elotlah huan elohtla

[John Sullivan]

Listeros,
	Something interesting came up today at IDIEZ. We were working on defining the word "elotlah" (elo-tl, -tlah), "a field with many elotes." And the macehualmeh kept pronouncing it "elohtla." So we figured out that there is indeed the "elotlah" with the relational "-tlah," but there is also an "elohtla" that is made up of "elotl + ya." You linguists can explain this better, but it looks like the "y" is being turned into a "tl", and then the first "tl" in the sequence is being reduced to an "h" (aspiration).  This also happens when "ya" is added to a word ending in "c". So itztoc, "it is", + "ya" goes to "itztocca", "it now is," where the first "c" is pronounced like an "h" (aspiration). 
	"Elohtla" means "There are elotes now"
	The "ye", "now, already" of Classical is "ya" in Modern Huastecan Nahuatl and it never appears independently, rather it's always suffixed to words. It's also interesting (I think I already talked about this on the list) that the "ya" can be suffixed to verbs and nouns. So.....
1. Nichoca, "I'm crying"
2. Nichocaya, "I'm crying now"
3. Nichocayaya, "I was crying"
4. Nichocayayaya, "I was already crying"
5. Nitetahtzin, "I'm an old man"
6. Nitetahtzinya, "I'm an old man now"
John

John Sullivan, Ph.D.
Professor of Nahua language and culture
Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
Zacatecas Institute of Teaching and Research in Ethnology
Tacuba 152, int. 43
Centro Histórico
Zacatecas, Zac. 98000
Mexico
Work: +52 (492) 925-3415
Fax: +1 (858) 724-3030 (U.S.A.)
Home: +52 (492) 768-6048
Mobile: +52 1 (492) 103-0195
idiez at me.com
www.macehualli.org

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