Causal Relation

The causal relation in General.

A causal Relation consists of two propositions. One proposition P contains the cause, the other Q contains the result or consequence of the cause.In Yucatec Maya, the two propositions can be expressed by clauses and are linked by an interpropositional relator. This relator can be an adverb or a subordinative conjunction.Together the two propositions form a complex sentence. Either proposition can form the subordinate clause.
Many languages, Yucatec Maya included, have also the possibility to express the two propositions in a causal relation in one simple clause. The proposition, that contains the cause, is not coded as a clause This case is treated in Example E1.

The two proposition in a causal relation can as well be coded in two clauses. If the cause is expressed in the subordinate clause and the result is expressed in the main clause, the complex sentence, CS, is called causal clause and has this structure:

Q[interpropositional relator of causeP]CS

The main clause can contain the cause, too. If the result is expressed in the subordinate clause the complex sentence is called consecutive clause and has this structure.

P[interpropositonal relator of consequence Q]CS

1. Examples of causal relations without two clauses

Although they are not expressed by two clauses the two propositions of example E1 and E2 are recognizable as, for example in E1, 'I have no means of working' and 'I had this sickness'. The proposition containing the cause is in this type of causal relation not expressed by a clause, but by a prepositional syntagma. The nominal syntagma included by the prepositional syntagma contains the cause and the preposition serves to express the causal relation. The prepositions used in these structures are: tu yoolal 'for', 'because of', t yo'lal 'for', yo'sal 'for'(FEE_0319) and tumen 'because of', 'on account of'. Some of these prepositions can also be used as conjunctions.

1.2. Examples for causal clauses

Tuméen is the most frequently used interpropositional relator to express causal relations. Normally the main clause initiates the complex sentence and the embedded clause, initiated by 'tuméen' follows as seen in Example E3. It is also possible to begin the complex sentence with the causal clause as seen in Example E4 or to include the causal clause into the main clause, as in Example E5 but this seems to be less frequent. Sometimes the causal clause initiated by 'tuméen' can stand alone, without the main clause directly attached.

Besides the conjunction 'tuméen' there is also the conjunction 'yo'lal'or 't yo'lal or tu yoolal,that can be used as a causal conjunction.

The propositions that contain a cause can also be initiated by the conjunction úuchik. Causal clauses, introduced by this conjunction, are only found following the main clause.

1.3. Examples for consecutive clauses

It is not necessary, that in a causal relation, the cause must be coded in the subordinative clause. The consequence may also be coded in a consecutive clause. The main clause then expresses the reason or cause. One subordinate conjunction to express this relation between two propositions is yo'lal. This conjunction can also be used to introduce a causal clause as shown in Example E6 But to introduce consecutive clauses seems to be its main task. In the cases, where yo'lal serves to initiate a causal clause, the verb of the clause governed by yo'lal seems to be in incompletive aspect; at least this is the case in example E6.

Examples

Consecutive Clauses can also be introduced by the conjunction 'yo'sal'

Examples

1.4. Examples for causal relations related by adverbs

The two propositions that contain cause and result can also be coded in two clauses, that don't form an asymmetric complex clause. The interpropositional relator between these two propositions, codes as clauses is not a conjunction but an adverb. These adverbs are: la'téen, 'therefore', le teene', 'therefore', le o'lal, 'that is why', 'for that reason',le beetik 'therefore', and in some texts, there also appears the adverb 'asi es que', which is probably of spanish origin to express a causal relation in Yucatec.

2. Cause and reason

Some languages make a difference between whether the causal clause expresses a cause or a reason or motive. If a cause is expressed in P, the consequence follows due to physical facts. A reason is motivated by humans but not by physical facts.
Yucatec Maya has shown no signs of such a differentiation.However, certain interpropositional relators seem to be reserved to express reason. But it is also possible that the example in which they also relate a cause to a consequence has not yet been found.

The two conjunctions tuméen 'because' and úuchik 'because' are found in such causal relations, that express a relation between cause and consequence as well as in relations, that relate a reason to a result. As seen in the Examples E20 and E17 or Examples E21 and E22

The propositions can be related by an adverb, for example by la'teen as in Example E24. The adverbs and conjunctions that serve to relate the cause to the consequence are used to relate reason to result, too. This is shown by the examples E23 and E24, where the adverb le beetik 'therefore' is used first in a causal relation expressing a cause and second in one expressing a reason.

1.5. Presuppositions made by the causal clause

The structure of the causal clause may vary because of the presuppositions that the causal clause transmits. In some languages different conjunctions serve to express whether:

The causal proposition is known to the hearer

The causal propostion is new to the hearer

Yucatec Maya does seem to have the possibility to make this differentiation. )

Examples:

tuméen

The narrator mentions the fact, that he has already heard and therefore knows the story, he is now telling. (HIJO_16 and HIJO_13) Under this circumstances Example E35 is an example of the type of Causal clauses treated in this section.

The subordinative conjunction 'esak tu méen' usually introducing a conditional clause, is used to express a causal relation between two propositions in some cases. (Andrade §2.30

A causal clause of the type, where the cause is known to the hearer, can also be introduced by the subordinative conjunction 'como', which seems to be of Spanish origin.

Examples:

Since the fact, that the protagonist's wife is a frog, is crucial to the story told in MUUCH and therefore known to the hearer, the example above is obviously showing a causal relation of the type treated in 1.5.

The texts showed also one example where 'como-que' was used as a conjunction.

Examples:

In Bolles's collection of Maya texts and in Andrade's grammar appears another example of a conjunction, that initiates a causal clause of the Type spoken of in this section. The word 'he bix', meaning 'as' or 'like' usually (Andrade § 2.22), is used as a conjunction in these examples.

He bix

In one example the word 'ken' (when) is integrated into the conjunction he bix:

As seen in example E32 'tuméen' can also be used to express, that the cause is already known to the hearer, since the instance, that the narrator has learned the story yet is mentioned by himself in HIJO_013. However, since all causal clauses of this type intiate the complex sentence, it is possible, that a clause introduced by 'tuméen' and beginning the complex sentence, presupposes, that the cause is known to the hearer. In the causal relation, where the cause is known to the hearer there are some conjunctions that are not used in a causal relation, in which the cause is actually new information. Probably Yucatec Maya has the possibility to make a difference between these two cases, but this difference isn't always made. The conjunctions he bix 'since', 'as', esak tuméen 'since', 'as', como and in one example como-que also meaning 'since' or 'as' have only been found initiating clauses, that contain causes, already known to the hearer. However, most of these conjunctions have not been found in many examples at all, so that the instance, where these conjunctions initiate clause, that contain causes, new to the hearer, simply has not been found, yet. tuméen has been found in either instance.

References

Andrade, M. J. (1955): A grammar of modern yucatec. URL:http://www.uni-erfurt.de/sprachwissenschaft/personal/lehmann/ling/sprachen/maya/andrade/index_edit.html [state: 25.02.2009].

Blair, Robert W. & Vermont-Salas, Refugio 1965, Spoken (Yucatec) Maya. Book 1: Lessons 1-12. Blair, Robert W. & Vermont-Salas, Refugio 1967, Spoken (Yucatec) Maya. Book 2: Lessons 13-18.[state: 25.02.2009] URL: http: //www..uni-erfurt.de/sprachwissenschaft/personal/lehmann/ling/sprachen/maya/textos/bvs_index.html

Bolles, D. & A. (1996): A Grammar of the Yucatecan Mayan Language. URL: http://www.famsi.org/reports/96072/grammar/index.html [state: 25.02.2009].