Cover not available

In:Topicality and the Shaping of Grammar: New perspectives from lesser-studied languages
Edited by Enrique L. Palancar, Claudine Chamoreau and Anaïd Donabédian
[Typological Studies in Language 137] 2026
► pp. 262–310

Chapter 8
The emergence of an inverse marking system in Jitotoltec

 | CIESAS-Sureste
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Jitotoltec is the only language of the Zoquean branch that developed an overt inverse marking system. All the languages of the Mixe-Zoquean family have a hierarchical alignment, but only Mixean languages and Jitotoltec developed an inverse marking with overt inverse morphology. The language has a split inverse system in which 3:1 follows a purely hierarchical pattern, but 3:2 and 3 obviative:3 proximate follow an inverse system. In Mixean languages, the inverse marker developed from an old passive construction, a historical development that is synchronically attested in Jitotoltec. Passive morphology is a common source for the emergence of an inverse marker in languages with inverse voice/obviation or with inverse alignment. The source comes from cases in which a 3rd person O is higher in topicality with respect to a 3rd person A. Unlike a canonical passive with non-topical A, the A in the inverse continuous to be topical. Thus, an inverse construction is formally coded as a passive but pragmatically it is different from a passive. The path of development from passive to inverse is demonstrated through the comparison of the development attested in Mixean languages. On the other hand, the functional difference between a canonical passive and an inverse developed from a passive is clearly appreciated via the comparison of Topic Persistance and Referential Distance measurements obtained of the two different constructions in the study of narrative texts.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The problem: The source for an inverse marking system
  • 3.Inversion in Mixe-Zoquean
    • 3.1The Zoquean branch: A purely hierarchical morphological inverse
    • 3.2Mixean branch: An integrated inverse system with inverse morphology
    • 3.3Jitotoltec, the only Zoquean language with an innovative inverse system
  • 4.The functions of *-hV in Mixean
    • 4.1Canonical inverse constructions
    • 4.2Modern reflexes of *-hV in reflexives and reciprocals
    • 4.3From passive marker to inverse marker
  • 5.The genesis of the inverse marking system in Jitotoltec
    • 5.1The hierarchical marking pattern in Zoquean
    • 5.2A strictly hierarchical opposition in the paradigm with 1st person: Transitive and intransitive constructions with 1st person
    • 5.3The direct vs. passive with an overt oblique agent alternation
    • 5.4Direct: 3PROX:3OBV vs. Inverse: 3OBV:3PROX
  • 6.The pragmatics of voice in Jitotoltec
    • 6.1Methodology for the analysis of “voice”
      • 6.1.1Measuring ‘referential distance’
      • 6.1.2Measuring ‘Topic Persistence’
      • 6.1.3The results
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Author queries
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (55)
References
Aissen, Judith. 1997. On the syntax of obviation. Language 73:705–750. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1999. Agent focus and inverse in Tzotzil. Language 75: 451–485. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. El pasivo y el enfoque de agente en tzotzil, trabajo presentado en el Congreso de Idiomas Indígenas de Latinoamérica V, Universidad de Texas en Austin, 6–8 de octubre.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boudreault, Lynda J. de Jong. 2009. A grammar of Sierra Popoluca (Soteapanec): A Mixe-Zoquean language, Tesis doctoral, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. A grammar of Sierra Popoluca. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, Lawrence. 1983. Sayula Popoluca verb derivation. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1995. Vocabulario popoluca de Sayula, Veracruz, México. México City: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cooreman, Ann M. 1987. Transitivity and discourse continuity in Chamorro narratives, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Curiel Ramírez Del Prado, Alejandro. 2007. Estructura de la información, enclíticos y configuración sintáctica en tojol’ab’al, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
Dahlstrom, A. L. 1991. Plains Cree Morphosyntax, New York: Garlang Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De la Cruz, Román. 2016. Construcciones con predicados seriales en zoque de Ocotepec, Chiapas Gramaticalización, estructura y semántica, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
De Lancey, Scott. 1981. An interpretation of split ergativity and related patterns. Language 51: 626–657. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Faarlund, Jan Terje. 2012. A grammar of Chiapas Zoque. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gildea, Spike. 1994. Semantic and pragmatic inverse: ‘Inverse alignment’ and ‘inverse voice’, In Carib of Surinam. In T. Givón (ed.), Voice and inversion, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 187–230. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gildea, Spike y Fernando Zúñiga. 2016. Referential hierarchies: A new look at some historical and typological patterns, Linguistics, vol 54, pp. 483–529. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 1994. The pragmatics of de-transitive voice: Functional and typological aspects of inversion. In T. Givón (ed.), Voice and inversion, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 3–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gómez González, Benito. 2022. El sistema de alineamiento del jitotolteco, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
Gutiérrez Díaz, Juan Clímaco. 2014. Estructura de la cláusula simple, predicación primaria y predicación secundaria en el mixe de Tlahuitoltepec, MA thesis, Mexico City.
Guzmán Guzmán, Verónica. 2012. Las construcciones aplicativas en mixe de Totontepec, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
Haspelmath, Martin. 1990. The grammaticalization of passive morphology. Studies in Language 14: 25–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hockett, Charles. 1966. What Algonquian is really like, International Journal of American linguistics 32: 59–73. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jelinek, Eloise y Richard A. Demers. 1983. The agent hierarchy and voice in some Coast Salish languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 49: 167–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jiménez Jiménez, Silviano. 2014. Esbozo gramatical y oraciones de relativo en zoque de San Miguel Chimalapa, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
. 2019. Estudios de la gramática de la oración simple y compleja en el zoque de San Miguel Chimalapa. PhD dissertation, CIESAS, Mexico City.
Johnson, Heidi Anna. 2000. A grammar of San Miguel Chimalapa Zoque. PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Kaufman, Terrence. 1963. Mixe-Zoque diachronic studies. Ms.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaufman, Terrence and John Justeson. 2004. Epi-Olmec. In Roger D. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1071–1111.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward y Matthew S. Dryer. 2006. Passive in the world’s languages. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 243–281.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klaiman, M. H. 1989. Inverse voice and head-marking in Tanoan languages, Chicago Linguistics Society, vol. 25, pp. 71–258.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1992. Inverse languages. Lingua 88: 227–261. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroskrity, Paul V. 1985. A holistic understanding of Arizona Tewa passives. Language 61: 306–328. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kulikov, Leonid. 2011. Voice typology, en Jung Song (ed.), The Oxford handbook of linguistic typology (ed.), Oxford y Nueva York: Oxford University Press, pp. 368–398.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
López Márquez, Wendy Liz Arbey. 2018. Mecanismos morfosintácticos de cambio de valencia y diátesis en el nuntajɨɨyi, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
Mithun, Marianne. 2007. Integrating approaches to diversity: Argument structure on the NW coast, In Yoshiko Matsumoto, David Oshima, Orrin Robinson, y Peter Sells (eds.), Diversity in Language: Perspectives and Implications, Stanford: CSLI Publications, pp. 9–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. Core argument patterns and deep genetic relations: Hierarchical systems in Northern California. In Bernard Comrie (ed.), Typology of Argument Structure and Grammatical Relations, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 258–294. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pérez Vail, José Reginaldo. 2014. La inversión y obviación en el mam de Cajolá, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
Polian, Gilles. 2013. Gramática del tseltal de Oxchuc. Mexico City: CIESAS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramírez Muñoz, Ernesto. 2016. Las oraciones de complemento en el zoque de Ocotepec, Chiapas, MA thesis, CIESAS, Mexico City.
Santiago Martínez, Godofredo. 2008. Alineamiento, inversión y obviación en el mixe de Tamazulápam, Oaxaca, MA thesis, ciesas, Mexico City.
Santiago Martínez, Godofredo Gervasio. 2015. Temas de fonología y morfosintaxis del mixe de Tamazulápam, Oaxaca, PhD dissertation, ciesas, Mexico City.
Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1985. Passives and related constructions: a prototype analysis. Language 61: 821–848. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Suslak, Daniel. 2014. Diccionario de la lengua ayapaneca (nnumte ‘oote). Un idioma zoqueano de Jalpa de Méndez, Tabasco. Ayapaneco — Castellano. Ms.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vásquez Álvarez, Juan Jesús. 2011. A grammar of Chol, a Mayan language. PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Wichmann, Søren. 1995. The relationship among the Mixe-Zoquean languages of Mexico. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Popoluca de Texistepec. (Colección del Archivo de Lenguas Indígenas). Mexico City: El Colegio de México.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zavala, Roberto. 1994. Inverse alignment in Huastec, Función 15/16: 27–81.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1997. Functional analysis of Akatek voice constructions. International Journal of American Linguistics 63: 439–474. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2000. Inversion and other topics in the grammar of Olutec (Mixean). PhD dissertation, University of Oregon at Eugene.
Zavala Maldonado, Roberto. 2002. Verb classes, semantic roles, and inverse in Olutec. In P. Levy (ed.), Del cora al maya yucateco: Estudios lingüísticos recientes sobre algunas lenguas indígenas mexicanas, Mexico City: UNAM-IIF, pp. 179–267.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zavala, Roberto. 2004. Obviación en oluteco (mixeana). Proceedings of the Conference on Indigenous Languages of Latin-America-I: 1–25 pp. (23–25 October 2003, University of Texas at Austin) [URL]
. 2007. Inversion and obviation in Mesoamerica. In Peter K. Austin y Andrew Simpson (eds.), Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 14:267–306. Helmut Buske Verlag, Hamburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zavala Maldonado, Roberto. 2011. “El jitotolteco: Una lengua zoqueana desconocida”. Conferencia plenaria, CILLA VI, Octubre de 2006, Austin.
Zavala, Roberto. 2013. La construcción de posesión externa con aplicativo en zoque dentro del contexto mesoamericano. In Enrique Palancar y Roberto Zavala (eds.), Clases léxicas, posesión y cláusulas complejas en lenguas de Mesoamérica, Mexico City: CIESAS, pp. 133–170.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue