Two questions from Zacatecas

John Sullivan, Ph.D. jsullivan3 at mac.com
Wed Jul 10 21:03:21 UTC 2002


Two questions regarding Classical Nahuatl:

1. In the sentence, "amixpantzinco ninoteilhuia Juan (a abbreviated form of
one of the examples from  Lockhart's grammar)", "In your (plural) presence,
I make a complaint against Juan", how is "Juan" connected to the verb? I see
that in Molina, this is the form used. However, in the Jalostotitlan
document I am working on, we see "itechcopa timoteilguia yn tovicario", "we
make a complaint in relation to our priest." And I believe I have seen this
form often. Is there a rule in Nahuatl preventing the use of two
postpositions with one verb, and is this why there is nothing connecting
Juan to the verb in the first example?

2. Is animacy only a criterion for deciding whether a noun can be
pluralized, or is it also a criterion for determining the order and
hierarchy of verbal object prefixes. If it is, how does this mesh with the
human/non-human distinction mentioned in the rules on pages 171-173 of
Campbell and Karttunen's grammar, vol.1, and especially in the specific
object prefix slot?
            John Sullivan



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