Unity or multiplicity of the -(ñ)ma morpheme(s)

Ascertain whether -(ñ)ma in Mapudüngun is a single morpheme with multiple functions or instead comprises several homophonous morphemes (e.g., experimentative, indirect object marker, adverbializer) distributed across different morphological slots, and delineate their respective functions and distributions.

Background

The author discusses the experimentative suffix -(ñ)ma (slot 35 per Smeets) and notes competing analyses: Smeets distinguishes an experimentative -(ñ)ma and an indirect-object -(ñ)ma, while the analyzer Düngupeyüm also includes -ñma as an adverbializer. Zúñiga (2009b) relates -(ñ)ma to -(ü)ñmu in an alo-/autoaffective alternation.

An inspection of Koña’s memoirs shows significant ambiguity in forms containing -ñma, with many analyzable both as indirect object (+IO) and as experimentative (+EXP), which further complicates its use for determining valency. The paper explicitly states that it remains unclear whether -(ñ)ma is one morpheme with different functions or several distinct morphemes.

References

It remains unclear whether #1{-(ñ)ma} is a single morpheme with different functions or if there are distinct morphemes with similar forms.

— Valency Classification of Mapudungun Verbal Roots. Established by the language's own morphotactics  (2604.00789 - Chandía, 1 Apr 2026) in Section 4.3 (Transitivity with -(ñ)ma — Experimentative)