O'odham "cem"

Bridget Copley (1)

1 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage

The particle cem in Tohono O'odham (an Uto-Aztecan language also known as 'Papago') has two primary readings: unachieved-goal and non-continuation. This paper proposes a single meaning for these two readings: A cem p sentence presupposes that all worlds in which things proceed normally -- i.e., inertia worlds -- are p worlds, and asserts that the actual world is not an inertia world. Inertia can make reference either to physical forces, in which case the non-continuation reading results, or to intentions, in which case the unachieved-goal reading results. To place this modal in cross-linguistic context, I argue that cem behaves like other modals in several ways, including its treatment of physical forces and intentions as formally similar entities.

Mots clés: O'odham; modality; inertia worlds

Domaines: Linguistique

Bridget Copley. O'odham "cem". The proceedings of the third meeting of "Semantics of Underrepresented Languages of the Americas'' (SULA 3); Becker, Michael and Andrew McKenzie, eds. (GLSA)., 2005. ⟨halshs-00093601⟩