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

'he is painting (while) inside the church' and 'he is painting the inside of the church (e.g.
the inside walls and the ceiling of the church itself)'.
(14) Ca-tìaa'=na' làa'iny ydòòo'. (TMZ)
PROG-paint=3inan.dst STOMACH church
'He is painting the inside of the church.'
or 'He is painting (while) in the church.'
The difference in meaning comes from a difference in syntactic structure. The first
meaning corresponds to the structure in which làa'iny ydòòo' is a NP complement of the
verb, as in (15a). The verb 'paint' is optionally transitive and the complement NP can be
left unexpressed as in (15b) below. The second meaning in (14) can be explained by
viewing làa'iny ydòòo' as a PP adjunct, as illustrated in (15c). So, although the sentences
are string identical, they are structurally distinct, giving rise to the difference in meaning.
(15) a. Ca-tìaa'=na' [NP làa'iny ydòòo'] (TMZ)
PROG-paint=3inan.dst stomach church
'He is painting the inside of the church.'
('He is painting the church's stomach.')
b. Ca-tìaa'=na'. (TMZ)
PROG-paint=3inan.dst
'He is painting.'
c. Ca-tìaa'=na' [PP làa'iny ydòòo'] (TMZ)
PROG-paint=3inan.dst in church
'He is painting (while) in the church.'
The same phenomenon can be seen in SJGZ. Example (16) below illustrates two
syntactically distinct sentences which are string identical and therefore ambiguous.
(16) Nàa' ca-cwaà=a' làa'iny yudòòo'. (SJGZ)
I PROG-paint=1s in church
'I am painting in the church.'
'I am painting the inside of the church.'
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