Origin of [tl]

[Frances Karttunen]

These are all good examples, but before anybody goes very far in reinventing
the wheel, may I suggest going back to the original published literature on
the subject, consulting Wick Miller's Uto-Aztecan cognate list, and asking
Karen Dakin and Una Canger for their thoughts on the apparently exceptional
cases.

To add to the less transparent examples of tlV where V is not a, there is
tlohtli 'hawk' and -tloc 'near to, adjacent to' (cf. the difrasismo tloqueh
na:huaqueh 'the universal and all-pervading (deity)'.

Fran

----------
>From: "Davius Sanctex" <davius_sanctex at hotmail.com>
>To: nahuat-l at server2.umt.edu
>Subject: Re: Origin of [tl]
>Date: Tue, Jan 2, 2001, 5:49 PM
>

>
> I found a Nahuatl-related WWW file that said that Nahuatl [tl]
>>arose from early Ute-Aztecan [t] when followed by [a] If so, what is >the
>>origin of [tl] in e.g. "tlehco:" = "to ascend", and in the absolutive
>>suffix [-tl(i)]?
>
> I have completed a list of uto-aztecan cognates and there are
> difficult examples. Regular and tipical examples are:
> _____________________________________________________
> Hopi  Nawatl  Comanche Pima   Yaqui  Raramuri Warihio
>
> t     tl      t        t/ch   t      r        t
> tama  tlantli ta:ma    tatami tami   ramé     tame  'tooth'
> taqa  tlakatl tenahpï  cheoj         rihoy    tihoe 'man'
>
> t     t       t        t/ch   t      r        t
>       te:ntli tï:pe    chini  te:ni  riní           'mouth'
>       tetl    tïpï            teta            tehte 'stone'
>
> _____________________________________________________
> Difficult exemples are:
>
> Hopi  Nawatl  Comanche Pima   Yaqui  Raramuri Warihio
>       tletl                   taya   rahá     taha  'fire, burn'
>       kechtli                 kutana: kupá    kupa  'neck'
> _____________________________________________________
>
> 1)I think that the first of these two problematic exemples
> can be explained by later palatalization:
> *tay- > *tlay- > tle-
>
> 2)About second exemple we can argue that roots: kut- are
> not related to kech- (I think this is the case).
>
> But still remain some difficulties ... what about words like: tahtli
> 'father'(a totonac loanword ?), tli:lli 'black' ...
> and, of course, tlehco: 'ascend' [It's possible examples of
> "tle" being explained by forms in "*tlay", but this argument
> doesn't seem explain "tli" examples.
>
> Finally a question about suffix -tl: is this suffix related
> to "-ra" <*-ta [found in Tarahumara (raramuri) and Warihio]?
> _________________________________________________________________________
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