Counterfactual and non-counterfactual conditional constructions in Kuikuro (Upper Xingu Carib)

Abstract

Kuikuro is one of the varieties of the Upper Xingu Carib Language, of the Southern Xinguan Branch of the Carib family, which is spoken by approximately 600 people, in the region known as the Upper Xingu, at the southern edge of the Brazilian Amazon. This article focuses on counterfactual and non-counterfactual conditional constructions in Kuikuro. After an introduction containing the relevant information on methodology, theoretical background and the main questions that arise from the Kuikuro data, the article is further organized into two sections. The first one offers a brief introduction to the Kuikuro people and a sketch of the Kuikuro morphosyntactic typology and the relevant grammatical facts. The second section describes counterfactual and non-counterfactual conditional constructions. The results of this preliminary study show that Kuikuro speakers have multiple morphosyntactic resources available to realize utterances expressing conceptual and pragmatic domains of possibility, whether these are asserted, assumed, or denied.