Another question about particle "in".

Fabian E. Pena Arellano fabian at nuclecu.unam.mx
Fri Jul 23 21:28:35 UTC 1999


	Hello,

	Some months ago I wrote a message asking about the nahuatl word
"in", which cannot be always translated as an article into spanish or
english.
	Now I have another question related: what's the difference in
saying "In nimexi`catl" and saying "Ca ne`hua:tl in nimexi`catl"? Michel
Launey, in his book "Introduccion a la lengua y literatura nahuatl", says
that in general, the nahuatl predicate does not have a determination, such
that sentences as "Ca nicihua:tl" and "Ca nimexi`catl" should be tanslated
as "I'm one who is a woman, I'm a woman (soy una que es una mujer, soy
una mujer)" and "I'm one who is a mexican, I'm a mexican (soy uno que es
un mexicano, soy un mexicano)" respectively rather than "I'm the woman"
and "I'm the mexican".
	About the third person there are sentences as "Ca mexi`catl" and
"In mexi'catl", translated as "he's a mexican (es un mexicano)" and "he's
the mexican, the mexican (es el mexicano, el mexicano)". There exist also
expressions as "Ca ye`hua:tl in mexi`catl" meaning "He is the one who is
the mexican (el es el mexicano) which in general answer the question
of the kind "Who is the mexican?".
	About the second person, I have found at Thelma Sullivan's book
"Compendio de gramatica nahuatl" the "vocativo" (sorry, I don't know how
to say "vocativo" in english and I don't have my diccionary at hand),
which correspond to sentences as "In titona:n" and "In ticihua:tl", "tu
que eres nuestra madre" and "tu que eres la mujer". On the other hand the
expressions "Ca titona:n" and "Ca ticihua:tl" do exist, "you are our
mother (tu eres nuestra) madre" and "you are a woman (tu eres una mujer)"
respectively.
	So, my question is that as in the second and third person may be
said, is it possible to say "In nimexi`catl" besides "Ca ne`hua:tl in
nimexi`catl" in the first person? In my little library I have not found
any reference to it, but since "in" is a determinative I suppose it is at
least theoreticaly allowed.
	Thank you in advance for your attention and answer.


	Fabian Pena.



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