Mayan Semantics

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

Carolan

2017

This paper investigates the structure of progressives and nominalizations in Chuj, an understudied Mayan language of Guatemala. Like many other Mayan languages, Chuj shows aspect-based split ergativity: the otherwise ergative head-marking pattern in the language disappears in the progressive aspect. In other Mayan languages-for example Ch'ol (Coon 2010; and Yucatec (Bricker 1981)-the appearance of a non-ergative pattern in the progressive has been attributed to nominalization. In Chuj, however, there is no clear morphological reflex of nominalization, as is found in other languages in the family. Using data from negation, particle placement, and agreement, we argue that Chuj progressives nonetheless involve an aspectual matrix predicate and a nominalized embedded verb. This provides a clear structural explanation for the split pattern. Finally, we distinguish different types of nominalizations in Chuj: those which are nominalized directly from a root, and those which are nominalized above verbal projections.

Section: Progressives and Positional Predicatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Progressives and Positional Predicatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Nominalizations and the structure of progressives in Chuj Mayan

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

Carolan

2017

“…Numeral classifiers in Ch'ol are also derived from positional roots (discussed in detail in Arcos López 2009; see also Haviland 1981 on Tsotsil). Positional roots in Mayan languages form a distinct class, distinguishable in part by their semantic content (position, shape, surface quality, or physical state), but also by the special morphology used to form stems (England 1983;2001;Haviland 1994;Henderson 2016;Coon 2019). In Ch'ol, for example, positional roots form intransitive stative predicates with the suffix -Vl (the vowel is harmonic with the root vowel).…”

Section: Ch'ol Classifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ch'ol, like many other Mayan languages(England 2004;Henderson 2016), has a relatively small set of true adjectives, discussed in detail in MartínezCruz (2007). True adjectives can be distinguished from other modifiers by their ability to appear directly in attributive position preceding the noun, as shown with the…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifiers, partitions, and measurements: Exploring the syntax and semantics of sortal classifiers

Bale

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

Arcos

et al. 2019

In many languages, measure terms like item and kilo, as in two items of furniture and two kilos of rice, can be used either to partition the nominal denotation into countable units, or to measure a denotation without inducing a partition. These two types of measurements are associated with two different syntactic structures: a partition-structure where the measure term forms a constituent with the noun independent of the numeral, and a measure-structure where the measure term forms a constituent with the numeral. Some researchers have claimed that in classifier languages, sortal classifiers are (most often) used in a partition-structurehence the classifier forms a constituent with the noun independent of the numeral. In contrast, non-sortal classifiers (i.e., measure classifiers) are often used in a measure-structurethe classifier forms a constituent with the numeral and this constituent modifies the noun. Contrary to these claims, we demonstrate that in Ch'ol (Mayan) all classifiers, sortal and nonsortal alike, are used in a measure-structure independent of the types of readings that are available with respect to the measure term. As a result, the correlation between partitioned meanings and partition-structures is not universal. We review several diagnostics that support this claim. These diagnostics can be used as a template to test the constituency structure in other classifier languages.

Building verbs in Chuj: Consequences for the nature of roots

2018

J. Ling.

This paper offers an in-depth look at roots and verb stem morphology in Chuj (Mayan) in order to address a larger question: when it comes to the formation of verb stems, what information is contributed by the root, and what is contributed by the functional heads? I show first that roots in Chuj are not acategorical in the strict sense (cf. Borer 2005), but must be grouped into classes based on their stem-forming possibilities. Root class does not map directly to surface lexical category, but does determine which functional heads (i.e. valence morphology) may merge with the root. Second, I show that while the introduction of the external argument, along with clausal licensing and agreement generally, are all governed by higher functional heads, the presence or absence of aninternalargument is dictated by the root. Specifically, I show that transitive roots in Chuj always combine with an internal argument, whether it be (i) a full DP, (ii) a bare pseudo-incorporated NP, or (iii) an implicit object in an antipassive. In the spirit of work such as Levinson (2007, 2014), I connect this to the semantic type of the root; root class reflects semantic type, and semantic type affects the root’s combinatorial properties. This work also contributes to the discussion of how valence morphology operates. In line with works such as Alexiadou, Anagnostopoulou & Schäfer (2006), I argue that valence morphology applies directly to roots, rather than to some ‘inherent valence’ of a verb.