Body-Part Prefixes in Matses

Derivation or Noun Incorporation

Bibliographic Data

ID4559612
AuthorsDavid W Fleck (0000-0003-2178-3879, La Trobe University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume72
Issue1
Pages59-96
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of American Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7071 • E-ISSN: 1545-7001
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/505279
OpenAlexW2062837529
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited21

Matses, a Panoan language spoken in Amazonian Peru and Brazil, has a set of 28 monosyllabic forms, representing mostly body parts, which are phonologically attached to the front of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. All Panoan languages seem to have a similar set of morphemes, and there is some controversy about whether these are prefixes or incorporated nouns. Here, this phenomenon is exemplified in detail for Matses, and I argue that while this process might have evolved from noun incorporation, synchronically it should be considered prefixation. This distinction is important for the synchronic interpretation of Matses prefixation as product of grammaticalization and for a comparative‐historical perspective of these Panoan forms. Among the characteristics of Matses prefixation that are not consistent with noun incorporation is an applicative‐like function, where the prefix allows into the clause an extra constituent that is in a Figure–Ground relation with absolutive arguments

Grammaticalization · Head (geology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Morpheme · Noun · Perspective (graphical · Prefix · Set (abstract data type · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Geology · History · Language and cultural evolution · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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