The verb in a Chatino language bears a value for Aspect (a grammatical category of Zapotecan verbs which indicates a bundle of aspectual and modal features), marked with a prefix, a tonal change, or both. There is a moderate amount of allomorphy among the Aspect prefixes, and when verbs of Tataltepec Chatino are grouped according to in which particular forms a given verb’s Aspect prefix appears, generalizations about the verbs can be made. For example, verbs with one set of allomorphs are are generally transitive; verbs with another set are generally intransitive, and so on. Attempts to meaningfully classify the verbs of contemporary Tataltepec Chatino are complicated by the effects of a few incomplete processes, such as the syncopation of historically disyllabic roots. To overcome this difficulty, a more conservative form of Tataltepec Chatino was constructed from an analysis of the lexical entries of a bilingual dictionary published in 1970 and from my own field notes. This pre-1970 Tataltepec Chatino shows the Aspect prefixes quite clearly and allows for a ready classification of the verbs. When the verb classes which can be identified for Tataltepec Chatino are compared to those found for other Chatino languages, we can see the development of several subclasses being brought about by various morphophonemic processes, such as the syncopation of Aspect prefix vowels, the deletion of similar consonants, and the merger of coronal and velar stops before laterals. This verb classification also corroborates those undertaken for Zenzontepec Chatino and the Eastern Chatino of San Marcos Zacatepec, as this verb classification scheme is largely in concord with them or if not, convincing explanations of Tataltepec Chatino’s deviance can be found. / text

Teotepec Chatino is a Zapotecan language of the Otomanguean stock, spoken in the Southeastern Sierra Madre, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Although other varieties of the Chatino language family have been described - Panixtlahuaca (Pride, 1963; Pride and Pride, 2004), Yaitepec (Rasch, 2002), Quiahije (Cruz, E, 2004; Cruz, E. et al., 2008), Tataltepec (Pride and Pride, 1970; Pride, 1984), Zacatepec (Villard, 2008), Zenzontepec (Campbell, 2009; Carleton, 2000) - there are no previous descriptions of Teotepec Chatino. Among the many interesting features of Teotepec Chatino is an inventory of twelve lexical tones. These tones distinguish between lexical items and have grammatical func- tions. The basic word order is VSO, however the language exhibits the alternative orders of SVO and OVS. These orders have specific semantic and pragmatic functions. The language has aspectual prefixes and some derivational patterns. There is verbal and nominal com- pounding which plays an important role in the formation of complex concepts. Animate direct objects are optionally marked by 7įᴿ ‘to’. The presence or absence of this marker with nominal constituents encodes whether an object is alienably or inalienably possessed. Teotepec Chatino has a vigesimal number system - a common areal feature of other languages in the region. There is a complex set of motion verbs that encode spatial orientation and reference. There are several constructions that result in complex sentences. These include relative clauses, complement clauses, adverbial clauses and conjunctions. There are a number of interesting temporal adverbs that are used to define different time events. The description and analysis of these aspects of Teotepec Chatino is based on data gathered through elicitation and oral texts. This work is a preliminary sketch of the language and should not be considered exhaustive. / text

Cette grammaire de l’amuzgo (ISO 639-3) ou n͂omndaa (littéralement ‘le mot de l’eau’) tend à combler un manque de travaux théoriques sur cette langue otomangue de la branche orientale (branche qu’elle partage avec le mixtec). La source référentielle Ethnologue lui attribue le statut ‘en développement’. Pourtant, l’amuzgo reste vulnérable sur le plan socio-politique de par son statut de langue indigène du Mexique : le village Xochistlahuaca (Etat de Guerrero) est la 16è municipalité la plus pauvre du pays. En employant des approches non-concaténatives de phonologie et de morphologie, telles la phonologie gabaritique, la morphologie templatique, et des formalismes non-lexicalistes comme le Paradigm Function Morphology, cette grammaire cherche à modéliser des systèmes complexes représentés dans cette langue. Des approches non-linéaires sont plus aptes à rendre compte des inventaires élaborés comme les tons, et (dans une échelle scalaire) la phonation non-modale, la nasalisation, et la balisticité (un contraste phonétique et articulatoire au niveau de la syllabe). Ces systèmes complexes comprennent des fonctions lexico-grammaticales par grades à travers des structures diverses dans la grammaire, de la lexicalité à la phonologie interne, de la dérivation à la flexion. / This grammar of Amuzgo (ISO 639-3), endonymically n͂omndaa, literally ‘the word of water’) seeks to fill a lack in theoretical work on this Otomanguean language from the Eastern branch (shared with Mixtec). Rated as developing by the reference Ethnologue, this language is nevertheless in a constant position of socio-political vulnerability as an indigenous language of Mexico, spoken in the village of Xochistlahuaca (Guerrero State), also the 16th poorest municipality in the country. Using non-concatenative approaches in phonology and morphology such as autosegmental phonology, templatic morphology and non-lexical morphological formalisms such as Paradigm Function Morphology, this grammar seeks to model complex systems represented in this language. Non-linear approaches account for elaborate inventories of tone, and, in a gradient scale, non-modal phonation and autosegments like nasalization and ballisticity, a syllable level contrast of phonetic and articulatory saliency. These complex systems display gradient lexical-grammatical functions across structures in the grammar, from lexicality to internal phonology, to derivation and inflection.