The Syntax of Guaraní: A Pronominal Argument Analysis of a Noteworthy Indigenous Language

Broadly speaking, I examine the syntax of Guaraní, an indigenous language of Paraguay, and offer my analyses of complex syntactic questions in relation to the language. My research stems from a paper that I wrote in the fall of 2018 that led to many questions and preliminary hypotheses related to argument marking and the Guaraní verb. Under the direction of Dr. Kristin Denham, I answer these questions through a pronominal argument (PA) analysis of Guaraní. I defend the position that Guaraní is a PA language by examining data from prior literature and native speakers. Throughout my paper, I consider discussions of the word order of the language yet explain why these analyses prove fruitless in identifying a single basic word order. As part of my analysis of Guaraní syntax, I offer tree structures to more accurately depict the position of pronominal arguments in relation to the verb and other syntactic phrases