I was very pleased to find some more instances of the progressive aspect marker in Colonial Valley Zapotec texts this morning, since it is not generally known that this morpheme was present in the language at this stage. Smith Stark (2008), for example, doesn't include any mention of it in an otherwise comprehensive overview of the Colonial Valley Zapotec aspect morphology.
These new examples involve the verb 'do' and 'be sitting'. It's interesting that with the first verb, the form in the text is
ca-g-oni
where the /g/ looks like a reflex of the potential aspect. Thom Smith Stark argued in a (2004) paper that the progressive evolved from a construction that involved a verb of position followed by a verb in the potential.
These new examples involve the verb 'do' and 'be sitting'. It's interesting that with the first verb, the form in the text is
ca-g-oni
where the /g/ looks like a reflex of the potential aspect. Thom Smith Stark argued in a (2004) paper that the progressive evolved from a construction that involved a verb of position followed by a verb in the potential.
1 comment:
The 'do' example I find rather convincing-- fun, Aaron!
The 'sit' example, is intriguing, but I wonder what this construction is. I think you are probably right, but I would like to know more about the syntax here.
John?
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