Semantic transparency and Oneida morphological parts of speech

Abstract North American languages have figured prominently in discussions about parts of speech. This paper examines more closely the evidence for morphological speech one Northern Iroquoian language, Oneida, and asks what semantic properties underlie its We make two claims. First, inflected Oneida are semantically transparent that a part can be determined solely on basis well-established distinctions. are, this respect, canonical, Canonical Typology’s sense. Second, organized along orthogonal dimensions, an ontological dimension, i.e., sort entity members category describe, type kind relation conveyed by category. show inflection is sometimes sensitive to distinctions single inflectional process both dimensions at same time. then our bi-dimensional classification stems accounts mixed kinship terms, which “noun”-like “verb”-like they have.