UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Morphosyntax of Subjects in Macuiltianguis Zapotec A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics by John Olen Foreman 2006 The dissertation of John Olen Foreman is approved. ____________________________________ Kevin Terraciano ____________________________________ Hilda Koopman ____________________________________ Timothy Stowell, Committee Co-Chair ____________________________________ Pamela Munro, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2006 ii Què' yhí'nitó'yà'ni. Ríbeedáyà' què'ní ca ìttsìni gúúncanàlù' compa què' gúthèètè'lù' xtììsà' ca benné' cho'á. iii Table of Contents List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures..................................................................................................................... x List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgments............................................................................................................xiii VITA..............................................................................................................................xviii PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS.................................................................. xix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................ xxi 1 Introduction................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 General Background........................................................................................... 2 1.1.1 The People.................................................................................................. 4 1.1.2 The Language..............................................................................................7 1.2 Previous Work on Zapotec................................................................................ 11 1.3 The Data............................................................................................................ 12 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation ....................................................................... 16 2 Phonetics and Phonology.......................................................................................... 19 2.1 Consonantal Phonology.................................................................................... 20 2.1.1 Bilabials .................................................................................................... 23 2.1.2 Affricates................................................................................................... 25 2.1.3 Fricatives................................................................................................... 29 2.1.4 Palatal Glides............................................................................................ 33 2.1.5 Labiovelars................................................................................................ 33 iv 2.1.6 Non-Zapotec Phonemes............................................................................ 35 2.2 Vowels .............................................................................................................. 37 2.3 Supersegmentals ............................................................................................... 39 2.3.1 Tone .......................................................................................................... 39 2.3.2 Stress......................................................................................................... 40 2.4 Practical Orthography....................................................................................... 46 2.4.1 Segmental Orthography............................................................................ 47 2.4.2 Orthographic Representation of Tone and Stress ..................................... 52 2.4.3 Representation of Other Languages.......................................................... 54 2.5 Phonotactics ...................................................................................................... 55 2.5.1 Consonant Sequences................................................................................56 2.5.2 Codas......................................................................................................... 62 2.6 Morphophonology of n-Vowel Sequences ....................................................... 64 2.6.1 Non-Verbal nV Phonology ....................................................................... 67 2.6.2 Synchronic nVC Phonology ..................................................................... 76 2.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 104 3 Verbs, Pronouns and Nouns.................................................................................... 105 3.1 Verbal Morphology......................................................................................... 105 3.1.1 Aspect ..................................................................................................... 106 3.1.2 Other Prefixes......................................................................................... 134 3.1.3 The –ya'a Suffix ...................................................................................... 142 3.1.4 Noun Roots and Compound Verbs ......................................................... 143 v 3.1.5 Clitic Adverbs......................................................................................... 147 3.1.6 Applicative Clitic =ni ............................................................................. 153 3.2 Pronouns ......................................................................................................... 184 3.2.1 Clitic Personal Pronouns......................................................................... 184 3.2.2 Independent Personal Pronouns.............................................................. 197 3.2.3 Demonstrative Pronouns......................................................................... 201 3.3 Noun Phrases.................................................................................................. 203 3.3.1 Demonstratives ....................................................................................... 205 3.3.2 Possession ............................................................................................... 211 3.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 221 4 Nominative Subjects............................................................................................... 223 4.1 Syntactic Position of Subjects and Topics...................................................... 224 4.1.1 VSO and SVO Ordering ......................................................................... 225 4.1.2 A Possible SVO Structure....................................................................... 228 4.1.3 Against The [Spec,TP]-SVO Analysis ................................................... 232 4.1.4 The Postverbal Subject Position(s) ......................................................... 244 4.1.5 Topicalization ......................................................................................... 260 4.1.6 Other Preverbal Positions ....................................................................... 269 4.1.7 Overview of A/A' Positions .................................................................... 277 4.2 Properties of Nominative Subjects/Diagnostics for Subjects ......................... 280 4.2.1 Morphological Properties: Nominative Case......................................... 280 4.2.2 Lack of pro-Drop .................................................................................... 282 vi 4.2.3 Word Order............................................................................................. 284 4.2.4 Imperatives.............................................................................................. 286 4.2.5 Non-Finite Verbs.................................................................................... 289 4.2.6 Covert Subject Binding........................................................................... 292 4.2.7 Movement ............................................................................................... 296 4.2.8 Summary of Nominative Subject Properties........................................... 314 5 Dative Subjects....................................................................................................... 316 5.1 Overview of =ni Subjects ............................................................................... 317 5.1.1 Semantics of =ni Subject Verbs.............................................................. 318 5.1.2 Dative Case Marking.............................................................................. 322 5.2 Dative Subjects............................................................................................... 326 5.2.1 Against the Theme Subject Alternative .................................................. 329 5.2.2 Against the Null Expletive Alternative................................................... 331 5.2.3 Dative Subject Evidence........................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics &A
    Online Appendix for Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue (2014) Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics & Change Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue The following document lists the languages of the world and their as- signment to the macro-areas described in the main body of the paper as well as the WALS macro-area for languages featured in the WALS 2005 edi- tion. 7160 languages are included, which represent all languages for which we had coordinates available1. Every language is given with its ISO-639-3 code (if it has one) for proper identification. The mapping between WALS languages and ISO-codes was done by using the mapping downloadable from the 2011 online WALS edition2 (because a number of errors in the mapping were corrected for the 2011 edition). 38 WALS languages are not given an ISO-code in the 2011 mapping, 36 of these have been assigned their appropri- ate iso-code based on the sources the WALS lists for the respective language. This was not possible for Tasmanian (WALS-code: tsm) because the WALS mixes data from very different Tasmanian languages and for Kualan (WALS- code: kua) because no source is given. 17 WALS-languages were assigned ISO-codes which have subsequently been retired { these have been assigned their appropriate updated ISO-code. In many cases, a WALS-language is mapped to several ISO-codes. As this has no bearing for the assignment to macro-areas, multiple mappings have been retained. 1There are another couple of hundred languages which are attested but for which our database currently lacks coordinates.
    [Show full text]
  • UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title A History of Guelaguetza in Zapotec Communities of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, 16th Century to the Present Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7tv1p1rr Author Flores-Marcial, Xochitl Marina Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles A History of Guelaguetza in Zapotec Communities of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, 16th Century to the Present A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Xóchitl Marina Flores-Marcial 2015 © Copyright by Xóchitl Marina Flores-Marcial 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A History of Guelaguetza in Zapotec Communities of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, 16th Century to the Present by Xóchitl Marina Flores-Marcial Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Kevin B. Terraciano, Chair My project traces the evolution of the Zapotec cultural practice of guelaguetza, an indigenous sharing system of collaboration and exchange in Mexico, from pre-Columbian and colonial times to the present. Ironically, the term "guelaguetza" was appropriated by the Mexican government in the twentieth century to promote an annual dance festival in the city of Oaxaca that has little to do with the actual meaning of the indigenous tradition. My analysis of Zapotec-language alphabetic sources from the Central Valley of Oaxaca, written from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, reveals that Zapotecs actively participated in the sharing system during this long period of transformation. My project demonstrates that the Zapotec sharing economy functioned to build and reinforce social networks among households in Zapotec communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Phonology Workgroup
    Between Stress and Tone - Leiden University , The Netherlands, June 16, 2005 - Reconstructing Tonogenesis in Zapotec* 1. Background Gwendolyn Lowes y Zapotec languages belong to the larger Otomanguean language family, as do University of Oregon Popolocan, Otopamean, Mixtecan, Chinantecan, Chiapanec-Mangue and [email protected] Amuzgoan languages. Within the Zapotecan family are Zapotec and Chatino languages. The vast majority of Zapotec variants are spoken in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. What is the role of tone in Zapotec languages? Figure One shows Oaxaca in the greater context of Mexico And Change said, ‘let the consonants guarding the vowel to the left and Figure One: Oaxaca the right contribute some of their phonetic features to the vowel…’’ (Matisoff, 1973:73) ________________________________________________________ 1. Background 1.1 Literature Review 1.2 Esposito’s Study 1.3 Tonogenesis Literature 2. Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec Phonology 2.1 Phonological Sketch 2.2 Acoustic Study 3. Comparative Morphology – Potential Aspect 1.1 Literature Review 3.1 Type I Marking y Primary contrast is tone (2/15) 3.2 Type II Marking with predictable glottalization 3.2.1 Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec Coatlán-Loxicha, Tlacochahuaya Zapotec 3.2.2 San Pablo Güilá Zapotec y Primary contrast is phonation (4/15) with predictable and/or unimportant tone 3.3. Summary Mitla, San Juan Guelavía, San Lucas Quiaviní, Zoogocho Zapotec 3.4 Free Variation in TdVZ • Both tone and phonation are primary (9/15) 4. Summary and Historical Implications Cajonos,
    [Show full text]
  • Data Sources
    Data sources Stephen A. Marlett, compiler The Zapotec Grammar Files Stephen A. Marlett, compiler (March 2011) Data sources [http://mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/60560]. In: Cheryl A. Black, H. Andrew Black and Stephen A. Marlett (eds.) The Zapotec Grammar Files. © SIL International. These are working papers that are periodically updated, expanded, and corrected. Comments or corrections can be sent to the editors (see the index page). 2 Data sources Contents Data sources . 2 References . 6 Data sources This document provides information about the sources of data for The Zapotec Grammar Files. Full bibliographic references are found in the References section. Some works referenced in the bibliography are listed under ??? "Unspecified" in this table because it is not clear yet where they should go. Some sources are listed as unpublished field notes (f.n.). The names listed by INALI (Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas, INALI (2008)) may not correspond one-for-one with those listed in the Ethnologue (Gordon (2005)), of course. For that reason, not all of the names used by INALI are listed here. There may also be some inexactitude with the correspondences given here. The ISO 639-3 code for Zapotec as a macrolanguage is [zap]. Data sources 3 ISO 639-3 Identifier as in the INALI name (INALI Sources Code Ethnologue 2008) (each preceded by (Gordon 2005) "zapoteco") (each followed by "Zapotec") zaa Sierra de Juárez serrano, del oeste Bartholomew (1983), Fernández de Miranda (1995), Gibbs (1977), Marlett (1993), Nellis (1947), Nellis & Nellis
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Meeting Handbook
    MEETING HANDBOOK LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY AMERICAN NAME SOCIETY NORTH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE SCIENCES SOCIETY FOR PIDGIN AND CREOLE LINGUISTICS SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAS SHERATON BOSTON HOTEL BOSTON, MA 8-11 JANUARY 2004 Introductory Note The LSA Secretariat has prepared this Meeting Handbook to serve as the official program for the 78th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). In addition, this handbook is the official program for the Annual Meetings of the American Dialect Society (ADS), the American Name Society (ANS), the North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences (NAAHoLS), the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics (SPCL), and the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA). We gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the LSA Program Committee: (William Idsardi, Chair; Diane Brentari; Peter Culicover; Toshiyuki Ogihara; Margaret Speas; Rosalind Thornton; Lindsay Whaley; and Draga Zec) and the help of the members who served as consultants to the Program Committee. We are also grateful to Marlyse Baptista (SPCL), David Boe (NAAHoLS), Edwin Lawson (ANS), Allan Metcalf (ADS), and Victor Golla (SSILA) for their cooperation. We appreciate the help given by the Boston Local Arrangements Committee chaired by Carol Neidle. We hope this Meeting Handbook is a useful guide for those attending, as well as a permanent record of, the 2004 Annual Meeting in Boston,
    [Show full text]
  • Space in Languages in Mexico and Central America Carolyn O'meara
    Space in languages in Mexico and Central America Carolyn O’Meara, Gabriela Pérez Báez, Alyson Eggleston, Jürgen Bohnemeyer 1. Introduction This chapter presents an overview of the properties of spatial representations in languages of the region. The analyses presented here are based on data from 47 languages belonging to ten Deleted: on literature covering language families in addition to literature on language isolates. Overall, these languages are located primarily in Mexico, covering the Mesoamerican Sprachbundi, but also extending north to include languages such as the isolate Seri and several Uto-Aztecan languages, and south to include Sumu-Mayangna, a Misumalpan language of Nicaragua. Table 1 provides a list of the Deleted: The literature consulted includes a mix of languages analyzed for this chapter. descriptive grammars as well as studies dedicated to spatial language and cognition and, when possible and relevant, primary data collected by the authors. Table 1 provides a Table 1. Languages examined in this chapter1 Family / Stock Relevant sub-branches Language Mayan Yucatecan Yucatecan- Yucatec Lacandon Mopan-Itzá Mopan Greater Cholan Yokot’an (Chontal de Tabasco) Tseltalan Tseltalan Tseltal Zinacantán Tsotsil Q’anjob’alan- Q’anjob’alan Q’anjob’al Chujean Jacaltec Otomanguean Otopame- Otomí Eastern Highland Otomí Chinantecan Ixtenco Otomí San Ildefonso Tultepec Otomí Tilapa Otomí Chinantec Palantla Chinantec 1 In most cases, we have reproduced the language name as used in the studies that we cite. However, we diverge from this practice in a few cases. One such case would be one in which we know firsthand what the preferred language name is among members of the language community.
    [Show full text]
  • Language EI Country Genetic Unit Speakers RI Acatepec Tlapanec 5
    Language EI Country Genetic Unit Speakers RI Acatepec Tlapanec 5 Mexico Subtiapa-Tlapanec 33000 1 Alacatlatzala Mixtec 4.5 Mexico Mixtecan 23000 2 Alcozauca Mixtec 5 Mexico Mixtecan 10000 3 Aloápam Zapotec 4 Mexico Zapotecan 2100 4 Amatlán Zapotec 5 Mexico Zapotecan 6000 5 Amoltepec Mixtec 3 Mexico Mixtecan 6000 6 Ascunción Mixtepec Zapotec 1 Mexico Zapotecan 100 7 Atatláhuca Mixtec 5 Mexico Mixtecan 8300 8 Ayautla Mazatec 5 Mexico Popolocan 3500 9 Ayoquesco Zapotec 3 Mexico Zapotecan < 900 10 Ayutla Mixtec 5 Mexico Mixtecan 8500 11 Azoyú Tlapanec 1 Mexico Subtiapa-Tlapanec < 680 12 Aztingo Matlatzinca 1 Mexico Otopamean > < 100 13 Matlatzincan Cacaloxtepec Mixtec 2.5 Mexico Mixtecan < 850 14 Cajonos Zapotec 4 Mexico Zapotecan 5000 15 Central Hausteca Nahuatl 5 Mexico Uto-Aztecan 200000 16 Central Nahuatl 3 Mexico Uto-Aztecan 40000 17 Central Pame 4 Mexico Pamean 4350 18 Central Puebla Nahuatl 4.5 Mexico Uto-Aztecan 16000 19 Chaopan Zapotec 5 Mexico Zapotecan 24000 20 Chayuco Mixtec 5 Mexico Mixtecan 30000 21 Chazumba Mixtec 2 Mexico Mixtecan < 2,500 22 Chiapanec 1 Mexico Chiapanec-Mangue < 20 23 Chicahuaxtla Triqui 5 Mexico Mixtecan 6000 24 Chichicapan Zapotec 4 Mexico Zapotecan 4000 25 Chichimeca-Jonaz 3 Mexico Otopamean > < 200 26 Chichimec Chigmecatitlan Mixtec 3 Mexico Mixtecan 1600 27 Chiltepec Chinantec 3 Mexico Chinantecan < 1,000 28 Chimalapa Zoque 3.5 Mexico Zoque 4500 29 Chiquihuitlán Mazatec 3.5 Mexico Popolocan 2500 30 Chochotec 3 Mexico Popolocan 770 31 Coatecas Altas Zapotec 4 Mexico Zapotecan 5000 32 Coatepec Nahuatl 2.5
    [Show full text]
  • Eclipse Records in a Corpus of Colonial Zapotec 260-Day Calendars
    Ancient Mesoamerica, 19 (2008), 67–81 Copyright # 2008 Cambridge University Press. Printed in the U.S.A. doi: 10.1017/S0956536108000266 ECLIPSE RECORDS IN A CORPUS OF COLONIAL ZAPOTEC 260-DAY CALENDARS David Tava´reza and John Justesonb aAnthropology Department, Box 430, 124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA bDepartment of Anthropology, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA Abstract This paper translates and analyzes references to eclipses in two seventeenth-century Zapotec calendrical booklets. 1These booklets are part of a corpus of 106 separate calendrical texts and four collections of ritual songs that were turned over to ecclesiastical authorities in 1704 and 1705 as part of an ambitious campaign against traditional indigenous ritual practices conducted in the province of Villa Alta in northern Oaxaca. Both of these booklets contain a complete day-by-day representation of the Zapotec 260-day divinatory calendar, with annotations in Zapotec alongside many of these entries. Two such annotations in Booklet 81 explicitly record the occurrences of solar and lunar eclipses visible in the Sierra Zapoteca in 1691 and 1693. Annotations in Booklet 63 do not mention eclipses but allude to them by recording the names and Gregorian dates of Christian feasts celebrated on the dates of eclipses in 1686 and 1690; such allusions are otherwise found mainly with the Zapotec dates of the beginnings or ends of significant Zapotec calendrical cycles—the 260-day calendar itself or its 65-day subdivisions, and the start of the Zapotec 365-day year—and so reflect a systematic pattern of engagement by at least one Zapotec calendar specialist with indigenous ritual knowledge and practices.
    [Show full text]
  • The Correlation Between the Colonial Northern Zapotec and Gregorian Calendars
    C H A P T E R O N E JOHN JUSTESON A N D DAVID TAVÁREZ The Correlation between the Colonial Northern Zapotec and Gregorian Calendars INTRODUCTION This paper provides evidence for the correlation between dates in the Gregorian calendar and dates in the Zapotec calendar, as it was in the northern Sierra of Oaxaca near the end of the seventeenth century.1 It concerns specifically the correlation of two calendrical cycles that are not only found in the Zapotec calendar system but that are widely distributed in Mesoamerica: the 260-day ritual calendar and the 365-day calendar (the VAGUE YEAR). Based on the data provided by Córdova (1578a: 204–212), the sixteenth- century Zapotec ritual calendar can be seen as a permutation of two inde- pendent cycles, each of which advances once a day: a thirteen-day cycle (the TRECENA, referred to by Córdova as the cocii¯), whose successive days are named by successive numerals from 1 to 13; and a twenty-day cycle (the VEIN- TENA), whose successive days are named by a fixed sequence of roots, mostly of 17 JOHN JUSTESON AND DAVID TAVÁREZ TABLE 1.1. Colonial Zapotec day names, mostly as extracted by Kaufman (2000a) from Córdova (1578a), and from calendars reported by Alcina Franch (1993) for the Villa Alta and Choapan regions of Northern Zapotec. Capital E transcribes a letter that appears sometimes as e¯ and sometimes as I¯; EE is for ee¯ varying with ii¯. The symbol = joins the compounded units within a compound word. Meanings are due to Kaufman, informed by Urcid (1992, 2001).
    [Show full text]
  • Perfects and Iamitives: Two Gram Types in One Grammatical Space
    LETRAS DE HOJE LETRAS DE HOJE LETRAS DE HOJE LETRAS DE HOJE LETRAS DE HOJE LETRAS DE HOJE LETRAS DE HOJE http://dx.doi.org/10.15448/1984-7726.2016.3.25454 Perfects and iamitives: two gram types in one grammatical space Perfeitos e iamitivos: dois tipos de gram em um espaço gramatical Östen Dahl Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University Bernhard Wälchli Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University Abstract: This paper investigates the grammatical space of the two gram types – perfects and iamitives. Iamitives (from Latin iam ‘already’) overlap in their use with perfects but differ in that they can combine with stative predicates to express a state that holds at reference time. Iamitives differ from ‘already’ in having a higher frequency and showing a strong tendency to be grammaticalized with natural development predicates. We argue that iamitives can grammaticalize from expressions for ‘already’. In this study, we extract perfect grams and iamitive grams iteratively starting with two groups of seed grams from a parallel text corpus (the New Testament) in 1107 languages. We then construct a grammatical space of the union of 370 extracted grams by means of Multidimensional Scaling. This grammatical space of perfects and iamitives turns out to be a continuum without sharp boundaries anywhere. Keywords: Perfect; Iamitive; Gram (type); Grammatical space; Parallel texts; Generalized distribution; Multidimensional Scaling; Grammaticalization; Natural development; Transition to new scene; Extended time span Resumo: Este artigo investiga o espaço gramatical de dois tipos de gram – perfeitos e iamitivos. Iamitivos (do latim iam “já”) sobrepõem-se em seu uso com perfeitos, mas diferem naquilo em que podem combinar-se com predicados estativos que expressem um estado detentor de referência temporal.
    [Show full text]
  • A Coatlan-Loxicha Zapotec Grammar (Mexico)
    A Coatlan-Loxicha Zapotec grammar (Mexico) Beam de Azcona, Rosemary Grace PhD-thesis UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, 2004 i Para Martina, quién me abrió el camino... 7 7 7 7 nà të´tza me& nzádi zh di zhke ... and to Henry, without whom it might still all be a dream ii Table of Contents Dedication i Table of contents ii List of figures vii List of abbreviations used ix Acknowledgements xii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Linguistic profile of CLZ 1 1.2 Language names 3 1.3 Linguistic affiliation 10 1.4 Geographic location 14 1.5 Historical background of the Southern Zapotec region 17 1.5.1 Settlement and expansion 17 1.5.2 Invaders, hired thugs, and occupiers 25 Chapter 2 Phonetics and Phonology 31 2.1 Segments 31 2.1.1 Obstruents 32 2.1.1.1 Voiceless plosives 34 2.1.1.2 Voiced spirants 40 2.1.1.3 Voiceless spirants 43 2.1.2 Sonorant consonants 45 2.1.2.1 Nasals 46 2.1.2.2 Liquids 47 2.1.2.3 Glides 49 2.1.3 Vowels 50 2.2 Suprasegmentals 55 2.2.1 Tones 55 2.2.1.1 Pitch 55 2.2.1.2 Glottalization 60 2.2.1.3 Length 66 2.2.1.4 Tone on enclitics 68 2.2.2 Register 76 2.2.3 Stress 81 iii 2.2.4 Intonation 89 2.2.5 Nasalization 91 2.3 Onomatopoetic words 94 2.3.1 Words that conform to CLZ phonology 99 2.3.2 Words that violate CLZ phonotactics 103 2.3.3 Words that have sounds not phonemic in CLZ 109 Overview of Morphology Section 112 Chapter 3 Verb Classes 114 3.1 Class A 117 3.1.1 Class A transitive consonant stems 119 3.1.2 Class A intransitive consonant stems 121 3.1.3 Class A vowel stems 126 3.2 Class B-C 129 3.2.1 Class B-C consonant-stems
    [Show full text]
  • Why Write in a Language That (Almost) No One Can Read? Twitter and the Development of Written Literature
    Vol. 10 (2016), pp. 356–393 http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24702 Revised Version Received: 2 July 2016 Why write in a language that (almost) no one can read? Twitter and the development of written literature Brook Danielle Lillehaugen Haverford College The development of written literature in languages which are not usually written by their speakers can be confounded by a circular problem. Potential writers are reluctant or unmotivated to write in a language that no one can read. But at the same time, why learn to read a language for which there is nothing available to read? The writers wait for the readership, while the readers wait for material. In this paper I argue that Twitter can be used effectively to support burgeoning writers of languages for which no current readership exists by partnering writers with volunteer readers who do not need to know the target language. I lay out a model for this type of work that is an effective way for outside linguists and their students to support indigenous language activists. 1. Social media and indigenous languages1 The internet and its social media plat- forms, including Facebook and Twitter, have drastically reduced the expenses associ- ated with the distribution of the written word. With little financial outlay a writer can make their writing available free of charge to a global audience. The internet has long been viewed as having potential uses for speakers and writers of endangered languages. Buszard-Welcher notes that “the Web can be a virtual speech community, a constructed immersion setting where members of the speech community meet, inter- act, and communicate in the native language” (2000:342) and Kevin Scannell, creator 1The title is inspired by Aguilar Gil (2014) “¿Para qué publicar libros en lenguas indígenas si nadie los lee? [Why publish books in indigenous languages if no one reads them].” This paper was first presented at the Coloquio sobre Lenguas Otomangues y Vecinas VII (Lillehaugen 2016).
    [Show full text]