Abstract

Light Verbs and Split Ergativity in the Western Cholan Languages

Highlights

  • The Western Cholan languages consist of two languages: Chontal from the state of Tabasco and Chol from the neighboring state of Chiapas

  • From this discussion of Chol we have reviewed evidence both for and against the agentives as verbs and as nouns. It seems that in Chol these elements were originally verbs that have become verbal nouns; i.e. they have the semantics of verbs with some morphosyntactic properties of nouns, the most prominent of which is their role as a complement of a transitive verb cha’len

  • At this point we can turn to Chontal to provide a further comparative and diachronic perspective

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Summary

LIGHT VERBS AND SPLIT ERGATIVITY IN THE WESTERN CHOLAN LANGUGES

This paper is a discussion of a complex verbal construction in Western Cholan languages and how this construction interacts with the split ergative systems found in these languages. The Cholan languages all display split-ergative systems based on aspect In addition to this split system, Vázquez claims that Chol has properties of split intransitivity as an agentive/non-agentive language. This perspective would mean that Chol has accusativity that is aspect-based (split-ergativity) and lexically/semantically based (split-intransitivity). In order to evaluate the status of cha’len it is useful to compare the Chol examples with similar cases in its closest relative, Chontal of Tabasco, as well as other comparative and historical data. This comparative and historical approach reveals both languages moving closer to accusative-systems, a process that is being accelerated through contact with Spanish

INTRODUCTION
Third Person
Set B
Transitive counterpart
CONCLUSION

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