Week 7 Grammar

Grammar:  Grammar is a wonderful thing.  Without it, human speech would be incomprehensible.  Language learners often want to begin learning the grammar of their target language right away (Griffiths, 2008).  Knowing the rules of the language allows learners to know when they make mistakes and how to correct them.  For me, learning the rules or principles of Isthmus Zapotec provides me with a map or key to the language. 

Most important for me: The most important grammatical feature I needed to understand when beginning to learn this language was that many IZ words (and sometimes whole sentences) are clusters of affixes.  Without knowing this, it can be nearly impossible to look a word up in the dictionary.  Learning the common prefixes, infixes, and suffixes of IZ gave me the ability to decipher the meaning of new words (Leaver et al, 2005).  It is especially important to recognize a prefix and infix in order to look past them to find the root word.  Often times the spelling of the root word is affected by the prefix, so being aware of these changes allows for better troubleshooting skills when trying to find the meaning of a new word.  For instance, many IZ words begin with an ‘x’ followed by another consonant (Britton, 2003).  To a native English speaker, this looks intimidatingly foreign; but often times, it just means ‘of’ or the equivalent of the English possessive ‘s: xpere Juan ‘John’s chicken.’  The IZ word for ‘chicken’ is actually bere not pere, but like I mentioned, prefixes can change the spelling of the root. When an x is added to b at the beginning of a word, the b becomes a p forming xp.  This is crucial to know because even if I recognized the possessive prefix but did not know the spelling rule, I would never find the meaning of pere.  However (to make sure), I was just able to find the meaning of bere in my dictionary.  

Pronunciation is grammar, too:  If we use Purpura’s (2004, cited in Griffiths, 2008) definition, grammar includes “everything speakers know about their language,” which includes “the system of meanings (semantics)” (p. 174).  Pronunciation affects meaning; therefore, how we say something can be grammatical or not.  A word pronounced incorrectly can be meaningless to a native speaker.  Tone and stress can also affect word meaning.  I was worried when I read in Leaver et al (2005) that intonation (rising and falling pattern of speech) is the most important aspect of spoken language to master, “improper intonation is far more debilitating than mispronunciation of individual sounds,” and “Even good sounds, with bad intonation, can be so irritating or confusing to a native speaker that the conversation will be impaired” (p. 163).  Intonation is what gives speakers a heavy accent.  Intonation also carries pragmatic meaning, expressing a speaker’s attitude or emotion.  Furthermore, it can indicate the difference between a question or a statement.  Knowing how to manipulate intonation to convey one’s intended meaning is crucial.  The intonation of Isthmus Zapotec is so different from English that it is one of my greatest challenges in learning the language.  For this, the Memrise native speaker audio and Podcast IZ poetry recordings are invaluable to my language learning.

Finally, using my best grammar resource:  The topic of ‘grammar’ this week is timely.  I had made it a goal of mine this week to look at Black and Pickett’s (2001) complete, electronic IZ grammar book, Gramatica Popular Del Zapotec Del Istmo.  At the beginning of this language-learning odyssey, I was certain that this found treasure would be my primary source for grammatical instruction.  Instead, I primarily referenced my Zapotec/English dictionary by Britton (2003) for its convenient introductory to IZ grammar, and a little later relied on the Memrise Juchitán Zapotec course for grammar learning.  In the back of my mind, however, I have been thinking about what I am probably missing by not looking at Black and Pickett’s book.  Needless to say, I have been very aware of the reason for my aversion.  I need this resource on paper for my idiosyncratic language-learning style, but it is 135 pages long, and I did not want to print that many pages.  Well—today, I broke down and printed the whole book and placed it in a binder.  I feel happy and almost relieved now that I can reference this material how ever and where ever I want.  It will be interesting to see how this resource influences my language learning from here on out.  I now have an investment in paper and ink, so I better make it worth it!