Root neutrality and categorization in Crow (Siouan)

Abstract

Nouns and verbs are widely considered universal categories found across languages. However, while similarities between nominal and verbal structures have long been observed, the reasons underlying these parallels are not widely agreed on. The goal of this study is to formally describe these structures in Crow, a Siouan language that exhibits flexibility in how roots may function syntactically. Data were selected from a corpus of Crow texts, containing traditional narratives, children’s stories, and past fieldwork. The key proposal described here is that certain roots in Crow are category-neutral until taken as complements of a categorizing head, while others are inherently verbal. The stem-citation vowel alternation in Crow is analyzed as categorization by the nominal head n, which has implications for the analysis of other areas of Crow grammar. This analysis fits into past studies of root category neutrality, both within the Siouan family and elsewhere.