- •Contents
- •Preface
- •Acknowledgments
- •1.1 A Clockwork Orange: Meaning and Form in Context
- •1.3 Compound and Noun Phrase Ambiguities
- •1.6 Word Building 3: Tohono O'odham
- •1.7 Word Building 4: Tohono O'odham
- •1.9 Morphophonology 2: Turkish
- •1.10 Morphophonology 3: -ity Affixation (English)
- •2.1 Reverse Transcription
- •2.2 Transcription: Monosyllables
- •2.4 Special Topic 1: Phonetic Variation (English /t/)
- •2.6 Writing Systems: Japanese
- •3.1 Phonological Rules 1: English Past Tense
- •3.3 Phonological Rules 3: Tohono O'odham
- •3.4 Phonological Rules 4: Zoque
- •3.5 Phonological Rules 5: Japanese
- •3.6 Phonological Rules 6: Japanese
- •3.9 Special Topic 3: Phonetic Variation (French Vowels)
- •3.10 Special Topic 4: Liaison (French)
- •4 Syntax
- •4.2 English Syntax 2: Simple NPs, VPs, and PPs
- •4.4 English Syntax 4: Tree and Sentence Matching
- •4.5 English Syntax 5: Possessive NP with a PP
- •4.6 English Syntax 6: Verb-Particle versus Verb-PP Structure
- •4.7 English Syntax 7: S-Adverbs versus VP-Adverbs
- •4.8 English Syntax 8: Arguing for Syntactic Structure
- •4.10 Simple Sentences 2: Tamil
- •4.11 Simple Sentences 3: Tohono O'odham
- •4.12 Simple Sentences 4: Yaqui
- •4.13 Simple Sentences 5: Dyirbal
- •4.14 Simple Sentences 6: Japanese
- •4.15 Complex Sentences 1: Japanese
- •4.16 Complex Sentences 2: Modern Irish
- •4.17 Morphosyntax 1: Telugu
- •4.19 Morphosyntax 3: Classical Nahuatl (Aztec)
- •4.20 Morphosyntax 4: Merkin
- •4.22 Special Topic 2: Reflexive (English)
- •4.23 Special Topic 3: Reflexive (Russian)
- •4.24 Special Topic 4: Reflexive (Japanese)
- •4.25 Special Topic 5: Reflexive (Japanese)
- •5 Semantics
- •5.1 Compositional and Noncompositional Meanings
- •5.2 Ambiguous Words
- •5.4 Homophony and Polysemy
- •5.5 Evaluative and Emotive Meaning
- •5.6 Special Topic: Grammaticalization of Semantic Properties
- •6 Language Variation
- •6.1 Pronouns: English
- •6.2 British English
- •7.2 Indo-European to English 2
- •8.1 Identifying the Message
- •8.2 Communication Breakdown
- •8.3 Literal/Nonliteral Use
- •8.4 Indirectness
- •8.5 "Unclear Reference" of Pronouns: English
- •8.6 Performative Verbs versus Perlocutionary Verbs
- •8.7 Proverbs
- •8.8 Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement: English
- •8.9 Major Moods 1: Finnish
- •8.10 Major Moods 2: Copala Trique
- •8.11 Major Moods 3: Mandarin Chinese
- •8.12 Pragmatics: Navajo
- •9 Psychology of Language
- •9.1 Speech Errors
- •1 How to State Phonological Rules
- •2 The Role of Distinctive Features in Phonological Rules
- •3 Transcription Key
- •4 Chart of Distinctive Features
- •5 Some Phrase Structure Rules for English
- •6 The Message Model of Linguistic Communication
- •7 Major Moods
- •8 Index of Languages
- •Bibliography
Name
Section
8.12 Pragmatics: Navajo
Some of the following Navajo sentences are acceptable; others (marked with #) are judged by native speakers to be pragmatically unacceptable. In list I both sentences in each pair are acceptable; in lists I1 and I11 one sentence in each pair is acceptable and the other is pragmatically odd. Study the sentence pairs in the three lists, and answer the question at the end of the exercise.
There are two differences between the sentences in each pair: a word order change between the first two words (nouns) and a morphological change in the last word (the verb). When the verb begins with y- (more precisely, yi-), the first noun is the subject. When the verb begins with bi-, the second noun is the subject. The pairs of Navajo sentences have been translated into active and passive forms in English, although the sentences translated as English passives are not really passive sentences in Navajo. However, understanding the exact nature of this structural type in Navajo is not important for completing the exercise.
Not all transitive sentences in Navajo have acceptable pairs with the prefixes yiand bi-. In list I1 the biform yields a pragmatic oddity; in list I11 the yiform is pragmatically unacceptable.
We have not provided interlinear glosses in lists I1 and 111, since you will know enough about Navajo syntax from studying list I to figure out the meaning of the
Navajo words from the English translations. |
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List |
I |
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Navajo sentence |
English gloss |
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L ' |
dzaanCCz yiztal. |
"The |
horse kicked the mule." |
||
horse mule |
kicked |
|
|
||
DzaantCz l$ |
biztal. |
"The mule was kicked by the horse." |
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TYizi dibe |
yizgoh. |
"The |
goat butted the sheep." |
||
goat |
sheep butted |
|
|
||
Dibe tl'izi |
bizgoh. |
"The |
sheep was butted by the goat." |
||
Ashkii at'kCd |
yiztsY~s. |
"The boy kissed the girl." |
|||
boy |
girl |
kissed |
|
|
|
At'%d ashkii bizts'~s. |
"The |
girl was kissed by the boy." |
|||
LCCchgg'i masi yishxash. |
"The |
dog bit the cat." |
|||
dog |
|
cat |
bit |
"The cat was bitten by the dog." |
|
Masi lCtchggYibishxash. |
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5a. Hastiin asdzini yiyiilts'g. |
"The man saw the woman." |
man woman saw |
|
b.Asdzani hastiin biilts'g . "The woman was seen by the man."
6a. Hastiin ashkii yizloh. man boy roped
b.Ashkii hastiin bizloh.
7a. Ma'ii dibC yiyiisxi. coyote sheep killed
b.Dibe ma7ii biisxi.
8a. Masi Eechgg'i yizghas. cat dog scratched
b.ECCchgg'i masi bizghas. List I1
"The man roped the boy."
"The boy was roped by the man." "The coyote killed the sheep."
"The sheep was killed by the coyote." "The cat scratched the dog."
"The dog was scratched by the cat."
9a. |
E$ |
tse yiztal. |
"The horse kicked the rock." |
|
b. |
#Tse |
l& biztal. |
"The rock was kicked by the horse." |
|
10a. |
Masi abe' yilch'al. |
"The cat is lapping the milk." |
||
b. |
#Abe' |
masi bilch'al. |
"The milk is being lapped by the cat." |
|
l l a. |
ECCchgg'i |
leets'aa' yilnaad. |
"The dog licks the dish." |
|
b. |
# Eeets'aa' |
lkkchgg'i bilnaad. |
"The dish is licked by the dog." |
|
12a. |
Masi naaltsoos yizghas. |
"The cat scratches the paper." |
||
b. |
# Naaltsoos masi bizghas. |
"The paper is scratched by the cat." |
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13a. |
DibC tl'oh yilchozh. |
"The sheep eats the grass." |
||
b. |
# Tl'oh dibC bikhozh. |
"The grass is eaten by the sheep." |
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14a. |
Ashkii naaltsoos yizhjih. |
"The boy grabbed the book." |
||
b. |
# Naaltsoos ashkii bizhjih. |
"The book was grabbed by the boy." |
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15a. |
Ashkii tsC'Cd6'ii yik'idiiltaal. |
"The boy stepped on the fly." |
||
b. |
# Tse'Cdo'ii |
ashkii bik'idiiltial. |
"The fly was stepped on by the boy." |
|
16a. |
Ashkii b€ih yiskah. |
"The boy shot the deer." |
||
b. |
#Biih |
ashkii biskah. |
"The deer was shot by the boy." |
|
17a. |
At'CCd dibC yizloh. |
"The girl roped the sheep." |
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b. |
# DibC at'ekd bizloh. |
"The sheep was roped by the girl." |
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18a. |
Ashkii gah yisil. |
"The boy caught the rabbit." |
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b. #Gah |
ashkii bisil. |
"The rabbit was caught by the boy." |
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|
List I11 |
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|
|
19a. |
#Tsah asdzani yaa'iijil. |
"The needle stuck the woman." |
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b. |
Asdzani tsah baa'iijil. |
"The woman was stuck by the needle." |
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20a. |
# BCCsh ashkii yizhgish. |
"The knife cut the boy." |
||
b. |
Ashkii bCCsh bizhgish. |
"The boy was cut by the knife." |
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21a. |
# Wolachii' hastiin yishish. |
"The red ant stung the man." |
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b. |
Hastiin wolachii7bishish. |
"The man was stung by the red ant." |
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22a. |
# Ts'i'ii l$ |
yiyiits'QQZ. |
"The |
mosquito sucked on the horse." |
b. |
L$ ts'i'ii |
biits'6Qz. |
"The |
horse was sucked on by the |
|
|
|
mosquito." |
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Question
Using the sentences in lists I, 11, and 111, determine the principle(s) that explain why some of the sentences are unacceptable to Navajo speakers. Be sure to consider the referents of the NPs with respect to the grammatical relations they hold.
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