Formal Approaches to Languages of South America

Preface
Contents
About the Editors and Authors
	Editor\'s Bios
	Authors\' Bios
	Contributors
South-American Languages in a Formal Perspective
	1 Linguistic Diversity in South America
	2 Formal Approaches to Human Languages
	3 Part I: South-American Sign Languages
	4 Part II: Linguistic Innovations at the South of the Romania Nova
	5 Part III: Indigenous South-American Languages
	6 Conclusions
	References
Part I South-American Sign Languages
The Morpho-phonology of Nominal Plurality in Argentinian Sign Language (LSA)
	1 Introduction
	2 The Phonological Representation of Plurality in LSA
		2.1 Ipsilateral Movement as an Epenthetic Property
		2.2 Handshape Insertion
	3 A Phonological Typology of Nouns in LSA for the Expression of Plurals
	4 More on the Epenthetic Nature of Ipsilateral Movement
	5 Concluding Remarks
	References
The Grammar of Agreement in Libras
	1 Introduction
	2 Some Relevant Aspects of Libras Grammar
	3 Agreement in Space
	4 Deriving Agreement Syntactically
	5 The Pervasiveness of Agreement in Corpus Data
	6 Final Remarks
	References
Argument Structure in Peruvian Sign Language
	1 Introduction
	2 An Invisible Language
	3 LSP Grammar and Externalization of Arguments
	4 LSP Basic Argument Structure
		4.1 Classifiers
		4.2 Classifiers and Argument Structure
	5 Some Loose Ends
	6 Conclusion
	References
Blending Libras and Portuguese: Acceptability Variables
	1 Bimodal Bilingualism
	2 The Present Study
		2.1 Participants
		2.2 Materials and Procedure
	3 Results
	4 Discussion
	References
Part II South-American Romance Languages
The Grammaticalization of Igual in Argentinean Spanish
	1 Introduction
	2 On the Properties of Igual
		2.1 Igual: A Comparative Predicate
	3 Igual as an Epistemic Marker Expressing Uncertainty
	4 Igual as a Concessive Marker and Emphatic Marker
		4.1 The Concessive Value of Igual
		4.2 The Emphatic Value of Igual
	5 Semi-lexicality, Grammaticalization, and Variation
	6 Final Remarks
	References
		Corpora
Approaching the So-Called Topic-Subjects in Brazilian Portuguese from Below
	1 Introduction
	2 “Topic-Subjects” Are Not Topics, But Subjects
	3 Changes Within vP and DP
	4 The Role of Inherent Case in “Topic-Subject” Constructions
	5 Further Issues on Person Asymmetries and “Resumption” in “Topic-Subject” Constructions
	6 Conclusion
	References
Is Chilean Spanish a Canonical Pro-drop Variety? On Subjecthood in Chilean Spanish
	1 Introduction
	2 Background
		2.1 Background on Chilean Spanish
	3 The Pro-drop Properties of Chilean Spanish
		3.1 Morphological Ambiguity in Verbal Agreement and Subject Properties
		3.2 Overt Subject Pronouns and Their Surface Semantic Effects
		3.3 Inversion in Wh-Questions
		3.4 Infinitival Subjects
		3.5 Use of Personal Pronouns for Inanimates and the Use of Generic Uno “One”
	4 Chilean Spanish as Non-canonical Pro-drop Language
		4.1 Chilean Spanish vs. Partial Null Subject Languages
		4.2 Other Issues and Future Research
	5 Conclusion
	References
		12ptCORPORA
Ways of Number Marking: English and Brazilian Portuguese
	1 Introduction
	2 English and BrP: Ways of Number Marking
		2.1 Nouns That Need a Measure Phrase, and Nouns That Don\'t
		2.2 Plural Inflection in the Noun and Not in the Noun
		2.3 Bare Singulars in Argument Position: Grammatical or Not
	3 A Model Theoretic Approach to Language Variation
		3.1 Chierchia\'s Semantic Parameters
		3.2 BrP Bare Singulars in a Model Theoretic Perspective
	4 Ways of Pushing It Even Further
	5 Conclusion
	References
Part III South-American Indigenous Languages
Compounding Processes in Three Macro-Jê Linguistic Branches
	1 Introduction
	2 The Languages Considered in This Study
		2.1 Maxakalí Language
		2.2 Krenák Language
		2.3 Akuwẽ Languages (Xerente and Xavante)
	3 Derivation in the Four Languages
		3.1 Derivation in Maxakalí
		3.2 Derivation in Krenák
		3.3 Derivation in Xerente and Xavante
	4 Compounding in the Four Languages
		4.1 Phonological Criteria for Identifying Compounds
		4.2 Morphosyntactic Criteria
		4.3 Semantic Description
	5 Conclusions
	References
Poro-/mba\'e- Antipassive Prefixation in Paraguayan Guarani
	1 Introduction
	2 The Antipassive Voice
	3 Relevant Aspects of the Grammar of Paraguayan Guarani
	4 Properties of poro-/mba\'e- Prefixation
		4.1 Poro- and mba\'e- Encode Generic Semantic Patients
		4.2 The Aspectual Interpretation of Poro- and mba\'e- Is Unconstrained
		4.3 Poro- and mba\'e- Cannot Express Non-patient Arguments
		4.4 Poro-/mba\'e- Derived Predicates Are Syntactically Intransitive
		4.5 Poro-/mba\'e- Prefixation Is Productive
	5 Discussion
		5.1 Contrasting the Antipassive with Noun Incorporation
		5.2 Mba\'e- as a Result of Grammaticalization
	6 Conclusion
	References
Argument Structure and Morphology in Cochabamba Quechua (with Occasional Comparison with Other Quechua Varieties)
	1 Introduction
	2 The Thematic Domain and -chi\'s Place in It
	3 -ku Is a Reflexive Argument Clitic
	4 -pu Is a High Applicative and a Raising Applicative
	5 *-pu-ku/*-ku-pu: One Mystery\'s Solution Leads to Another\'s
	6 Conclusion: Investigating Affix Order and Interpretation in Quechua and Beyond
	References
Definiteness in A\'ingae and Its Implications for Pragmatic Competition
	1 Introduction
		1.1 Definiteness Cross-Linguistically
	2 Background on A\'ingae and the Cofán People
	3 Expressions of (In)Definiteness in A\'ingae
		3.1 Indefinite Noun Phrases
		3.2 Unique Definite Noun Phrase
		3.3 Anaphoric Definite Noun Phrase
		3.4 Bridging Definites
		3.5 A Lack of Complementarity Between Unique and Anaphoric Forms
	4 Pragmatic Blocking Is Incompatible with A\'ingae Definiteness
		4.1 Competition Between Covert and Overt Determiner Form
		4.2 Maximize Presupposition!
		4.3 Bare Noun Blocking
	5 Toward a Semantic Alternative to Pragmatic Competition
	6 Conclusions and Future Directions
	References
Index