Jesus Olguin

Research Interests & Areas

My research straddles the subfields of Construction Grammar, typology, morphosyntax, semantics, discourse, language documentation and description, corpus linguistics, and language contact.

1. Families of constructions
I have analyzed how constructions which display similar semantic-pragmatic characteristics may form a family of constructions. This type of analysis has led me to propose a number of universals and implicational hierarchies that have informed current debates of expletive negation, blocking effects (standard and non-standard), and reversal of polarity.

2. The interaction of syntax with other grammatical domains
My work shows that syntax has intriguing interactions with other areas of grammar (e.g., lexicon, discourse) and that such interactions can inform our theories of syntax in a more holistic way. The question is: how do syntax, lexicon, discourse, and semantics fit together in a unified model? To explore this domain, I have used (in collaboration with Stefan Th. Gries) different statistical methods that have enabled me to explore how syntax interacts not only with lexical preferences, but also with discourse, and semantics in constructions. This gives rise to preferred and dispreferred co-occurrences (which in HCFA literature are referred to as types and antitypes). The analysis of types and antitypes affords a uniquely informative window into the workings of syntax. Analyzing interfaces (e.g., syntax-prosody interface; syntax-discourse interface) provides an important point of departure. However, the investigation of types and antitypes may provide a more holistic framework for syntactic analysis.

3. The role of language contact in the diffusion of linguistic phenomena
Genetically unrelated languages can come to share syntactic structures that were not necessarily borrowed directly in their modern forms (pattern replication). Although it can be challenging to spot these structures, my work shows that fine details of usage may shed light on this process. In my exploration of this domain, language documentation has played an important role. This has allowed me to provide a fine-grained picture of the range of sociocultural and sociocognitive factors involved in language contact situations. To determine the directionality of spread of linguistic patterns (i.e., who passed it to whom), I have adopted a series of methodological steps primarily based on intra-genetic variance analyses (i.e., exploring the internal diversity of the language families formal an areal cluster), systematically informed by what is known about social/cultural history and population genetics.

Please contact me if you are interested in any of the following papers:

PUBLICATIONS
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

In press Olguín Martínez, Jesús & & Stefan Th. Gries. The similative-pretence alternating pair and filler-slot relations: A revised version of distinctive collexeme analysis. Constructions and Frames.

2024. Olguín Martínez, Jesús. The interaction of irrealis markers and blocking effects in counterfactual conditionals: Theoretical implications. Linguistic Typology (published online).

2024. Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Phil Rogers. A cross-linguistic analysis of cross-clausal associations: Counterfactual conditionals. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 77. 467-514.

2024. Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. If not for-if it weren’t/wasn’t for counterfactual constructions: A multivariate extension of collostructional analysis. Cognitive Semantics 10. 159-189.

2024. Olguín Martínez, Jesús, Alonso Vásquez, & Pilar Valenzuela. Temporal ‘since’ constructions in cross-linguistic perspective. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 77. 371-416.

2024. Olguín Martínez, Jesús. 2024. The intertwining of discourse, syntax, and lexicon in language use: The case of Huasteca Nahuatl pleonastic conditionals. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 24. 1-21.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Alonso Vásquez. Counterfactual conditional strategies in some Amazonian languages. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 24. 1-28.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Semantically negative clause-linkage: ‘Let alone’ constructions, expletive negation, and theoretical implications. Linguistic Typology 28. 1-52.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. The interaction of standard negation in clauses of substitution: A typological account. Folia Lingüística 58. 157-190.

2024. Olguín Martínez, Jesús. 2024. ‘Until’ clauses and expletive negation in Huasteca Nahuatl. Studies in Language 48. 753-780.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Temporal adverbial clauses: A cross-linguistic perspective. Lingua Posnaniensis 65. 47-76.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Precedence clauses in the world’s languages: Negative markers need not be expletive. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 76. 587-634.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. ‘Until’ clauses in typological perspective. Rhema 3. 33-64.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Areality of clause-linkage: The consecutive construction in Mesoamerican languages. Voprosy Jazykoznanija (‘Topics in the Study of Language’) 3. 122-142.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Manuel Peregrina Llanes. ‘Without V-ing’ clauses: Clausal negative concomitance in typological perspective. Folia Linguistica 57. 37-80.

2022 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Alonso Vásquez. The contribution of Amazonian languages to the typology of purpose clauses. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 22. 1-21.

2022 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Contact-induced language change: The case of Mixtec adverbial clauses. Journal of Language Contact 15. 1-70.

2021 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Nicholas Lester. A quantitative analysis of counterfactual conditionals in the world’s languages. Italian Journal of Linguistics 33. 147-182.

2021 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Hypothetical manner constructions in world-wide perspective. Journal of Linguistic typology at the crossroads 1. 2-33.

2020 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Zarina Estrada Fernández. Adverbial clauses in Huasteca Nahuatl from a functional-typological approach. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 20. 1-21.

2020 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Attributive temporal clauses in cross-linguistic perspective. Te Reo. The Journal of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand 63. 1-36.

PEER-REVIEWED CHAPTERS IN EDITED VOLUMES

2019 Olguín Martínez, Jesús, Zarina Estrada Fernández, & Manuel Peregrina Llanes. Dissecting adverbial clauses in Veracruz Huasteca Nahuatl. In Estudios de lenguas amerindias 4. Escenario actual de la investigación sobre lenguas yutoaztecas. Homenaje a Jane H. Hill. Zarina Estrada Fernández, Mercedes Tubino Blanco, & Albert Álvarez González (eds.), 257-280. Universidad de Sonora

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. A typological study of tail-head linkage constructions. In Discourse phenomena in typological perspective, Alessandra Barotto & Simone Mattiola (eds.), 403-432. John Benjamins: Studies in Language Companion Series.

In press Olguín Martínez, Jesús, Bernard Comrie, & Eric W. Campbell. Temporal subsequence in Uto-Aztecan languages. Dependencias Simétricas y Asimétricas: Dominios semánticos y sus motivaciones, Zarina Estrada Fernández, Albert Álvarez González, and Armando Mora-Bustos (eds.). Universidad de Sonora