Spatial inflection and memory for direction in Acazulco Otomí
Many languages have developed a specialized tool for coding spatial background aspects of events: associated motion morphology. This sparsely investigated verb inflection allows speakers to specify that the situation described by a verb takes place against the background of a
motion event, as in “sing (while coming)”. Associated-motion systems typically include deictic information, and when verb inflection requires distinctions between motion in different directions, a thinking-for-speaking account would predict cognitive consequences
in the shape of heightened memory for direction. To evaluate this hypothesis, we compare encoding of and memory for direction in an endangered Otopamean language, Acazulco Otomí (Mexico). First, we examine diversity and frequency in the use of associated-motion inflection in pilgrim
narratives. Then, we investigate the potential cognitive correlates with a psycholinguistic recognition-memory experiment measuring change-detection performance. Linguistic encoding of background direction was found to support memory for direction, but the sample size was small, and the experiment
further indicated that both the associated-motion inflection and its corresponding attention patterns are in a process of dissolution. This echoes findings in Arrernte and Mojeño Trinitario, and we discuss why associated motion might be an especially vulnerable category in language-endangerment
contexts.
Keywords: Associated-motion morphology; language endangerment; spatial inflection; thinking for speaking
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK 2: IA Sprog, Copenhagen, Denmark
Publication date: 03 July 2018
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content