29.4316, Diss: Zapotec, Isthmus; Language Documentation; Pragmatics: Juan José Bueno Holle: ''Information structure in Isthmus Zapotec''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-4316. Mon Nov 05 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.4316, Diss: Zapotec, Isthmus; Language Documentation; Pragmatics: Juan José Bueno Holle: ''Information structure in Isthmus Zapotec''

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Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:15:18
From: Juan Bueno Holle [jotajotabueno at gmail.com]
Subject: Information structure in Isthmus Zapotec

 
Institution: University of Chicago 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2016 

Author: Juan José Bueno Holle

Dissertation Title: Information structure in Isthmus Zapotec 

Linguistic Field(s): Language Documentation
                     Pragmatics

Subject Language(s): Zapotec, Isthmus (zai)


Dissertation Director(s):
Lenore Grenoble

Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation is concerned with the linguistic documentation, description
and analysis of naturally-occurring discourse in Isthmus Zapotec (ISO 639
code: ZAI), a Central Zapotec language of the Otomanguean stock. I draw on a
corpus I collected through 17 months of fieldwork as well as on existing
documentation to present a study of information structure: the ways that the
different components of sentences - constituent order, intonation, morphology,
and syntax - are organized by ZAI speakers in order to communicate certain
kinds of information.

I first review the main typological characteristics of the language,
including, the tone system, the structural function of prosody, and
constituent order, and show that the most common arrangement of constituents
in ZAI is verb followed by subject then object. Verb-initial syntax, however,
is often violated as the preverbal position can be the locus for important
discourse functions. I show that the pre-verbal position interacts closely
with grammatical role and pragmatic status of nominals in the expression of
topic and focus relations. Through the close examination of the form,
function, and distribution of ZAI nominals, I analyze the different nominal
forms used to introduce and track referents and to mark referents as more or
less accessible. I focus specifically on the distribution and alternation of
two types of third person pronominal forms, the zero form and the overt
subject enclitic form, in spontaneous narrative and conversation, and conclude
that an important factor governing their use is the relative thematic salience
of the referents: the overt pronoun is used for more thematic figures and the
zero form for less thematic figures. I then build on the discussion of nominal
forms to address topic and focus relations. I find that while sentence focus
and predicate focus constructions are consistently verb-initial, argument
focus constructions may contain either pre-verbal constituents (within the
clause) or, alternatively, may be verb-initial. No evidence is found for pitch
accents directly associated with focal material.

I extend the analysis of topic and focus relations by examining data from
narrative and conversational contexts where ZAI speakers employ topic and
focus constructions for specific interactional purposes. I focus specifically
on a multifunctional discourse particle, LA, and show that it is used in
topic-promoting contexts, as well as to mark “scene-setting topics” that have
a frame-setting or delimiting function, to indicate changes in topics or
boundaries of topical units, and for contrastive topics. I argue further that
LA-marked constructions should be viewed not only as a resource for marking
various types of topical information, but more generally as a resource for
organizing talk and interaction. I also discuss a conversational strategy in
which ZAI speakers use predicate focus and argument focus successively. The
combined use of predicate focus and argument focus is analyzed as a chiastic
structure in which the speaker binds two intonation units into a couplet to be
interpreted together. One effect of this use is to extend his/her speaking
turn for an additional intonation unit, with the second part, the argument
focus construction, marking the end of the speaker’s turn, ceding the floor.
Overall, the analysis presented demonstrates the value and need for
information structure studies to document and analyze spontaneous and
naturally-occurring discourse, particularly in understudied languages.




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