Conjunct/disjunct marking in Awa Pit

• Published in: Linguistics 2002-01, Vol.40 (3), p.611-627
• Main Author: CURNOW, Timothy Jowan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Colombia; Descriptive studies and applied theories; Ecuador; Grammar; Language; Linguistics; Morphology; Verbs
• ISSN: 0024-3949; 1613-396X
• DOI: 10.1515/ling.2002.025

Awa Pit, a Barbacoan language spoken in Colombia & Ecuador, has a conjunct/disjunct system of verb suffixing similar to a person marking system. It is a binary system, with "conjunct" used for first person in statements & second person in questions, whereas "disjunct" is used for second & third person in statements & first & third person in questions. Unlike the conjunct/disjunct system in a language such as Kathmandu Newari (Hale, 1980), where conjunct is only found with volitional agents of controlled verbs, in Awa Pit volitionality & similar phenomena have no effect on the system. In addition, the use of conjunct is not dependent only on the person of the subject or agent; any statement with a first person argument (subject, object, second object) or affected participant, or any question with a second person argument or affected participant will be marked as conjunct. If the sentence is past tense, there is a choice of three suffixes: one indicates a conjunct subject & one a conjunct undergoer, & the third shows that there is no conjunct participant in the sentence. In nonpast tenses, there is only a binary system; all that is indicated is whether there is a conjunct entity or not. 17 References. Adapted from the source document