DOCSLIB.ORG

UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics Title An Updated Typology of Causative Constructions: Form-function Mappings in Hupa (California Athabaskan), Chungli Ao (Tibeto-Burman) and Beyond Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4556v4g6 Author Escamilla, Ramón Publication Date 2012 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California An Updated Typology of Causative Constructions: Form-Function Mappings in Hupa (California Athabaskan), Chungli Ao (Tibeto-Burman) and Beyond By Ramón Mahew Escamilla, Jr. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Eve Sweetser, Chair Professor Richard A. Rhodes Professor Johanna Nichols Fall 2012 Abstract An Updated Typology of Causative Constructions: Form-Function Mappings in Hupa (California Athabaskan), Chungli Ao (Tibeto-Burman) and Beyond by Ramón Mahew Escamilla, Jr. Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Professor Eve Sweetser, Chair Taking up analytical issues raised primarily in Dixon (2000) and Dixon & Aikhenvald (2000), this dissertation combines descriptive work with a medium-sized (50-language) typological study. Chapter 1 situates the dissertation against a concise survey of typological-functional work on causative constructions from the last few decades, and outlines the major research questions. Chapter 2 presents a case study of causative encoding in Hupa (California Athabaskan). I describe the morphosyntax and semantics of the Hupa syntactic causative construction, and analyze its distribution with respect to Dixon’s (2000) proposals for a typology of causative constructions. I demonstrate that causee control (Dixon’s parameter 3) over the caused microevent is a significant semantic factor in licensing this construction. I show that Næss’ (2007) model of transitivity as a set of semantic prototypes, as applied to causative event participants, nicely accounts for other aspects of the distribution--particularly, why some events can be encoded in a causative construction, while other, quite similar, events must be encoded in a result clause or purpose clause. I end with an examination of how Hupa encodes causal chains within single lexical items, bringing together a small corpus study and a case study of Hupa encoding of cutting and breaking events. Chapter 3 presents a case study of causative encoding in Chungli Ao (Tibeto-Burman). I offer a description of Chungli Ao’s morphological and periphrastic causative constructions, and analyze their distribution with respect to Dixon’s (2000) model, showing that directness of causer action (Dixon’s parameter 6) can determine the choice between a lexical causative (where one is available), and a non-lexical causative construction. I present an in-depth case study of Chungli Ao encoding of cutting and breaking events, including a discussion of the semantics and distribution of several lexical suffixes and the elements of the causal chain they encode. Also discussed are syntactic alternations systematically available to CUT-class verbs and BREAK-class verbs, respectively. Chapter 4 moves away from language-specific case studies, and turns to crosslinguistic research in order to address some broader research questions about universal tendencies in the encoding of causative relationships. I bring a new, larger body of empirical evidence to bear specifically on 1 Dixon’s (2000) account of the formal and semantic factors influencing (or forcing) a speaker’s choice of one causative construction over another. Dixon’s (2000) claims about prototypical patternings of compact vs. less compact constructions are not well-supported: in order for the claims to be well-supported, the values of Dixon's nine parameters would have to be correlated in individual languages at a statistically significant frequency. Parameter 5 (partially versus completely affected causee) was not found to be crucially encoded at all in a sample of 114 constructions from 50 languages. Parameters 7 (causer intentionality), 8 (naturalness of causer action) and 9 (causer accompanying or not accompanying causee) nearly always occur in isolation. The one instance of a solid correlation among parameter values (with a sample of more than 10 relevant pairing events) was that between parameters 3 (causee control) and 4 (causee willingness). These two parameters were correlated: they were encoded together at particular values (both low or both high), or were both systematically absent, at a statistically significant frequency. Since, in general, Dixon’s proposed semantic parameters tend not to co-occur, the study shows that it is not feasible to model the distribution of causative constructions around notions of semantic prototypicality. A much larger sample may show Dixon to be correct in his proposal regarding correlations between values of semantic parameters, but the current findings suggest that his nine parameters are not likely to pattern together in subgroups. I conclude the chapter by presenting a series of constructions, encountered in the course of compiling the typological sample, that obligatorily encode other semantic information along with causativity. I note potential patterns and propose questions for research to build on my typological study. Chapter 5 summarizes the contributions of the dissertation, and recapitulates various proposals for further study. 2 To rational thought, and linguistic diversity. i Acknowledgements I begin by acknowledging the generous funding I have received over the years. My research on Hupa has been supported in part by an Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) grant in 2008 (Fieldwork Grant #FTG0162); an Endangered Language Fund (ELF) grant (in 2008); an award from the Robert L. Oswalt Graduate Student Support Endowment for Endangered Language Documentation in 2010; and a grant from the A. Richard Diebold, Jr. Fellowship Endowment in Linguistics, in 2012. I have also received money from various sources through the Department of Linguistics, including the Ray A. Rodriguez Memorial Fellowship (2007-2008). I am grateful for all of these. In addition, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the following people: My committee. I consider myself very fortunate to have worked with each of you. Eve, for your straight talk and support, for the tea and the good politics. You saw me through the bad and the ugly. At one point in my fourth year, when I was seriously considering leaving the program, you sat me down and said, “Ramón! You. Are. Good. We think highly of you.” I’m not the type that ordinarily needs too much hand-holding, but I needed that at the time, and you knew to give it. Rich, for your good advice, and for your incredibly broad knowledge of history, sociology and geography. I also appreciate your sense of humor and familiarity with pop culture. Your presence helped make the department a pleasant place to work. Johanna, for your (always) unbelievably prompt and thorough assessment of my work. I could not have attempted a typological study without you. U.C. Berkeley faculty who have been influential and helpful, especially Leanne Hinton, Robin Tolmach Lakoff, Keith Johnson, Keiko Yamanaka, Yoko Hasegawa, Alice Gaby and Lev Michael (and Chris Beier!). Thank you for your input and support along the way. U.C. Berkeley faculty who have not been involved directly in my work, but who have nonetheless been influential and helpful, especially Line Mikkelsen, Andrew Garrett, and Karen Møller. Thank you. Other giants on whose shoulders I sometimes try to stand: Keren Rice, Victor Golla, Nick Enfield, Bernard Comrie. Thank you for asking searching (and difficult) questions about my work. You have spurred me on to be a better linguist. My friends and colleagues through six years of study and work in Japan, many of whom inspired me to take on my CDA project on the Japanese media—a big part of grad school that didn’t make it into this dissertation. All of you have supported and sustained me. Tomoko Kase (HRH), Mia Simring, Patricia Martins, Yoshiko Ichikawa, Yoshio Ohta, Kayoko Ishikawa, Nobuyuki Yokota, Takanori Nakamura, Takahiro Ito, Michelle Spezzacatena, Gail Atherton, Amber O’Dwyer, Mauro Lo Dico, Jim Patrick, Masako Iwata, Hosa and company from the Aichi Prefectural Police, and countless others. Thanks for the drunken karaoke, the kushikatsu , the AJET meetings, the commiseration, and the laughs. ii Our wonderful professional support in the Department of Linguistics: Belén Flores, Paula Floro, Natalie Babler, and Jane Paris. You know we couldn’t do this without you. Mr. Moa Imchen, my Chungli Ao consultant and an all-around great guy. Thank you for your humor and outlandishly thorough knowledge of language. Kanga pelar ! Mrs. Verdena Parker, my Hupa consultant and mentor, for sharing your language and life, and making me the envy of many other fieldworkers. Thank you for your endless patience, no- nonsense talk, and delicious apple pie and frybread. I promise not to “take no wooden nickels from no one.” The people of the Hoopa Valley Reservation, particularly Melodie George, Jackie Martin, Danny Ammon, and my colleague Kayla Rae Carpenter. Thank you for your research ideas, collaboration, and hospitality. May Hupa always be spoken in the valley. Ts’ehdiyah ! Lindsey Newbold. I singled you out because we’ve been through rather a lot together, personally and professionally.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Basic Linguistic Theory, 2
    Basic Linguistic Theory 2 Basic Linguistic Theory R. M. W. Dixon The three volumes of Basic Linguistic Theory provide a new and fundamental characterization of the nature of human languages and a comprehensive guide to their description and analysis. The first volume addresses the methodology for recording, analysing, and comparing languages. Volume 3 (which will be published in 2011) examine and explain every underlying principle of gram- matical organization and consider how and why grammars vary. Volume 1 Methodology Volume 2 Grammatical Topics Volume 3 Further Grammatical Topics (in preparation) AcompletelistofR.M.W.Dixon’sbooksmaybefoundonpp.488–9 Basic Linguistic Theory Volume 2 Grammatical Topics R. M. W. DIXON The Cairns Institute James Cook University 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ©R.M.W.Dixon2010 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization.
    [Show full text]
  • Native American Languages Act Hearing
    S. HRG. 108–107 NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES ACT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON S. 575 TO AMEND THE NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE SUPPORT OF NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE SURVIVAL SCHOOLS MAY 15, 2003 WASHINGTON, DC ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 87–260 PDF WASHINGTON : 2003 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Vice Chairman JOHN McCAIN, Arizona, KENT CONRAD, North Dakota PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico HARRY REID, Nevada CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota GORDON SMITH, Oregon MARIA CANTWELL, Washington LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska PAUL MOOREHEAD, Majority Staff Director/Chief Counsel PATRICIA M. ZELL, Minority Staff Director/Chief Counsel (II) C O N T E N T S Page S. 575, text of ........................................................................................................... 2 Statements: Brown, William Y., director, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI ....................... 55 Cheek, John, director, National Indian Education Association, Alexan- dria, VA .........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Transitivity and Transitivity Alternations in Rawang and Qiang Randy J
    Workshop on Tibeto-Burman Languages of Sichuan November 21-24, 2008 Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica Transitivity and transitivity alternations in Rawang and Qiang Randy J. LaPolla La Trobe University [email protected] 1. Introduction This paper is more about presenting phenomena and questions related to the concept of transitivity in Tibeto-Burman languages that I hope will stimulate discussion, rather than presenting strong conclusions. Sections 2 and 3 present alternative analyses of transitivity and questions about transitivity in two Tibeto-Burman languages I have worked on. In Section 4 I discuss some general issues about transitivity. 2. Rawang 2.1 Introduction • Rawang (Rvwang [r'w]): Tibeto-Burman language spoken in far north of Kachin State, Myanmar. Data from the Mvtwang (Mvt River) dialect.1 (Morse 1962, 1963, 1965; LaPolla 2000, 2006, to appear a, to appear b; LaPolla & Poa 2001; LaPolla & Yang 2007). • Verb-final, agglutinative, both head marking and dependent marking. • Verbs can take hierarchical person marking, aspect marking, directional marking (which also marks aspect in some cases), and tense marking. • All verbs clearly distinguished (even in citation) by their morphology in terms of what has been analysed as transitivity, and there are a number of different affixes for increasing or decreasing valency (see LaPolla 2000 on valency-changing derivations). Citation form is third person non- past affirmative/declarative: • Intransitives: non-past affirmative/declarative particle () alone in the non past (e.g. ngø 'to cry') and the intransitive past tense marker (-ı) in past forms (with third person argument); they can be used transitively only when they take valency-increasing morphological marking (causative, benefactive).
    [Show full text]
  • Loan Verb Integration in Michif
    journal of language contact 12 (2019) 27-51 brill.com/jlc Loan Verb Integration in Michif Anton Antonov inalco-crlao, paris [email protected] Abstract This paper looks at the different ways French (and English) loan verbs are being inte- grated in Michif, a mixed language (the noun system is French, the verbal one is Cree) based upon two dictionaries of the language. The detailed study of the available data has shown that loan verbs are almost exclusively assigned to the vai class, i.e. a class of verbs whose single core argument is animate. This seems natural enough given that the overwhelming majority of them do have an animate core participant in the donor language as well. Still, quite a few of them can be transitive. This is accounted for by claiming that vai is the most ‘neutral’ inflectional class of Cree as far as morphology and argument structure are concerned as verbs in this class can be syntactically both intransitive and transitive. Finally, all of the loan verbs examined have Cree equivalents and so the claim that they were borrowed because of the lack of a corresponding Cree verb in the language is difficult to accept at face value. Keywords loan verbs – valency – transitivity – animacy – direct/inverse – hierarchical agreement – Algonquian – Cree – Michif 1 Introduction This paper deals with French and English loan verbs in Michif, and in particu- lar the ways in which they have been integrated into the almost exclusively Cree (i.e. Algonquian) verbal system of that language. It is especially con- cerned with the ways in which the argument structure of the original verb has been mapped onto the existing valency patterns.
    [Show full text]
  • Partitioning the Timeline a Cross-Linguistic Survey of Tense
    Partitioning the timeline A cross-linguistic survey of tense Viveka Velupillai Justus Liebig University Giessen The database The following gives the languages and their values in my database. The lan- guage names are primarily based on the source(s) and WALS Online (Dryer & Haspelmath 2013); where these differ from theEthnologue (Lewis et al. 2013) lan- guage names the Ethnologue name has been given in parenthesis. The ISO-639–3 codes are given in square brackets after the language name. I have relied onWALS Online where possible for the family and genus affiliation; where this was not pos- sible I relied on the source(s) and Ethnologue. The values for fusion type were tak- en from Bickel and Nichols (2013a) where possible; those languages are marked with an asterisk (*). For those languages that were not in Bickel & Nichol’s (2013a) database, I coded the fusion type according to the principles set out in Bickel & Nichols (2013b) using the reference indicated in the ‘Source’ column. Studies in Language 40:1 (2016), 1–42. doi 10.1075/sl.40.1.04ve2 issn 0378–4177 / e-issn 1569–9978 © John Benjamins Publishing Company 2 Viveka Velupillai Viveka No tense Language Genus Family Fusion Source Abui [abz] Greater Alor Timor-Alor-Pantar Isolating/Concatenative (Kratochvíl 2007: 209ff, 350) Achumawi [acv] Palaihnihan Hokan Concatenative (Angulo & Freeland 1930: 89ff, 111) Ainu [ain] Ainu Ainu Concatenative (Shibatani 1990: 80) Apinajé (Apinayé) [apn] Ge-Kaingang Macro-Ge Isolating (Cunha de Oliveira 2005: 170f) Arandai [jbj] South Bird’s Head Marind
    [Show full text]
  • Aspects of Chintang Syntax
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2015 Aspects of Chintang syntax Paudyal, Netra P Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-113367 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Paudyal, Netra P. Aspects of Chintang syntax. 2015, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts. Aspects of Chintang Syntax Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Netra Prasad Paudyal Accepted in the fall semester 2013 on the recommendation of the doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Balthasar Bickel (main advisor) Prof. Dr. John M. Peterson Zurich 2015 Table of Contents Acknowledgements vii Notational conventions and abbreviations ix List of figures xii List of tables xiii 1 Introduction 1 1.0 The linguistic situation in Nepal 1 1.1 The Chintang people and their language 3 1.2 The Chintang village profile 6 1.3 The ethnic and religious situation 7 1.4 Genetic affiliation 8 1.5 Sources of data and the fieldwork 9 1.6 Goals and overview of the dissertation 10 2 Phonology 13 2.0 Introduction 13 2.1 Consonants 13 2.1.1 Stop consonants 16 2.1.2 Fricatives 17 2.1.3 Nasals 17 2.1.4 Glides 17 2.1.5 Aspiration 18 2.1.6 Distribution of consonant phonemes 18 2.1.7 Consonant clusters and geminate consonants 20 2.2 Vowel phonemes 23 2.2.1 Monophthongs 23 2.2.2 Diphthongs 24 2.2.3 Vowel sequences 27 2.3 Syllable structure 28 2.4 Basic
    [Show full text]
  • Valency Patterns for Bivalent Verbs in Two West African Languages: Mandinka (Mande) and Jóola Banjal (Atlantic)
    Valency classes in the world’s languages Leipzig, August 14-15, 2013 Valency patterns for bivalent verbs in two West African languages: Mandinka (Mande) and Jóola Banjal (Atlantic) Alain-Christian Bassène Denis Creissels UCAD, Dakar Université Lyon 2 1. Introduction In this paper, we compare the valency properties of semantically bivalent verbs in Jóola Banjal, an Atlantic language spoken by approximately 7000 speakers in Casamance (Sénégal), and Mandinka, a Mande language spoken by approximately 1.5 million speakers in Casamance (Sénégal), The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. The main reference works on these two languages are Bassène (2007) for Jóola Banjal, and Creissels & Sambou (2013) for Mandinka. The genetic classification of Jóola Banjal and Mandinka can be summarized as follows: Jóola Banjal ⊂ Jóola ⊂ Bak ⊂ Niger-Congo1 ? Mandinka ⊂ Manding ⊂ West Mande ⊂ Mande ⊂ Niger-Congo2 The contrastive analysis of Jóola Banjal and Mandinka bivalent verbs proposed in this paper is not based on a pre-established questionnaire. It relies on a list of 300 meanings referring to situations involving two essential participants for which we have found in both languages a bivalent verb encoding the situation in question in a construction whose only additional elements are two noun phrases representing the essential participants. 3 After providing the necessary information about the way verbal predication is organized in Jóola Banjal and Mandinka (Section 2), we discuss the following questions: the coding frames available for bivalent verbs and their relative frequency (Section 3), valency alternations (Section 4), the relationship between transitive verbs and monovalent verbs assigning a role similar to that assigned to the P argument of a transitive verb (Section 5), and mismatches between the morphological structure of verbs and their valency properties (Section 6).
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing Comanche: Imperialism, Print Culture
    CONSTRUCTING COMANCHE: IMPERIALISM, PRINT CULTURE, AND THE CREATION OF THE MOST DANGEROUS INDIAN IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA A THESIS IN History Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS by JOSHUA CHRISTOPHER MIKA B.A., UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, 2000 B.A., UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, 2006 M.L.I.S.c., UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MĀNOA, 2012 Kansas City, Missouri, 2018 © 2018 JOSHUA CHRISTOPHER MIKA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONSTRUCTING COMANCHE: IMPERIALISM, PRINT CULTURE, AND THE CREATION OF THE MOST DANGEROUS INDIAN IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA Joshua Christopher Mika, Candidate for the Master of Arts Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2018 ABSTRACT Anglo-American print sources during the antebellum era framed the Comanche as “the most powerful” or “the most dreaded” Indian whom settlers encountered on the frontier. This research examines the pivotal role that American print culture played in constructing dubious stereotypes of Comanche Indians in American intellectual and popular culture during the nineteenth century, such as we find embedded in English language newspapers and captivity narratives. Though some scholars have examined the role that American media has played in constructing spurious images of Native Americans, this current research is the first of its kind that specifically examines the birth and development of Comanche stereotypes in American print culture during its formative years. This process of typification iii robbed Comanches of their own voice and identity. It marked them with indelible, negative impressions in the American imaginary – impressions that have lasted to this day in popular images of the Comanche.
    [Show full text]
  • Ssila Bulletin
    The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas SSILA BULLETIN An Information Service for SSILA Members Editor - Victor Golla ([email protected]) Associate Editor - Scott DeLancey ([email protected]) Correspondence should be directed to the Editor Number 105: February 12, 2000 105.0 SSILA BUSINESS Call for papers: 39th CAIL (San Francisco, Nov. 15-19, 2000) The 39th meeting of the Conference on American Indian Languages (constituting the Annual Meeting of SSILA for 2000) will be held in San Francisco, California, November 15-19, 2000, as part of the 99th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. As in previous years, SSILA will organize multiple sessions of CAIL papers around topics reflected in individual submissions. Any topic dealing with American Indian languages and linguistics is acceptable. Groups of papers on special topics are welcome. SSILA members who wish to have a paper considered for a CAIL session must submit a formal AAA proposal and abstract, together with an advance registration form, to the 2000 SSILA Program Committee (NOT directly to the AAA) by Friday, March 17, 2000. Copies of the appropriate AAA forms are enclosed with the January 2000 SSILA Newsletter, which will reach most members within the coming week. Forms can also be downloaded from the AAA website: http://www.aaanet.org Beginning this year, SSILA welcomes the presentation of papers in Spanish. If your paper willbe in Spanish, an English translation of the abstract should be submitted as well as the Spanish original. To deliver a paper at a CAIL session you must be a member of SSILA and also a current member of the American Anthropological Association.
    [Show full text]
  • NEWSLETTER the Comanche Language & Cultural Preservation
    NU- MU- TEKWAPU- HA NOMNEEKATU- NEWSLETTER March 2001 Vol. 4 Issue 2 The Comanche Language & Cultural Preservation Committee P.O. Box 3610 Lawton OK 73502-3610 www.comanchelanguage.org (fax#1-580-353-6322) e-mail:[email protected] Editor: Barbara Goodin “From The President” Mexico to Eastern Oklahoma. But the one thing (*Editor’s Note: Following is a paper written by that united these bands was their language. Based the late Michael Red Elk on February 12, 1996, on their previous experience, these bands never when he was attending Haskell at Lawrence, fought each other due to their language ties. From Kansas. Michael is the son of president Ron Red the late 1600s to the late 1800s the bands raided Elk and his wife Frances, and was killed in an and dominated their territory. But after constant automobile accident in 1999.) encroachment from European settlers, the THE COMANCHE LANGUAGE, Comanches slowly lost their large land base and FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE soon was confined to a small tract of land in by Michael Red Elk (1996) Southwest Oklahoma. “The Comanche language has a very long and After fighting for their land valiantly, the proud history and has been through much Comanche culture was feared and despised by the diversity. But to fully understand it one must United States Government. At the heart of their examine where it came from and where it is culture was the Comanche language. In an going. In all aspects of Comanche life the attempt to destroy the language and culture, Indian language has played a key role.
    [Show full text]
  • Ssila Bulletin
    The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas SSILA BULLETIN An Information Service for SSILA Members Editor - Victor Golla Associate Editor - Scott DeLancey Correspondence should be directed to the Editor Number 56: October 11, 1997 56.1 CORRESPONDENCE Ojibwe dictionaries, on- and off-line >From John Nichols ([email protected]) 26 Sept 97: Re: Peter Bakker's note (SSILA Bulletin #55) about on-line dictionaries, SSILA readers should be warned that an Ojibwe dictionary claiming to be based on Nichols and Nyholm (1979), and most recently titled Ojibwewi- Ikidowinan: An Ojibwe Word Resource Book, is an illegal pirated version. No electronic version has been authorized by us. In the version I saw, many errors had been introduced by the copy typist. We attempted to stop the sale of a diskette version of this several years ago, but were not able to do so. They were charging hundreds of dollars for a bad copy. There appears to be no introductory information that lets users know that many citation forms in this dictionary are abstract stems, not actual inflected words. This electronic mess is not a reliable source of information on Ojibwe. Sites offering an on-line Ojibwe dictionary, or links to it, should ensure that electronic reproduction has been authorized and that the dictionary has been competently edited and proofread. Nichols and Nyholm (1979), meanwhile, has been completely replaced by Nichols and Nyholm, A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe, U of Minnesota Press, 1995. Buy a legal hard copy for the bargain price of $10 and get accurate information! Most citation forms in this new dictionary are inflected words.
    [Show full text]
  • Questions on Transitivity Randy J
    RCLT Local Workshop on Transitivity DO NOT QUOTE WITHOUT PERMISSION! [email protected] 21 August, 2008 COMMENTS GREATLY APPRECIATED! Questions on Transitivity Randy J. LaPolla La Trobe University 1. Introduction This handout (it isn’t a paper) presents phenomena and questions, rather than conclusions, related to the concept of transitivity. The idea is to return to these questions at the end of the Workshop to see if we can have a clearer consensus about the best general analysis of phenomena associated with transitivity. Section 2 presents alternative analyses of transitivity and questions about transitivity in three languages I have worked on. Section 3 discusses a few of the different conceptualisations of transitivity that might be relevant to our thinking about the questions related to these languages or that bring up further questions. Section 4 presents some general questions that might be asked of individual languages. 2. Analyses of three languages 2.1 Rawang • Rawang (Rvwang [rə'wɑ̀ŋ]): Tibeto-Burman language; far north of Kachin State, Myanmar. Data from the Mvtwang (Mvt River) dialect.1 (Morse 1962, 1963, 1965; LaPolla 2000, 2006, to appear a, to appear b; LaPolla & Poa 2001; LaPolla & Yang 2007). • Verb-final, agglutinative, both head marking and dependent marking. • Verbs can take hierarchical person marking, aspect marking, directional marking (which also marks aspect in some cases), and tense marking. • All verbs clearly distinguished (even in citation) by their morphology in terms of what has been analysed as transitivity, and there are a number of different affixes for increasing or decreasing valency (see LaPolla 2000 on valency-changing derivations).
    [Show full text]