Abstract

VINOGRADOV, Igor. The Narrative Uses of the Incompletive Marker in Some Mayan Languages. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2017, vol.12, n.23, pp.203-221. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2017.23.293.

A narrative discourse normally represents a sequence of past and completed events. In Mayan languages, these aspectual and temporal characteristics correspond to the semantics of the incompletive category. However, verb forms marked with the incompletive are also found more or less frequently in narrations in several languages of the family. In these cases the incompletive develops a secondary meaning, very similar to that of the completive. It is argued that these changes in tense/aspect marking occur due to some pragmatic reasons, when the speaker emphasizes some episode within the narrative sequence.

Keywords : narrative discourse; tense/aspect; Mayan languages; completive/incompletive..

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