This talk examines animacy-sensitive demonstratives in Waiwai (Cariban), focusing on the
remote deictic contrast traditionally described between mîkro (animate) and mînî (inanimate).
Earlier grammatical descriptions and published narrative materials show a stable animate–
inanimate distribution in natural discourse. However, elicited speech from bilingual Waiwai
speakers reveals that the animate form mîkro can also occur with inanimate referents in
controlled tasks.
The analysis compares narrative corpus data with elicited material and shows that the observed
overlap is restricted to a single lexical item and does not affect the broader demonstrative
system. These findings are situated within the typology of demonstrative systems and within
the Cariban language family, illustrating how localized extensions may arise without implying
structural change across the paradigm.