Abstract

GOMES, Dioney M.. POSTPOSITIONS IN MUNDURUKU (TUPI): FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL FEATURES. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2019, vol.32, n.2, pp.109-150. ISSN 0120-338X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/fyf.v32n2.80817.

The Munduruku people live in the states of Pará and Amazonas, including a handful of residents in Mato Grosso, in Brazil. My research about the language takes place within the Munduruku population of Pará. It is a language of the Tupi stock, that belongs to the Munduruku family. It is of head-marking type. The most common constituent order is s(O)V. The arguments do not receive morphologic marks, usually occurring in noun phrases. The verb receives person marks, which indicate/co-refer subject and direct object. Our objective here is to present the inventory of the postpositions, in order to discuss the properties they share; what their structural and functional features are; and their participation in the passive voice, causative, subordination, modality, source of information, and locative and possessive predication. We also approach the isomorphism among postpositions, nouns and verbs; the syntactic relation that establishes the postpositional phrase with the rest of the sentence: whether argument or adjunct. Finally we will also reflect upon their typology.

Keywords : postpositions; Munduruku; formal and functional features; indigenous languages; typology.

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