Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics Thesis Approval Sheet This thesis, entitled Aspect and mood in Jicaltepec Mixtec written by Rachael A. Costello and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics has been read and approved by the undersigned members of the faculty of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. udael krakr Michael Boútin (Supervising Professor) Barbara Hollenbach Shin Ja Hwang /2Tune 20/4 Date ASPECT AND MOOD IN JICALTEPEC MIXTEC By Rachael A. Costello Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics June 2014 © 2014 Rachael A. Costello All Rights Reserved CERTIFICATE I acknowledge that use of copyrighted material in my thesis may place me under an obligation to the copyright owner, especially when use of such material exceeds usual fair use provisions. I hereby certify that I have obtained the written permission of the copyright owner for any and all such occurrences and that no portion of my thesis has been copyrighted previously unless properly referenced. I hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics from any and all claims that may be asserted or that may arise from any copyright violation. Rlnlel Signature 2 July 2014 Date ABSTRACT Aspect and mood in Jicaltepec Mixtec Rachael A. Costello Master of Arts with major in Applied Linguistics The Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, June 2014 Supervising Professor: Michael Boutin “The verb system of any language exists to expedite discourse in that language. Therefore, the place to look for the meaning of tense/aspect/mode forms is to their discourse functions” (Longacre 1989:414). This thesis has two closely related foci. First, it describes the morphological components of the system for expressing aspect and mood in Jicaltepec Mixtec, a Costal Mixtec language of Mexico. Four verb forms, differentiated primarily by tone, are identified. Prefixes, auxiliary verbs, and particles are also shown to play a role in expressing aspect and mood. Verbs of motion and position are shown to fit this same model of four verb forms. Second, this study investigates the meaning of each verb form by showing how it is used in discourse, based on analysis of a corpus of natural-language monologues. The perfective form expresses past-completed ideas both on the narrative storyline and in flashbacks; the imperfective form expresses habitual and progressive events and ongoing states as well as forming a secondary narrative storyline; the potential form expresses plans, predictions, obligations, and counterfactuality; and the subjunctive form is used primarily in imperatives, purpose clauses and subordinate clauses. DEDICATION Dedicated to the people of Santa Mar a ica te ec, who have welcomed me so warmly, taught me so much, and been such good friends to me. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writing of this thesis has been a learning experience – not only about Mixtec, but about my own imitations and need of others’ in ut. Thank you to each member of my committee for your patience, encouragement, and prodding. Thank you to Dr. Barbara Hollenbach for contributing her unrivalled breadth of knowledge about Mixtecan languages; to Dr. Shin Ja Hwang for not accepting half-answers; and to Dr. Michael outin for his carefu definitions and attention to detai . Thank you to narrators irginia ern nde Te o uan de a ru arc a re onfi ia endo a ern nde and rnesto endo a ern nde , as well as three anonymous narrators, for sharing your thoughts and stories with me and permitting me to record them, and especially to my anonymous assistant “Du ce” without whom this study wou d have never gotten off the ground. Thank you to all of the people of Jicaltepec who have welcomed me into your community and helped me to learn your language. Thank you to the many linguists whose work I cite in this thesis, and also to those whom I do not cite but on whose shoulders I stand. Thank you to the many people who have prayed for and supported me through this endeavor and others. Your love is a gift. the source of every good and perfect gift. It is a privilege to be ,יהוה Thank you to in Your service. “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my ortion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26 ESV) 19 June 2014 ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... VI DEDICATION.............................................................................................................. VIII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. IX TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. X LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................XII LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... XIII ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... XIV 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 1.1 Literature review: Mixtec languages .................................................................. 4 1.2 Literature review: Linguistic theory and methodological basis .......................... 6 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...................................................................11 3 OVERVIEW OF THE GRAMMAR OF JICALTEPEC MIXTEC ...........20 3.1 The Mixtec language(s) .................................................................................... 20 3.2 Jicaltepec Mixtec phonology and orthography ................................................. 22 3.3 Grammatical tone .............................................................................................. 26 3.4 Verb stems ........................................................................................................ 29 3.5 Morphology....................................................................................................... 31 3.6 Pronouns ........................................................................................................... 37 3.7 Noun phrases ..................................................................................................... 40 3.8 Prepositional phrases and locative NPs ............................................................ 42 3.9 Clause types ...................................................................................................... 43 3.10 Auxiliary verbs.................................................................................................. 51 3.11 Clause combinations ......................................................................................... 52 4 THE MIXTEC ASPECT/MOOD SYSTEM: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................................................................................................54 4.1 Jicaltepec Mixtec .............................................................................................. 56 4.2 Chalcatongo Mixtec .......................................................................................... 58 4.3 Other varieties of Mixtec .................................................................................. 60 4.4 Discourse uses of Mixtec verb forms................................................................ 66 5 THE JICALTEPEC MIXTEC ASPECT/MOOD SYSTEM .......................71 5.1 The basic model ................................................................................................ 71 5.2 Auxiliaries ......................................................................................................... 73 5.3 rad ey’s ‘ reverbs’.......................................................................................... 78 x 6 DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS ...........................................................................84 6.1 Discourse functions of verbs in subjunctive mood ........................................... 84 6.2 Discourse functions of verbs in potential mood ............................................... 94 6.3 Discourse functions of verbs in perfective aspect ........................................... 102 6.4 Discourse functions of verbs in imperfective aspect ...................................... 110 6.5 Discourse functions: Conclusion .................................................................... 124 7 SPECIAL CLASSES OF VERBS ................................................................126 7.1 Motion verbs ................................................................................................... 127 7.2 Position verbs .................................................................................................. 132 8 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................136 APPENDIX A: NARRATIVE (TEXT 8) .....................................................................138 APPENDIX B: FOLKTALE (TEXT 2 PORTION) ...................................................143 APPENDIX C: HYPOTHETICAL (TEXT 4) ............................................................145