Nominalized constructions with argument function in the languages of the Chaco: a contribution to the typology of South American languages.

Abstract

The complementation strategies attested in two well-known areas, the Andean area and the Amazonian area are compared with those existing in Chaco languages, which possibly constitute a linguistic area as well. The Chaco languages examined belong to the Guaycuruan, Lule-Vilela, Mataguayan, Tupi-Guarani and Zamucoan families. While nominalization is marked grammatically in Andean and Amazonian languages, a more general dependency marker is typically used in the Chaco languages. Also, unlike nominalizers in Andean and Amazonian languages, Chaco language subordinators are not involved in lexical nominalization. Finally, parataxis is documented as an extended complementation strategy among the Chacoan languages.