R: Question about the nahuatl word "in".

[Antonio Perri]

Dear Fabian,
the word "in" in classical nahuatl is a determinative, and in general you
can translate it in english with an article. However, since in classical
nahuatl almost every word can be use as a predicate (as you can appreciate
if you think that it is possible to say, e.g., ni-ciuatl, "I (am) a woman"),
it follows that you can fin it use with a verb: in this sense, it is true
that "in ciuatl" could be translated as "the one (who is) a woman". In any
case, the use of "in" always gives a predicate an almost "nominal" value,
since it determines it as a whole denotatum rather than as a process:
consider, e.g. the difference between, say, (ca) in tlacatl tlatoani, "the
man is (bel to be) a king (lit. an orator)" and, in tlacatl, in tlatoani,
"the man, the one (who) is a king". In "Une grammaire omniprédicative",
Launey describes the "in" as a mark of "actancialisation", i.e. a word wich
tends to transform a predicate into an "argument" either verbal or nominal,
in a given sentence (cfr. pp. 59, where he explicitly says that "la
determination par in... a 'ailleurs pour effet 'empecher toute
interpretation predicative".
I apologize for my Eglish, which is perhaps even poorer than my classical
nahuatl. If you have any further question, please write an I'll try to
provide a suitable answer.

Antonio Perri
-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Fabian E. Pena Arellano <fabian at nuclecu.unam.mx>
A: Multiple recipients of list <nahuat-l at server.umt.edu>
Data: lunedì 26 aprile 1999 21.59
Oggetto: Question about the nahuatl word "in".


>
>
> My name is Fabian Pena and I just suscribed to this discussion
> list.
> I would like to learn to speak classical nahuatl, and as I wrote
> in the subject line, I have a question about the word "in", usually
> translated into spanish as the articles "la, el, los, las ..."
> The most of the books I have begun to read to learn nahuatl
> translate, for example, "in cihua:tl" as "the woman", since the authors
> consider "in" as a simple article. On the other hand, since the names in
> nahuatl may be used as verbs also, shouldn't the phrase "in cihua:tl" be
> translated as "the one who is a woman (la que es mujer)"?
> In Launey's Introduccion a la Lengua y la Literatura Nahuatl there
> is very brief explanation which doesn't clarify to me the the usage of
> "in". What is the exact nature of it?
>
>
> Fabian Pena.
>
>