draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

The latter function is illustrated in (2.32).
nominalize verbs borrowed from Spanish.
Note that in modern Omagua, =yaRa does not
(2.32) cristianokana eRa RanaconfesayaRaRaSi, RanasawaitiaRi weRanu santísimo sacramento?
cristiano =kana eRa Rana= confesa =yaRa =RaSi Rana= sawaiti
Christian =pl.ms good 3pl.ms= confess =poss.nomz =nass 3pl.ms= encounter
=aRi
=impf
weRanu
coord
santísimo sacramento
Holy Sacrament
‘Christians who have confessed properly, will they receive the Holy Sacrament?’
(example (2.32))
In modern Omagua, =yaRa similarly derives a possessive noun, as in (2.33).
(2.33) Modern Omagua
wainúkana, awi RanayapIsaRayaRa.
wainú =kana awi Rana= yapIsaRa =yaRa
woman =pl.ms already 3pl.ms= man =poss.nomz
‘As for the women, they already have husbands.’
(MCT:C4.S3)
In some instances, when the nominal head may not only be construed as an entity that may
be possessed, but also one that may be acted upon or be the result of a process, the progressive
=aRi may attach to =yaRa. That is, the presence =aRi forces an active interpretation of ‘doing’ in
contrast to a stative interpretation of ‘having’. This illustrated in (2.34), from modern Omagua.
(2.34) Modern Omagua
tsIumai tsIamuina. kuuyaRaRi kak1R1 iná.
tsI= umai tsI= amui =na
1sg.fs= remember 1sg.fs= grandfather =pl.fs
kuu =yaRa =aRi kak1R1 iná
swidden =poss.nomz =prog live 3pl.fs
‘I remember my grandparents. They lived farming.’
(AmHT:2011.06.13.1)
2.3 Syntax and Information Structure
In this section we present an overview of Omagua syntax and information structure. As before, much
of our description here is based on our analysis of modern Omagua, but unless noted otherwise, the
analysis that follows is true for both stages of Omagua. Conversely, some phenomena we discuss in
this section are attested in Old Omagua but unattested in modern Omagua; we mention all such
cases. We discuss nominal modification (§2.3.2), adpositional phrases (§2.3.3), negation (§2.3.4),
interrogative formation (§2.3.5), noun phrase coordination (2.3.6), clause-linking (§2.3.7), focus
(§2.3.8) and non-verbal predication (§2.3.9).
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