draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

Historically, =sep1 appears to have grammaticalized from the Proto-Omagua-Kokama word for
‘compensation, reward’. 96 Interestingly, its Kokama-Kokamilla cognate tSip1 ∼ tS1p1 (Vallejos Yopán
2010c:9) does not function as a clause-linker (Vallejos Yopán 2010a), which suggests that this
grammaticalization process occurred following the divergence of Omagua and Kokama-Kokamilla.
2.3.8 Focus Markers
Old Omagua exhibited three focus operators with different distributions and scopal properties: the
syntactically independent element puRai ‘merely’ (§2.3.8.1); the contrastive focus enclitic =nani
(§2.3.8.2); and the exclusive focus enclitic =semai (§2.3.8.3).
2.3.8.1 Contrastive Focus puRai
The particle puRai exhibits two functions in Old Omagua, one in which it may be faithfully glossed
as ‘merely’, and one in which it operates as a marker of contrastive focus. In both functions it
appears directly following the constituent over which it has scope. It occurs outside of all affixal
and clitic morphology associated with the relevant nominal stem. In the former function, shown
in (2.74), a response to the question ‘With what did God create all these things?’, the constituent
over which puRai has scope is the only assertion in the sentence and is not information-structurally
contrastive with any other constituent in the discourse. Note its position outside the instrumental
postposition =pupe.
(2.74) Rakumesapupe puRai.
Ra= kumesa =pupe puRai
3sg.ms= word =instr merely
‘Merely with his words.’
(example (5.3b))
Its function as a marker of contrastive focus is shown in (2.75), where it is clear that the puRaimarked
constituent is being contrasted with the non-puRai-marked constituent previously stated.
Note that in this example, puRai intervenes between the nominal predicate and its argument Ranu,
providing further evidence that puRai directly follows the constituent over which it has scope.
(2.75) nati maRai aikiaRa Dios muRa. Dios yaw1k1maipuRakana puRai Ranu.
nati maRai aikiaRa
Dios muRa
neg.indef dem.prox.ms.pro God 3sg.ms
Dios yaw1k1 =mai =puRa =kana puRai Ranu
God make =inact.nomz =nom.pst =pl.ms contr.foc 3pl.ms
‘God is none of these things. They are God’s creations.’
(example (5.6b)) 97
The constituent over which puRai has scope may also be a fronted adverbial, as in (2.76).
(2.76) awakaisuaRapuRa. Roaya DioskaisuaRa puRai Raumanu 1m1nua.
96 The modern Omagua reflex sIp1 has come to mean ‘value, price’, as concerns the transaction of money.
97 See also footnote 162.
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