You will ... it: an observation on the cu- verbs in the Mẽmõrtũmre speech

Abstract

In this article we describe and analyze an inflectional quirk of a class of transitive verbs in the Mẽhĩ language as spoken by the Mẽmõrtũmre people (Canela). These verbs have a dedicated form that occurs in finite clauses where a second-person agent acts upon a third-person patient. This form is characterized by the occurrence of the prefix a- / ∅-, with the allomorphy being phonologically conditioned. We argue that the inflection pattern in question is formally different from the second-person inflection and, therefore, is not an instance of person hierarchy, contrary to what has been proposed in the literature. Finally, we discuss the possibility of reconstructing the pattern observed in Mẽhĩ for Proto-Northern Jê.