present progressive and some ideas about it

Thu May 6 01:49:50 UTC 2010

Hui, Tomas!

Ce tepetl in titechmacac!

Tel in cenca cualli ohtli. Nictotocaz.

Tlaxtlahui.

Michael

Quoting Tomas Amaya <t_amaya at megared.net.mx>:

> Hello MIchael  and Listeros
>
>
>
> In these lines I’d like to go back to present progressive and such matters
> in Nahuatl.
>
>
>
> You know that many verbal terms, depending on their ending, may indicate a
> intransitive or transitive action, e.g. tlapani vs. tlatlapana; polihui vs.
> tlapolohua, etc.
>
>
>
> I am going to talk about the way in which the auxiliary verbal-particles ca
> and oc are used by Nahuat-monolingual people and Spanish-Nahuat bilingual
> people that cultivate a traditional Nahuat at home and with neighbors in the
> Nahuat-speaking region of Cuetzalan, where I have a house and family.
>
>
>
> I am going to use “TL”, though the Nahuat-pronunciation for this letter is
> “T” (with the tip of the tongue on the upper part of frontal teeth). Let’s
> begin.
>
>
>
> 1.       The verbal ihcuilohua. Transitive: Nitlahcuilohua (I paint/write).
> Intransitive: ihcuilihui (it gets painted / it gets written;  in Spanish: se
> escribe / se pinta. E.g. ihcuilihui ica toezyo, in Sp.: se escribe/pinta con
> sangre; in English something like: It gets painted with blood.).
>
> 2.       If I say nitlahcuilohtoc, I’m meaning something like “I am
> painting”, but for me, a better way of expressing it, is: At the moment, I
> am in the situation of someone who paints). V.g.: ahmo xinechcuehmolo,
> nitlacuilohtoc! (Don’t bother me, I’m painting).
>
> 3.       If I say nitlahcuilohtica, I’m meaning: I paint, I usually paint; v
> .g.: Ce meztli ya nitlahcuilohtica (I write/paint since a month ago/ I am
> writing since a month ago), i.e. since a month ago, I am in the usual state
> of someone who paints. Another example: “X tlon ticcchihua mohmoztlah?” –
> “Nitlahcuilohtica, yn neh nitlahcuilohqui” (“What do you do every day?,” –
> “I paint, I usually paint, I am a painter”).
>
> 4.       If you write ihcuiliuhtoc, you have taken ihcuiliuh, the short form
> of ihcuilihui, that at its turn comes from ihcuil/maybe ihcuilli. It has the
> idea of “paint, take form”, being “ihui” the sound that brings action to the
> stem (in this case an intransitive action=> ihcuilihui: it is painted/it
> gets painted). Thus, ihcuiliuhtoc means: it is in the state of a paint; it
> is in the state of something painted.
>
> 5.       If you write ihcuilohtica you mean: it is (has been and maybe will
> be) in the state of a paint; it is in the state of something that has been
> painted ant normally will remain so.
>
> 6.       If you say ihcuilohtoc, you take ihcuiloh, the short form of
> ihcuiloa, that at its turn comes also from ihcuil/maybe ihcuilli. It has the
> idea of “paint, to fashion”, being “ohua/oa” the sound that brings action to
> the stem (in this case a transitive action => (tla)ihcuilohua, that paints
> (something) ). But what is the meaning of “ihcuilohua” without “tla”
> (object)?, it means –after discussions with my wife, who has nahuat as
> mother language— : (of) writing or (of) painting /Spanish: (de) escribir o
> pintar; escrito o pintado.  Then you are meaning: it is written; it has been
> written; it is now in writing  (Spanish: está escrito, ha sido escrito, en
> forma escrita), cfr. the use of these endings in Chimalpahin and Sahagun)
>
> 7.       If you say ihcuilohtica, you are meaning it has been written. It is
> in the situation of something that is or has been written; better said: (it
> is) in writing.
>
> 8.       So, I’ll write an example. Yn nonamic tlahcuilohtica ica
> tlapohualoni, yehce yequintzin ahmo tlahcuilohtoc. Yalhua tlei za’ in
> nechihcuilohuilih, xiquitta: nican itech inhin amatl ihcuilohtoc: “ahmo
> nitequitiznequi oc”. Axcan ahmo neci yn nonamic. Xo quizac ohpan.
>
> Nican, xiquitta occe amatl in onca’. Ynhin ce iin namatl techmacacqueh ce
> xihuititih ya’ ne teopan, in itech ihcuilohtica: “ahmo quemann nihuintiz”.
> Huan axcan xiquitta, axá  tlahuantinemi inhuan inamigotes.
>
> Mmmh, Huel niquelnamiqui quenyuh quilhuih in teopixcatl: “Itech in Biblia
> ihcuiliuhtica “amo titlayiz miec, ce copa za’ quemeh totahtzin Yezuz”.
>
> Ahmo quinectica tlayeccaquiz. Ce meztica tlahuantiyez huan zatepan:
> Tepahtihqui huan tomin. Tiquitztozqueh quenyun nochi tlamiz: quitenamacaz in
> tepoztlapohualoni, garahuadora, tele, nochi. ¡Cabron!. Cani yn ihcuilohtica
> inic nochipa yetoz ce cihuat ihuan ihuehue mazqui mooztlah huenhuentica?
>
> Translation. My husband usually writes with a computer, but now he is not
> witting. Yesterday he wrote something to me, just look: on this paper it is
> written: “I do not want to work any more”. Now my husband has disappeared.
> Probably he went out.
>
> Here, you see, there is another paper. This is a paper that was given to us
> a year ago in the church. Thereon it is in writing: “I will never get drunk
> again”. And now you can see, maybe he is going over there drinking with his
> fellows.
>
> Mmmh, I remember very well what the priest said to him: On the Bible it is
> written: “you shall not drink a lot, just a cup, like our Father Jesus”. He
> has not wanted to listen. He will be drinking a month along and after that:
> doctor and money. We will be seeing how everything will finish: he will sell
> the computer, the tape-recorder, TV, everything, Cabrón!. Where is it
> written that a woman must remain with her partner although he is drunk every
> day?
>
> 9.       One last example: Yn axno ilpi’toc = the donkey is tied; Yn axno
> ilpihtoc = I have the donkey tied, the first indicates an intransitive
> action, the second a transitive one.
>
>
>
> Notes:
>
> 1.       Nahuat-speaking people of Cuetzalan Region prefer the use of oc,
> instead of ca.
>
> 2.       See an example in Sahagún, “Adiciones, Apéndice a la Postilla y
> Ejercicio Cotidiano”, Ed. de J. O. Anderson, UNAM, México; p. 156: “Yn ipan
> Sancto Evangelio icuiliuhtoc. “, see also p. 184: “Jn Sancto Euangelio ipan
> ihcuiliuhto(c) tlapallotoc, tlillotoc in tlahtolli 
”
>
> 3.       En Chimalpahin: Tercera Relación, III Tochtli xihuitl, 1326:  “Auh
> yn Acacitli ye quitohua in yoyahue tloquehenahuaquehe ca yehuatl in ynic
> nicocha yn n Acacitli yn Chapoltepec yn popoliuhtoc yn notatzin yhuân yn
> Azcatl Xochtzin yn noteyccaztzin”. My translation: “And then the mentioned
> Acachitli expresses: ahh God, I, Acacitli, I cry because it is in
> Chapultepec where  my father has (is) perished together with my younger
> brother”; in V Tochtli xihuitl, 1510: “Nican neztica yn iquac peuh y
> hualmoquequetzaya yn ilhuicatitech yn tlanextli yn iuhqui mixpanitl auh
> nohuian ohuallitoc yn cemanahuac yn techyahuallotoc nohuian onetetzahuilloc
> y tlanextli yn hualmoquequetzaya. My translation: “Hier it is expressed
> about the time when (addressing to us) a light rose on the sky in the form
> of a cloud-display that was seen in the whole country around. This light has
> surrounded us everywhere as it was rising.
>
> 4.       A last comment about ihcuil, the stem of verbal-forms ihcuilihui
> and ihcuilohua. Maybe, I say maybe, it comes from iuhcui, i. e. take form.
> It is the same idea of build in English and bilden in German. This way,
> ihcuilohua may mean to give form to something  (someone). Remember that
> there is a poem (translated by Leon Portilla, where it is written:
> “Techihcuilohua in ipalnemohuani” = God write us, i.e. God fashions us.
> German: Uns gestalt Gott. Spanisch: nos pinta el Dador de la Vida.
>
>
>
> Dear Listeros, I think I have written too much. Maybe I have gone too far.
>
>
>
> Timottazque occepa. Hasta la próxima.
>
>
>
> Tomas Amaya.
>
>
>
>

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