Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of San Francisco del Mar Huave by Yuni Kim AB

384 Pages·2009·4.15 MB·English

Topics in the Phonology and Morphology
of San Francisco del Mar Huave

by

Yuni Kim

A.B. (Harvard University) 2002
M.A. (University of California, Berkeley) 2005

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

Linguistics

in the

Graduate Division

of the

University of California, Berkeley

Committee in charge:

Professor Sharon Inkelas, Chair
Professor Andrew Garrett
Professor Larry Hyman
Professor Johanna Nichols

Fall 2008
Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of San Francisco del Mar Huave

© 2008

by Yuni Kim
Abstract
Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of San Francisco del Mar Huave
by
Yuni Kim
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley
Professor Sharon Inkelas, Chair

This dissertation is a study of the phonology and morphology of the Huave
language as spoken in San Francisco del Mar, Oaxaca State, Mexico. Huave is a
language isolate, and the San Francisco del Mar dialect (one of four) is severely
endangered, with almost all of its approximately 100 remaining fluent speakers over 65
years of age. The present study represents the first in-depth linguistic research on this
dialect and is based on the author’s fieldwork in the village.
The dissertation starts with a typological and sociolinguistic overview of Huave
(Chapter 1). It then provides an analytical description of all phonological phenomena
encountered in research to date (Chapter 2), paying special attention to the distribution
and realization of palatalization, and to the fusion, dissimilation, and contextual deletion
processes associated with glottal fricatives. The following chapters develop detailed and
theoretically-oriented treatments of specific phonological phenomena. Chapter 3
proposes a unified analysis of various diphthongization processes and relates them to
the realization of consonant palatalization, while also elaborating on the subsegmental
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representations of vowels and consonants. In Chapter 4, Correspondence theory is used
to analyze unusual patterns of copy and blocking in the vowel harmony system.
Chapter 5 gives a morphological overview of Huave word classes and basic
morphological structure. Chapter 6 focuses on verbal morphology, including verbal
person, number, and tense/aspect inflection, and a diverse array of valence alternations.
Finally, Chapter 7 provides a comprehensive picture of verbal affix ordering, which is
complicated by “mobile affixes” that surface as prefixes or suffixes depending on
context. The abstract hierarchical structure of the verb is worked out, and the linear
placement of mobile affixes within these hierarchical constraints is argued to be
phonologically conditioned.
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Table of Contents

Abbreviations...................................................................................................................iv
Acknowledgments............................................................................................................v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1
1.1 Preface..................................................................................................................1
1.2 Sociolinguistic background..................................................................................2
1.3 Fieldwork and data sources..................................................................................6
1.4 Previous research on Huave..................................................................................7
1.5 Typological characteristics of San Francisco del Mar Huave..............................9
1.6 Orthographical conventions................................................................................14

CHAPTER 2: PHONOLOGY.......................................................................................19
2.1 Inventory.............................................................................................................20
2.1.1 Consonants..............................................................................................20
2.1.2 Vowels....................................................................................................25
2.1.3 Two kinds of j.........................................................................................29
2.1.4 Fused segments.......................................................................................32
2.1.5 Prosodic observations.............................................................................35
2.2 Phonotactics........................................................................................................37
2.2.1 Palatalization in onsets...........................................................................37
2.2.2 Palatalization in codas............................................................................46
2.2.3 Vowel breaking.......................................................................................52
2.2.4 Consonant fission...................................................................................62
2.2.5 Other positional and combinatorial restrictions......................................64
2.2.6 Hiatus......................................................................................................65
2.3 Segmental processes...........................................................................................68
2.3.1 Final stop deletion...................................................................................68
2.3.2 Degemination and cluster simplification................................................70
2.3.3 Vowel reduction......................................................................................71
2.4 Phonology of glides............................................................................................73
2.4.1 Glide-vowel alternations.........................................................................73
2.4.2 Phonotactic restrictions on palatal glides...............................................75
2.4.3 Phonotactic restrictions on labial glides.................................................77
2.5 Laryngeal phonology..........................................................................................81
2.5.1 Laryngeal dissimilation..........................................................................81
2.5.2 Interaction of laryngeal and labial dissimilation....................................86
2.5.3 Aspiration deletion..................................................................................86
2.5.4 Optional aspiration-related processes.....................................................88
2.6 Loanword phonology..........................................................................................91

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CHAPTER 3: DIPHTHONGIZATION........................................................................98
3.1 Overview.............................................................................................................98
3.2 A unified picture of diphthongization...............................................................101
3.3 Secondary features and back-vowel diphthongization.....................................111
3.4 Vowel features and front-vowel diphthongization...........................................122
3.5 Historical context..............................................................................................127
3.6 Discussion.........................................................................................................131

CHAPTER 4: VOWEL HARMONY..........................................................................143
4.1 Overview...........................................................................................................143
4.2 Data and patterns..............................................................................................145
4.2.1 Suffix harmony.....................................................................................146
4.2.2 Infix harmony.......................................................................................154
4.3 Analysis............................................................................................................157
4.4 Issues for spreading analyses............................................................................165
4.5 Correspondence-based analysis........................................................................170
4.6 Further issues....................................................................................................177
4.6.1 Vowel-final bases.................................................................................177
4.6.2 Cyclicity issues.....................................................................................181
4.7 Discussion.........................................................................................................184

CHAPTER 5: MORPHOLOGICAL OVERVIEW.....................................................189
5.1 Verbs.................................................................................................................189
5.2 Adjectives.........................................................................................................197
5.3 Nouns ..............................................................................................................205
5.3.1 Noun structure......................................................................................205
5.3.2 Possessive classes.................................................................................213
5.3.3 Plural marking......................................................................................219
5.3.4 Genitive case?.......................................................................................220
5.4 Function and closed-class words......................................................................221
5.4.1 Pronouns...............................................................................................221
5.4.2 Articles and demonstratives..................................................................226
5.4.3 Space, time, location.............................................................................232
5.4.4 Numerals...............................................................................................237
5.4.5 Other ....................................................................................................239
5.5 Morphological adaptation of Spanish loans.....................................................241

CHAPTER 6: VERBAL MORPHOLOGY.................................................................246
6.1 Stem structure and basic inflection...................................................................247
6.1.1 Prefixing and suffixing verbs ...............................................................247
6.1.2 Atemporal paradigm.............................................................................248
6.1.3 Optional person-marking phenomena...................................................254
6.1.4 Theme vowel u-....................................................................................256
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6.1.5 Syllable count, vowel epenthesis, and verb structure...........................261
6.2 Nonfinite verb forms.........................................................................................263
6.2.1 Subordinate...........................................................................................263
6.2.2 Gerunds.................................................................................................269
6.3 Tense and aspect categories..............................................................................273
6.3.1 Atemporal.............................................................................................274
6.3.2 Completive............................................................................................276
6.3.3 Future....................................................................................................279
6.3.4 Perfect...................................................................................................281
6.3.5 Progressive............................................................................................287
6.3.6 Durative................................................................................................292
6.3.7 Stative...................................................................................................293
6.3.8 Irregular and defective verbs................................................................296
6.4 Valence-changing morphology.........................................................................299
6.4.1 Intransitive aspiration...........................................................................300
6.4.2 Reflexive...............................................................................................301
6.4.3 Passivization.........................................................................................304
6.4.3.1 -rV- infixation........................................................................304
6.4.3.2 -ch suffixation........................................................................305
6.4.3.3 Aspiration and depalatalization.............................................306
6.4.3.4 Productive passivization strategies........................................308
6.4.4 Causativization.....................................................................................311
6.4.5 Verbs with unusual argument structure................................................315
6.5 Morphophonological derivation.......................................................................316
6.5.1 Reduplication........................................................................................316
6.5.2 Diminutivization...................................................................................320

CHAPTER 7: MOBILE AFFIXES AND AFFIX ORDER.........................................324
7.1 Affix mobility...................................................................................................324
7.2 Hierarchical structure in the Huave verb..........................................................326
7.3 Phonological optimization in mobile affix placement......................................337
7.4 Discussion.........................................................................................................353

References.....................................................................................................................366
iii
Abbreviations

1 First person
1POS1 First person possessive, Class 1
1POS2 First person possessive, Class 2
1POS First person possessive, Class 3
1SB First person subordinate
2 Second person
2I Second person intransitive
2POS1 Second person possessive, Class 1
2POS2 Second person possessive, Class 2
3PL Third-person plural
CAUS Causative
CF Counterfactual
CP Completive
D Determiner
DM Diminutive
DUR Durative
EX Exclusive
FT Future
G Gerund
INC First-person inclusive
ITR Intransitive
LOC Locative particle
MI mi/me particle
MOT Motion particle
N Pronoun builder
P Personal determiner
PASS Passive
PF Perfect
PL Plural
POS Possessive, Class 3
POS1 Possessive, Class 1
POS2 Possessive, Class 2
PROG Progressive
QUOT Quotative particle
RED Reduplicated form
REL Relativizer
RF Reflexive
SB Subordinate
ST Stative
TV Theme vowel
V Suffix or prefix vowel
iv
Abbreviations

1 First person
1POS1 First person possessive, Class 1
1POS2 First person possessive, Class 2
1POS First person possessive, Class 3
1SB First person subordinate
2 Second person
2I Second person intransitive
2POS1 Second person possessive, Class 1
2POS2 Second person possessive, Class 2
3PL Third-person plural
CAUS Causative
CF Counterfactual
CP Completive
D Determiner
DM Diminutive
DUR Durative
EX Exclusive
FT Future
G Gerund
INC First-person inclusive
ITR Intransitive
LOC Locative particle
MI mi/me particle
MOT Motion particle
N Pronoun builder
P Personal determiner
PASS Passive
PF Perfect
PL Plural
POS Possessive, Class 3
POS1 Possessive, Class 1
POS2 Possessive, Class 2
PROG Progressive
QUOT Quotative particle
RED Reduplicated form
REL Relativizer
RF Reflexive
SB Subordinate
ST Stative
TV Theme vowel
V Suffix or prefix vowel
iv
Acknowledgments

I am fortunate to be able to thank many teachers, friends, and colleagues for
their help and support in the various stages of writing this dissertation.
I would like to start by expressing my deepest appreciation to the Huave people
of San Francisco del Mar, Oaxaca, Mexico, who have graciously and generously hosted
me, helped me adapt to a new environment, and assisted me in my efforts to learn about
their language. I thank them for their ongoing friendship, and for the trust, confidence,
and enthusiasm with which they welcomed me, a complete stranger, into their homes
and lives. In particular I am grateful for the hospitality of Leonel Gómez Cruz and his
entire extended family as well as neighbors, who have gone out of their way to make
my visits as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. And, of course, this research would
not have been possible without all the people who have generously shared their time
and knowledge of the Huave language with me: B. Gómez Vargas, E. Martínez
Martínez, S. Juan Nieto, M. Mendoza Castillo, B. Francisco, F. Gómez, I. Antonio, P.
Martínez José, M. Vicente Ruiz, B. Nieto Martínez, A. Enríquez Martínez, T. Juan
Cortez, R. Enríquez Morales, J. Juan Nieto, L. Juan Ruiz, L. Jiménez Mendoza, I.
Pérez Martínez, A. Juan Francisco, I. Juan Francisco, A. Gómez Vargas, T. Gómez
Vargas, F. Martínez Martínez, F. Enríquez Martínez, G. Carreño Cortez, J. Enríquez
Nieto, R. Pedro Martínez, V. Francisco Gómez, and others. I am immensely grateful to
these teachers and hope that my rendering of their words on the following pages has
done some justice to their lessons.
At Berkeley, I have been extremely fortunate to have Sharon Inkelas as my
advisor. It is hard to express how much I have learned from her, and how much I have
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