Papers by Diane M Hintz
In this paper we examine the notion of mutual knowledge, an evidential category that has rem... more In this paper we examine the notion of mutual knowledge, an evidential category that has remained largely unexplored in the relevant literature. Mutual knowledge principally refers to knowledge which is jointly constructed through linguistic interaction and shared perceptual experience. Sources of information for mutual knowledge include the contributions of conversational participants, together with their jointly-held beliefs and assumptions. Interlocutors use individual knowledge evidentials to introduce information and use mutual knowledge evidentials to establish facts by consensus. Once established, this shared knowledge is marked as such in subsequent speech. Evidentials are thus shown to be part of a system for building up the epistemic base shared between speakers in dynamic, interactive discourse.
In South Conchucos Quechua and in Sihuas Quechua the individual and mutual knowledge categories are formally distinguished via dedicated enclitics in paradigmatic contrast. We describe and illustrate the five-choice evidential system of South Conchucos and the six-choice system of Sihuas, then compare the two systems with each other and with the more well-known three-choice system of Cusco Quechua, a system in which mutual knowledge forms have not been attested. The comparison of the three evidential systems suggests a sequence of stages in the development of mutual knowledge as a grammatical category. The findings presented here are primarily based on spontaneous conversation, the setting in which mutual knowledge forms principally reside and in which epistemic authority is carefully negotiated.
This quantitative study of spoken language adds a piece to the word order puzzle for South Americ... more This quantitative study of spoken language adds a piece to the word order puzzle for South American native languages, showing South Conchucos Quechua to have SV&OV word order and delineating the various pragmatic factors which motivate variation.
Word order in the Quechua language family has traditionally been described as SOV, though order in main clauses is quite variable. Quechua exhibits many of the correlates of the SOV type as observed by Greenberg 1966. However, if frequencies of the various word orders are considered, South Conchucos Quechua cannot be classified by Greenberg’s traditional six-way typology. In the few clauses with both a subject and an object, no order emerged as being significantly more frequent than any other order. Dryer’s four-way typology (1997a) did make it possible though, to determine “basic” word order for this language, consistent with his 2:1 frequency criterion.
Variation from the most frequent order is not arbitrary, but is motivated by discourse-pragmatic factors. Variant word order appears when the speaker is finishing what s/he wanted to say and is offering the floor to the listener for commentary, when the speaker is focusing on a certain referent, when a new participant is being introduced, when something unfamiliar or contrary to expectation is being presented, or when the speaker is searching for a word. Additionally, very heavy arguments often appear after the verb.
Characterizations of tense in language generally focus on placement in time. This study demonstra... more Characterizations of tense in language generally focus on placement in time. This study demonstrates that tense forms in South Conchucos Quechua (SCQ) not only place past situations in time, they do much more. The research centers on discovering why one tense form, rather than another, is chosen at a given point in discourse.
The data studied consist of over five hours of naturally occurring spoken language. In depth analysis is presented of four narrative segments, chosen for the richness of tense variation they display. While the data are primarily examined qualitatively, quantitative and prosodic analyses also contribute to understanding the uses of the tense forms.
The analysis of the data reveals a multi-faceted answer to the research question. Several SCQ tense forms place events relative to each other in past time. Choices between two of the past tense forms are further determined by evidentiality. That is, one form is used when the source of evidence is firsthand or when the situation is discussed from the speaker’s perspective, while another is used with secondhand information or when the speaker is giving a reported perspective.
Additionally, as happens in other languages with grammaticized degrees of temporal remoteness (Fleischman 1989), tense is used metaphorically to express distance along other axes. In SCQ, the temporal expression of distance has been co extended to indicate narrative structure and to express affect. SCQ tense forms placing events in the more distant past are used with the parts of the narrative that are peripheral (the orientation, side remarks and resolution) and that convey little affect from the speaker. Tense forms placing events closer to the present are used with the parts of the narrative that are critical to the storyline (the abstract, complicating action and climax) and convey positive or very positive affect. A tense form that places events in the more distant past conveys negative affect in these central parts.
This work shows that inflectional tense, which might be expected to do no more than encode sentence-level temporal distinctions, can be used in spontaneous speech for functions well beyond the sentence.
International Journal of American Linguistics, 2006
... The primary data set examined in the study consists of natural speech of four speakers, two m... more ... The primary data set examined in the study consists of natural speech of four speakers, two male and two female. ... 'that which also was' Acoustic data support speakers' perceptions. Figure 2 shows pitch and intensity for these two words, from two different female speakers. ...
La categoría evidencial de conocimiento mutuo en quechua
En este trabajo examinamos el concepto de conocimiento mutuo, una categoría evidencial que ha que... more En este trabajo examinamos el concepto de conocimiento mutuo, una categoría evidencial que ha quedado casi sin explorar en la literatura relevante. La categoría conocimiento mutuo se refiere a conocimiento construido conjuntamente a través de interacción lingüística y experiencia perceptual compartida. Entre las fuentes de información para el conocimiento mutuo están las contribuciones de los participantes en la conversación, así como las creencias y las suposiciones que comparten. Los interlocutores utilizan evidenciales de conocimiento individual para introducir información y usan evidenciales de conocimiento mutuo para establecer hechos por consenso. Una vez establecido, este conocimiento compartido es marcado como tal en el habla subsiguiente. Los evidenciales son demostrados así como parte de un sistema para construir la base epistémica compartida entre hablantes en un discurso dinámico, interactivo.
En el quechua del Sur de Conchucos y en el quechua de Sihuas las categorías de conocimiento individual y mutuo se distinguen formalmente por medio de enclíticos especializados en contraste paradigmático. Aquí describimos e ilustramos el sistema evidencial del Sur de Conchucos que tiene cinco opciones y el sistema de seis opciones de Sihuas. Luego se comparan los dos sistemas uno con otro y con el sistema más conocido de tres opciones del quechua del Cusco, un sistema en el que las formas de conocimiento mutuo no han sido atestadas. La comparación de los tres sistemas evidenciales sugiere una secuencia de etapas en el desarrollo del conocimiento mutuo como una categoría gramatical. Los descubrimientos presentados aquí se basan principalmente en conversación espontánea, escenario en el que las formas de conocimiento mutuo primordialmente se encuentran y en el que la autoridad epistémica es negociada detenidamente.
In this paper we examine the notion of mutual knowledge, an evidential category that has remained... more In this paper we examine the notion of mutual knowledge, an evidential category that has remained largely unexplored in the relevant literature. Mutual knowledge principally refers to knowledge which is jointly constructed through linguistic interaction and shared perceptual experience. Sources of information for mutual knowledge include the contributions of conversational participants, together with their jointly-held beliefs and assumptions. Interlocutors use individual knowledge evidentials to introduce information and use mutual knowledge evidentials to establish facts by consensus. Once established, this shared knowledge is marked as such in subsequent speech. Evidentials are thus shown to be part of a system for building up the epistemic base shared between speakers in dynamic, interactive discourse.
In South Conchucos Quechua and in Sihuas Quechua, the individual and mutual knowledge categories are formally distinguished via dedicated enclitics in paradigmatic contrast. We describe and illustrate the five-choice evidential system of South Conchucos and the six-choice system of Sihuas, then compare the two systems with each other and with the more well-known three-choice system of Cusco Quechua, a system in which mutual knowledge forms have not been attested. The comparison of the three evidential systems suggests a sequence of stages in the development of mutual knowledge as a grammatical category. The findings presented here are primarily based on spontaneous conversation, the setting in which mutual knowledge forms principally reside and in which epistemic authority is carefully negotiated.
Conference Presentations by Diane M Hintz
In English, a development is often introduced with the marker now, a cue to opening a “new stage ... more In English, a development is often introduced with the marker now, a cue to opening a “new stage in the communication” (Halliday and Hasan 1976:267-270). In Quechua, na ‘now’ is involved in signaling the beginning of a development, but an evidential marker (either -m(i) ‘direct’ or sh(i) ‘reportative’) must follow when it is used this way. The na-m/-na-sh combination is attached to the first constituent of the sentence, which may be a connective, a subordinate clause, the subject, or some other non-verbal constituent. Quechua discourse data help to illuminate our understanding of how language users develop and structure narrative discourse, marking distinct units.
Books and Chapters by Diane M Hintz
Serie Lingüística Peruana 60, 2020
Illustrated pedagogical grammar of Corongo Quechua with exercises and embedded sound files.
Language Contact and Change in the Americas: Studies in Honor of Marianne Mithun, Apr 2016
South Conchucos Quechua (SCQ) and Andean Spanish illustrate how discourse-pragmatic patterns of a... more South Conchucos Quechua (SCQ) and Andean Spanish illustrate how discourse-pragmatic patterns of a model language are replicated in the other language of bilinguals. Specifically, patterns involving two tense forms in SCQ are replicated in the Spanish of bilinguals. The SCQ past -r(q)a is used to introduce and conclude segments of talk and to give explanations, while the past that developed from a present perfect -sha is used with the main events of a narrative and to mark surprise. In Andean Spanish, the preterite and the present perfect are used in the same ways as the SCQ -r(q)a and -sha, respectively. Replication of usage patterns often goes undetected, as these two have been, due to the fact that the substance itself is not copied (Mithun 2012: 13).
Language Contact and Change in the Americas: Studies in honor of Marianne Mithun, Apr 2016
This unique collection of articles in honor of Marianne Mithun represents the very latest in rese... more This unique collection of articles in honor of Marianne Mithun represents the very latest in research on language contact and language change in the Indigenous languages of the Americas. The book aims to provide new theoretical and empirical insights into how and why languages change, especially with regard to contact phenomena in languages of North America, Meso-America and South America. The individual chapters cover a broad range of topics, including sound change, morphosyntactic change, lexical semantics, grammaticalization, language endangerment, and discourse-pragmatic change. With chapters from distinguished scholars and talented newcomers alike, this book will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in internally- and externally-motivated language change.
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Papers by Diane M Hintz
In South Conchucos Quechua and in Sihuas Quechua the individual and mutual knowledge categories are formally distinguished via dedicated enclitics in paradigmatic contrast. We describe and illustrate the five-choice evidential system of South Conchucos and the six-choice system of Sihuas, then compare the two systems with each other and with the more well-known three-choice system of Cusco Quechua, a system in which mutual knowledge forms have not been attested. The comparison of the three evidential systems suggests a sequence of stages in the development of mutual knowledge as a grammatical category. The findings presented here are primarily based on spontaneous conversation, the setting in which mutual knowledge forms principally reside and in which epistemic authority is carefully negotiated.
Word order in the Quechua language family has traditionally been described as SOV, though order in main clauses is quite variable. Quechua exhibits many of the correlates of the SOV type as observed by Greenberg 1966. However, if frequencies of the various word orders are considered, South Conchucos Quechua cannot be classified by Greenberg’s traditional six-way typology. In the few clauses with both a subject and an object, no order emerged as being significantly more frequent than any other order. Dryer’s four-way typology (1997a) did make it possible though, to determine “basic” word order for this language, consistent with his 2:1 frequency criterion.
Variation from the most frequent order is not arbitrary, but is motivated by discourse-pragmatic factors. Variant word order appears when the speaker is finishing what s/he wanted to say and is offering the floor to the listener for commentary, when the speaker is focusing on a certain referent, when a new participant is being introduced, when something unfamiliar or contrary to expectation is being presented, or when the speaker is searching for a word. Additionally, very heavy arguments often appear after the verb.
The data studied consist of over five hours of naturally occurring spoken language. In depth analysis is presented of four narrative segments, chosen for the richness of tense variation they display. While the data are primarily examined qualitatively, quantitative and prosodic analyses also contribute to understanding the uses of the tense forms.
The analysis of the data reveals a multi-faceted answer to the research question. Several SCQ tense forms place events relative to each other in past time. Choices between two of the past tense forms are further determined by evidentiality. That is, one form is used when the source of evidence is firsthand or when the situation is discussed from the speaker’s perspective, while another is used with secondhand information or when the speaker is giving a reported perspective.
Additionally, as happens in other languages with grammaticized degrees of temporal remoteness (Fleischman 1989), tense is used metaphorically to express distance along other axes. In SCQ, the temporal expression of distance has been co extended to indicate narrative structure and to express affect. SCQ tense forms placing events in the more distant past are used with the parts of the narrative that are peripheral (the orientation, side remarks and resolution) and that convey little affect from the speaker. Tense forms placing events closer to the present are used with the parts of the narrative that are critical to the storyline (the abstract, complicating action and climax) and convey positive or very positive affect. A tense form that places events in the more distant past conveys negative affect in these central parts.
This work shows that inflectional tense, which might be expected to do no more than encode sentence-level temporal distinctions, can be used in spontaneous speech for functions well beyond the sentence.
En el quechua del Sur de Conchucos y en el quechua de Sihuas las categorías de conocimiento individual y mutuo se distinguen formalmente por medio de enclíticos especializados en contraste paradigmático. Aquí describimos e ilustramos el sistema evidencial del Sur de Conchucos que tiene cinco opciones y el sistema de seis opciones de Sihuas. Luego se comparan los dos sistemas uno con otro y con el sistema más conocido de tres opciones del quechua del Cusco, un sistema en el que las formas de conocimiento mutuo no han sido atestadas. La comparación de los tres sistemas evidenciales sugiere una secuencia de etapas en el desarrollo del conocimiento mutuo como una categoría gramatical. Los descubrimientos presentados aquí se basan principalmente en conversación espontánea, escenario en el que las formas de conocimiento mutuo primordialmente se encuentran y en el que la autoridad epistémica es negociada detenidamente.
In South Conchucos Quechua and in Sihuas Quechua, the individual and mutual knowledge categories are formally distinguished via dedicated enclitics in paradigmatic contrast. We describe and illustrate the five-choice evidential system of South Conchucos and the six-choice system of Sihuas, then compare the two systems with each other and with the more well-known three-choice system of Cusco Quechua, a system in which mutual knowledge forms have not been attested. The comparison of the three evidential systems suggests a sequence of stages in the development of mutual knowledge as a grammatical category. The findings presented here are primarily based on spontaneous conversation, the setting in which mutual knowledge forms principally reside and in which epistemic authority is carefully negotiated.
Conference Presentations by Diane M Hintz
Books and Chapters by Diane M Hintz
In South Conchucos Quechua and in Sihuas Quechua the individual and mutual knowledge categories are formally distinguished via dedicated enclitics in paradigmatic contrast. We describe and illustrate the five-choice evidential system of South Conchucos and the six-choice system of Sihuas, then compare the two systems with each other and with the more well-known three-choice system of Cusco Quechua, a system in which mutual knowledge forms have not been attested. The comparison of the three evidential systems suggests a sequence of stages in the development of mutual knowledge as a grammatical category. The findings presented here are primarily based on spontaneous conversation, the setting in which mutual knowledge forms principally reside and in which epistemic authority is carefully negotiated.
Word order in the Quechua language family has traditionally been described as SOV, though order in main clauses is quite variable. Quechua exhibits many of the correlates of the SOV type as observed by Greenberg 1966. However, if frequencies of the various word orders are considered, South Conchucos Quechua cannot be classified by Greenberg’s traditional six-way typology. In the few clauses with both a subject and an object, no order emerged as being significantly more frequent than any other order. Dryer’s four-way typology (1997a) did make it possible though, to determine “basic” word order for this language, consistent with his 2:1 frequency criterion.
Variation from the most frequent order is not arbitrary, but is motivated by discourse-pragmatic factors. Variant word order appears when the speaker is finishing what s/he wanted to say and is offering the floor to the listener for commentary, when the speaker is focusing on a certain referent, when a new participant is being introduced, when something unfamiliar or contrary to expectation is being presented, or when the speaker is searching for a word. Additionally, very heavy arguments often appear after the verb.
The data studied consist of over five hours of naturally occurring spoken language. In depth analysis is presented of four narrative segments, chosen for the richness of tense variation they display. While the data are primarily examined qualitatively, quantitative and prosodic analyses also contribute to understanding the uses of the tense forms.
The analysis of the data reveals a multi-faceted answer to the research question. Several SCQ tense forms place events relative to each other in past time. Choices between two of the past tense forms are further determined by evidentiality. That is, one form is used when the source of evidence is firsthand or when the situation is discussed from the speaker’s perspective, while another is used with secondhand information or when the speaker is giving a reported perspective.
Additionally, as happens in other languages with grammaticized degrees of temporal remoteness (Fleischman 1989), tense is used metaphorically to express distance along other axes. In SCQ, the temporal expression of distance has been co extended to indicate narrative structure and to express affect. SCQ tense forms placing events in the more distant past are used with the parts of the narrative that are peripheral (the orientation, side remarks and resolution) and that convey little affect from the speaker. Tense forms placing events closer to the present are used with the parts of the narrative that are critical to the storyline (the abstract, complicating action and climax) and convey positive or very positive affect. A tense form that places events in the more distant past conveys negative affect in these central parts.
This work shows that inflectional tense, which might be expected to do no more than encode sentence-level temporal distinctions, can be used in spontaneous speech for functions well beyond the sentence.
En el quechua del Sur de Conchucos y en el quechua de Sihuas las categorías de conocimiento individual y mutuo se distinguen formalmente por medio de enclíticos especializados en contraste paradigmático. Aquí describimos e ilustramos el sistema evidencial del Sur de Conchucos que tiene cinco opciones y el sistema de seis opciones de Sihuas. Luego se comparan los dos sistemas uno con otro y con el sistema más conocido de tres opciones del quechua del Cusco, un sistema en el que las formas de conocimiento mutuo no han sido atestadas. La comparación de los tres sistemas evidenciales sugiere una secuencia de etapas en el desarrollo del conocimiento mutuo como una categoría gramatical. Los descubrimientos presentados aquí se basan principalmente en conversación espontánea, escenario en el que las formas de conocimiento mutuo primordialmente se encuentran y en el que la autoridad epistémica es negociada detenidamente.
In South Conchucos Quechua and in Sihuas Quechua, the individual and mutual knowledge categories are formally distinguished via dedicated enclitics in paradigmatic contrast. We describe and illustrate the five-choice evidential system of South Conchucos and the six-choice system of Sihuas, then compare the two systems with each other and with the more well-known three-choice system of Cusco Quechua, a system in which mutual knowledge forms have not been attested. The comparison of the three evidential systems suggests a sequence of stages in the development of mutual knowledge as a grammatical category. The findings presented here are primarily based on spontaneous conversation, the setting in which mutual knowledge forms principally reside and in which epistemic authority is carefully negotiated.