Egophoricity in Wutun

Abstract This paper discusses the category of egophoricity in Wutun. Drawing from first-hand field material, I show how markers of egophoricity in Wutun interact with person. In the introductory section, I provide basic information on the Wutun language and on its areal context, typological profile and verb structure. I then introduce Wutun basic egophoric morphology and discuss manipulations of the basic system. It will be shown that pragmatic factors like volitionality, mirativity, the speaker’s degree of certainty concerning the truth value of the statement, and the speaker’s expectations of access to information by the addressee play significant roles in the interaction between egophoricity and person in Wutun. Finally, I discuss egophoricity in Wutun as an areal feature and suggest some possible diachronic sources for egophoricity markers.