Article Title

Syllable structure and aspect morphology in Isthmus Zapotec

Authors

Stephen A. Marlett, SIL-UND
Velma B. Pickett, SIL-UND

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31356/silwp.vol29.09

Abstract

From the introduction: "In this article we discuss the basic features of Isthmus Zapotec (IZ) syllable structure. Although previous work (Pickett 1967) has done this in some detail already, the present work differs from the previous analysis. First, the constituent "rhyme" is used and found useful, but "nucleus" and "syllable-final margin" are not. Second, glides are analyzed as forming part of the rhyme in some instances, whether they precede or follow the vowel. Third, glottal stop is analyzed here as a laryngeal feature of the vowel rather than as a consonant restricted to syllable-final position. Fourth, in the present analysis only glides occur after a vowel in a given syllable (except in loanwords). We then discuss the morphophonemics of aspect prefixes (and certain others) in IZ with this syllable structure in mind and present a motivated alternative to the previous nongenerative analysis (Pickett 1953, 1955). We believe this presentation also has definite advantages over previous linear generative treatments of this area in Zapotec (Speck 1984)."

Recommended Citation

Marlett, Stephen A. and Pickett, Velma B. (1985) "Syllable structure and aspect morphology in Isthmus Zapotec," Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session: Vol. 29, Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31356/silwp.vol29.09
Available at: https://commons.und.edu/sil-work-papers/vol29/iss1/9