Person-marking in Máku

Abstract

In Máku (an extinct language isolate), person marking is encoded by pronominal elements that are attached to bound pronominal roots, possessed nouns, and as subject and object argument agreement reference on verbs. However, when the contrasts between the various person-markers and their behaviors in the language are considered the system does not fit easily into the traditional analysis of three persons and two numbers. Rather, the organization of and relationships between the pronominal elements in Máku reveals a system based on the distinction of three persons (first, second and third), a two-way quantitative distinction (singular and non-singular), and a two-way qualitative distinction (homogenous speech-act-participants or heterogeneous speech-act-participants). Furthermore, some of the syncretisms which provide evidence for this description are crosslinguistically commonplace while others are rare or unattested, as suggested in Cysouw (2003) and Siewierska (2004). This article provides the facts of person marking in Máku and motivates a language-specific description of the paradigm.

Keywords

• speech acts
• clusivity
• person-marking
• máku