Aspect Switching in Tzotzil (Mayan) Narratives

Tzotzil is a tenseless language; the binary aspect opposition between completive and incompletive makes up the core of its verbal grammar. In narrative discourse, the incompletive aspect is sometimes used instead of the completive, denoting completed events in the past. The function of the incompletive aspect in Tzotzil seems generally very similar to the function of the historical present tense in European languages. Such aspect switching can be explained in terms of ‘grounding, ’ or episode highlighting, as has been suggested in works on tense alternation in European narratives. A comparative analysis of Tzotzil and other Mayan languages shows that there are two opposite strategies in the distribution of aspect categories, as both completive and incompletive can play the role of the unmarked member of the opposition; nevertheless, the semantics of aspect switching remain the same.