Absolute Constructions: The property of simple gerund and complex gerund in mapudungun

Abstract

The mapudungun or the mapuche language is one indigenous language which is spoken in southern Chile and Argentina. It is a kind of polysynthetic languages that not only includes noun incorporation but and also functional elements, such as suffixes. Although, Mapudungun has been studied before there are several characteristics that people don’t know because of lack of researches and this article tell us about a non studied topic, the absolutive constructions. The nonfinite absolutive constructions in Mapudungunare very common and they are very important in the language. The article analysis aspects of the language, including the use of the auxiliary-like affixes –le and –nge, the nature of absolutive constructions. It contains a close comparison of the affixes –nge and –le in Mapudungun, which the author comparesto the ser/estar distinction in Spanish, that show clearly how –nge is used with permanent (individual level) properties and –le is used with temporary (stage level) properties. –nge suffix haveso many copular uses, attaching to nouns and adjectives as well as to verbs. The gerund clauses are the main points of this article,the author support that there are two kind of gerund clause in mapudungun, simple gerund clause and complex gerund, and itdiscusses both their aspectual properties and the nature of their semantic connection to the main clause. In conclusion, this article contains at least one important formal analysis about, absolutive construction, -nge and–le suffies and about two kind of gerunds in mapudungn.