Abstract

SEIFART, Frank. FORMAL PRONOUNS: THE ANAPHORIC USES OF CLASS MARKERS IN THE MIRAÑA LANGUAGE. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2009, vol.22, n.1, pp.67-94. ISSN 0120-338X.

The Miraña language has more than 70 class markers of which many refer to the physical shape of inanimate referents. These class markers are suffixed, among other contexts, to roots of several pronominal expressions, such as demontratives, forming the so-called "shape pronouns". These pronouns agree in noun class with nouns that mentioned previously in discourse, i.e. they have an anaphoric function. The supply of information about the physical shape of referents plays a particular role in the anaphoric system of this language and represents a type of anaphoric system hitherto not well described.

Keywords : Amazonian languages; Bora-Miraña language; anaphora; nominal classification; discourse structure.

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