Question

[r. joe campbell]

David,
   I put some comments in your original message below (marked with ***).
In a world where there are adherents of Pepsi and Coke, Classic and Diet,
Mac and PC, etc., there are users of Hispanic orthography and "phonetic"
orthography.  Although I'm a PC user who drinks Classic Coke and uses a
17th century Hispanic orthography, I'll spell things with your k's. |8-)



On Mon, 4 Nov 2002, David Gomez wrote:

> Would the following be correct:
>
> 1. kikmaka - give it to him

*** For me, 1 and 2 mean the same thing in English.   I'm guessing that
you mean "he gives it to him", which is:
  kimaka

> 2. xikikmaka - you give it to him (command)

*** The object in the environment of a preceding vowel within the same
word is 'k':
  xikmaka

> 3. tlaxikikmaka - you please give it to him

*** 'Tla' is a separate word, literally meaning "if", but it is used in
commands for politeness, a softener:
  tla xikmaka

> 4. kiknankilli - answer him

***  The stem for "answer" is 'na:nquilia:' (':' marks long vowels) and
the final vowel is deleted in the command form, so the form is:
  xikna:nkili
   The double 'll' doesn't occur in Nahuatl stems, even though double 'll'
is frequent in words.  This is because 'll' is formed in the following
juxtapositions:

   l + tl
   l + y


   The problem about 'kik' is probably caused by the fact that the third
person singular object is either 'k' or 'ki'.  Which of these forms is
used is determined by what precedes 'k(i)' within the word.  If what
precedes is something that ends in a consonant (i.e., 'n-', 't-', 'an-',
or 'x'), then 'ki' must be used because a Nahuatl syllable cannot end in
two consonants.  If nothing precedes 'k(i)', then 'ki' must also be used
for the same reason.  Otherwise 'k' is used:

     correct         incorrect

     nikmaka         nkmaka
     tikmaka         tkmaka
     xikmaka         xkmaka
     ankimaka        ankmaka

     kimaka          kmaka