ABSTRACT

In this article, we address various routes of grammaticalization in a language of the Mataguayan family, Maká. From the data collected in the field and through the method of historical reconstruction, we propose four instances of morphemes with grammatical functions that come either from nominal lexemes, as is the case of the word 'son' that becomes a diminutive and affective suffix or the one of the word it'ij 'to say' that forms an analytical causative construction; either of grammatical morphemes that become more grammatical, as is the case of the desiderative suffix that takes aspectual value or of the applicatives that seem to come from constructions of serial verbs. We start from the premise that it is possible to analyze various instances of grammaticalization even in languages with scarce historical record since the multifunctionality of the morphemes of the language is constituted as a synchronic indication of the diachronic changes of the language.

Key Words: grammaticalization; Mataguayan family; morphology