This thesis presents an analysis of the system of transitivity, voice and valency alternations in Huasteco of San Luis Potosi (Mayan) within a functional-typological framework. The study is based on spoken discourse and elicited data collected in the municipalities of Aquismon and Tancanhuitz de Santos in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The research presented here contributes to the typological understanding of valency and voice, as well as to the better understanding of these phenomena within the Mayan linguistic family.

In this thesis a detailed morphological analysis of voice and valency in SLP Huasteco is set forth, together with a description of the intricate interaction between the lexical, morphological, syntactic and discourse level in the expression of events in this language. The thesis distinguishes between the lexical-semantic property of valency and the syntactic-pragmatic property of transitivity, which corresponds to a finer distinction between valency alternations and voice proper, and is reflected in the structural encoding of these phenomena.

This thesis proposes a subcategorization of SLP Huasteco verbs based on their morphosyntactic behavior with respect to valency and valency alternations that in turn corresponds to their lexical semantic properties. The thesis considers verb roots and thematic suffixes to be central to the encoding of valency. It presents the encoding of valency alternations with ambitransitive roots as well as valency augmenting suffixes, mainly causatives and applicatives. This dissertation also describes the forms and functions of the antipassive and passive voices, and concludes that the Huasteco antipassive has the main semantic/pragmatic function of lowering the transitivity of the clause, whereas the passive has in most cases the syntactic/pragmatic function of putting the prominent topical third-person participant into the absolutive argument of the intransitive clause. In sum, this study shows that this intricate interaction between different levels of the structure is central to the understanding of the grammar of this language, and that fine distinctions in meaning and function correspond to finely nuanced grammatical forms.