Parataxis, hypotaxis and para-hypotaxis in the Zamucoan languages

• Main Authors: Pier Marco Bertinetto, Luca Ciucci
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dartmouth College Library 2012-01-01
• Series: Linguistic Discovery
• Subjects: clause-combining; Zamucoan; hypotaxis; parataxis
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.404

The term "para-hypotaxis" is commonly used by Romance linguists to refer to sentences containing a proleptic dependent clause, with the main clause introduced by a coordinator. It is thus an intermediate structure between parataxis and hypotaxis; it should not be confused, however, with seemingly analogous phenomena, such as co-subordination. Traditionally considered as an idiosyncratic feature of the Old Romance languages (as well as Biblical Hebrew, Greek and Latin), para-hypotaxis has recently been discovered in at least one modern, genetically unrelated language (Swahili). This paper shows - with illustrations mostly stemming from the Zamucoan family (Ayoreo and Chamacoco) - that it is also widespread in several languages of the Chaco Boreal. The possible functional justifications of this peculiar syntactic phenomenon are discussed.