draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

2.3.9 Non-Verbal Predication
Non-verbal predicates in Old Omagua are difficult to analyze because they are not uniform in
their structure. Our discussion here targets the most commonly attested patterns and those that
have correlates in the modern language. We attribute discrepancies between types of non-verbal
predicates in the texts to author error, as there are parallel examples between the two catechism
texts that differ so minimally that we are unable to analyze both as possible non-verbal predicate
structures.
When the argument and the predicate of a non-verbal clause are both referential NPs, the
argument precedes the predicate, as it frequently does in modern Omagua as well, as in (2.81).
(2.81) Dios papa, Dios ta1Ra, Dios espíritu santo.
Dios papa Dios ta1Ra Dios espíritu santo
God father God son.male.ego God Holy Spirit
close: ‘God is the Father, God is the Son, God is the Holy Spirit.’
(example (5.9a))
This ordering is also attested when the argument is a free pronoun, as in (2.82), 101 although in
modern Omagua the opposite ordering, namely predicate followed by argument, is more frequent
when the argument is a free pronoun. 102 Note that additional material may intervene between the
argument and predicate.
(2.82) muRatina aisetui Dios aisetui awa weRanu, yeneyaRa yeneyumunyepetataRa.
muRa =tina aise -tui Dios aise -tui awa weRanu yene= yaRa yene=
3sg.ms =cert true -? God true -? man coord 1pl.incl= lord 1pl.incl=
yumunuyepeta
redeem
-taRa
-act.nomz
‘He is the true God and a true man, as well as our redeemer.’
(example (6.15b))
Interestingly, interrogative versions of non-verbal clauses occasionally show what appears to be a
resumptive pronoun that is coreferential with the nominal predicate in question, as in (2.83), taken
from the Catechism Fragment, cf., muRa 3sg.ms. 103 Specifically, we assume this sentence to be the
interrogative counterpart to a predicational copula clause (Higgins 1973; Mikkelsen 2005), in which
‘Dios’ is the argument. This pattern is unexpected, since resumption is not a phenomenon found
elsewhere, at least in modern Omagua.
101 See also (6.31b).
102 This is the main source of frequent VS P ordering as well, as mentioned above. This VS P order, where V is a
non-verbal predicate and S P is a free pronoun, namely Ranu 3pl.ms, is attested once in the texts, as in (2.1), where
the bracketed constituent is the predicate.
(2.1) [Dios yaw1k1maipuRakana] puRai Ranu.
Dios yaw1k1 =mai =puRa =kana puRai Ranu
God make =inact.nomz =nom.pst =pl.ms merely 3pl.ms
‘They are merely God’s creations.’
(example (5.6b))
103 However, see (5.9a) for an example of an interrogative that does not exhibit this pattern.
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