Nanti

Family
Arawakan
Region
South America
ISO 639-3
cox
Location
-12.10°, -72.35°
Notes
Features
Flora Fauna Vocabulary
Grammatical Data
Data Sources
Michael, Lev David. 2008. Nanti evidential practice: Language, knowledge, and social action in an Amazonian society. University of Texas at Austin. Austin: UMI.


Flora Fauna Vocabulary (1)
English Spanish Portuguese Semantic Field Part of Speech Linnean Name Orthographic Form Phonemicized Form Gloss as in Source Etymology Code Proto-Form Proto-Language Loan Source Etymology Notes Wanderwort Status Etyma Set Range of Term Word Structure Word Structure Notes Classifier Classifier Notes Hypernym Source Association with Social Categories Ritual/Mythologically Significant Ritual Notes Food Source Food Notes Medicinal Medicinal Notes How Collected Who Collects How Prepared Psychotropic Psychotropic Notes Traded Trade Notes Distribution Habitat Dangerous Ethnobiology Notes Species Notes General Notes
peach palm, pejibaye palm chontaduro (Col, Ecuador); pipire (Col); pijuayo (Peru), pijiguao (Ven); tembe (Bol) pupunha flora-fauna Bactris gasipaes kuri kuri Bactris gasipaes Michael 2008: 337


Grammatical Data (226)
Category Grammatical Feature Grammatical Feature: Notes Feature Status Grammatical Notes Source Etymology Notes General Notes Phylogenetic Code
Phonology - Segmental Pre-/post-nasalized stops Analysis posits that the stop is the most relevant underlying phoneme. Comment in notes on whether the nasal contour is understood as a phonetic (allophonic) effect, or is phonologically contrastive. no Michael, Lev. 2008. Nanti Evidential Practice: Language, knowledge and social action in an Amazonian society. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin dissertation. p. 221
Phonology - Segmental Glottalized/ejective consonants Phonemic contrast [NOT counting glottal stop/fricative] no Michael, 2008. p. 221
Phonology - Segmental Palatalized stops Phonemic contrast yes Michael, 2008. p. 221
Phonology - Segmental Phonemic vowel length Does the language have long and short vowels? yes Michael, 2008. p. 221
Phonology - Segmental Phonemic glottalization/laryngealization of vowels no Michael, 2008. p. 225
Phonology - Segmental Complex onsets Onset consists of more than one consonant phoneme no Michael, 2008. p. 225
Phonology - Segmental No codas *(C)VC [no also equals highly constrained] yes Michael, 2008. p. 240
Phonology - Segmental Word-final coda required Do all syllables end in a consonant? no Michael, 2008. p. 221
Phonology - Suprasegmental Contrastive tones Note how many contrastive tones no Michael, 2008
Phonology - Suprasegmental Contrastive stress Does stress occur on different syllables with meaning difference? no Michael, 2008. p. 231-236
Phonology - Suprasegmental Nasalization property of morpheme or syllable In contrast to nasalization as a property of segments no Michael, 2008. p. 221
Phonology - Suprasegmental Nasal spreading across some morpheme boundaries Do some affixes or other morphemes take the nasal/oral properties of the root they attach to? no /h/ triggers nasalization on preceding vowel. Michael, 2008. p. 231
Phonology - Suprasegmental Vowel harmony no Michael, 2008
Morphology - General Verbal fusion (2+ categories marked by portmanteau morphemes on verb) Verb combines two or more categories (tense, aspect, mood, person, number, etc.) in portmanteau morphemes{ [ignore proclitics unless they are fused with values other than person/number] no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Morphology - General Inflection manifested by replacement of segmental or suprasegmental phonemes Stem change, tone no Michael, 2008
Morphology - General Verbal synthesis (1+ inflectional categories marked by verbal affixes) Morphological complexity in verbs - multiple inflectional affixes in a single verb word yes Michael, 2008
Morphology - General Prefixing/suffixing inflectional morph: strongly prefixing There are many more prefixes than suffixes no Michael, 2008. p. 248
Morphology - General Prefixing/suffixing inflectional morph: strongly suffixing There are many more suffixes than prefixes yes Michael, 2008. p. 248
Morphology - General Prefixing/suffixing inflectional morph: roughly equal or one weakly preferred The numbers of suffixes and prefixes are not notably different no Michael, 2008. p. 248
Morphology - General Reduplication: full The full morpheme is reduplicated no Michael, 2008
Morphology - General Reduplication: partial Only part of the morpheme is reduplicated no Syllables can be reduplicated in order to meet metrical restraints in kariNtaa poetry, but no indication that reduplication serves any “grammatical” purpose. Michael, 2008
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Productive NN compounding Noun compounds created from two noun phrases are common and systematically produced no Michael, 2008. p. 293
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Productive VV serialization (without compounding) Verb roots can be combined in a single predicate without markers of subordination (distinct from subordinating construction) or distinct inflection no Michael, 2008
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Productive VV compounding Serial verb constructions involve chaining of roots together in one morphophonological word no Michael, 2008
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Verb-adjunct (aka light verb) constructions There is a set of semantically weak verbs used in complex verbal constructions, e.g. 'take a nap' yes At least one light verb--kaNt 'do' Michael, 2008. p. 395, 436
Morphology - Compounding, auxiliaries, light verbs Auxiliary verb(s) There are verbs that accompany main verbs of clauses and take grammatical marking not expressed by main verbs no Michael, 2008
Morphology - Incorporation Incorporation of nouns into verbs is a productive intransitivizing process Verb contains nominal segment yes Only inalienably-possessed nouns, and, of those, only “part” terms--no nouns for manufactured items (e.g., “bow.”). Happens with verbs, adjectives and numerals. Michael, 2008. p. 327
Morphology - Incorporation Productive incorporation of other elements (adjectives, locatives, etc.) into verbs Like noun incorporation, but incorporated elements are not nouns no Michael, 2008. p. 327-331
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Noun classes/genders Nouns are organized into sets with distinct morphological treatment; usually affects all nouns and involves agreement within the NP yes Michael, 2008. p. 294
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Number of noun classes/genders Note the (approximate) total number of noun classes/genders 2 Michael, 2008. p. 294
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Noun classifiers (distinct from noun classes/genders) Nouns are organized into sets, but only a limited set of nouns may be implicated, with no or limited agreement marking. If only numeral classifiers exist, indicate yes but explain. yes Michael, 2008. p. 332
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Sex is a relevant category in noun class(ification) system for animates Masculine, feminine, neuter yes Michael, 2008. p. 294
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Sex is a relevant category in noun class(ification) system for inanimates no All animates are “feminine.” Michael, 2008. p. 294
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Animacy (w/o reference to sex) is a relevant category in the noun class(ification) system Animate/inanimate, human/non-human yes Animacy agreement is marked on numerals, some adjectives, some indefinite quantifiers, and existential verb. On verbal person markers and nominal possessive markers, all inanimates belong to the “feminine” class. Michael, 2008. p. 294-295
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Sex/gender distinction only in 3rd person pronouns add in notes section whether gender is present in other PNs or not in any PNs; consider with reference to pronouns and person marking only no Michael, 2008. p. 295
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Shape is a relevant category in the noun class(ification) system for animates no No mention of or examples of animates using shape classifiers. Michael, 2008. p. 332-340
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Shape is a relevant category in the noun class(ification) system for inanimates yes Michael, 2008. p. 332
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification "Repeater" classifiers Where no distinct classifier exists, a copy of the noun itself may function in the morphosyntactic classifier "slot" no No mention in discussion of classifier system. Michael, 2008. p. 332-340
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Numeral classifiers (specific to numerals) Special classifier forms that occur only with numerals no Numerals use classifiers, but they are the same classfiers that are used with verbs, adjectives and nouns. Michael, 2008. p. 332
Nominal Categories - Gender and noun classification Classifiers used as derivational suffixes to derive nouns Verb + classifier = 'thing for doing V, thing that does V, etc.' no Classifiers can be used with verbs, but they classify the notional subject of an intransitive or the notional object of a transitive. Michael, 2008. p. 332
Nominal Categories - Number Singular number may be marked on the noun Often occurs in a small subset of nouns if a single entity is referred to, e.g. insects that normally occur in groups no Two plural suffixes, no singular suffix described. Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Number Plural affix on noun yes Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Number Plural marked by stem change or tone on noun no Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Number Plural marked by reduplication of noun no Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Number Plural word/clitic no Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Number Plural marked on human or animate nouns only no Example 6.143 shows plural marker with inanimate. Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Number Pronominal plural: stem + nominal plural affix Pronouns use a nominal plural affix not specific to pronouns yes Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Number Unique associative plural marker e.g. 'John and his associates', 'John and them' no Michael, 2008. p. 297
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Definite or specific articles Definite = particular referent known to both speaker and addressee; specific = particular referent known to speaker only yes “Specific” articles, use the same form as demonstratives. Michael, 2008. p. 306
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Marker of definiteness distinct from demonstratives Focus on articles/markers whose primary function is to mark definiteness no They use the same phonological form. Michael, 2008. p. 304-306
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Indefinite or non-specific article or marker no Michael, 2008. p. 304-309
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Inclusive/exclusive: in free pronominals Inclusive =us + you, exclusive = us but not you yes 1st person singular and 1st person plural exclusive take same form, 1st person plural inclusive is distinct. Michael, 2008. p. 348
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Inclusive/exclusive: in verbal inflection (bound) yes 1st person singular and 1st person plural exclusive take same form, 1st person plural inclusive is distinct. Michael, 2008. p. 267
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Distance contrasts in demonstratives (number) Note the number of distances in the demonstrative system 3 speaker and addressee proximal, speaker proximal, and speaker distal Michael, 2008. p. 304-305
Nominal Categories - Definiteness and clusivity Other contrasts in demonstratives (visibility, elevation, etc.) no Michael, 2008. p. 304-305
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Gender in 3sg pronouns yes Michael 2008. p. 348
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Gender in 3pl pronouns yes Michael, 2008. p. 348
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Gender in 1st and/or 2nd person pronouns no Michael, 2008. p. 348
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Formal/informal distinction in pronouns Polite pronominal variants or differential avoidance of pronouns no Michael, 2008. p. 348
Nominal Categories - Pronominal categories Reflexive pronouns e.g. English 'himself', Spanish 'se'; distinct form(s) from basic (non-reflexive) pronominals; distinct from reflexive verbal affix yes The verbal person markers + -kiro are used to make reflexive pronouns. They don't have plural forms and can be in either topic or argument position. Michael, 2008. p. 377
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Adpositions mark core NPs Prepositions or postpositions mark subjects, objects, beneficiaries/recipients no Core arguments marked on verb or with free pronouns/nouns. Michael, 2008. p. 340-343
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: number of cases Note the number of grammatical relations that may be morphologically marked on the noun 1 Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: only non-core arguments morphologically marked Subjects, objects, beneficiaries/recipients NOT marked, but other grammatical relations are yes There is a locative case marker, but other semantically oblique arguments use an “applicative” marker on the verb. Michael, 2008. p. 340-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: symmetrical All NPs marked if in appropriate syntactic relation; no distinction in marking based on semantics (type of entity) no There is only one case marker, which is a locative marker, so by default most of the marked nouns would be inanimates. It's unclear what happens with animates. Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: asymmetrical Semantically defined subset of NPs marked for case, e.g. animates no Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: suffix or postpositional clitic yes Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: prefix or prepositional clitic no Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: infix or inpositional clitic no Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: stem change no Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: tone no Michael, 2008. p. 354-355
Nominal Categories - Case and adpositions Case: comitative = instrumental Same marking for 'with a person' and 'with an instrument' n/a No comitative or instrumental case. The verbal applicative marker for instrumental does not have a comitative reading. Michael, 2008. p. 285, 354-355
Nominal Categories - Numerals Base-2 At least some part of the system involves base-2 no Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Categories - Numerals Base-5 At least some part of the system involves base-5 no Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Categories - Numerals Base-10 At least some part of the system involves base-10 no Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Categories - Numerals Other base (specify) 4, 20, etc. no Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Categories - Numerals Etymological transparency in any numerals under 5 e.g. two = 'eye-quantity' no info Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Categories - Numerals Numerals do not go above 5 'Many' or some other non-exact term used yes Numerals for “one” and “two” Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Categories - Numerals Numerals do not go above 10 'Many' or some other non-exact term used yes Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Categories - Other nominal Tense or aspect inflection on non-verbal predicates i.e. nominal or adjectival no “Roots” can be either adjectival or verbal. When they are “verbal,” they take aspect inflection, but when they are adjectival, they don't. When adjectival predication is used, a copular form is used. Michael, 2008. p. 310-313
Nominal Categories - Other nominal Person inflection on non-verbal predicates i.e. nominal or adjectival no “Roots” can be either adjectival or verbal. When they are “verbal,” they take person markers, but when they are adjectival, they don't. When adjectival predication is used, a copular form is used. Michael, 2008. p. 310-313
Nominal Syntax - Possession Pronominal possessive affixes: prefix on N alienable/inalienable? yes Michael, 2008. p. 297-299
Nominal Syntax - Possession Pronominal possessive affixes: suffix on N alienable/inalienable? no Michael, 2008. p. 297-299
Nominal Syntax - Possession Head/dependent marking in possessive NP: dependent e.g. 'the boy-'s dog' no Michael, 2008. p. 297-299
Nominal Syntax - Possession Head/dependent marking in possessive NP: head e.g. 'the boy his-dog' yes Michael, 2008. p. 297-299
Nominal Syntax - Possession Possessive classifiers There are special classifiers that occur with possessed entities no Michael, 2008. p. 332-338
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Morphological marking of inalienable possession Where inalienable possession differs from alienable, the former takes a morphological marker (may include an associated free particle/pronoun) no Inalienable nouns must always occur with a possessive prefix. Michael, 2008. p. 298
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Morphological marking of alienable possession Where inalienable possession differs from alienable, the latter takes a morphological marker (may include an associated free particle/pronoun) yes When possessed, alienable nouns take a possessive prefix and an “alienable possession suffix.” Michael, 2008. p. 298-300
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Default marker for inalienably possessed nouns if unpossessed An inalienable noun that is in an unpossessed state must have a derivational affix or associated form no The -tsi marker in other Arawak languages has been lost. The first-person plural inclusive marker /a-/ is now used to function as an impersonal possessor. Michael, 2008. p. 300-301
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Inalienable possession of kin terms 'my-father' but *father yes Michael, 2008. p. 299
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Inalienable possession of body parts (human/animal) 'my-leg' but *leg yes Michael, 2008. p. 299
Nominal Syntax - Possession - Alienability Generic human nouns are obligatorily bound/possessed Human nouns must co-occur with another noun (e.g. Hup-man, NonIndian-woman, but *man) no Michael, 2008. p. 297-301
Nominal Syntax - Adjectives Underived adjectives There are underived adjectives which do not have counterparts in other word classes yes Michael, 2008. p. 310-311
Nominal Syntax - Adjectives Gender inflection on adjectives within the NP There is gender agreement/concord (animate/inanimate or masc/fem, etc.) within the NP, e.g. la casa blanca, el perro blanco no Derived adjectives do not exhibit animacy or gender agreement. Among derived adjectives, gender and animacy agreement is rare. Michael, 2008. p. 311-312
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive nominalizing morphology: action/state (arrive/arrival) There is a morpheme which derives an event from a verb no Michael, 2008. p. 303-304
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive nominalizing morphology: agentive (sing/singer) There is a morpheme which derives an agent or subject from a verb yes There is one nominalizing morpheme, -rira. This is most often an agentive nominalization, but can also be used for other types of nominalizations. Michael, 2008. p. 303-304
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive nominalizing morphology: object (sing/song) There is a morpheme which derives a patient or object from a verb no Michael, 2008. p. 303-304
Nominal Syntax - Derivation Productive verbalizing morphology There is a morpheme which derives a verb from a noun or adjective no Michael, 2008. p. 247-290
Nominal Syntax - Other NP coordination and comitative phrases marked differently 'John and Mary went to market' is marked differently from 'John went to market with Mary' no Nanti has both NP coordination but no overt comitative morphology (although there is an influential causative, -akag). Michael, 2008. p. 280-284, 371
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Dedicated past marker(s) Past tense is regularly morphologically marked on the verb or elsewhere no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Multiple past tenses, distinguishing distance from time of reference e.g. distant vs. recent past no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Multiple future tenses, distinguishing distance from time of reference e.g. imminent vs. distant future no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Dedicated future or non-past marker(s) no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect affixes: prefix no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect affixes: suffix yes Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect affixes: tone or ablaut no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Aspect and tense Tense-aspect suppletion no Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Mood Dedicated imperative morpheme or verb form There is a special morpheme (or morphemes, or a bare verb root where inflection is normally expected) used to signal imperative (command) mood no Imperatives are formed using irrealis markers and omitting the subject person marker or free pronoun. Michael, 2008. p. 399
Verbal Categories - Mood Polite imperative morpheme There is a distinct morpheme for polite imperative constructions (specify if it has other functions in the language) yes The polite imperative is differentiated from regular imperatives by the use of a person marker. Michael, 2008. p. 400-401
Verbal Categories - Mood Difference between negation in imperative (prohibitive) and declarative clauses There are different strategies for marking negation in imperative and declarative clauses yes Positive polarity imperatives can use either regular or polite imperative, negative polarity must use polite imperative form, without irrealis marking. Michael, 2008. p. 400-401
Verbal Categories - Mood Dedicated hortative morpheme or verb form (1pl or 3rd person imperative) as opposed to imperative; the person in control of desired state of affairs is not the addressee; ex: 'Let's sing' / 'Let him sing' no Michael, 2008. p. 399-401
Verbal Categories - Mood Situational possibility: affix on verb Inflectional marking of capacity to do something no Michael, 2008. p. 247-289
Verbal Categories - Mood Situational possibility: verbal construction no info Michael, 2008
Verbal Categories - Mood Situational possibility: other marking no info Michael, 2008
Verbal Categories - Mood Epistemic possibility: affix on verb Modal expressing hypothesis yes Michael, 2008. p. 273-274
Verbal Categories - Mood Epistemic possibility: verbal construction no info Michael, 2008
Verbal Categories - Mood Epistemic possibility: other marking no info Michael, 2008
Verbal Categories - Mood Marking of expected/unexpected action or result There is inflectional marking of expected/unexpected no Michael, 2008. p. 247-289
Verbal Categories - Mood Verbal frustrative Modal expressing frustration ("in vain") yes Michael, 2008. p. 275
Verbal Categories - Mood Verbal habitual Modal expressing habituality yes In a section on “rare” morphemes, looks like it's either being lost or in the first stages of being borrowed. Michael, 2008. p. 266
Verbal Categories - Mood Apprehensive construction There is a single morpheme or verb form to mean '(be careful lest) X happens' no Michael, 2008. p. 247-289
Verbal Categories - Mood Reality status marking on verbs There are dedicated morpheme(s) for realis/irrealis 'actualized/unactualized events' yes Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Mood Affect markers (positive/negative) Note whether these inflectional markers are positive or negative yes There are desirable and undesirable extremals. Both of these mean that the action or state to which the morpheme is affixed is realized to an extreme degree, but the “undesirable extremal” -uma has the idea that the speaker has a negative attitude toward Michael, 2008. p. 263-265
Verbal Categories - Directionals Directional elements affixed to the verb There are grammaticalized elements indicating movement away, toward, there and back, etc. yes Michael, 2008. p. 249
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized visual Indicates information has been witnessed visually - indicate only if an overt marker no Michael, 2008. p. 323-326
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized nonvisual Indicates information has been sensed firsthand but not visually (usually heard; also smelled, tasted, felt) no Michael, 2008. p. 323-326
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized inferential Indicates information has not been experienced firsthand, but inferred from some kind of evidence - indicate only if an overt marker. yes Second-position clitic. Michael, 2008. p. 325
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized reportive Indicates speaker is not responsible for veracity of statement, merely reporting; 'allegedly' yes Not a verbal morpheme but a clitic that is inflected for person (but not aspect/reality status). It's historically derived from the root for 'hear,' kem. Michael, 2008. p. 324
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Grammaticalized quotative Indicate presence of adjacent representation of repeated discourse yes A clitic that is inflected for person (but not aspect/reality status), that is historically derived from the root for 'say,' kaNt. It's homophonous with the inferential clitic, but structurally distinct. Michael, 2008. p. 323-324
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Other evidential Any other evidential values not represented above no Michael, 2008. p. 323-326
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: verb affix or clitic yes The reportive and quotative are clitics that take their own person marking. The inferential evidential is a second-position clitic. Michael, 2008. p. 323-326
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: part of tense system Includes portmanteau morphs no Michael, 2008. p. 323-326
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: separate particle yes The reportive and quotative are clitics that take their own person marking. The inferential evidential is a second-position clitic. Michael, 2008. p. 323-326
Verbal Categories - Evidentiality Evidentiality: modal morpheme no Michael, 2008. p. 323-326
Verbal Categories - Verbal number Verbal number suppletion no Michael, 2008
Verbal Categories - Other Social interaction markers Note the type of interaction no There are several different types of causative that make this type of distinction, but no morphemes that indicate solely social interaction? Michael, 2008.
Word Order No fixed basic constituent order no Michael, 2008. p. 345
Word Order VS in intransitive clauses Verb precedes subject no Non-focused, referential NPs are found before the verb when they are subjects and after the verb when they are objects, but these are uncommon. There are no examples of a transitive clause with two free referential NPs. Michael, 2008. p. 345
Word Order VS in transitive clauses no Non-focused, referential NPs are found before the verb when they are subjects and after the verb when they are objects, but these are uncommon. There are no examples of a transitive clause with two free referential NPs. Michael, 2008. p. 345
Word Order VO in transitive clauses Verb precedes object yes Non-focused, referential NPs are found before the verb when they are subjects and after the verb when they are objects, but these are uncommon. There are no examples of a transitive clause with two free referential NPs. Michael, 2008. p. 345
Word Order OS in transitive clauses Object precedes subject no Non-focused, referential NPs are found before the verb when they are subjects and after the verb when they are objects, but these are uncommon. There are no examples of a transitive clause with two free referential NPs. Michael, 2008. p. 345
Word Order Preposition-Noun no No prepositions or postpositions. Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Noun-Postposition or case suffix no No prepositions or postpositions. Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Gen-Noun Possessive phrase composed of a free possessor and its possessum has possessor first (e.g. John's book) yes Nanti noun phrases are “right-headed,” although a genitive isn't specifically mentioned as a possible modifer in an NP. Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Noun-Gen Possessive phrase composed of a free possessor and its possessum has possessum first (e.g. 'book of John') no Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Adj-Noun Adjective precedes the noun yes Nanti noun phrases are “right-headed.” Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Noun-Adj Adjective follows the noun no Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Dem-Noun yes Nanti noun phrases are “right-headed.” Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Noun-Dem no Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Num-Noun yes Nanti noun phrases are “right-headed.” Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Noun-Num no Michael, 2008. p. 369
Word Order Noun-Rel Relative clause follows noun that it modifies yes There are several types and several types of relative clauses. It looks like it is most common for relative clauses to appear postnominally, and there are some subtypes that can only appear postnominally. Internally-headed relative clauses occur, but it l Michael, 2008. p. 402-414
Word Order Rel-Noun Relative clause precedes noun that it modifies no Michael, 2008. p. 402-414
Word Order Re<Noun>l (internally headed relative) e.g. 'the dog cat chased-NMZR got away' ('the cat that the dog chased got away') no There are several types and several types of relative clauses. It looks like it is most common for relative clauses to appear postnominally, and there are some subtypes that can only appear postnominally. Internally-headed relative clauses occur, but it l Michael, 2008. p. 402-414
Word Order Relative clause is correlative or adjoined e.g. 'what is running, the dog chased that cat' yes There are correlative subtypes of each of the three types of relative clauses. Michael, 2008. p. 402-414
Word Order Question word is clause initial 'what', 'who', etc. come first in interrogative clause yes Michael, 2008. p. 391
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: nominative-accusative w/ marked accusative Objects of transitive clauses ('P') have a unique marker, while subjects of transitive ('A') and intransitive ('S') clauses are unmarked or share a different marker from that occurring on objects n/a Grammatical relations between nouns are marked on verbs, and not on nouns themselves. Only one (locative) case marker. Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: nominative-accusative w/ marked nominative Subjects of transitive and intransitive clauses share a marker, while objects of transitives are unmarked n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: ergative-absolutive Subjects of intransitive clauses and objects of transitives share a unique marker, while subjects of transitive clauses are unmarked or have a different marker n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: tripartite Intransitive subjects, transitive subjects, and transitive objects all receive distinct case markers n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking in full NPs: active-inactive Subjects of intransitive clauses are treated two different ways: like subjects of transitives if they are more agent-like (e.g. he jumped), and like objects of transitives if they are more patient-like (e.g. he fell asleep) n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: marked accusative n/a Only one case marker (locative), so no marking of core arguments on pronouns. Grammatical relations are marked on the verb. Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: marked nominative n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: ergative-absolutive yes, no, mixed, other n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: tripartite n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of case marking of pronouns: active-inactive n/a Michael, 2008. p. 340
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: nominative-accusative Same as above, for pronominal affixes/clitics on verbs yes Nanti is primarily nominative-accusative, although there are traces of fluid-S marking. Michael, 2008. p. 343
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: ergative-absolutive yes, no, mixed, other no Michael, 2008. p. 343
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: active-inactive no Michael, 2008. p. 343
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: hierarchical Marking of A and P depends on their relative ranking on a hierarchy (usually 1>2>3 or 2>1>3) no Michael, 2008. p. 343
Simple Clauses - Alignment Alignment of verbal person-marking: split More than one of the above systems is represented in person marking, depending on e.g. person (e.g. 1/2 vs. 3), tense-aspect value, main vs. subordinate clause type, etc. no Michael, 2008. p. 343
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: pronouns in subject position Pronominal subjects are free pronouns that occur in the same position as full NP subjects no There are free pronouns that can be used, but these are focused pronouns that occur along with a verbal person-marking proclitic, whereas non-focused referential NPs and person-marking on the verb are in complementary distribution. Michael, 2008. p. 345
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: prefixes on verb Pronominal subjects are marked as verbal prefixes (free pronouns may be another option) yes Proclitic, in complementary distribution with non-focused referential NPs. Michael, 2008. p. 345
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: suffixes on verb Pronominal subjects are marked as verbal suffixes (free pronouns may be another option) no Person markers are pro-clitics. Michael, 2008. p. 345
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: clitics on variable host Pronominal subjects are clitics that can attach to verbs, nominal constituents, etc. no Person markers are clitics, but always attach to verb. Michael, 2008. p. 342-344
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Pronominal subjects: pronouns in non-subject position Pronominal subjects are free pronouns but do not normally occur in the position expected for full NP subjects no Michael, 2008. p. 342-344
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Person marking on intransitive verbs Intransitive verbs take person-marking clitics/affixes yes Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Person marking (of agents) on transitive verbs Transitive verbs take subject (A) markers yes Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Person-marking (of objects) on transitive verbs Transitive verbs take object (P) markers yes Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking 3rd person zero in verbal person marking: subjects 3rd person subjects are not overtly marked within the verbal person-marking system no Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking 3rd person zero in verbal person marking: objects 3rd person objects are not overtly marked within the verbal person-marking system no Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Number can be marked separately from person on the verb Verbal person marking exists, but number is (or can) be marked separately yes Michael, 2008. p. 267-268
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Possessive affixes/clitics on nouns are same as verbal person markers Where nouns take possessive affixes, these are the same as the person-marking affixes yes Michael, 2008. p. 267, 299
Simple Clauses - Pronouns and person marking Gender distinguished in verbal person markers For any person, verbal person markers exhibit different forms depending on the gender (masc/fem, animate/inanimate, etc.) of the referent yes Third-person subject and object markers distinguish masculine and non-masculine. Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice Ditransitive constructions: indirect object In ditransitives (e.g. 'John gives a book to Bill'), the theme (book) is treated in the same way as are objects of transitives, while the recipient/beneficiary (Bill) is treated differently no Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice Ditransitive constructions: double object In ditransitives (e.g. 'John gives Bill a book'), both the theme (book) and the recipient/beneficiary (Bill) is treated in the same way as are objects of transitives no Normally, only one object is marked on the verb. There's no discussion of whether it's normally the theme or recipient. However, in cases of “pragmatic obliques,” the theme/patient gets the marker '=ni,' while the pragmatic oblique gets that regular third Michael, 2008. p. 267
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice Ditransitive constructions: secondary object In ditransitives, the recipient/beneficiary is treated in the same way as are objects of transitives, while the theme (book) is treated differently yes With ditransitives, only one non-subject argument is marked on the verb--the recipient or beneficiary. If both the recipient and the beneficiary are third-person, then both can be marked on the verb, but the theme/patient gets a different marker and the r Michael, 2008. p. 367-368
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Reciprocal: dedicated morpheme Verb becomes reciprocal through use of reciprocal morpheme associated with the verb (may be attached to the verb root). This morpheme is only used to mean reciprocal. yes Requires obligatory plural number marking. Michael, 2008. p. 278
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Reflexive: dedicated morpheme Verb becomes reflexive through use of reflexive morpheme associated with the verb (may be attached to the verb root). This morpheme is used only to mean reflexive. no Reflexives are formed with a reflexive pronoun. Michael, 2008. p. 278
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Reciprocal/reflexive: same morpheme Verb becomes reciprocal or reflexive through use of a morpheme that means either reciprocal or reflexive which attaches to the root of the verb no Michael, 2008. p. 278
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Passive Passive voice usually involves a change to the verb, while the object of the active voice verb is promoted to subject in the passive voice, and the former subject is deleted/demoted yes Michael, 2008. p. 276
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Antipassive Like passive, but deletes or demotes the object of a transitive verb; usually found in ergative languages no Michael, 2008. p. 276-279
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Decreasing Other intransitivizing morphology There is/are some other mechanism(s) for reducing valency yes There is a “characteristic” suffix that reduces the valency of transitives, but not intransitives. It carries the meaning that the action is habitual or characteristic of the subject. Michael, 2008. p. 277-278
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Applicative: benefactive Applicative adds a beneficiary/maleficiary object argument to the verb no Michael, 2008. p. 285-289
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Applicative: other Applicative adds some other object argument to the verb yes There are four other applicative constructions in Nanti: Michael, 2008. p. 285-289
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: prefix Causative is morphological and is attached before the root of the verb yes There are four causative prefixes. Michael, 2008. p. 279
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: suffix Causative is morphological and is attached after the root of the verb yes There is also a causative suffix in Nanti. Michael, 2008. p. 279
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative marked by circumfix, stem change, or tone Morphological causative other than simple prefix/suffix no Michael, 2008. p. 279
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: serial verb or analytical construction Causative construction that involves periphrasis or serialization no Michael, 2008. p. 279
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: dedicated 'make do by proxy' Indicates that the causer does not directly cause the action of the verb to be realized, but does so by inducing someone else to carry out the action, e.g. 'John had the house painted.' yes There is an “influential” causative, which has the meaning that the causer made the causee carry out the action by indirect or distinctly non-coercive actions. Michael, 2008. p. 284
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Causative: dedicated sociative Indicates that causer participates in event no Michael, 2008. p. 279
Simple Clauses - Valence and voice - Increasing Other transitivizing morphology (adds valence) There is/are some other mechanism(s) for increasing valency no Michael, 2008. p. 279-289
Simple Clauses - Negation Clausal negator is a preposed element Clausal negator is a preposed element yes Clausal negators are preposed, but show up to the left of the focus position (they are the first element), and to the right of the topic position (they are the second element). Michael, 2008. p. 379-380
Simple Clauses - Negation Clausal negator is a postposed element Clausal negator is a postposed element no Michael, 2008. p. 379-380
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: affix Negatives: affix no
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: particle Negatives: particle yes A clitic that attaches phonologically to whatever is to the right. Michael, 2008. p. 379-380
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: auxiliary verb Negatives: auxiliary verb no There is a negative existential verb, but this isn't a general negation strategy. Michael, 2008. p. 378-385
Simple Clauses - Negation Negatives: double Standard (non-emphatic) negation typically requires two morphemes, e.g. French 'ne V pas' no Michael, 2008. p. 378-385
Simple Clauses - Negation Distinct negative form for 'NP does not exist' yes Negative existential, can also be used with a clausal complement to indicate negation of the complement in a specific location. Michael, 2008. p. 382-383
Simple Clauses - Negation Distinct negative expression 'I don't know' Lexical expression or highly idiomatic phrase no Michael, 2008. p. 378-385
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: interrogative particle Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by interrogative particle no Michael, 2008. p. 389-390
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: verb morphology Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by interrogative verb morphology no Michael, 2008. p. 389-390
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: word order Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by word order (esp. subject-verb inversion) no NP distribution in polar interrogatives is reduced, but not to the extent that they unambiguously identify an interrogative. Michael, 2008. p. 389-390
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Polar questions: intonation only Yes/no questions distinguished from declaratives by intonation only yes Michael, 2008. p. 389-390
Simple Clauses - Interrogatives Content questions: word order differs from declaratives Content questions distinguished from declaratives by word order (esp. subject-verb inversion) as well as by presence of Q-word (who, what, etc.) yes The content word is preposed. Michael, 2008. p. 391
Simple Clauses - Predication Predicate adjectives: verbal Adjectives act like verbs in predicative position no Many adjective roots are also verbal roots, so the same concept can be expressed with a verb or an adjective. However, when an adjective is used predicatively, a copular verb is used. Michael, 2008. p. 312-313
Simple Clauses - Predication Predicate adjectives: nominal Adjectives act like nouns in predicative position yes Many adjective roots are also verbal roots, so the same concept can be expressed with a verb or an adjective. However, when an adjective is used predicatively, a copular verb is used. The copula is also used with nouns in predicative position. Michael, 2008. p. 292, 312-313
Simple Clauses - Predication Zero copula for predicate nominals is possible Predicate nominals may occur without a copula (i.e. grammatical in some circumstances, if not all) no Not indication of this among discussion of copular verb. Michael, 2008. p. 292, 312-313
Simple Clauses - Predication Headless relative clauses Compare Eng 'the one that fell' (but in Eng 'one' could be considered a head) yes There is a subtype of ranked relative clauses that can be headless. Michael, 2008. p. 410
Simple Clauses - Predication Headless relative clauses are the dominant or only form of relative clause Relative clauses that form a constituent with a head noun (in a single noun phrase) are rare or nonexistent; some descriptions may refer to adjoined or correlative clauses. no Although headless clauses do exist, they only pop up as a subtype of ranked relative clauses, and only when the referent is easily recoverable. Michael, 2008. p. 410
Simple Clauses - Predication Relative clause may occur with a noun classifier/class marker It may be unclear whether the classifier is the nominal head of the construction or is an agreement marker on the relative clause no Michael, 2008. p. 402-414
Simple Clauses - Predication Relativizer is a verbal affix yes There are three types of relative clauses. One of the three subtypes, unranked relative clauses, uses a verbal morpheme as a relativizer. Michael, 2008. p. 402
Simple Clauses - Predication Morphological relativizer is homophonous with nominalizer The same morpheme marks a relative clause and is a nominalizer on verbs (and/or other word classes) yes Ranked relative clauses use the second position clitic =rira, this is also a nominalization strategy. Michael, 2008. p. 303, 402
Simple Clauses - Desiderative expressions Grammaticalized verbal desiderative Indicates that the subject desires to carry out the action denoted by the verb (distinct from verb 'want', but may be grammaticalized from it) no Michael, 2008. p. 247-290
Simple Clauses - Other Clause chaining Clauses can be grouped such that only one bears most of the verb morphology, and the others are marked as to whether they share a subject with this reference clause. no There are clause linking strategies, but verbs in both clauses have required morphology. Michael, 2008. p. 427-440
Simple Clauses - Other Morphologically marked switch-reference system There are special markers to indicate same vs. different subject when two clauses are combined no Michael, 2008. p. 427-440
Simple Clauses - Other Morphologically marked distinction between simultaneous and sequential clauses Morphology (usually on verb) distinguishes between clauses denoting events that occur at the same time or in sequence yes Temporal succession is marked with the particle iNpogini or iNpo. Brief overlap is indicated with the subordinator =ra, and prolonged overlap with a particle tyara, `when.' Michael, 2008. p. 429-432