considerations,
and not by truth-conditional semantic or purely syntactic considerations.
Thus in (1.4), all six of the logically possible word orders are acceptable and convey
the same meaning. In this sense the Quechua languages are highly nonconfigurational.
However, Quechua does seem to obey some restrictions in word order
particularly in subordinate clauses and within noun phrases, making it somewhat
more rigid than the well-studied example of Warlpiri, a classically nonconfigurational
language (e.g. [Hale 1983]). For example, subordinate nominalized clauses in