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Topics in Mocho' Phonology and Morphology

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Topics in Mocho' Phonology and Morphology TOPICS IN MOCHO' PHONOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY by Naomi Elizabeth Palosaari A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fullfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Linguistics University of Utah May 2011 Copyright © Naomi Elizabeth Palosaari 2011 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Naomi Elizabeth Palosaari has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Lyle Campbell , Chair 12/16/2010 Date Approved MaryAnn Christison , Member 12/16/2010 Date Approved Randall Eggert , Member 12/16/2010 Date Approved Judith Marie Maxwell , Member 12/17/2010 Date Approved Keren Rice , Member 12/17/2010 Date Approved and by Edward Rubin , Chair of the Department of Linguistics and by Charles A. Wight, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT This dissertation is a grammatical description of several features of the morphology and phonology of the Mocho’ language. Mocho' (Motozintleco) is a Mayan language spoken in the Chiapas region of Mexico near the border of Guatemala. It is moribund, with fewer than 30 remaining speakers, all over the age of 70 and bilingual in Spanish. Mocho' is a language with several features of interest, but which has not yet been the subject of a full linguistic description. This dissertation, based on data collected during several field trips and supplemented with unpublished data from previous researchers, provides an overview of the grammatical structure of Mocho'. The topics covered include phonology, loanwords, root structure, derivation and inflection of the different word classes, and important discourse particles. Mocho' is of special interest in Mayan linguistics as well as linguistic theory in general for many reasons. For example, Mocho' is one of only four Mayan languages to develop a tonal contrast; the Mocho’ pattern is unique and has developed recently. Mocho' has several grammatical features which are unique in Mayan, including the development of middle voice from Proto-Mayan antipassive marking and the patterning of positionals, negatives, and syntactic markers of direction, location, and motion. Mocho' has a split ergative system, with ergative marking on third persons and nominative-accusative marking on first and second persons. Mocho' also has unique patterns of definiteness and evidentiality. This dissertation provides a description of Mocho' morphological and phonological structure in several areas, including those described above. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ...............................................................................................................x ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................... xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................xv Chapters 1 THE MOCHO' LANGUAGE ..................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................1 1.2 Mocho' in geographical perspective ..................................................................4 1.3 Mocho' in historical perspective ........................................................................5 1.4 Prior research on Mocho' ...................................................................................5 1.5 Methodology ......................................................................................................9 1.6 Typological overview .......................................................................................10 2 MOCHO' PHONOLOGY ......................................................................................14 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................14 2.2 Phonemic inventory .........................................................................................14 2.3 Stress and pitch ................................................................................................34 2.4 Phonological structure .....................................................................................40 2.5 Phonological and morphophonological processes ...........................................48 2.6 Summary of Mocho' phonology ......................................................................56 3 MOCHO' TONE IN DIACHRONIC PERSPECTIVE ..........................................85 3.1 Diachronic source of falling tone .....................................................................85 3.2 Development of copied vowels ........................................................................86 3.3 Overview of tone in Mayan languages ............................................................95 3.4 Summary of Mocho' tone in diachronic perspective .......................................97 4 SPANISH LOANWORD PHONOLOGY IN MOCHO' .....................................107 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................107 4.2 Stage 1 loanwords ..........................................................................................108 4.3 Stage 2 loanwords .......................................................................................... 112 4.4 Unusual loanwords......................................................................................... 113 4.5 Conjunctions and particles ............................................................................. 114 4.6 Personal names............................................................................................... 115 4.7 Summary of Mocho' loanword phonology .................................................... 117 5 ROOTS AND WORD CLASSES ........................................................................120 5.1 Introduction to roots and word classes...........................................................120 5.2 Nominal roots and derivation.........................................................................121 5.3 Verb roots and derivation ...............................................................................121 5.4 Positional roots...............................................................................................128 5.5 Dual Roots .....................................................................................................129 5.6 Summary of roots and word classes...............................................................130 6 PRONOMINAL PERSON ...................................................................................136 6.1 Pronominal person affixes .............................................................................136 6.2 Mocho' split ergativity ...................................................................................137 6.3 First and second person marking ...................................................................139 6.4 Third person marking .....................................................................................141 6.5 Summary of person marking ..........................................................................144 7 NOUNS AND NOMINAL PHRASES ................................................................147 7.1 Introduction to nouns .....................................................................................147 7.2 Nominal inflection .........................................................................................148 7.3 Types of nouns ...............................................................................................151 7.4 Noun phrases ..................................................................................................159 7.5 Summary of nouns .........................................................................................161 8 ADJECTIVES ......................................................................................................165 8.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................165 8.2 Underived Adjectives .....................................................................................165 8.3 Derived Adjectives .........................................................................................166 8.4 Summary of adjectives ...................................................................................169 vi 9 VERBS .................................................................................................................171 9.1 Introduction to verbs ......................................................................................171 9.2 Verb classes ....................................................................................................172 9.3 Aspect and mood ............................................................................................175 9.4 Voice ...............................................................................................................188 9.5 Summary of verbs ..........................................................................................213 10
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