Objects, Quasi-Objects and Oblique Objects in Kakataibo (Panoan, Peru)

This paper discusses objecthood in Kakataibo (Panoan, Peru) by studying three different types of non-subject arguments in the language: objects of transitive predicates, quasi-objects, and oblique objects. Quasi-objects are similar to objects because of their lack of overt case marking, but they appear with intransitive predicates. Oblique objects also appear with some intransitive predicates but differ from objects and quasi-objects by carrying an indirect locative marker. Only objects of transitive predicates can control important object-based syntactic operations, such as object agreement and object switchreference, but objects, quasi-objects, and oblique objects can be reflexivized and reciprocalized. Adjuncts in Kakataibo cannot undergo either reflexivization or reciprocalization, and they are always morphologically marked. It is argued here that the existence of three different non-subject arguments in Kakataibo produces a continuum-like effect in the distinction between objects and adjuncts, and it reveals that objecthood in the language needs to be understood as a gradient and variable category.