“Bring” Without a Dedicated Verb: Deictic Motion Constructions in Shupamem

There is not a counterpart of the verb “to bring” in Shupamem i.e. in this language, there is not a specific verb that means “to bring”. In this vein, this paper looks at the various strategies that are used to denote the action “of bringing” in Shupamem. Building on Shupamem data provided by nine informants through the elicitation namely questionnaires, interviews and documents, it is revealed that there is not a one-to-one correspondence of “to bring” in Shupamem, as it is the case in languages like French and English for instance. Fundamentally, Shupamem realizes “bring” meaning through deictic motion verbs rather than a dedicated transfer verb. In this language, there are three verbs that are used when one is asking someone to bring something or somebody. These three verbs are twó (to come), já (to come) and lú (go). In Shupamem, “bring” arises via deictic motion verbs plus an object NP, with imperative-specific constraints for já and interchangeability conditions for twó/lú. More specifically, when twó (to come) and lú (go) are followed by an NP it means “to bring”. Whereas in imperative sentences, when já (to come) is followed by an NP it means “to bring”. It is shown that já (to come) is only used in imperative structures. Finally, it is revealed that only twó (to come) and lú (go) are interchangeable and this is in both monoclausal and embedded structures.