En route to subject-coding: The case of Boruca (Chibchan language of CostaRica)

This paper describes the originally discourse-run distribution of three mor phemes and their role in the acquisition of subject morphology in Boruca, a Chibchan language of Costa Rica. At first sight the three morphemes appear not to have anything in common, but on closer inspection they turn out to be part of a current process of morphological differentiation of subjects. The analysis reveals a different route to the acquisition of coding propert ies, named here informational, as the forms and functions affected by the p rocess of grammaticalization of coding properties stem from markers of info rmation-structure statuses/relations of participants.