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ERIC Number: ED523814
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 655
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: ISBN-978-1-1243-7179-5
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Syntactic Structure of K'ichee' Mayan
Duncan, Lachlan
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York at Albany
Linguistic research on the Mayan languages up to the mid 1980s was almost exclusively descriptive in nature. At best, analyses were speculative and pre-theoretical. Since then, research based on contemporary theories of syntax have begun to emerge. In adopting the formal architecture of OT-LFG, I argue that my dissertation can be included amongst this body of analytical research. My overall goal is to provide a syntactic structure for K'ichee' Mayan, the most widely spoken Mayan language in Guatemala. My dissertation reviews relevant Mayanist literature and covers a broad spectrum of grammatical phenomena and pertinent theories of syntax and markedness. In that regard, OT-LFG remains a formidable analytical tool because phrase-structure or generalized linear precedence rules are insufficiently fine-grained to capture the natural variation of the clausal distribution of constituents. In addition, the abundant interlinear-glossed data include material drawn from a variety of published sources. Nevertheless data are taken overwhelmingly from the author's fieldwork, elicited from first language speakers of K'ichee' Mayan from the regional center of Totonicapan, Guatemala. As a pro-drop, head-marking language, K'ichee' marks agreement on finite predicates with ergative and absolutive agreement markers. Possessed nouns agree in person and number with their possessors and complex prepositions with their object complements. The predicate-initial clause is argued to be a non-endocentric S(entence), with a canonical word order of ([subscript S]V[superscript 0]XP*]. External topics adjoin to CP, while the internal topic is located at the left edge of the specifier of IP (SpecIP). K'ichee' evidences zero copula nominal and adjectival predicates, while existential, possessive, and locational predicates generally require the positional copula "k'oolik." As a hybrid argument-non-argument category, function theta represents a thematically-selected for but "not" syntactically-selected for grammatical function. The contrastives, interrogatives, and negatives (excluding clausal negatives) are focused arguments. I argue that they constitute as non-verbal predicates located at the right edge of SpecIP of the focusing predicate, and order such that Focus precedes Negative Focus. As a morphologically-intransitive, binary or tertiary thematic-role predicate, the actor focus construction presents as a subject-sharing complex predicate. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Guatemala
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A