The expression of ‘already’ in Sàꞌán Sàvǐ ñà ñuù Xnúvíkó
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Guillem Belmar Viernes
Abstract
This paper describes the uses of the adverbial particle tsàà, often translated as ‘already’, in Sàꞌán Sàvǐ ñà ñuù Xnúvíkó (Mixtepec Mixtec). The semantics of this expression overlap with those in previous descriptions of ‘already’ expressions and pattern similarly to so-called iamitives. Uses include marking change of state or that a state still holds in stative predicates, telic readings with dynamic predicates in their perfective forms, atelic readings with other aspects, and focus-marking-like uses in discourse. In addition, the paper introduces the negative form ntsǎîn ‘not yet’ and the syntactic structure neg + V = kà ‘not anymore, no longer’; as well as two very common constructions: (tá/tiémpù) tsàà na’á ‘before, long ago’ and tsàà yachi ‘almost’.
Funding source: Endangered Languages Fund
Award Identifier / Grant number: Language Legacies
Funding source: University of California, Santa Barbara
Award Identifier / Grant number: Academic Senate Grant
Award Identifier / Grant number: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
Funding source: National Science Foundation
Award Identifier / Grant number: 1660355
Funding source: Jacobs Research Funds
Acknowledgments
I want to acknowledge Jeremías Salazar, the main community researcher in the documentation project of Sàꞌán Sàvǐ ñà ñuù Xnúvíkó, for his key role in transcribing and translating the recordings and his feedback on the analysis of some of the examples. I also want to acknowledge Catalina, Celia Bautista, Constantino Bautista López, David Bautista Salazar, Julia Cruz Paz, Juana García Sánchez, Nasario Hernández Gómez, Cenovia Hernández Rojas, Guillermo Martínez López, Dionisia Tomasa Martínez Vásquez, Almadelia Ortiz Cruz, Fernando Víctor Morales Velasco, Roberto Paz Santiago, Griselda Reyes Basurto, Claudia Salazar, Juan Sánchez, María de la Luz Santiago Galindo, Silvia, Hermelinda Velasco Bautista, Hilaria Velasco López, Victoria, and those who preferred to remain anonymous for sharing their language with me. I also want to acknowledge Verónica Aguilar and Claudia Salazar for recording and interviewing speakers in the village of Yucunani in early 2022. I also want to acknowledge Chun-Jan Young for his feedback at different stages during the write up of this paper. The data used in this paper was collected, transcribed, and translated as part of several projects. These were partly supported by NSF award #1660355; a University of California, Santa Barbara Academic Senate Faculty Research Grant; the Jacobs Research Funds (Whatcom Museum Foundation, Bellingham, Washington USA); a Language Legacy Grant from the Endangered Languages Fund; and a Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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