Restricted group and ‘group’ within the pronominal system of Western Toba (Guaicuruan, Argentina)

Abstract

This paper describes splits on the basis of number within first-person verbal pronominal indexes and independent pronouns, and third-person verbal pronominal indexes in Western Toba, a southern Guaicuruan language. First-person nonsingular dependent and independent pronouns are analyzed in terms of ‘restricted group’ and ‘group’, i.e., according to the number of participants plus the speaker involved in the situation depicted by the verb. This is a peculiarity of Western Toba among the southern Guaicuruan languages. In addition, horizontal homophony between third-person singular and collective (‘group’) vs. plural (‘restricted group’) verbal pronominal indexes is shown. Finally, genetic and areal implications of this description are discussed.