Distinction between nouns and verbs in Guató

Abstract

Even though the distinction between nouns and verbs is generally considered to be universal, it has been argued for some languages of Northern North America that they lack this distinction. The main argument for such assertion is that in these languages lexemes denoting entities and lexemes denoting actions receive the same markers, when used as predicates. Guató, an isolate from South America, exhibits a similar phenomenon. In Guató, lexemes considered nouns receive the same subject markers as intransitive verbs do, when they occur in predicative function. Moreover, nouns and verbs share other morphosyntactic features. This article aims to describe and to compare the morphosyntactic behavior of Guató nouns and verbs, pointing out similarities and differences between them.