PERSON-HIERARCHIES AND THE ORIGIN OF ASYMMETRIES IN TOTONAC VERBAL PARADIGMS

Authors

  • David Beck University of Alberta

Abstract

Transitive verbs in Totonac-Tepehua languages show apparent irregularities in agreement in verb forms where both subject and object are speech act participants (that is, 1 H 2 combinations) and one or both are plural. Data from Upper Necaxa Totonac indicate that source of this asymmetry is a 2 > 1 person-hierarchy which also has ramifications for patterns of language use, in particular the use of plural and reciprocal forms to avoid direct expressions of affectedness of the speaker by the action of the addressee. This pattern of social practice seems to support an analysis of the origin of these paradigmatic asymmetries in what Heath (1998) terms 'pragmatic skewing' whereby grammatical systems evolve to avoid violating pragmatic restrictions on discourse.

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Published

2001-07-31

How to Cite

Beck, D. (2001). PERSON-HIERARCHIES AND THE ORIGIN OF ASYMMETRIES IN TOTONAC VERBAL PARADIGMS. Linguistica Atlantica, 23, 35–68. Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/la/article/view/22449

Issue

Vol. 23 (2001)

Section

Articles