David Beck - The Typology of Parts of Speech Systems: The Markedness of Adjectives

The requisitebut nonetheless genuinethanks are due to the members of my committee, Alana Johns, Jack Chambers, and Elan Dresher for their advice and encouragement, and for keeping an open mind. I would also like to thank Igor Mel'uk for his tireless enthusiasm, inspiration, and the copious donations of his time that I have been the beneficiary of. Paulette Levy's hospitality and friendship made my work in Mexico both pleasant and feasible. Without her assistance and the support of the Seminario de Lenguas Indgenas of the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, none of it would have been possible. Thanks also go to Keren Rice for her helpfulness, which went a long way in making the pursuit of a doctoral degree a more rewarding task, and to Nila Friedberg, whose companionship made it a more fulfilling one.

Financial support for this dissertation came from a number of sources, principally a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (#752-96-1718). Support for my fieldwork on Toto nac came from a PRA Fellowship from the Organization of American States, as well as a travel grant from the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto and two separate General Research Grants from the Department of Linguistics. Support for aspects of the fieldwork not directly related to this thesis was also received from Alana Johns' SSHRC-funded project on grammatical paradigms, which also funded what little work I was able to do on Inuktitut.

My final thanks go, of course, to the colleagues and consultants who are the ultimate sources of much of the data used in this thesis. The Lushootseed in particular was provided by Dr. T.M. Hess, who has over the years given me generous access to his data and his insights; the facts from Cora were brought to my attention by Vernica Vsquez, to whom I owe what understanding I have of this material. Paul Newman was kind enough to provide some of the Hausa examples used in this dissertation, and I am grateful to Ida Awa for having enough patience with me to provide some instruction in Inuktitut. The Mandinka data in are courtesy of Lamin Jabbi. My fieldwork on Totonac is owed completely to my consultants, in particular Porfirio Sampayo Macn, Longino Barragn, and Luciano Romero Aguilar. Alvaro Barragn Alvarez provided both language data and invaluable aid in setting up the practicalities of fieldwork; I am grateful to Doa Rosita for her words and her humour, and to Braulio Cevedeo, Bartolom Garca, Artemio Prez, Juan Ramrez Cortez, Zoyla Rivera Alvarez, and Manuel Romero for contributing their time and their knowledge of the language. Very special thanks are owed to Adolfo Gonzlez Amador and his familyLinda, Diana, Yofn, and Juanfor their friendship, and for making me feel a part of their clan.