'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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