Chapter Eleven. Multiple Marking Of Syntactic Function And Polysynthetic Nouns In Tariana

Abstract

The structure of the noun is recursive: that is, the same category may be marked more than once, while verb structure is not recursive. This double marking of distinct syntactic functions has to be distinguished from marking one syntactic function twice within a noun phrase. This chapter shows that Tariana allows both phenomena - that is, in some instances, two distinct clausal functions can be marked on one noun phrase; while in others a noun phrase takes two case markers which combine to indicate one syntactic function. It deals with the nominal and verbal categories, and the structure of nouns and verbs in Tariana. It also considers the dependent marking case system in Tariana. The chapter discusses syntactic function of one noun phrase marked twice. The chapter looks at double marking of syntactic function within a clause. Finally, it considers multiple-layered agreement within a Noun Phrase NP.Keywords: clause; multiple marking; polysynthetic nouns; syntactic function; Tariana