Speech strategies reported in two Southern Tepehuan languages

Abstract

This study presents a comparison of the behavior of the reportative particles of two Southern Tepehuan languages spoken in the Sierra of Durango, Mexico: O’dam and Au’dam. We take a functionalist approach, taking into account systematized and published data of five sapook and five sapauk, which are a narrative discursive genre specific to the Southern Tepehuans. We show differences in each language surrounding: i) the number of reportatives, ii) their positional restrictions, and iii) distinct citational formula which utilize the reportative particles. In addition, this study finds that the reportatives in O’dam show a broader range of functions than those in Au’dam, which we attribute to differences in their grammaticalization. Overall, this study contributes to the relatively sparse comparative and grammatical work on evidentiality, both among Uto-Aztecan languages and among languages more broadly.