when is mo mo and when isn't it?

[John Sullivan, Ph.D.]

Listeros,
	I am playing around with the reflexive prefix "mo-" in modern  
Huastecan Nahuatl. First of all, it is always "-mo", never "-no" or "- 
to" as in Classical. There is a use of the reflexive (both in  
Huastecan and Classical) which can be called "formal", in which the  
reflexive prefix appears on a verb, but does not convey any of the  
three normal functions of this prefix (1. reflexive action: each of  
us look at ourselves in a mirror; 2. reciprocal action: we look at  
each other; 3. passive voice: beans are sold here.). Some common  
examples are: to run (tlaloa, nimo.), to get sick (cocoa, nimo.), to  
take a bath (altia, nim.)to take care of s.o or s.t. (cuitlahuia,  
nicmo.)
	Now I want to compare this phenomenon (common to Huastecan and  
Classical) to another one which operates in the Huasteca. There are a  
number of reflexive verbs in which the "o" of the "-mo" prefix is  
lost when followed by a vowel. This also happens in Classical, but  
only for phonetic reasons. In the Huasteca, it only happens in order  
to create a new meaning, and it coexists with a form which uses an  
unreduced "-mo". Here are some examples:
1. izohtla (to vomit)
	nimizohtla, I vomit; timizohtla, you vomit, etc.
	nimoizohtla, I vomit on myself; timizohtla, you vomit on yourself, etc.
	nimitzizohtla, I vomit on you, etc.
2. altia (to bathe)
	nimaltia, I take a bath; timaltia, you take a bath, etc.
	nimoaltia, I give myself an herbal bath, etc.
	nimitzaltia, I give you an herbal bath, etc.
	nimitzahaltia, I bath you, etc. (verbstem reduplicated with a saltillo)
It looks to me that the reduced reflexive appears in these cases when  
an older reflexive structure looses its reflexive meaning and gives  
up its place to another meaning which really is reflexive. The native  
speakers here like the idea of looking at it as two separate verbs:  
for example; izohtla, nimo., and mizohtla, ni. Obviously, in the  
dictionary, you would explain what has happened to the original "-mo"  
in "mizohtla".
	A similar problem exists with the verb "cuitlahuia, nicmo". Native  
speakers don't like looking at it in this way. In general I have  
noticed that they do not like to have more than one object on a verb.  
So they prefer that the verb be "mocuitlahuia, nic". This gives forms  
like, "nimomocuitlahuia", "I take care of myself". You wouldn't see  
two reflexive prefixes together in Classical, right? In Huastecan  
nahuatl you won't even see a reflexive and a specific object  
together. Example in Classical: quimocahuilih tlaxcalli, "she left  
tortillas for herself"; Huastecan: mocahualih tlaxcalli.
	I haven't gotten around to asking the native speakers whether they  
like, "tlaloa, nimo", or "motlaloa, ni", but I will.
	There isn't a large enough quantity of verbs like this to cause a  
clustering problem in the dictionary. The question is, from a  
linguistic point of view, will word entries like: maltia, ni.,  
mizohtla, ni., mocuitlahuia, nic., and perhaps, motlaloa, ni., seem  
completely idiotic? Or could this just be one manifestation of the  
way that agglutinative languages like nahuatl form new stems?
John

John Sullivan, Ph.D.
Profesor de lengua y cultura nahua
Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
Instituto de Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas, A.C.
Tacuba 152, int. 47
Centro Histórico
Zacatecas, Zac. 98000
México
Oficina: +52 (492) 925-3415
Fax: +52 (492) 925-3416
Domicilio: +52 (492) 768-6048
Celular: +52 (492) 118-0854
idiez at mac.com
www.idiez.org.mx




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