Ergatividad o intersubjetividad en tojolabal

Abstract

This paper contrasts two fundamentally different, analytical approaches to “ergative languages based on an analysis of Tojolabal. The term ergativity really does not explain the basic structure of Tojolabal and other similiarly constructed languages. For Tojolobal it is a fact that objects, direct or indirect, do not exist but that, according to morphological, syntactical, and semantic criteria, there is a plurality of different types of subjects which are interrelated. So far linguistic analyses do not take into account this plurality of subjects but rather interpret the different linguistic structure on the basis of the structure of Indoeuropean languages. This approach rather imposes the structure of accusative languages on a basically different language with profound consequences on the linguistic as well as cultural level. This paper shows that intersubjectivity explains more adequately the structure of the language type represented by Tojolabal and shows it by analysing a series of basic gramll1atical elements.