Deixis and Alignment: Inverse Systems in Indigenous Languages of the Americas

325 Pages·2006·2.8 MB·English

by  Fernando Zúñiga

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DeixisandAlignment
Typological Studies in Language (TSL)
AcompanionseriestothejournalStudiesinLanguage
GeneralEditor MichaelNoonan
AssistantEditors SpikeGildea,SuzanneKemmer
EditorialBoard
WallaceChafe(SantaBarbara) CharlesLi(SantaBarbara)
BernardComrie(Leipzig) EdithMoravcsik(Milwaukee)
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JohnHaiman(StPaul) FransPlank(Konstanz)
BerndHeine(Köln) JerroldSadock(Chicago)
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AndrejKibrik(Moscow) SandraThompson(SantaBarbara)
RonaldLangacker(SanDiego)
Volumesinthisserieswillbefunctionallyandtypologicallyoriented,covering
specific topics in language by collecting together data from a wide variety of
languages and language typologies. The orientation of the volumes will be
substantive rather than formal, with the aim of investigating universals of
humanlanguageviaasbroadlydefinedadatabaseaspossible,leaningtoward
cross-linguistic,diachronic,developmentalandlive-discoursedata.
Volume70
DeixisandAlignment:
InversesystemsinindigenouslanguagesoftheAmericas
byFernandoZúñiga
Deixis and Alignment
Inverse systems in
indigenous languages of the Americas
Fernando Zúñiga
CentrodeEstudiosPúblicos,SantiagoChile
JohnBenjaminsPublishingCompany
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Contents

Foreword ix
List of abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Chapter I. Alignment and direction 5
1. Alignment and alignment types 7
2. On polynomy and types 11
2.1 Splits 11
2.2 Features and types 16
3. Hierarchical alignment 20
3.1 Indexability hierarchies 20
3.2 Alignment and direction 22
4. Summary 28
Chapter II. A theory of direction 29
1. Grammatical categories involved 29
1.1 Direction as a category of its own 30
1.2 Direction as constructions related to voice type 32
1.3 Direction as functions related to voice type 36
1.4 The framework used in this study 39
2. Parameters of direction 47
2.1 Locus of marking 47
2.2 Direction domains 48
2.3 Focality and the relationship to alignment 54
3. Summary 67
Chapter III. Algonquian languages 69
1. Plains Cree 70
1.1 Essentials of Plains Cree 70
1.2 The Plains Cree verb 72
1.3 Obviation and direction in Plains Cree discourse 82
1.4 Plains Cree hierarchies 84
1.5 Preliminary summary of Plains Cree 85
vi DEIXIS AND ALIGNMENT

2. Miami-Illinois 87
2.1 Essentials of Miami-Illinois 87
2.2 The Miami-Illinois verb 88
2.3 Miami-Illinois hierarchies 91
2.4 Preliminary summary of Miami-Illinois 93
3. Central Ojibwa 94
3.1 Essentials of Central Ojibwa 94
3.2 More on Central Ojibwa morphosyntax 102
3.3 Preliminary summary of Central Ojibwa 110
4. Toward Algonquian grammatical relations 110
4.1 More Algonquian paradigms 111
4.2 Peeking over the clause boundary 115
5. Summary of Algonquian languages 126
Chapter IV. Kutenai 129
1. Kutenai direction 129
1.1 Essentials of Kutenai verb morphology 130
1.2 Kutenai non-local direction 133
1.3 Obviative subject -s 136
1.4 A frustrated search for core direction in Kutenai 139
2. Summary 143
Chapter V. Sahaptian languages 145
1. Sahaptin 146
1.1 Essentials of Umatilla Sahaptin 146
1.2 Interaction of nominal and verbal marking 149
1.3 Other Sahaptin constructions 154
1.4 Conclusion 155
2. Nez Perce 156
2.1 Essentials of Nez Perce 157
2.2 Interaction of nominal and verbal marking 161
2.3 A note on etymology and directionals 165
2.4 A brief note on Nez Perce syntax 167
2.5 Conclusion 168
3. Summary of Sahaptian languages 168
3.1 Structural issues 168
3.2 Functional remarks in the spirit of the Givónian text counts 170
3.3 Overview of Sahaptian direction 171
Chapter VI. Kiowa-Tanoan languages 173
1. Klaiman’s (1991, 1992) view of Tanoan 174
1.1 Arizona Tewa 174
1.2 Picurís 178
CONTENTS vii
1.3 Southern Tiwa 180
1.4 Jemez 181
1.5 Further Tanoan constructions 182
2. A second opinion on Tanoan 184
3. Tanoan direction systems 187
3.1 Locus of marking 187
3.2 Domains and focality of direction 188
3.3 Grammatical relations and voice 189
4. Watkins’s (1984) view of Kiowa 190
4.1 Kiowa nominal number 190
4.2 Essentials of Kiowa verb morphology 191
4.3 Further remarks on animacy and detransitivity 196
4.4 Switch-reference 197
5. A second opinion on Kiowa 200
5.1 A second look at the transitive paradigms 200
5.2 A closer look at intransitives 202
5.3 Direction in Kiowa 207
6. Summary of Kiowa-Tanoan languages 209
Chapter VII. Mapudungun 211
1. Mapudungun verb morphology and clause structure 212
1.1 Finite verb forms 212
1.2 Nonfinite verb forms 218
1.3 A brief note on objecthood and subjecthood 221
2. Analyses of Mapudungun 223
2.1 The middle analysis 223
2.2 The person focality analysis 229
2.3 The direct object analysis 231
2.4 The topicality analysis 235
2.5 Summary of analyses of Mapudungun 240
3. Direction in Mapudungun 241
3.1 Locus of marking 241
3.2 Domains and focality of direction 241
3.3 Interaction with grammatical relations 243
Chapter VIII. Conclusions 245
1. Summary of the languages discussed 245
1.1 Parameters of direction 245
1.2 Two continua 253
1.3 The morphosyntax of direction 260
2. Lessons and prospects 262
viii DEIXIS AND ALIGNMENT

Appendix 1: Algonquian paradigms 265
1. Plains Cree 265
2. Miami-Illinois 268
3. Central Ojibwa 270
Appendix 2: Analysis of Kiowa personal prefixes 273
Appendix 3: Optimality-theoretic syntax of inverses 275
1. Some approaches to voice in OT 276
1.1 A first look: Legendre et al. (1993) 276
1.2 A second look, and splits: Aissen (1999) 277
1.3 Extensions 282
2. A brief critique 284
References 287
Language index 301
Author index 303
Subject index 307
Foreword

And a man should not abandon his work, even if he
cannot achieve it in full perfection; because in all work
there may be imperfection, even as in all fire there is
smoke.
Bhagavad Gītā 18.48

Many people have helped me during the process of writing this book―far too
many for me not to forget somebody, I am afraid. I am indebted to several per-
sons who helped me with some data, gave me valuable advice, corrected some
of my mistakes, or simply discussed ideas with me. I list them in no particular
order here: Michele Loporcaro, Karen Ebert, Noel Rude, Balthasar Bickel,
Richard Rhodes, Matthew Dryer, Orin Gensler and Martin Salzmann. Spike
Gildea was a conscientious reader and made numerous and important com-
ments. I have also tried to incorporate reactions of different audiences that
were exposed to some of the ideas presented here, as well as their suggestions.
Most of what is useful in these pages I owe to these people in one way or an-
other, although they do not necessarily agree with what I have written. Since
cross-linguistic research would not be possible without descriptive studies, I
gladly acknowledge a debt of gratitude to all authors of descriptive grammars.
I am particularly grateful to Clara Antinao, Arturo Lincopi, and Leonel Lien-
laf, People of the Land who helped me with their language, and to Vicente
Ruiz, that most remarkable ka mollfüñ che who introduced them to me. The
staff at the General Linguistics Department of the University of Zurich was
extraordinarily supportive, and my wife Franziska was encouraging beyond
belief.