Abstract

UTH, Melanie  and  GUTIERREZ BRAVO, Rodrigo. Number marking in Spanish loanwords in Yucatec Maya: Variation and restrictions. Cuad. Lingüíst. Col. Méx. [online]. 2018, vol.5, n.1, pp.183-224. ISSN 2007-736X.  https://doi.org/10.24201/clecm.v5i1.99.

In this paper we address the issue of morphological plural marking in Spanish loanwords in Yucatec Maya. Plural marking in this Mayan language has been a topic that has received a lot of attention in recent years. However, this does not extend to the loanwords that this language has adopted from Spanish, which in many cases also show the plural suffix of Spanish. In this paper we show, based on a corpus study, that plural marking in Spanish loanwords is regulated by criteria which are different from those that are observed in Yucatec nouns that are not loanwords. Furthermore, the comparison of marking between different age groups and different linguistic profiles reveals that the weight of the restrictions that originate in Yucatec Maya diminishes with (i) bilingualism and, (ii) the younger age of the speakers (see also Pfeiler 2009: 108). We conclude that plural marking of Spanish loanwords in Yucatec Maya is the result of the interaction of two typologically different systems which operate simultaneously in this part of the grammar of the host language. This results in a pattern which is different from the one observed separately in each language because it adopts different aspects of the two languages in contact.

Keywords : Yucatec Maya; Spanish; language contact; morphology; plural.

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