draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

the former Spanish sense was the one required in the passage in question. We now consider similar
semantic extensions of Omagua words that stem from the fact that a Spanish translational equivalent
of an Omagua word participates in a homophony or polysemy network.
The first example we consider here involves the use of ukuata ‘pass by’ in the Full Catechism
to express the notion ‘happen, occur’, as evident in (9.16). This appears to be a calque based on
the fact Spanish pasar expresses both ‘pass by’ and ‘happen’. Beyond the fact that ukuata ‘pass
by’ expresses only physical motion the subject of the verb past the object of the verb (at least in
the modern language), the argument structure of Omagua ukuata ‘pass by’ reverses that intended
by Spanish construction on which the Omagua expression in the catechism is calqued (i.e, aunque
todas las cosas te pasen). That is, the second person appears as the subject and ‘all things’ as the
object, which is the opposite of the Spanish construction.
(9.16) nesaSitatipa upakatu nIĩyamukuikatu yenepapa dios, upakatu maRainkana neukuataRaSi,
RaeRasemaikatuikua?
ne= saSita =tipa upa =katu ne= ĩya =mukui =katu yene= papa dios
2sg= love =interr all =intsf 2sg= heart =com =intsf 1pl.incl= father God
upa =katu maRain =kana ne= ukuata =RaSi Ra= eRa =semai =katu
all =intsf thing =pl.ms 2sg= pass.by =nass 3sg.ms= good =verid =intsf
=ikua
=reas
‘Do you love our father God with all your heart, even though anything may happen to you,
because he is really truly good?’
(see (6.35a))
The use of verb sawaiti ‘encounter’ (of which modern Omagua sawaita is a reflex) in the Full
Catechism presents a similar case, where the verb has been extended to express the notion ‘receive’,
in the sense of receiving the Holy Sacrament, as shown in (9.17). 376 We take this to be a calque
motivated by the polysemy of Spanish recibir, whic can denote at least two quite different types of
‘receiving’ events: 1) one in which the grammatical subject is the recipient of some inanimate object
(e.g. a gift); or 2) one in which the grammatical subject acts as a host, receiving a guest. The
semantics of Omagua sawaita partially overlaps with that of recibir, denoting two types of events:
1) one in which a host welcomes a visitor; or 2) one in which the grammatical subject encounters
some other entity (e.g. on a path). Old Omagua sawaiti thus presumably overlapped with recibir in
the host-guest event type meaning, leading the authors of the catechism to identify the two words,
thereby leading to the semantic extention of sawaiti to cover the other sense of recibir, which was
not natively denoted by the Old Omagua verb.
(9.17) cristianokana eRa RanaconfesayaRaRaSi, RanasawaitiaRi weRanu santísimo sacramento?
cristiano =kana eRa Rana= confesa =yaRa =RaSi Rana= sawaiti
Christian =pl.ms good 3pl.ms= confess =poss.nomz =nass 3pl.ms= encounter
=aRi
=impf
weRanu
coord
santísimo sacramento
Holy Sacrament
‘Christians who have confessed properly, will they receive the Holy Sacrament?’
(see (6.30a))
376 See also footnote 228.
140