Abstract

MORA-BUSTOS, Armando; ORTIZ VILLEGAS, Alejandra I.; GARCIA ZUNIGA, Hamlet Antonio  and  HERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ, Natalia. Adpositions in three Oto-Manguean languages. Cuad. Lingüíst. Col. Méx. [online]. 2023, vol.10, e272.  Epub Mar 23, 2024. ISSN 2007-736X.  https://doi.org/10.24201/clecm.v10i00.272.

A contrastive description of the adpositions of Amuzgo, Mazahua and Mazateco (Otomanguean family) is presented. In particular, the grammatical categorization of adpositions is discussed, as well as the ‘adjunct’ label. It should be noted that the adjuncts are syntactic units of different classes, so they are able to share properties with the central arguments, expand the meaning of the predicate, and form part of the event. The proposal is based on recognizing three types of adpositive phrases: non-predicative, predicative, and specific, which show their own grammatical properties. It is observed that the grammatical category ‘adposition’ covers the different levels of analysis of the language. Morphologically, an instability is detected because the realizations of the adpositions vary in some cases they are realized as linked morphemes and, in others, as free morphemes. Regarding its syntax, it is concluded that the revised adpositions codify the semantic nature of the thematic roles that are performed as adjunct-arguments. Semantically, the adpositions have restrictions in terms of thematic roles, they have scope over the predicate and its arguments, or only over the predicate. At the clause, they mark case in intransitive, transitive or ditransitive verbs.

Keywords : Amuzgo; Mazahua; Mazatec; adpositions; adjuncts.

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