The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu

Abstract: Number agreement systems often present traces of older elements common to different languages of the same family; thus, their emergence is difficult to reconstruct. One possible origin of such systems is the grammaticalization of plural words into bound morphemes, which, as a result of a l...

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Main Author: Aline da Cruz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
Series:Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-81222015000200419&lng=en&tlng=en
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spelling doaj-361fbdbcc4bf408495ef3cfba0e7f2452020-11-24T23:35:41ZengMuseu Paraense Emílio GoeldiBoletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas2178-254710241943910.1590/1981-81222015000200011S1981-81222015000200419The rise of number agreement in NheengatuAline da CruzAbstract: Number agreement systems often present traces of older elements common to different languages of the same family; thus, their emergence is difficult to reconstruct. One possible origin of such systems is the grammaticalization of plural words into bound morphemes, which, as a result of a long process, develop into agreement markers and may become obligatory. Various investigations have provided evidence for this hypothesis. However, the complete process of change from a system with no number as grammatical category into a number agreement system in a single language has not been documented. This paper analyses documents covering different stages of the development of the Nheengatu language from Tupinambá in order to observe how the number agreement system emerged in modern Nheengatu. By doing so, this paper supports the idea that grammaticalization may have occurred rapidly in intense contact situations.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-81222015000200419&lng=en&tlng=enConcordância de númeroGramaticalizaçãoLíngua geral (Nheengatu)Tupi-Guarani.
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Aline da Cruz
spellingShingle Aline da Cruz
The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu
Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas
Concordância de número
Gramaticalização
Língua geral (Nheengatu)
Tupi-Guarani.
author_facet Aline da Cruz
author_sort Aline da Cruz
title The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu
title_short The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu
title_full The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu
title_fullStr The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu
title_full_unstemmed The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu
title_sort rise of number agreement in nheengatu
publisher Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
series Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas
issn 2178-2547
description Abstract: Number agreement systems often present traces of older elements common to different languages of the same family; thus, their emergence is difficult to reconstruct. One possible origin of such systems is the grammaticalization of plural words into bound morphemes, which, as a result of a long process, develop into agreement markers and may become obligatory. Various investigations have provided evidence for this hypothesis. However, the complete process of change from a system with no number as grammatical category into a number agreement system in a single language has not been documented. This paper analyses documents covering different stages of the development of the Nheengatu language from Tupinambá in order to observe how the number agreement system emerged in modern Nheengatu. By doing so, this paper supports the idea that grammaticalization may have occurred rapidly in intense contact situations.
topic Concordância de número
Gramaticalização
Língua geral (Nheengatu)
Tupi-Guarani.
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-81222015000200419&lng=en&tlng=en
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