PERSON MARKING AND DISCOURSE IN NORTH ARAWAK LANGUAGES

Abstract. A number of North Arawak languages show a connection between discourse‐pragmatic properties of constituents and the way they are cross‐referenced on the predicate. Baniwa and Bare have a special cross‐referencing prefix used to mark a focussed subject (A/Sa). In Warekena and Bare cross‐referencing prefixes on the verb may be totally suppressed if the subject (A/Sa) undergoes preverbal fronting as a contrastive focus. This property shows a certain analogy with other languages (e.g., Chamorro), and contributes to an over‐all typology of discourse‐marking devices in the languages of the world. © 1995 The Editorial Board of Studia Linguistica