Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Acta Linguistica Hafniensia on 23/04/2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03740463.2018.1433905
Accepted author manuscript, 593 KB, PDF document
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial inflection and memory for direction in Acazulco Otomi
AU - Boeg Thomsen, Ditte
AU - Volhardt, Marc Daniel Skibsted
N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Acta Linguistica Hafniensia on 23/04/2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03740463.2018.1433905
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Associated-motion morphology
KW - spatial inflection
KW - thinking for speaking
KW - language endangerment
U2 - 10.1080/03740463.2018.1433905
DO - 10.1080/03740463.2018.1433905
M3 - Journal article
VL - 50
SP - 208
EP - 241
JO - Acta Linguistica Hafniensia
JF - Acta Linguistica Hafniensia
SN - 0374-0463
IS - 2
ER -