Justin Royer
Biographic Data
| ID | 3844460 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Justin Royer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Justin |
| FAMILY NAME | Royer |
| SIGNATURE | ROYER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | McGill University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9939-4078 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
El cuento de kokolom/chi’jolom
En este artículo, presentamos la transcripción y el análisis de dos versiones de un relato tradicional Chuj que se centra en un personaje mítico, la kokolom/chi’jolom, cuya cabeza se ha desprendido. Las dos versiones del relato fueron grabadas en los dos dialectos principales del Chuj: el de San Mateo Ixtatán (SMI) y el de San Sebastián Coatán (SSC). Además, utilizamos los dos textos para ofrecer una descripción y un análisis de los aspectos sobr…
The syntax of quantifiers in Chuj
This paper provides a novel description and syntactic analysis of different types of quantifiers in Chuj, an underdocumented Mayan language. We focus on a subset of expressions that quantify over entities, and that have been noted to appear obligatorily in sentence-initial position. We argue that three types of quantifiers should be distinguished: (i) Predicative A-quantifiers , which occur sentence-initially because Chuj is a predicate-initial l…
Demostrativos nominales en Chuj de San Mateo Ixtatán
En Chuj hay dos partículas deícticas, tik (proximal) y chi’ (distal) que se pueden añadir a una base nominal para formar dos tipos diferentes de demostrativos. Se añaden a una frase nominal definida para formar demostrativos de base definida (DBD) y a una frase nominal indefinida para formar demostrativos de base indefinida (DBI). Con esto sugerimos que los demostrativos en Chuj no forman una categoría básica, sino que se derivan de manera compos…
Mayan animacy hierarchy effects and the dynamics of Agree
In many Mayan languages, combinations of subjects and objects are restricted by relative animacy hierarchy effects: subjects must be at least as high as objects in terms of animacy. Building empirically on a novel description of Chuj, as well as reported data for ten additional Mayan languages from across the family, we offer a new approach to these effects. Our analysis builds theoretically on recent work tracing person/animacy restrictions to t…
Correlates of Object Raising in Mayan
Mayan languages show variation in the morphosyntactic distribution of absolutive objects. A now commonly-adopted analysis ties this variation to differences in object movement and agreement. In so-called 'high-absolutive' languages, objects consistently raise to a position above the ergative subject, where they are targeted for -Agree by a probe on finite . In 'low-absolutive' languages, on the other hand, objects remain low and enter into -Agree…
Binding and Anticataphora in Mayan
This article examines a puzzle pertaining to the distribution of covalued nominals in two understudied Mayan languages, Chuj and Ch'ol. While Ch'ol behaves as expected with regard to the binding conditions, Chuj appears to consistently tolerate violations of Condition C. The Chuj data thus cast doubt on the widely held view that the binding conditions reflect a universal property of human language (e.g., Grodzinsky and Reinhart 1993, Reuland 2011…
Modal indefinites and semantic variation
Recent work proposes that modal auxiliaries project their domains from an event variable, their ‘anchor’ (Hacquard 2006, 2010, Kratzer 2013). Based on the Spanish modal indefinite uno cualquiera, Alonso-Ovalle & Menéndez-Benito (2018) conclude that modal indefinites do too. This paper argues that yalnhej DPs, a type of modal indefinite in Chuj, an understudied Mayan language, support this conclusion. These DPs are existential quantifiers that con…
Random Choice from Likelihood
Research on modality has recently broadened beyond the verbal domain, unearthing questions about the cross-categorial nature of modality ( Arregui et al. 2017), for instance: To what extent do DP and VP modals mirror each other? Chuj, an understudied Mayan language, provides an ideal vantage point to answer this question with respect to random choice modality. Random choice indefinites convey, roughly, that an agent made an indiscriminate choice.…
Classifiers can be for numerals or nouns
This paper compares two families of theories for numeral classifiers drawing on fieldwork data from two languages, Ch’ol (Mayan, Mexico) and Shan (Kra-Dai, Myanmar). We discuss classifier-for-numeral theories and classifier-for-noun theories, which we argue make different predictions based on the syntactic position and semantic contribution of the classifier in each set of theories. We argue that Ch’ol is a classifier-for-numeral language and Sha…
Atz’am k’ik’ atz’am
This article and text provide a new take on the San Mateo Ixtatán saltwater sources from the perspective of Xuwan, a San Mateo resident who for her entire life has been working in the extraction, production, and merchandising of atz’am k’ik’ atz’am ‘the black salt’, a culturally-valued good which forms a quintessential aspect of Chuj life and culture. In addition to recounting her experiences with black salt, Xuwan comments on several other aspec…
Decomposing definiteness
This article explores the realization of definiteness in Chuj, an underdocumented Mayan language. I show that Chuj provides support for recent theories that distinguish between weak and strong definite descriptions (e.g., Schwarz 2009, 2013; Arkoh and Matthewson 2013; Hanink 2018; Jenks 2018). A set of morphemes called “noun classifiers” contribute a uniqueness presupposition, composing directly with nominals to form weak definites. To form stron…
Prosody as syntactic evidence
Prosody as syntactic evidence
Binding and Anticataphora in Mayan
This article examines a puzzle pertaining to the distribution of covalued nominals in two understudied Mayan languages, Chuj and Ch'ol. While Ch'ol behaves as expected with regard to the binding conditions, Chuj appears to consistently tolerate violations of Condition C. The Chuj data thus cast doubt on the widely held view that the binding conditions reflect a universal property of human language (e.g., Grodzinsky and Reinhart 1993, Reuland 2011…
Correlates of Object Raising in Mayan
Mayan languages show variation in the morphosyntactic distribution of absolutive objects. A now commonly-adopted analysis ties this variation to differences in object movement and agreement. In so-called 'high-absolutive' languages, objects consistently raise to a position above the ergative subject, where they are targeted for -Agree by a probe on finite . In 'low-absolutive' languages, on the other hand, objects remain low and enter into -Agree…
Random Choice from Likelihood
Research on modality has recently broadened beyond the verbal domain, unearthing questions about the cross-categorial nature of modality ( Arregui et al. 2017), for instance: To what extent do DP and VP modals mirror each other? Chuj, an understudied Mayan language, provides an ideal vantage point to answer this question with respect to random choice modality. Random choice indefinites convey, roughly, that an agent made an indiscriminate choice.…
Classifiers can be for numerals or nouns
This paper compares two families of theories for numeral classifiers drawing on fieldwork data from two languages, Ch’ol (Mayan, Mexico) and Shan (Kra-Dai, Myanmar). We discuss classifier-for-numeral theories and classifier-for-noun theories, which we argue make different predictions based on the syntactic position and semantic contribution of the classifier in each set of theories. We argue that Ch’ol is a classifier-for-numeral language and Sha…
Atz’am k’ik’ atz’am
This article and text provide a new take on the San Mateo Ixtatán saltwater sources from the perspective of Xuwan, a San Mateo resident who for her entire life has been working in the extraction, production, and merchandising of atz’am k’ik’ atz’am ‘the black salt’, a culturally-valued good which forms a quintessential aspect of Chuj life and culture. In addition to recounting her experiences with black salt, Xuwan comments on several other aspec…
Decomposing definiteness
This article explores the realization of definiteness in Chuj, an underdocumented Mayan language. I show that Chuj provides support for recent theories that distinguish between weak and strong definite descriptions (e.g., Schwarz 2009, 2013; Arkoh and Matthewson 2013; Hanink 2018; Jenks 2018). A set of morphemes called “noun classifiers” contribute a uniqueness presupposition, composing directly with nominals to form weak definites. To form stron…
Prosody as syntactic evidence
Modal indefinites and semantic variation
Recent work proposes that modal auxiliaries project their domains from an event variable, their ‘anchor’ (Hacquard 2006, 2010, Kratzer 2013). Based on the Spanish modal indefinite uno cualquiera, Alonso-Ovalle & Menéndez-Benito (2018) conclude that modal indefinites do too. This paper argues that yalnhej DPs, a type of modal indefinite in Chuj, an understudied Mayan language, support this conclusion. These DPs are existential quantifiers that con…
Demostrativos nominales en Chuj de San Mateo Ixtatán
En Chuj hay dos partículas deícticas, tik (proximal) y chi’ (distal) que se pueden añadir a una base nominal para formar dos tipos diferentes de demostrativos. Se añaden a una frase nominal definida para formar demostrativos de base definida (DBD) y a una frase nominal indefinida para formar demostrativos de base indefinida (DBI). Con esto sugerimos que los demostrativos en Chuj no forman una categoría básica, sino que se derivan de manera compos…
Mayan animacy hierarchy effects and the dynamics of Agree
In many Mayan languages, combinations of subjects and objects are restricted by relative animacy hierarchy effects: subjects must be at least as high as objects in terms of animacy. Building empirically on a novel description of Chuj, as well as reported data for ten additional Mayan languages from across the family, we offer a new approach to these effects. Our analysis builds theoretically on recent work tracing person/animacy restrictions to t…
Correlates of Object Raising in Mayan
Mayan languages show variation in the morphosyntactic distribution of absolutive objects. A now commonly-adopted analysis ties this variation to differences in object movement and agreement. In so-called 'high-absolutive' languages, objects consistently raise to a position above the ergative subject, where they are targeted for -Agree by a probe on finite . In 'low-absolutive' languages, on the other hand, objects remain low and enter into -Agree…
Binding and Anticataphora in Mayan
This article examines a puzzle pertaining to the distribution of covalued nominals in two understudied Mayan languages, Chuj and Ch'ol. While Ch'ol behaves as expected with regard to the binding conditions, Chuj appears to consistently tolerate violations of Condition C. The Chuj data thus cast doubt on the widely held view that the binding conditions reflect a universal property of human language (e.g., Grodzinsky and Reinhart 1993, Reuland 2011…
El cuento de kokolom/chi’jolom
En este artículo, presentamos la transcripción y el análisis de dos versiones de un relato tradicional Chuj que se centra en un personaje mítico, la kokolom/chi’jolom, cuya cabeza se ha desprendido. Las dos versiones del relato fueron grabadas en los dos dialectos principales del Chuj: el de San Mateo Ixtatán (SMI) y el de San Sebastián Coatán (SSC). Además, utilizamos los dos textos para ofrecer una descripción y un análisis de los aspectos sobr…
The syntax of quantifiers in Chuj
This paper provides a novel description and syntactic analysis of different types of quantifiers in Chuj, an underdocumented Mayan language. We focus on a subset of expressions that quantify over entities, and that have been noted to appear obligatorily in sentence-initial position. We argue that three types of quantifiers should be distinguished: (i) Predicative A-quantifiers , which occur sentence-initially because Chuj is a predicate-initial l…
Linguistics (9 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Syntax (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works) · Categorization, perception, and language (3 works) · Mathematics (3 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Artificial Intelligence (2 works)