Chapter 5. Nonverbal predicates and copula constructions in Aguaruna (Chicham)

This chapter focuses primarily on the formal expression of equative, proper inclusion and attributive relations in Aguaruna, all three of which are encoded as copula clauses. The copula clause involves two arguments that both take nominative case; the copula element may be a full verb, it may be an enclitic to the copula complement argument, or the clause may be truly verbless, formed by simple juxtaposition of the arguments. The copula verb itself is homophonous with an existential verb that forms a simple intransitive clause, and a few other intransitive verbs may also function as copulas. Finally, I show that the formal structures associated with copula clauses also feature in auxiliary constructions and as a means of marking finite verbal categories in clauses with nominalized verbs.

• Affiliations: 1: University of Otago/James Cook University