The verbal classes of the Paresi language (Arawak)

Abstract The goal of this paper is to describe the verb classes of Paresi, an Arawak language, spoken by approximately 3,000 people in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. In Paresi, verbs can be classified into intransitive, transitive and ditransitive. In general, intransitive verbs in Arawak languages are subclassified into: active intransitives, and stative intransitives. The division in the group of intransitives is syntactically marked, as subjects of stative intransitive and object of transitive are marked by the same form, while subjects of transitives take a different marking. The majority of Arawak languages exhibits semantic alignment, that is, the selection of agreement marking depends on the eventivity parameter. In Paresi, the division in the intransitives is morphologically marked as the following: a) some intransitive verbs take the same subject marking as transitive verbs (set A proclitics); b) other intransitive verbs take a different subject marking (set B proclitics). Semantically, verbs are classified into agentive and non-agentive. The semantic features of [agentivity] and [control] have an essential role in the assignment of verbos to subclasses. The data were collected during field research and the analysis is based on a functional-typological approach.