Abstract
A subset of the Mayan languages makes use of a specific verb form if the subject of a transitive verb is to be focused, questioned or relativized; this form, which renders the verb morphologically intransitive, though semantically transitive, is called ‘agent focus’ among Mayanists. The respective Mayan languages differ in the morphosyntactic implementation of agent focus, i.e. the agreement patterns, the marking of the internal argument and the contexts in which agent focus occurs. The goal of this paper is to provide a lexical approach that accounts for the cross-Mayan variation by means of a small set of faithfulness and markedness constraints. It is proposed that the agent focus marker emerged as a means of disambiguation (by Bidirectional Optimization) and was grammaticalized, thus extending it to contexts where it is not needed and is even counterproductive in terms of the visibility of the arguments’ φ-features (person and number).
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
