Discourse in the Wedding: Ideophones, Interjections and Verbal Art in Zapotec Ritual Speech Genres

I will research ideophones and interjections used in speech practices in Zapotec wedding rituals. This project centers on Zapotec as spoken in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico: a contact zone for Zapotec, Zoque, Ikook, and Spanish among other languages. Of the many traditions and celebrations in the region, the wedding is of particular importance, weddings as a collection of speech events. I will examine elements of the speeches. For example, the ideophones that can be defined as marked words that depict sensory imagery. The other word class I want to study in wedding rituals are interjections, which rather invite indexical interpretations.