Download or read book The Relationship Among the Mixe Zoquean Languages of Mexico written by Søren Wichmann and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the phonological development of the Mixe-Zoquean (MZ) language and constructs a morphology for the MZ proto-language, for decipherers of Epi-Olmec writing and students of Mesoamerican prehistory. A section on comparative phonology outlines language classification and looks at developments in Mixean and Zoquean languages. The bulk of the book offers 2,218 cognate sets. Includes Spanish-MZ and English-Spanish word indices, but no subject index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Download or read book The Relationship Between the Mixe Zoquean Languages of Mexico written by Soren Wichmann and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Grammar of Chiapas Zoque written by Jan Terje Faarlund and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a clear and comprehensive description of the Ocotepec/Tapalapa variant of Chiapas Zoque. Zoque is one of the two major branches of the Mixe-Zoquean language family, spoken in the southern part of Mexico. Until the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century the Mixe-Zoquean languages covered a large area from Veracruz on the Gulf coast to the border of Guatemala and the Pacific coast. Inscriptions in Zoque from the first half of the first millennium AD are the oldest known linguistic documents in Mesoamerica.The Zoquean area once included the entire heartland of the Olmecs, who almost certainly spoke a proto-Zoquean or proto-Mixe-Zoquean language. The Zoques are thus the most likely direct descendents of the oldest known civilization of Mexico. As a result of a long history of close contact, Zoque and Mayan share areal features, and there are lexical borrowings in both directions, but genetically and typologically they are clearly distinct. The Zoque-speaking area has shrunk considerably since pre-colonial times. In 1982 an eruption from the volcano Chichonal destroyed a central part of the Zoque core area and caused a mass migration of Zoque speakers to parts of Mexico where Spanish is the dominant language. This record of an unusual and critically endangered language will be a vital resource for linguists of all theoretical persuasions.

Download or read book The Place of Stone Monuments written by Julia Guernsey and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume considers the significance of stone monuments in Preclassic Mesoamerica. By placing sculptures in their cultural, historical, social, political, religious, and cognitive contexts, the seventeen contributors utilize archaeological and art historical methods to understand the origins, growth, and spread of civilization in Middle America.

Download or read book The Grammar of Causation and Interpersonal Manipulation written by Masayoshi Shibatani and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2002-05-31 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents fifteen original papers dealing with various aspects of causative constructions ranging from morphology to semantics with emphasis on language data from Central and South America. Informed by a better understanding of how different constructions are positioned both synchronically (e.g., on a semantic map) and diachronically (e.g., through grammaticalization processes), the volume affords a comprehensive up-to-date perspective on the perennial issues in the grammar of causation such as the distribution of competing causative morphemes, the meaning distinctions among them, and the overall form-meaning correlation. Morphosyntactic interactions of causatives with other phenomena such as incorporation and applicativization receive focused attention as such basic issues as the semantic distinction between direct and indirect causation and the typology of causative constructions.

Download or read book The Emergence of Distinctive Features written by Jeff Mielke and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-03-13 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Emergence of Distinctive Features will be of essential interest to phonologists and typologists, as well as to syntacticians, cognitive scientists, and scholars outside linguistics interested in the nature of language and its acquisition."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book LOST KINGDOMS OF CENTRAL AMERICA written by Norah Romney and published by DTTV PUBLICATIONS. This book was released on 2021-02-12 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thousands of years ago, people settled in the part of the world called Mesoamerica. This region consists of southern Mexico and most of Central America as it stretches between what is now called the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Although many different countries now exist within this space, it was the original home to just one civilisation: the Olmec. As time advanced, other well-known groups became dominant in the area. These were primarily the Aztecs and the Mayan. All these early civilizations that existed from approximately 1200 BCE to 900 CE were steeped with culture, tradition, commerce, and conflict. They also offer many mysteries and enigmas to modern understanding. These are the things that make people wonder about how the civilisations arose, gained such power, and why they disappeared. Travel back in time to the first days to discover the questions that still exist in the minds of archaeologists, historians, and others who strive to understand the ancient mysteries of Mesoamerica.

Download or read book Person written by Anna Siewierska and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-07 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook deals with the grammatical category of person, which covers the first person, the second person, and the third person. Drawing on data from over 700 languages, Anna Siewierska compares the use of person within and across different languages, and examines the factors underlying this variation. She shows how person forms vary in substance, in the nature of the semantic distinctions they convey, in how they are used in sentences and discourse, and in the way they function to convey social distinctions. By looking at different types of person forms in the grammatical and social contexts in which they are used, this book documents an underlying unity between them, arguing against the treatment of person markers based on arbitrary sets of morphological and syntactic properties. Clearly organized and accessibly written, it will be welcomed by students and scholars of linguistics, particularly those interested in grammatical categories and their use.

Download or read book Sculpture and Social Dynamics in Preclassic Mesoamerica written by Julia Guernsey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-23 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the functions of sculpture during the Preclassic period in Mesoamerica and its significance in statements of social identity. Julia Guernsey situates the origins and evolution of monumental stone sculpture within a broader social and political context and demonstrates the role that such sculpture played in creating and institutionalizing social hierarchies. This book focuses specifically on an enigmatic type of public, monumental sculpture known as the "potbelly" that traces its antecedents to earlier, small domestic ritual objects and ceramic figurines. The cessation of domestic rituals involving ceramic figurines along the Pacific slope coincided not only with the creation of the first monumental potbelly sculptures, but with the rise of the first state-level societies in Mesoamerica by the advent of the Late Preclassic period. The potbellies became central to the physical representation of new forms of social identity and expressions of political authority during this time of dramatic change.

Download or read book The Early Olmec and Mesoamerica written by Jeffrey P. Blomster and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Early Formative Olmec are central in a wide variety of debates regarding the development of Mesoamerican societies. A fundamental issue in Olmec archaeology is the nature of interregional interaction among contemporaneous societies and the possible Olmec role in it. Previous debates have often not been informed by recent research and data, often relying on materials lacking archaeological context. In order to approach these issues from new perspectives, this book introduces readers to the full spectrum of the material culture of the Olmec and their contemporaries, relying primarily on archaeological data, much of which has not been previously published. For the first time, using a standard lexicon to consider the nature of the interaction among Early Formative societies, the authors, experts in diverse regions of Mesoamerican art and archaeology, provide carefully considered contrasts and comparisons that advance the understanding of the Early Formative origins of social complexity in Mesoamerica.

Download or read book Civilization of the Americas written by Ethan Gomez and published by DTTV PUBLICATIONS. This book was released on with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction There is much more to Mesoamerica than the Aztec, Mayan, and Toltec civilizations. In fact, several different ancient Mesoamerican civilizations had their own gods and religious beliefs. These civilizations included the Olmec civilization, Zapotec civilization, Teotihuacan civilization, Maya civilization, Toltec civilization, and Aztec civilization. The Olmec civilization is the first known Mesoamerican civilization. The name Olmec comes from the Nahuatl word for rubber people, and they were pre-Columbian people living in what is now southern Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco. The Olmecs are essential to history because they were the first Mesoamerican people to develop a writing system, use hieroglyphics, and construct significant stone monuments (such as pyramids). The calendar developed by the Olmecs was one of their most remarkable achievements. They based their calendar on 365 days divided into 18 months of 20 days each plus 5 extra days at the end of each year—so it was different from our current calendar! They also used zero as part of their number system, which is why we still use it today! The Zapotec civilization was in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. This Mesoamerican civilization was known for using the Mesoamerican writing system and art. The Zapotecs were one of the first civilizations in Mexico to develop a writing system. They used it to write on stone or pottery, but we don't know what their language sounded like because no one left any written records about them or their lives, so all that remains is physical evidence, like pottery with pictures and hieroglyphs carved into it. This type of evidence is called epigraphic because it's an inscription on something else (like a statue). The city of Teotihuacan was a center of trade and politics. It existed from about 300 BC until 600 AD when it was abandoned. The site has been a subject of archaeology since the 19th century; it is now an essential source of information on Mesoamerican civilization, among the most significant early cities in pre-Columbian America. The city is located just north of present-day Mexico City in the state (state = province/county) of Mexico, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of the Federal District (Mexico City). The name "Teotihuacan" means "place where men become gods," possibly an allusion to their belief that their rulers became divine after death. The Teotihuacanos were not only builders but also warriors; they fought with neighboring groups over territory and resources. Their most important military victory came in 378 AD against Xolalpan by capturing its ruler Cuauhtémoc and killing many Xolalpan warriors during battle. After this victory, they took over Xolalpan's lands, including Azcapotzalco, Colhuacan, and Tlaxcala areas, where they established their control over those regions along with other surrounding places like Cholula or Chichen Itza until finally falling into decline due to internal conflicts caused by constant wars between various ethnic groups within the Aztec Empire itself during its final years before being conquered by Spanish Conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés after they arrived at Cempoala Island (between Veracruz/Tamiahua province) in July 1519

Download or read book Pre Columbian Foodways written by John Staller and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-11-24 with total page 691 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The significance of food and feasting to Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures has been extensively studied by archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians. Foodways studies have been critical to our understanding of early agriculture, political economies, and the domestication and management of plants and animals. Scholars from diverse fields have explored the symbolic complexity of food and its preparation, as well as the social importance of feasting in contemporary and historical societies. This book unites these disciplinary perspectives — from the social and biological sciences to art history and epigraphy — creating a work comprehensive in scope, which reveals our increasing understanding of the various roles of foods and cuisines in Mesoamerican cultures. The volume is organized thematically into three sections. Part 1 gives an overview of food and feasting practices as well as ancient economies in Mesoamerica. Part 2 details ethnographic, epigraphic and isotopic evidence of these practices. Finally, Part 3 presents the metaphoric value of food in Mesoamerican symbolism, ritual, and mythology. The resulting volume provides a thorough, interdisciplinary resource for understanding, food, feasting, and cultural practices in Mesoamerica.

Download or read book A Survey of Word Accentual Patterns in the Languages of the World written by Harry van der Hulst and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2010 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains a wealth of information on the word accentual (metrical, stress) phenomena that we encounter in natural languages. Two types of information will be supplied: language profiles in 'tabular form' and survey articles. Of the total of 10 chapters in Part I, 3 are general in nature, while the other 7 describe and analyze word accentual systems in all continents. The volume's point of departure is a database called StressTyp. StressTyp developed into a database on word prosodic systems of the languages of the world. The over 500 languages, representing a wide geographical distribution, taken from the StressTyp database will be represented in this volume. For all these languages, information regarding identity, sources and stress location(s) will be included, accompanied by some examples in nearly all cases. These language data packages will be organized by language family. This information constitutes Part II of the volume.

Download or read book The Bloomsbury Companion to Historical Linguistics written by Silvia Luraghi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-07 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published as the Continuum Companion to Historical Linguistics, this book brings together a number of leading scholars who provide a combination of different approaches to current and new issues in historical linguistics, while supplying an exhaustive and up-to-date coverage of sub-fields traditionally regarded as central to historical linguistics research. The editors aim to build a solid background for further discussion and to indicate directions for new research on relevant open questions. The book includes coverage of key terms, a list of resources, and sections on: - history of research- methodology- phonology- morphology- grammatical categories- syntax- grammaticalization- semantics - etymology- language contact- sociolinguistics- causes of language change It is a complete resource for researchers working on historical linguistics.

Download or read book Lost Civilizations of Mesoamerica written by Norah Romney and published by DTTV PUBLICATIONS. This book was released on with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Olmec culture developed in the early pre-classic period, we observe the phenomenon of the Olmec Heads and their Mysterious origins. Through ideological management and coercion mechanisms, the dominant ruler appears and alludes to forms of government exercised by individuals. Massive sculptures and large-scale architecture represent the first representations of political power. The socio-political complex that developed thus encouraged the development of similar forms in other areas of Mesoamerica, resulting in the first stratified societies consisting of actual states, as seen in Teotihuacan in the Mexican highlands, Monte Albán in Oaxaca, and the Maya city states during the classical period. A corollary of this process was the rise of some post-classical societies that reached supra-state levels, such as the Mexica, who settled in the Mexican highlands and established a true pan-Mesoamerican empire. Following this brief introduction, it is time to examine each ancient Mexican society considered the most significant in Mesoamerica's political development.

Download or read book Histories of Maize in Mesoamerica written by John Staller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-06-16 with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume reprints 20 chapters from the editors’ comprehensive Histories of Maize (2006) that are relevant to Mesoamerican specialists and students. New findings and interpretations from the past three years have been included. Histories of Maize is the most comprehensive reference source on the botanical, genetic, archaeological, and anthropological aspects of ancient maize published. Included in this abridged volume are new introductory and concluding chapters and updated material on isotopic research. State of the art research on maize chronology, molecular biology, and stable carbon isotope research on ancient human diets have provided additional lines of evidence on the changing role of maize through time and space and its spread throughout the Americas. The multidisciplinary evidence from the social and biological sciences presented in this volume have generated a much more complex picture of the economic, political, and religious significance of maize.

Download or read book The Birth of Technology in Mesoamerica written by Ethan Gomez and published by DTTV PUBLICATIONS. This book was released on with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For thousands of years, people in Central America have found ways to improve their lives. Tools and technologies help us do more work with less effort and make our lives easier. But how did those tools and technologies come about? The Maya people were among the first groups to make discoveries that led to new technology in Mesoamerica. And now scientists uncover more about these ancient people by using modern technologies like computers and lasers! In the past, people could only see the universe in one way. They could not travel very far or very fast. But now that science and technology have changed the world, we can see things that were hidden before. We have new ways of getting from one place to another and new tools and materials that help us make textiles, boats, and paper—and even understand the past! Technology has improved in many ways, like finding better ways to get from one place to another. For example, modern technology has made transportation faster, easier, and more efficient than it used to be. Traveling long distances is much easier than before the invention of trains, cars, and airplanes. Education depends mainly on how effective teaching methods were used back then compared to today's standards; therefore, without proper instruction methods being utilized by teachers back then, there wouldn't be any hope for students' success later on down their own paths towards achieving higher learning goals." Once again, it was scientists using modern technology to help us learn more about the ancient Maya people. In Mexico, scientists have also studied the old Maya people using modern technology. They have discovered that they were more advanced than we thought, not just farmers and traders, but builders as well! The Maya had many things we take for granted today, like electricity and airplanes, but they also had inventions like books and clocks, which we don't have today! These discoveries show that even though these fantastic people lived thousands of years ago, they could still invent new things back then, just like when someone created something today (like a bike). Archaeologists have found artifacts showing how vital these things were to how these ancient people lived. In archaeology, the word artifact refers to any object left behind by people in the past. Artifacts can be made of many materials, including wood, stone, and metal. Archaeologists study these things to learn more about the people who made them and how they lived. A few discoveries have revealed things about the ancient people we never knew. For example, researchers now know that Mayan culture was more advanced than previously thought. The old Maya had a complex social structure, religious system, and calendar that was far more developed than what was once understood by modern-day archaeologists. They also had a problematic transportation and textile system—all previously misunderstood by archaeologists who studied the civilization's remains. The world has changed a lot since the ancient Maya lived. But there is still so much we don't know about how they lived and what they thought. That's why scientists study these artifacts today. They want to learn more about them and their culture so we can learn from them too!