Syncope in the Verbal Prefixes of Tlingit: Meter and Surface Phonotactics

Seth Cable
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This study presents an extended discussion and analysis of a seemingly idiosyncratic syncope process governing the verbal prefix string of Tlingit, a highly endangered and understudied Na-Dene language of Southeast Alaska and Northern British Columbia.

The author argues for a constraint-based analysis of this alternation, formulated within the specific framework of Optimality Theory. Under this analysis, the Tlingit syncope alternation functions to improve the overall metrical well-formedness of the resulting word.

Moreover, much of the apparently irregular character of the rule is shown to follow from independently visible phonotactic constraints operating over distinct sub-portions of the verbal prefix string.

This monograph may thus be considered a contribution to the growing literature seeking to analyze the notoriously complex prefixal allomorphy of the Na-Dene languages in a constraint-based, output-oriented framework, and to understand aspects of this allomorphy in terms of the surface phonotactics of the prefix string itself. The proposed analysis bears on various wider debates and issues within phonological theory, such as the analysis of syllable contact phenomena and anti-gemination, the empirical justification of prosodic domains, the mapping between prosodic domains and morphosyntactic structure, whether prosodic domains may overlap, and the ways in which metrical structure can be detected.

Seth Cable is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has contributed theoretical papers on the syntax, morphology and phonology of Tlingit to the published proceedings of WSCLA 10, WSCLA 11, TLS 9 and NELS 36. He has also composed descriptive reference material on the syntax of Tlingit for the Sealaska Heritage Institute.

ISBN 9783895863776. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 53. 84pp. 2006.

The Structure and Function on Yaqui complementation

Lilián Guerrero
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

This book examines the structure and function of Yaqui complementation, an understudied Native American Language spoken in Sonora (Mexico) and Arizona. The analysis follows the lines characteristic of recent works, since it underscores the form-function iconicity principle, and the syntax-semantic interface of the sentence. The language presents interesting challenges. On the one hand, Yaqui-specific relations between event integration and the complement-taking predicates are compatible but not identical to cross-linguistic predictions based on iconicity. On the other hand, the traditional definition of complementation based on morphosyntactic criteria does not cover all the strategies found, especially for those predicates showing alternative encoding.

This study is an important contribution not only to our understanding of the syntax of the Yaqui language and the theoretical framework in which it is formulated, but it also provides linguistic data, virtually absent in most grammatical studies of indigenous languages, relevant for typological studies.

Lilián Guerrero received her Ph.D. in Linguistics at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2005. When preparing this book, she was an Associated Professor of Linguistics at the Universidad de Sonora. She is now a member of the Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Her publications include several articles on the syntax and semantics of simple and complex constructions. She has realized extensive fieldwork on the Yaqui community.

ISBN 9783895863240. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 54. 233pp. 2006.

The Relationship of Wintuan to Plateau Penutian

Stefan Liedtke

This is the first attempt at a comprehensive comparison of Wintuan and Plateau Penutian, two subgroups which are regarded as members of the hypothetical Penutian language family.

The Winutan language group of Northern California includes as its most well-known representatives Wintu, Nomlaki (which are top of the list of endangered languages) and Patwin (which must be regarded as extinct). This group is demonstrated by the author as having close connections to the „Plateau Penutian“ group. The Plateau group includes, as highly independent members, the Klamath-Modoc language, which is also endangered (and is spoken in south central Oregon and a smaller part of northeastern California), the Sahaptian group (including Nez Perce and Sahaptin), with slightly better chances of survival, spoken in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, as well as the now extinct Molala in north central Oregon. In this paper, an attempt is made at throwing some light on the many ramifications of Penutian, one of the most interesting language families in North America, whose members differ strongly from each other and are spread from southeastern Alaska to Southern California.

The author goes far beyond the indications provided by other scholars (e.g. the similarities noticed by DeLancey (1987) between the pronouns of Wintu and Klamath), by presenting morphological elements and structural similarities as well as over 130 comparison sets from all areas of the lexicon that are common to Wintuan, Klamath and Sahaptian. Thus, for the first time the Sahaptian languages of the Plateau group are also taken into account.

For some time it has been clear that the Penutian languages of California (Wintuan, Maiduan, Yokuts, Miwok-Costanoan), which used to be subsumed under the heading of „California Penutian“, are indeed related, but do not form a Penutian subbranch of their own that developed in California. Instead, we are dealing with independent members of Penutian, the speakers of which migrated long ago in successive waves from regions further to the North into their current habitats. The relationships between the Californian languages, which undoubtedly exist, are, however, difficult to evaluate, as due to the geographical proximity and the manifold cultural connections between the peoples of California it is often unclear whether we are dealing with loans or inherited material. Instead, it appears that all the Penutian languages of California exhibit deep connections with languages to the north (Oregon, Washington and elsewhere). This larger context, where borrowing borrowing can be ruled out, is also repeatedly referred to here.

The mere fact that the four Californian groups (Wintuan, Maiduan, Miwok-Costanoan, Yokuts) represent four different migrations from the North into California does not give any indication as to their relationship with each other: they could still form a subgroup (or be part of a larger subgroup) that did not originate and differentiate in California, but somewhere outside California.

Wintuan is very independent, and no claim is made that it is closer to Plateau than to anything else, nor that there is a special subgroup within Penutian consisting of Wintuan and the Plateau languages.

Stefan Liedtke is the author of the book “The Languages of the First Nations“, also published by LINCOM EUROPA, and since 1994 has been working with the Winnemem Wintu of Northern California in a community-based language revitalization project.

ISBN 9783895863578. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 55. 95pp. 2007.

A Grammar of River Warihío

Rolando Félix Armendáriz
Universidad de Sonora

Warihío is a spoken Uto-Aztecan language with two dialects. Upland Warihío is found in the mountains of Chihuahua. River Warihío is spoken along the Mayo River in Sonora, Mexico. Together with Yaqui, Mayo and the various Tarahumara dialects, Warihío makes up the Taracahitic sub-group of the Sonoran branch of Uto-Aztecan. All field and supporting data here come from the River dialect.

This grammatical outline touches on all major aspects of River Warihío, including a brief description of its phonology, major and minor word classes, simple sentence structure, voice, and complex sentences structure. The description and analysis of voice phenomena, including passives, causatives, and applicatives, follows Shibatani´s theoretical framework. Also included is a brief section comparing some relevant aspects of Warihío grammar with Uto-Aztecan languages.



The author received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Linguistics from the Universidad de Sonora, México. His Master’s Thesis was on Yaqui Grammatical Relations. He received a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Rice University. The author has published several articles on Warihío, and Yaqui grammatical and information structures.

ISBN 9783895864735. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 56. 207pp. 2007.

Comparative Wakashan Dictionary

Michael Fortescue
University of Copenhagen

This comparative dictionary of the Wakashan family, now nearing completion, contains ca. 2100 reconstructed sets of both stems and suffixes/clitics covering the Proto-Wakashan, Proto-Nootkan, and Proto-Kwakiutlan stages. The data has been gathered from all available published sources plus the extensive manuscript material left by Sapir, Swadesh and Haas.

The field of comparative Wakashan is fortunate in that work of high quality was produced on these languages in the early decades of the last century by some of America’s most prestigious descriptive linguistics. This produced a solid basis on which others have since built. As a result of these efforts the situation has been reached today where a comparative dictionary covering all the languages of the family can be undertaken. The archaeological record on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Wakashan homeland, has been continuous since at least 2800 BC, with finds indicative of marine mammal hunting that go back to the earliest period. It is reasonable to suppose that the language spoken by the people who left these traces was Proto-Wakashan.

The question of the deeper genetic relations of the family has aroused much controversy, with the Sapir/Swadesh 'Mosan' hypothesis, relating Wakashan, Salishan and Chemakuan, in the forefront. The present dictionary is neutral on such matters, confining itself to reconstructing Proto-Wakashan. This is an essential step in sorting out the role of the various families involved in producing the complex linguistic mix of the Northwest Coast area.

ISBN 9783895867248 (Hardbound). LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 57. 540pp. 2007.

ESTUDO FONOLÓGICO E MORFOSSINTÁTICO DA LÍNGUA JURUNA

Cristina Martins Fargetti
Universidade Estadual Paulista, Araraquara

Esta tese apresenta um estudo fonológico e morfossintático da língua juruna (família juruna, tronco tupi), falada pelo povo juruna (aproximadamente 241 pessoas) que vive no Parque Indígena Xingu, Mato Grosso.

No Capítulo I, um estudo fonológico, são apresentados os fonemas segmentais da língua, com exemplificação de contrastes , distribuição complementar e variação “livre” ; também são apresentadas análise do acento via teoria métrica (Hayes, 1995), análise da nasalidade, via geometria de traços.

No Capítulo II, Classes de palavras, são apresentados os critérios para definir as classes de palavras da língua, distinguindo-as em abertas ( nome, verbo, advérbio) e fechadas (posposição, pronome, clítico e partícula).

No Capítulo III, Subconstituintes da sentença, são apresentados os fenômenos relacionados aos subconstituintes da sentença : modificadores de nomes, ordem dentro do SN, categorias de modo e aspecto , reduplicação (processos distintos de infixação e sufixação), causativos, reflexivo, recíproco e negação.

No Capítulo IV, Tipos de sentenças, são apresentados os tipos de sentença na língua : Simples -declarativa, interrogativa e imperativa; e Complexas - coordenadas e subordinadas.

No Capítulo V ,Conclusão, são apresentadas considerações sobre os resultados deste trabalho. Finalmente, no Apêndice são apresentados três textos em juruna, com as devidas glosas , com o objetivo de proporcionar ao leitor a oportunidade de conhecer a língua em uso nas situações de diálogo, narração sobre uma festa e narração de mito. Também no Apêndice há um vocabulário básico da língua, organizado com o mesmo objetivo de servir a uma comparação posterior com outras línguas e um conjunto de fotos de membros da comunidade juruna.

This thesis presents a phonological and morphosyntatic study of Juruna language (juruna family, tupi stock) spoken by juruna people (approximately 200 persons) who live in Parque Indígena Xingu (Xingu Indigenous Park), Mato Grosso state, Brazil. In the Chapter I, a phonological study, the segmental phonemes are presented, with contrasts exemplification, complementary distribution and "free" variation ; an anlysis of stress by Metrical Theory (Hayes, 1995), and an analysis of nasality by geometry of features are presented. In the Chapter II, Words Classes, is presented the criteria to define the language words classes, distinguishing them in open (noun, verb, adverb) and closed ( posposition, pronoun, clitic and particles). In the Chapter III, Sentence Subconstituents, phenomena related to the sentence subconstituents are presented : noun modifiers, order inside the NP, categories of mood and aspect, reduplication (distinct processes of infixation and sufixation) , causatives, reflexive, reciprocal and negation. In the Chapter IV, Sentences Types, the language sentences types are presented : Simple - declarative, interrogative and imperative- and Complex - coordinated and subordinated. In the Chapter V are presented considerations about the results of this work. Finaly, in the Appendix, three texts in juruna are presented with the proper glosses, so as to provide the reader the opportunity of knowing a language in use in situations of dialogue, narrative about a party and a myth narrative. Also in the Appendix, there is a basic language vocabulary, organized so as to also serve to a posterior comparison to other languages, and there are photos of juruna people. (written in Portuguese)

ISBN 9783895861703. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 58. 321pp. 2007.

Yaqui Coordination

Constantino Martínez Fabián
Universidad de Sonora

The explanation of coordinate structures is one of the greatest challenges for any theory of language. A prerequisite to any successful explanation is a careful and accurate description of coordinate structures in many different languages. This work provides such an account for the Yaqui language, a member of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken mainly in the north of Mexico, and is the result of several years of investigation. It explores and describes the patterns of sentence coordination, verbal coordination, and nominal coordination. The sentence coordination data raise fundamental problems for theories which suggest that coordinators are heads of their own projection. The problem arises from the several positions that a coordinator can occupy in the coordinated structure.

The author proposes that a viable explanation is to take the coordinating particles as having the function of licensing adjunction processes. In other words, to coordinate is to adjoin. The proposal is extended to verbal and nominal coordination. The nominal coordinated structures show number agreement conflicts with the verb that again are theoretically challenging, and a solution is proposed within the framework of Optimality Theory.

The author has also written about reduplication, relative clauses and nominal paradigms, among other topics of the Yaqui language.

ISBN 9783895869136. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 59. 288pp. 2007.

A língua do povo matis

Uma visão gramatical

Rogério Vicente Ferreira
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul

Esta tese tem por objetivo apresentar uma descrição morfossintática da língua matis (família lingüística Pano), falada por 262 pessoas que habitam no médio Ituí - noroeste amazônico. O trabalho é composto de doze capítulos. No capítulo 1, trata da situação do povo matis e faz-se considerações sobre algumas diferenças entre as línguas Matis e Matsés - por muito tempo classificadas como uma única língua. Nos capítulos dois a doze, descrevem aspectos fonológicos e morfossintáticos da língua matis.

Por se tratar de uma língua que não apresenta qualquer descrição morfossintática prévia realizada por outros pesquisadores, procurou-se descrever sua morfologia de maneira mais abrangente possível, assim explicar, a função de cada morfema dentro de cada classe gramatical. Abordou-se, ainda, aspectos gerais da sintaxe. Enfim, o estudo da língua matis é o resultado de uma pesquisa que objetiva descrevê-la em seus aspectos fonológicos, morfológicos e sintáticos. O trabalho colabora para o melhor conhecimento dessa língua, tanto para a família Pano quanto para as pesquisas lingüísticas em línguas indígenas brasileiras.

ISBN 9783895863400. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 60. 307pp. 2008.

Expressing Location in Zapotec

Brook Danielle Lillehaugen & Aaron Huey Sonnenschein
Haverford College; California State University, Los Angeles

Expressing Location in Zapotec is a collection of papers on spatial language in the Zapotec language family, resulting from extensive and careful fieldwork, describing a wide range of issues relating to expressing location in Zapotec, exemplified by 19 Zapotec language varieties. This work should be of interest not only to scholars investigating Zapotec, Otomanguean, and Mesoamerican languages but also to scholars of spatial language, grammaticalization, typology, and cognitive linguistics.

This volume documents spatial language in the four major branches of Zapotec and covers a wide range of topics, including body part locatives, positional verbs, toponyms, existential constructions, and nominal modification. The volume is diverse, with papers from both established and young scholars, contributions by researchers from Mexico, the United States, and Europe, and with work informed by diverse methodologies and theoretical backgrounds.

Contributing authors: Christopher C. Adam, Rosemary G. Beam de Azcona, Joseph Benton, Cheryl A. Black, John Foreman, Michael Galant, Kristine Jensen de López, Brook Danielle Lillehaugen, Larry G. Lyman, Pamela Munro, Ronald Newberg, Gabriela Pérez Báez, Rosa Maria Rojas Torres, Aaron Huey Sonnenschein, and Charles Speck.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

Expressing Location in Zapotec: an Introduction
Brook Danielle Lillehaugen and Aaron Huey Sonnenschein
Haverford College California State University, Los Angeles

Section I. Body Part Locatives

BP Nominal to Preposition Gramaticization in Dihidzh Bilyahb
Christopher C. Adam
University of New Mexico

The Grammaticalizacion of Body Part Terms in Two Varieties of Zapotec
Joseph Benton
SIL International

Body Part Terms and their Uses in Quiegolani Zapotec
Cheryl A. Black
SIL International and the University of North Dakota

The Syntactic and Semantic Status of Body Part Locatives in San Marcos Tlapazola Zapotec (Valley Zapotec)
Kristine Jensen de López
Aalborg University

Semantics of Body Part Terms in Juchiteco Locative Descriptions
Gabriela Pérez Báez
Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution

Section II. Positional Verbs

Positional Verbs in San Juan Yaee Zapotec
Michael Galant
California State University Domínguez Hills

Semantic Classification of Positional Verbs in Zaniza Zapotec
Natalie Operstein
California State University Fullerton

Los Verbos Posiciónales y Algunas Estructuras de Modificación y Predicación en el Zapoteco de Santa Ana del Valle
Rosa Maria Rojas Torres
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

Section III. Existential and Possessive Constructions

"Locative" Possessive Constructions in Macuiltianguis Zapotec
John Foreman
University of Texas at Brownsville

Location as Subject in Yalálag Zapotec
Ronald Newberg
SIL International

The Existential Use of Positional Verbs in Texmelucan Zapotec
Charles Speck
SIL International

Section IV. And Beyond

Southern Zapotec Toponyms
Rosemary G. Beam de Azcona
Seminario de Lenguas Indígenas, IIFl, UNAM

Location and Position in Comaltepec Zapotec: Some Aspects of Comaltepec Zapotec Locative Adverbs, Demonstrative Adjectives, and Body Part Prepositions
Larry G. Lyman
SIL International

Expressing Location without Prepositions in Valley Zapotec
Pamela Munro
UCLA

Brook Danielle Lillehaugen is an assistant professor in the Tri-College Department of Linguistics at Haverford College, with joint appointments at Bryn Mawr College and Swarthmore College. She received her Ph.D. in linguistics from UCLA in 2006 and has been doing fieldwork on Tlacolula Valley Zapotec since 1999.

Aaron Huey Sonnenschein is an assistant professor in the Department of English at California State University, Los Angeles. He completed his dissertation at the University of Southern California in 2004 and has been doing field work on San Bartolomé Zoogocho Zapotec since 1997.

ISBN 9783895861550. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 61. 339pp. 2012.

Entre las Lenguas Indígenas, la Sociolingüística y el Español

Estudios en Homenaje a Yolanda Lastra

Martha Islas (compiladora)
El Colegio de Jalisco

En honor de la doctora Yolanda Lastra, una notable investigadora y maestra mexicana, se reunieron trabajos inéditos de las tres áreas de la lingüística en las que ha trabajado; los escritos fueron elaborados para este volumen por connotados investigadores de varios países. Las tres áreas mencionadas son: (1) Estudios sobre lenguas indígenas, (2) Estudios sobre el español y (3) Estudios sociolingüísticos; que a su vez dan pie a las tres partes que componen esta compilación. En un capítulo inicial se presenta una semblanza biográfica de la profesora homenajeada. La primera parte, dedicada a las lenguas indígenas, está compuesta por diez capítulos -- destaca el trabajo de William Bright sobre topónimos amerindios﷓﷓ -- entre los idiomas analizados están: otomí, náhuatl, hopi, purépecha, amuzgo, mazahua, guaraní, inglés y ocuilteco; también se reportan investigaciones sobre la familia yuto-azteca, el área mesoamericana y las relaciones distantes entre familias amerindias. En la segunda parte, con cinco estudios en torno al español, se tocan fenómenos léxico-semánticos, por un lado; y, por el otro, situaciones de contacto entre el español y lenguas originarias de México. Por último, la tercera parte contiene cinco estudios sociolingüísticos que cuentas historias sorprendentes sobre la supervivencia de las lenguas.

Contenido:

Entre las Lenguas Indígenas, la Sociolingüística y el Español.
Estudios en Homenaje a Yolanda Lastra.
Martha Islas

Parte I. Introducción. Martha Islas (El Colegio de Jalisco): Presentación.
Pedro Martín Butragueño (El Colegio de México): Lingüística descriptiva y lingüística social en la obra de Yolanda Lastra: historia de un compromiso científico.

Parte II. Lenguas Indígenas. William Bright (Universidad de Colorado): Topónimos amerindios en México y los Estados Unidos.
Doris Bartholomew (ILV): El apócope en los verbos del otomí: la morfofonémica del plural.
Jane Hill (Universidad de Arizona): Ancient loan words in the Mesoamerican maize complex.
Kenneth Hill (Universidad de Arizona): On underlying vowel clusters in Hopi.
Kathie Voigtlander & Artemisa Echegoyen (ILV): El cuento del honorable Fundidor Sagrado que hace imágenes.
Francisco Barriga (INAH): La influencia del español en los sistemas de numeración mesoamericanos durante la colonia.
Martha Islas (El Colegio de Jalisco): Los sistemas fonológicos del yuto-azteca del sur y los universales del lenguaje.
Claudine Chamoreau (CNRS-Paris): Contacto lingüístico y dialectología. Estructuras comparativas en purépecha.
Thomas Smith Stark (El Colegio de México) y Fermín Tapia García (CIESAS-Oaxaca): La formación de sustantivos plurales en el amuzgo.
Dora Pellicer (ENAH): Yolanda Lastra y los cuentos otomíes.

Parte III. Estudios sobre el Español. Ma. Ángeles Soler (UNAM) : Nombres de institución y geográficos. Cuestiones de concordancia.
Josefina García Fajardo (El Colegio de México): El modal dizque: estructura dinámica de sus valores semánticos.
Elizabeth Luna Traill (UNAM): A propósito del conocimiento femenino del vocabulario del futbol en el Léxico del habla culta de México.
Karen Dakin (UNAM): Del Yutoazteca al *-hta- del náhuatl – y al itacate y el taco del español popular: una contribución en homenaje a tres intereses lingüísticos de Yolanda Lastra.
Rebeca Barriga (El Colegio de México): Las paradojas emanadas de las lenguas en contacto: el caso de una familia mazahua.

Parte IV. Sociolingüística. Una Canger (Universidad de Copenhague): Learning a second language first revisitado.
Anita Herzfeld (Universidad de Kansas): ¿Que elegiría usted, el español, el guaraní o el inglés?
Claudia Parodi (UCLA): El español y las lenguas indígenas: primeros contactos.
Martha C. Muntzel (INAH): El cuento “interactivo”, vehículo de educación e identidad.
Bárbara Cifuentes García (ENAH) y Jose Luis Moctezuma Zamarrón (INAH-Sonora): Un acercamiento al multilingüismo en México a través de los censos.

ISBN 9783929075748 (Hardbound). LINCOM Studies in Native Americn Linguistics 62. 577pp. 2009.