Clause chaining, switch reference and nominalisations in Aguaruna (Jivaroan)

This paper describes reference tracking strategies in Aguaruna, a Jivaroan language of north Peru. I take a functional and holistic approach to the description, and argue that different types of dependent clauses, tail-head linkage, and some nominalised clauses all function as a unified system of reference tracking in discourse. What these formally disparate constructions have in common is the marking of reference tracking information on verbs rather than on the referring NPs themselves. The analysis raises the question of what factors motivate the selection of a given clause-chaining construction in a given context, and I suggest some answers on the basis of discourse structuring principles