Abstract
This chapter describes the clause chaining constructions used in traditional narrative monologues in Aguaruna (also known as Awajún and Iiniá Chicham). Aguaruna grammar makes heavy use of dependent clauses, whose verbs take a morphologically marked dependent form and differ morphologically from finite verbs in that they lack tense and mood marking, but are marked for switch-reference. Some dependent clauses function like modifying adverbial clauses, and show formal syntactic properties consistent with being constituents of another clause, while others form paratactic clause chains that are iconically temporally ordered and semantically more like coordination. The verb forms themselves show no morphological marking relating to this distinction. The chapter also describes bridging constructions and the use of two alternating discourse topics or ‘co-pivots’, which are by preference maintained as subject and object throughout a sequence of chained clauses.