tlahtoa

[Frances Karttunen]

It's the opposite.  The saltillo functions as the plural marker in the
present indicative.

Verbs like tlahtoa: shorten the final vowel before saltillo and also when
the a: is word-final, so you never see/hear that it is long in the present
indicative.  But in the habitual present (that adds -ni) and the imperfect
(that adds -ya), the a: is long.

In the future, where the a: is dropped before the future suffix -z, the
vowel goes away but casts its length back on the preceding vowel.  Then you
do get o: as in nitlahto:z "I will speak."

Fran

----------
>From: Michael Mccafferty <mmccaffe at indiana.edu>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <nahuat-l at server.umt.edu>
>Subject: Re: tlahtoa
>Date: Wed, Feb 9, 2000, 8:37 AM
>

>
> Thanks Frances, for the correction. My understanding about the saltillo is
> that it represents a glottal stop, and that the glottal stop is present in
> the singular present indicative and is not present in the plural.  Please
> fill me in.
>
> tlazohcamati,
>
> Michael
>