Exploring between the lines: the role of texts and interlinear representation in the description of Coahuitlán Totonac
Creators: Moore, Devin
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2024

<p>Recording and transcribing textual material is a critical part of documentary and descriptive<br>
linguistics. The advantages of text collection in minority language communities are recognised to<br>
extend beyond linguistics and texts offer a valuable record of the community’s oral history.<br>
Although there is broad agreement to their importance, in practice texts remain underutilised.<br>
This dissertation brings texts to the fore of a documentary and descriptive undertaking, with a<br>
focus on the representational choices underlying their presentation, in particular the use of<br>
interlinear glossing. Interlinear glossing is a ubiquitous strategy used to illustrate the structure of<br>
a language by parsing and glossing meaningful units (morphemes) within a larger string of<br>
speech. It shows how meaning is expressed in the language under study and forms a kind of<br>
bridge to the English translation. Although interlinear glossing is widespread, a generally<br>
accepted standard of representational conventions is lacking, and there is little discussion of the<br>
variation that exists in this kind of representation. In the context of the documentation and<br>
description of Coahuitlán Totonac, this dissertation presents texts in a number of representational<br>
styles, highlighting the value different systems of conventions bring for different levels of<br>
analysis. Each chapter presents one level of grammatical analysis: phonology, prosody,<br>
derivational morphology, and inflectional morphology. Chapters are structured in three parts: a<br>
sketch of the relevant grammatical domain, a discussion of representational choices given the<br>
challenges of that domain, and one or more texts presented with a focus on the particular level of<br>
analysis.</p>

<p>The Totonacan (a.k.a. Totonac-Tepehua) language family is spoken by communities in<br>
the Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico in the states of Puebla, Veracruz, and Hidalgo. Coahuitlán<br>
Totonac belongs to the Northern Totonac branch, and is spoken by around 3000 people in Coahuitlán, Veracruz. Previously undocumented, Coahuitlán Totonac remains the primary<br>
language of speakers in family and community settings, and although it faces the familiar<br>
challenges of minority languages around the world, at present it appears to be sustainable. A<br>
number of features of Coahuitlán Totonac present challenges to representation—for example, it<br>
is highly agglutinative and polysynthetic, the large number of derivational morphological<br>
processes resulting in many complex words. When derivations are not transparent or are non-<br>
compositional, fully-parsed forms can become distracting and add visual clutter. The context in<br>
which the example is used is critical: a discussion of derivation and word-formation requires this<br>
level of detail, but in a discussion of phonology or inflection, the expanded derivation can be<br>
distracting. Extensive inflectional morphology, including polypersonal agreement, poses a<br>
similar challenge where over-glossing can lead to opaque examples. A number of verb forms in<br>
Coahuitlán Totonac are non-compositional or idiomatic: the signifier of these forms consists of<br>
multiple meaningful elements borrowed from other parts of the paradigm. Representation of<br>
these forms is complicated because the elements within the pattern continue to exhibit the same<br>
behaviour they have when used compositionally: so in some contexts it is helpful to identify the<br>
individual elements to explain their morphophonological alternations. In other contexts, we can<br>
safely disregard the origins of the signifier and focus only on the non-compositional form.<br>
Another feature, a system of segmental processes conditioned by prosodic units (“juncture<br>
phenomena”) requires the inclusion of additional information on prosodic boundaries because<br>
without reference to the prosody, it is impossible to describe the distribution of these processes.<br>
Outside of a discussion of prosody, the processes may be minimized or left out of the<br>
representation entirely.</p>

<p>To meet these challenges, this dissertation explores the choices made in the interlinear<br>
representation, between the lines of text and translation. These representational choices include<br>
varying the number of lines, introducing new symbols and bracketing, and the inclusion or<br>
exclusion of certain information. The result is a distinct style of textual representation for each<br>
chapter: a practical application of principles underlying interlinear glossing for different levels of<br>
grammatical analysis. Exploring the interlinear lines encourages further research and discussion<br>
into the use of texts in documentation efforts. The grammatical sketch and texts taken together<br>
constitute a beginning to the documentation of Coahuitlán Totonac, providing linguistic and<br>
extra-linguistic information for this community.</p>