NEH banner [Return to Query]

Products for grant FN-50094-11

FN-50094-11
Acquisition of an Endangered Mayan Language
Pedro Mateo-Pedro, President and Fellows of Harvard College
Grant details: https://apps.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx?f=1&gn=FN-50094-11

Adquisición del Juego A en Chuj Maya (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Adquisición del Juego A en Chuj Maya
Author: Pedro Mateo Pedro
Author: Gaspar Pérez Jorge
Author: Nicolás Alonzo Gómez
Abstract: This talk was about the acquisition of ergative morphemes (set A in the Mayan literature) in Chuj Maya. These morphemes occur depending on the first initial of the transitive verb: consonant initial or vowel initial. Our main finding shows that Chuj-speaking children show an early knowledge of ergative morphemes. The morphological realization of these morphemes is conditioned by phonological reasons. That is, Chuj-speaking children acquire ergative morphemes first with vowel-initial verbs and later morphemes with consonant-initial verbs. This is shown in (1). (1) a. tzala’. Vowel-initial transitive verb = tz-ø-ø-al-a’ INC-ABS3-ERG2-say-TV ‘You say it.’ b. tutu'. Consonant-initial transitive verb = tz-ø-in-kuch-u’ INC-ABS3-ERG1-carry-TV ‘I will carry it.’ Mal (1;8,0)
Date: 8/3/2012

Permalink: https://apps.neh.gov/publicquery/products.aspx?gn=FN-50094-11