Cover not available
Part of
Diverse Scenarios of Syntactic Complexity
Edited by Albert Álvarez González, Zarina Estrada-Fernández and Claudine Chamoreau
[Typological Studies in Language 126] 2019
► pp. 167–189

Syntactic nominalizations in Pima Bajo

Diachronic diversity

| University of Sonora
Pima Bajo is a Uto-Aztecan language from northwestern Mexico, traditionally spoken in the central part of the states of Chihuahua and Sonora. It is the most endangered language in the Uto-Aztecan family, a situation partially responsible for the loss of some remarkable features observed in complex clauses, in particular, syntactic nominalizations. This paper focuses on syntactic nominalization constructions in Pima Bajo involving three nominalizing suffixes, -dam, -kɨg, and -ka. These nominalization strategies are consonant with Comrie (2011) and Malchukov (2004), especially in that they have a mixed status, combining nominal as well as verbal properties. Additionally, these constructions should not be considered discrete, but gradual along a continuum. Moreover, the relevant properties that are observed within the different types of nominalizations mixed or not, follow a hierarchical organization, since not all of them are relevant within the different instantiations of this kind of constructions.
Keywords: clausal nominalizations, mixed status, subordination, Pima Bajo
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sociolinguistic information and grammatical properties of Pima Bajo
  • 3.Clausal nominalization
  • 4.Syntactic nominalizations in Pima Bajo
    • 4.1The suffix -dam
    • 4.2The nominalizing suffix -kig
    • 4.3The nominalizing suffix -ka
  • 5.Final remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 July 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.126.07est
References (30)
References
Bisang, Walter. 2001. 100. Finite vs non-finite languages. In Language Typology and Language Universals. An International Handbook, Vol. 2, Martin Haspelmath, Ekkehard König, Wulf Oesterreicher & Wolfgang Raible (eds), 1400–1430. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
. 2016. Finiteness, nominalization, and information structure: Convergence and divergence. In Finiteness and Nominalization [Typological Studies in Language 113], Claudine Chamoreau & Zarina Estrada-Fernández (eds), 13–41. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard. 2011. Action nominals between verbs and nouns. Rivista di Linguistica 23(1): 7–20.Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard & Thompson, Sandra A. 2007[1985]. Lexical nominalization. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. 3: Grammatical Categories and Lexicon, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 334–381. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dakin, Karen 2004. Prólogo. In Diccionario yaqui-español y textos. Obra de preservación lingüística, Zarina Estrada Fernández, Crescencio Buitimea Valenzuela, Adriana E. Gurrola Camacho, María E. Castillo Celaya & Anabela Carlón Flores (eds), 13–25. México: Plaza y Valdez.Google Scholar
Drude, Sebastian. 2011. Nominalization and subordination in Aweti. Amerindia 35: 189–218.Google Scholar
Estrada-Fernández, Zarina. 2012. From demonstrative to relative marker to clause linker. Relative clause formation in Pima Bajo. In Relative Clauses in Languages of the Americas. A Typological Overview [Typological Studies in Language 102], Bernard Comrie & Zarina Estrada-Fernández, 127–146. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2014. Gramática de referencia de pima bajo, Vol. 1. Hermosillo: Universidad de Sonora.Google Scholar
. 2016. Exploring finiteness and non-finiteness in Pima Bajo. In Finiteness and Nominalization [Typological Studies in Language 113], Claudine Chamoreau & Zarina Estrada-Fernández (eds), 43–68. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
. 2018. Estructura de la información y expresión de tópico y foco en lenguas yuto-aztecas de la Sierra Tarahumara. Revista Línguas Indígenas Americanas (LIAMES). 18(1): 7–24.Google Scholar
Estrada-Fernández, Zarina. In press. Grammaticalization in Uto-Aztecan languages from northwestern Mexico. In Areal Patterns of Grammaticalization, Walter Bisang & Andrej Malchukov (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter.
Estrada-Fernández, Zarina & Villalpando-Quiñónez, Jesús. Forthcoming. Clause combining and nominalization in Tarahumara: Towards a diachronic source of clausal nominalizing suffixes. Submitted to Amerindia .Google Scholar
Félix Armendáriz, Rolando. 2007. A Grammar of River Warihío. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Genetti, Carol, Bartee, Ellen, Coupe, Alexander R., Hildebrandt, Kristine & Lin, You-Jin. 2008. Syntactic aspects of nominalization in five Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayan area. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 3(1–2): 97–143.Google Scholar
Givón, T. 1990. Syntax. A Functional-Typological Introduction, Vol II, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
. 2001. Syntax. An Introduction, Vol. 1. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Givón, T. 2009. The Genesis of Syntactic Complexity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. In Universals of Language, Joseph H. Greenberg (ed.), 73–113. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hope, Margarita. 2006. Pimas. México: Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas. Col. Pueblos Indígenas de México Contemporáneo.Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul J. & Thompson, Sandra A. 1984. The discourse basis for lexical categories in universal grammar. Language 60(4): 703–752. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2013. Action nominal constructions. In The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds). Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. <[URL]> (10 September 2014).Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 1977. Studies in Uto-Aztecan Grammar, Vol. I: An Overview of Uto-Aztecan Grammar. Dallas TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics/University of Texas at Arlington.Google Scholar
Lehmann, Christian. 1984. Der relativisatz. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Malchukov, Andrej L. 2004. Nominalization/verbalization: Constraining Typology of Transcategorial Operations. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Miller, Wick R. 1983. Uto-Aztecan. In Southwest. Handbook of North American Indians, Alfonso Ortiz (ed.), 113–124. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
. 1996. Guarijío: Gramática, Textos y Vocabulario. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Mithun, Marianne. 2016. Shifting finiteness in nominalization: From definitization to refinitization. In Finiteness and Nominalization [Typological Studies in Language 113], Claudine Chamoreau & Zarina Estrada-Fernández (eds), 297–322. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Moyse-Faurie, Claire. 2016. Referential markers in Oceanic nominalized constructions. In Finiteness and Nominalization [Typological Studies in Language 113], Claudine Chamoreau & Zarina Estrada-Fernández (eds), 171–203. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Nikitina, Tatiana V. 2008. The Mixing of Syntactic Properties and Language Change. Stanford CA: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Noonan, Michael. 1985. Complementation. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. 2: Complex Constructions, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 42–141. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar