Causative Marking in Resígaro (Arawakan): A Descriptive and Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold: The first and major aim is to contribute to the grammatical description of the underdescribed and severely endangered Arawakan language Resígaro, spoken in Colombia and Peru, by providing a description of the intricate morphophonology and of the morphosyntactic patterns of causative marking in this language. In doing so, this paper also treats some general grammatical characteristics of the language, such as tone and argument marking. The Resígaro causative marker is used to increase the valency of both intransitive and transitive verbs. The causative objects of causativized verbs are the only syntactically obligatory objects in the language. The second, more minor aim of this paper is a brief comparison of the Resígaro causative marker with cognate forms in the related Arawakan languages Achagua, Piapoco, and Tariana. This reveals syntactic and semantic parallels that point to a close association of causativization and transitivity in this group of languages. This type of causatives contrasts with so-called sociative causatives of Southern Amazonia.