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UC Berkeley Dissertations, Department of Linguistics Title Analysis in Outline of Mam, A Mayan Language Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6kx3z4kb Author Canger, Una Publication Date 1969 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Analysis in Outline of Mam, a Mayan Language By Una Rasmussen Canger Grad. (University of Copenhagen) 1959 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OP PHILOSOPHY a in Linguistics in the GRADUATE DIVISION of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Approved: Committee in Charge DEGREE CONFERRED DEC. 20, 1969 Degree conferred............................ Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OP CONTENTS PREFACE------------- :-------------- vii INTRODUCTION------------- •----- 1 Content - Expression — -— — ------------------- 1 Signs - Figurae ---------------- 3 Fora - Substance ----------------- b Denotation----------------------- 7 Schema - Usage---------------- :-------------- 8 Connotation ----------------------------------- 9 Metasemiotics -------- -----— --- — ---- 11 Paradigmatics - Syntagmatics--- :------------- 13 Description--------------------- ------------- 16 Commutation-------------- ----- — ----------- 18 Variants — ------------------------------------- 20 Syncretism — --------- ----- ------------------ 22 Catalysis-------------------------------------- 27 *£I - *GII - ^GIII----------------------------- 28 Free Analysis---------------------------------- 32 Operation---------------------------------- 39 Taxemes------------------------ — ---------- - Principles----------------------------------- *<11: ANALYSIS OF THE PRE-SYNTAGMATIC------------- W .M.GII and ^GIIIs ANALYSESOF THE PRE-LINES------------ ^8 *GII: ANALYSIS OF THE PRE-LINES WITH SOLIDARITY AS BASIS OF ANALYSIS :-------- 50 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. -y*a /content chains : characterized by style/'-— ”—— — 50 n'a. /expression chains characterized by style/--------- 53 ------------------------------------- 54 n #ll /stretches of connected speech/ - 5^ * #1 1 ------- 54 r/l2 /Greetings and Talks/ — 55 Words------------------------------- 5^ Note on Systems of Notation 57 *GIII: ANALYSIS OF THE PRE-LINES WITH ===“ SELECTION AS BASIS OF ANALYSIS------------- 62 #n 8 -------------------------------- •----- 63 n 8 ---------------------------------- 63 v8 /nexias, pseudonexias/------- 63 INFORMAL OUTLINE--------------- 64- Tenses and Personal Formants------------------ 64- Verb Class I and Verb Class I I ---------------- 66 Transitivity---------- 68 Constructions with Directionals --------------- 72 ✓ •to be* and Personal Pronouns----------------- 77 gGIII (continued)------------- — ---- —— ----- — — 80 ------------------- — 80 n9 /nexus/-------------------------- 80 -y9 /nexus/, /pseudonexus/----:------- 82 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Conjunctions — ------------ 88 nlO — :---------------------------- ---- 99 10 /characteristics/, /themes/ — -— — 99 Lexematics -- --------------- -— — — 102 » S l --------------------------------------- 102 si /modulations/, /themes/ — ----- — 102 Analysis------------------- 102 Inventory------ 103 Free Analysis — --------------— 103 0 1 . 10^ #s 2 --------------------------------------- 105 s 2 ------ --------------------------- 105 02 /tense and mood/, /voice/------ — 105 /Voice/------------------------- 106 /Tense and Mood/----------------- 109 *s2 — — ------------------------ 110 JQ --------------- ---------- ---------n o 03 /infinitive, participle/----------- 110 /Tense/ - /Mood/---------------- 112 -r-.- Formants 115. * j £ ---------------— ----- 138 j | ----------------------- — 138 ah' /adverbials/---------------------- 138 ~ - 1^2 -------------------------------------------lZf2 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. c5 te (preposition)---------- 1^2 ~_s6------------ -----:------------------ 1^3 -------- ;----- 3>3 a6 /nouns/----------------------------1^3 Syllabematics----- --- ----- ---—— ------- 1^6 1^6 tl /syllables/ • 1*1-6 r i ------------ “1*1-7 * t 2 -------- l*i-7 t2 /themes/, /characteristics/--------1*1-7 TZ /themes/, /characteristics/ — ---- 14-8 /Article/------------------------1*1-8 /Person/------------------- 1*1-9 /Interlocutor/---------- — 150 /Exclusion/----------------- 152 . /Case/---------------------------15*1- Formants for /Interlocutor/ and /Case/---------156 *t| — -----------------------------------l6l t3 /Parts of Syllables/---------------i6l r 2 ------------------------------------161 »t& --- 162 /centrals/, /marginals/------------162 /Centrals/ * 171 Reduction — ----------------- 171 Commutation----------------- 176 Syncretisms — 177 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Phonetic Stress ---- -— - 183 Free Analysis — <—-— 183 /Marginals/--------------- 18^ /•>/-- ;--------- 18k Syncretisms — — •— ---- 18^ Manifestation--------- 186 /x,s,2,s,s,lfm,n,y/-------- 187 Reductions ~ ------ ---187 Commutation -— — — — 188 Syncretisms — ----- — 189 Free Analysis--------- 19^ /Centro-marginals/-------- 196 Commutation---------------- 196 Syncretisms---------------- 197 £ - k ---------------------- 197 Reductions — — -- 203 Manifestation------------ 20^ Free Analysis-------------- 20^ k /centrals/, /marginals/----------- 205 /Derivatives/ -------- 206 •Non-possession* ---------- 206 •Possession* -------------- 209 •Inherent possession*------ 212 •Ordinal* ^----------- 213 •Distributive*------------- 21^ •Ago* - *in*--------------- 215 •Causative*---------- *---- 216 •Vertitive*---------------- 219 •Motion*------------------- 221 •Abruptive* ------- 221 •Iterative*---------------- 222 •Progressive* ------------- 223 Various Verbal Derivatives - 22k •Participle* — --------- «— 226 •Position* — --------------- 227 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. •Adjective' — -— — — -— — - 228 • Infinitive * — ------ 231 * Instrumental, locative* — 232 •Measure* -------- *-------- 233 •"ness" • -------- 23* •Attenuation*------------ 236 •Indifferent* ----------236 s ------- 236 *g: TAXEMATICS--------- 239 #£TIs Redistribution — ------------------------- 239 2*1 -glll.l---------------------- 2^2 /Modulations/ „-------------- 2^2 /Voice/------------------------- 2U-3 /Tense/------- 2^5 / M o o d / -------------------------- 276 t e ------------------------------ 277 /Article/-----------------— -----277 /Case/-------------------------- 277 /Interlocutor/------------- 27? /Exclusion/--------------------- 278 /Radicals/---------------------- 279 /Derivatives/------------------- 279 Species - Simple Species ------- 280 -gill. 2 ------------------------------ 285 ^glll and „gIV--------- 288 APPENDIX-------------------------------------------- 289 BIBLIOGRAPHY---------------------------------------- 290 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vii PREFACE Mam has "been classified among the Mayan languages in a group called the Mamean group (McQuovm 1956). This group also includes the languages Ixil, Aguacatec, and the recent­ ly discovered Teco (Kaufman 1969)• Mam is the most widely spoken of the four Mamean lan­ guages. It has "been roughly estimated to have a quarter mil­ lion speakers who are located in the departments of Huehue- tenango and San Marcos in Guatemala and in the state of Chiapas in Mexico. , Mam is spoken in a number of quite divergent dialects. However, the present study takes into consideration only the dialect spoken hy the residents of the village Todos Santos Cuchumatanes in Huehuetenango. There are some ten thousand residents of Todos Santos. Other Mam dialects have been studied by Edward Sywulka and Dorothy Peck (Sywulka 19^8 and 1966 and Peck 1951). The material on which the analysis is based was col­ lected in Todos Santos during two periods: from October 1966 to August 1967 and during July and August of 196S. It consists of a large body of texts recorded on tape and tran­ scribed. The texts are stories and reports of various kinds told by over twenty different people (ranging in age from sixteen to eighty-three) whose contribution to the present study should be obvious. Most of the eliciting was done in Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. viii ) connection with the first analysis of the texts, and in this . work I was skillfully assisted by my three main inforrmants, Fortunato Pablo Mendoza, Justo Garcia Mendoza, and Pedro Jimenez Ramos, to whom I hereby recognize my great indebted­ ness . The first field trip was made possible through grants from the Center for Latin American Studies, Survey of pali- fomia and other Indian Languages, Phillips Fund of the American Philosophical Society, and the American Women's Club in Denmark, The second field trip was also supported by the Center for Latin American Studies as well as by the Graduate Division of the University of California, The dissertation has been supervised by Francis J. Whitfield, Terrence Kaufman, and Wallace Chafe to whom I acknowledge my gratefulness, Terrence Kaufman has supported me in my work by always being willing to discuss the problems of Mam and by sharing his broad
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