Morphological status of the -fal form in Mapudüngun

Determine whether the sequence -fal that appears in Mapudüngun word-forms functions as a distinct derivational suffix (e.g., a nominalizer/adjectiviser or a FORCE marker) or instead decomposes as the demonstrative -fa followed by the causative -(l), and, if a distinct suffix exists, characterize its distribution across inflected and uninflected formations.

Background

The paper reevaluates the morpheme -fal, which Smeets (2008) treats as a productive nominalizer whose outputs function adjectivally (e.g., edible, audible). The author proposes an alternative bimorphemic analysis in which -fal corresponds to the demonstrative -fa ‘this, here’ followed by the causative -(l), and further suggests that the FORCE use of -fal in finite verb forms may be the same bimorpheme.

Occurrences of -fal are reported to be rare, and the analyzer currently maintains both analyses due to insufficient evidence. The author explicitly notes that all aspects related to -fal remain unconfirmed and even raises the possibility that a distinct nominalizer -fal might not exist at all.

References

Since everything related to the suffix #1{-fal} has not yet been confirmed, the system retains the rules that recognise it as both an adjectiviser and +FORCE, as well as the rules that separate its components and analyse them as proposed. Finally, the nominalizer suffix #1{-fal} may not exist, but this is still an issue to be confirmed.

— Valency Classification of Mapudungun Verbal Roots. Established by the language's own morphotactics  (2604.00789 - Chandía, 1 Apr 2026) in Section 3.2 (Adjectiviser -fal)