Coreferential pronouns in ‘gerund’ predicates in Tupí-Guaraní languages: a formal approach

Resumo

This study investigates the syntax of coreferential pronouns in gerund clauses in Tupí-Guaraní languages, considering particularly the Kamaiurá language. As pointed out in the Tupinian literature, the distribution of person markers/pronouns in gerund constructions is determined by the semantic class of the predicate, which in turn interacts with the transitivity of the predicate and with a system of person hierarchy, giving rise to direct/inverse order. Assuming Zubizarreta and Pancheva’s (2017) model of person marking in Paraguayan Guaraní in root/matrix clauses, we propose that gerund constructions with intransitive and transitive predicates are projections of the functional heads INFL/v and D/INFL/v, respectively. In these configurations, INFL and v are specified for an interpretable person feature, which enters an agreement relation with a D feature on the gerund predicate, giving rise to a direct/inverse system, respectively, under a condition on the fixed interpretation of tense in this context.