'Totatzine'

R. Joe Campbell campbel at indiana.edu
Tue Nov 2 07:51:47 UTC 1999


   Fran has already covered the ground on "timoetztica" and I thought I'd
add a bit on a related sliver of the grammar -- certainly not a
grammatical generality, but a feature that shows through the clouds and
teases us.

   That "tz" which indicates 'causative' to make up the honorific with the
preceding "mo" also shows up again in the pair:

    huaqui       it dries up
 nichuatza       I dry it (I cause it to dry up)
       ||
  (in case someone is bothered by the spelling, remember that this can't
   involve /ch/, since a "u" doesn't occur independently in Nahuatl;
   it is part of "qu" or "hu", so since the "u" is part of the
   representation of /w/, the "c" represents /k/.

   The causative normally shows up as a suffix (e.g., -ltia, -tia, -itia,
-lia, -a, -huia, change of -ihui or -ahui to -oa).  But with a set of
verbs commented on by Carochi which frequently involves a sound, there is
an interesting formation for verbs which indicate a continued or repeated
action.  Not only do they reduplicate their initial syllable (up though
the vowel), but they undergo a change at the end of the word.  For
intransitive verbs, the final syllable is deleted and replaced by -ca.
For the transitive (causative) form of these verbs the replacive element
is -tza, which is suspiciously similar to the "-tza" on "nichuatza"
(above).   I give a list below.  I included forms which I failed to gloss
in cases where there was difficulty in wording (or some other reason to
pull the veil).

Best regards,

Joe

calani              it clanks
cacalaca            it clanks continually, it rattles
quicacalatza        he rattles it continually

capani              it cracks, it pops
cacapaca            it pops continually
quicacapatza        he makes it pop continually

chalani             it makes an out of tune sound
chachalaca          it continually makes an out of tune sound
quichachalatza      he makes it make an out of tune sound continually

chapani             it makes a splat sound
chachapaca          it repeatedly makes a splat sound
quichachapatza      he makes it splat repeatedly

chipini             it drips
chichipica          it drips repeatedly
quichichipitza      he makes it drip repeatedly

comoni
cocomoca
quicocomotza

cotoni              it breaks, it parts
cocotoca            it breaks repeatedly
quicocototza        he causes it to break repeatedly

cualani             he gets angry
cuacualaca          it continually boils
quicuacualatza      he makes it boil continually

cueponi             it bursts
cuecuepoca          it bursts repeatedly
quicuecuepotza      he makes it burst repeatedly

cuetlani            it shakes
cuecuetlaca         it continually shakes
quicuecuetlatza     he makes it shake continually

cueyoni             it seethes
cuecueyoca          it seethes continually
quicuecueyotza      he makes it seethe continually

hualani
huahualaca
quihuahualatza

huiyoni             it trembles
huihuiyoca          it trembles continually
quihuihuiyotza      he makes it tremble continally

moloni              it seethes
momoloca            it seethes continually
quimomolotza        he makes it seethe continually

patlani             it flies
papatlaca           it flutters (continually)
quipapatlatza       he makes it flutter (continually)

payana              it crumbles
papayaca            it crumbles continually
quipapayatza        he makes it crumble continually

petlani             it shines
pepetlaca           it shines continually, it glistens
quipepetlatza       he makes it glisten continually

poloni              he stutters
popoloca            he stutters continually
quipopolotza*

pozoni              it boils
popozoca            it boils continually
quipopozotza        he makes it boil continually

tecuini             it beats
tetecuica           it beats continually
quitetecuitza*      he makes it beat continually

tlapani             it breaks
tlatlapaca          it breaks repeatedly
quitlatlapatza      he makes it break repeatedly

tlatzini            it bursts
tlatlatzica*
quitlatlatzitza*

tzicuini            it jumps
tzitzicuica         it jumps continually
quitzitzicuitza*

tzilini             it rings, tinkles
tzitzilica          it jingles continually
quitzitzilitza      he makes it jingle continually

tzotlani            [glaze]
tzotzotlaca
quitzotzotlatza

tzoyoni             it fries
tzotzoyoca          it fries continually
quitzotzoyotza      he makes it fry continually

xamani              it crumbles, breaks
xaxamaca            it crumbles continually
quixaxamatza        he makes it crumble continually

xitini              it crumbles, desintegrates
xixitica            it crumbles continually
quixixititza*

zahuani*
zazahuaca*

zoloni              it whooshes
zozoloca            it whooshes continually
quizozolotza        he makes it whoosh continually



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