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PERSON MARKING AND DISCOURSE IN NORTH ARAWAK LANGUAGES
Author(s) -
Aikhenvald Alexandra Y.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
studia linguistica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.187
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1467-9582
pISSN - 0039-3193
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9582.1995.tb00469.x
Subject(s) - prefix , linguistics , focus (optics) , predicate (mathematical logic) , subject (documents) , verb , transitive relation , typology , contrastive analysis , computer science , property (philosophy) , analogy , history , philosophy , mathematics , physics , epistemology , combinatorics , library science , optics , programming language , archaeology
. A number of North Arawak languages show a connection between discourse‐pragmatic properties of constituents and the way they are cross‐referenced on the predicate. Baniwa and Bare have a special cross‐referencing prefix used to mark a focussed subject (A/S a ). In Warekena and Bare cross‐referencing prefixes on the verb may be totally suppressed if the subject (A/S a ) undergoes preverbal fronting as a contrastive focus. This property shows a certain analogy with other languages (e.g., Chamorro), and contributes to an over‐all typology of discourse‐marking devices in the languages of the world.