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Description:
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Typologies are critical tools for linguists, but typologies, like grammars,
are known to leak. This book addresses the question of typological overlap
from the perspective of a single language. In Lowland Chontal of Oaxaca, a
language of southern Mexico, change events are expressed with three types
of predicates, and each predicate type corresponds to a different
language type in the well-known typology of lexicalization patterns
established by Talmy and elaborated by others. O'Connor evaluates the
predictive powers of the typology by examining the consequences of each
predicate type in a variety of contexts, using data from narrative
discourse, stimulus response, and elicitation. This is the first deĀtailed
look at the lexical and grammatical resources of the verbal system in
Chontal and their relation to semantics of change. The analysis of how and
why Chontal speakers choose among these verbal resources to achieve
particular communicative and social goals serves both as a documentation of
an endangered language and a theoretical contribution towards a typology of
language use.
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