Applicative construction in ayoreo (zamucoan): discoursive motivation

Abstract

Applicatives are constructions that enable the expression of an oblique or thematically peripheral participant as part of the verb's core argument structure (Peterson, 2007). According to one functional explanation, their primary function is to signify that the entity being referred to has greater persistence and discursive prominence (cf. 'topic continuity' and 'topic persistence,' as proposed by Givón, 1983; Rude, 1985; Peterson, 2007).

Ayoreo exhibits characteristics of a fusional language with traits of a dependent-marking system. It demonstrates an emerging category of applicatives through the cliticization of multifunctional adpositions such as iji, aja, and ome to the verbal base. This phenomenon coexists with the use of adpositional phrases to represent oblique arguments.

Our objective is to elucidate the discursive motivation of applicatives in Ayoreo, based on a textual corpus that encompasses various genres. Non-subject argument-marking strategies are categorized into three types: canonical marking (expressed through nominal phrases), oblique marking (utilizing adpositional phrases), and applied marking (accomplished through verb cliticization).

The results indicate that applied constructions exhibit higher topic persistence and lower referential distance compared to oblique participants. In other words, they maintain a high level of topicality across discourse sequences, despite being activated in the minds of the speaker or the hearer, given their recent mention.