The Categorial Status of Body Part Prepositions in Valley Zapotec ...

Other linguists have commented on the semantic variation of these words in their
dictionaries. Munro, Lopez, et al (1999) say of SLQZ that:
There are two classes of Zapotec prepositions. Many basic prepositional ideas are
expressed with body part words...; the prepositional object is expressed either with a
possessive pronominal agreement clitic or with an overt noun following the
preposition. Such prepositions... are identified in the Dictionary as "prep." (24).
For MZ, Stubblefield and Stubblefield (1991) claim that:
Hay dos clases de preposiciones: las que en sí son preposiciones y los sustantivos
usados adicionalmente como preposiciones... Algunos sustantivos que se refieren a
las partes del cuerpo y que siempre se presentan con poseedor se usan con un
significado más amplio como preposiciones, para expresar una relación de ubicación.
There are two classes of prepositions: those which are indeed prepositions, and
nouns which can be used additionally as prepositions. Some nouns which refer to
parts of the body and which always appear with a possessor are used with an
extended meaning as prepositions, in order to express a locative relationship 5 (244).
In this thesis I argue that VZ BP prepositions are not so different from English
prepositions like before, behind, beside, and inside, which contain overt (though perhaps
antiquated) body part words. The use of a preposition in any given sentence is not
optional; the preposition can be the only morpheme in the sentence that specifies
location. Classifying these terms as prepositions in the syntax of these languages
provides for the simplest account of their syntactic distribution. I contend therefore, that
although these words historically developed from the BP terms, synchronically they are
syntactically distinct.
5 Thanks to Heriberto Avelino, Xochitl Flores, Olivia Martínez, and Pamela Munro for
their help with the translation of the Spanish.
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