The Expression of Time in Amahuaca Switch-Reference Clauses
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5899820 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emily Clem (University of California San Diego, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 134 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Languages (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/languages8020134 |
| OpenAlex | W4378528414 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
Many languages of lowland South America mark remoteness distinctions in their TAM systems. In Amahuaca (Panoan; Peru) multiple remoteness distinctions are made in the past and the future. I argue that the temporal remoteness morphemes (TRMs) of Amahuaca can be understood as indications of the remoteness of the event time relative to the utterance time in matrix environments. In dependent clauses, however, the picture is more complicated. By exploring adjunct switch-reference clauses, I show that TRMs in dependent clauses display a previously unreported ambiguity reminiscent of ambiguities found with adjunct tense. Specifically, they can relate the time of the adjunct clause event to the time of the matrix event or to the utterance time. I suggest that this ambiguity may arise from the availability of multiple interpretation sites for adjunct TRMs, with the possible interpretations being constrained by the temporal semantics of switch-reference markers themselves. This work thus contributes to the empirical understanding of how TRMs are interpreted in dependent clauses, suggesting interesting potential parallels to the interpretation of adjunct tense
Adjunct · Ambiguity · Contiguity · Contrast (vision · Dependent clause · Event (particle physics · Expression (computer science · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Modality (human–computer interaction · Morpheme · Natural language processing · Parallels · Semantics (computer science · Sentence · Utterance · Computer Science · Engineering · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence
Tense, Attitudes, and Scope
Sequence of Tense and Temporal de re
Temporal semantics in a superficially tenseless language
On the Universal Principles of Tense Embedding
On the interpretation of tense in temporal adverbial clauses
Agree without Agreement
Amahuaca ergative as agreement with multiple heads
Switch reference as index agreement
Panoan languages and linguistics
Beyond the past, present, and future
On the Methodology of Semantic Fieldwork
Past Temporal Reference and Remoteness Distinctions in Guajajára
Tense in Adjuncts Part 2
Disharmony and the Final-Over-Final Condition in Amahuaca
Cyclic Expansion in Agree
Feature Copying and Binding
| Highly cited | No |
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