Hierarchical Alignment and Comparative Linguistics in the Guaykuruan Languages: An Exhaustive Alignment Approach

Abstract

Hierarchical argument marking systems have long been treated as exceptions in alignment typology since they do not follow the same logic as, for example, nominative-accusative systems in creating subsets of argument roles that are treated identically. A recent proposal by Witzlack-Makarevich and colleagues advocates for “exhaustive alignment” as a way around this problem. This paper applies this methodology to the present-day Guaykuruan languages (Kadiwéu, Mocoví, Pilagá, Toba) with three goals: firstly, it expands on the methodology, providing a proposal on how to apply the method to languages with split-intransitive characteristics. Secondly, the paper shows how alignment subsystems in languages with hierarchical alignment can provide additional evidence for the phylogenetic relations between languages. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates how a construction-specific approach to alignment can uncover a greater degree of variety in alignment patterns, revealing that a number of Pilagá and Toba morphemes show {SA, O} vs. {SO, A} alignment.