Shared or inherited gramaticalization vs. Contact-induced: Linguistic change in uto-Aztecan languages from northwestern Mexico

The aim of this article is to establish the precise nature of the grammaticalization pathways that affect three different type of constructions: A classifier of domestic animal possession, markers of middle verbs and relativization strategies on the verb. The analysis is crucial to show that the phenomena under consideration fall within study of linguistic change, in particular of grammaticalization, where either, lexical elements change into grammatical ones, or previously grammatical elements grammaticalizes more. The analysis also shows that an intragenetic typology perspective is relevant to deal with cases of inherent, contact-induced and areal grammaticalization. The analysis also emphasizes that within the process of grammaticalization, semantic extension or phonological reduction are not always relevant processes for grammaticalization and that the most important is decategorialization.