Information Structure in Isthmus Zapotec Narrative and Conversation
Author | : Juan José Bueno Holle |
Publisher | : Saint Philip Street Press |
Total Pages | : 210 |
Release | : 2020-10-09 |
ISBN-10 | : 1013292936 |
ISBN-13 | : 9781013292934 |
Rating | : 4/5 (36 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: This book presents an in-depth description of information structure in Isthmus Zapotec, an Otomanguean language spoken by around 50,000 people in southeastern Oaxaca, Mexico, and represents the first book-length treatment of information structure in a Mesoamerican language. Three main observations motivate the study: Strong documentation and a relatively large and active speaker community create a unique opportunity to document information structure in Isthmus Zapotec and to study the language as it is used by speakers in everyday life; As a tonal and verb-initial language, the examination of Isthmus Zapotec represents a chance to explore the possible combinations of tone, intonation, morphology and verb-initial syntax that may occur in the coding of information structure. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.