Nahuatlahtos are spoiled
campbel at INDIANA.EDU
campbel at INDIANA.EDU
Thu May 19 06:11:56 UTC 2005
There's a cracker barrel on the campus of Indiana University.
Or at least there has been one for the last few years. That's
where Michael, Pablo, Bill 'n' me get together for two enjoyable
hours some evening every week. We don't look at the calendar to
see what the university schedule is -- if everyone is in town and
ambulatory, we meet. We read Nahuatl text like the Psalmodia
Cristiana and the Florentine Codex (mainly Books 12 and 11),
translating and putting the word forms through our language
rationalizing machines, taking detours to talk about the
treatment of Nahuatl in Andrews' grammar, the activity on Nahuat-l,
modern Nahuatl variation, and enlightening things about the Miami
language, etc.
Last night we talked a bit about the fact that Nahuatlahtos
are spoiled. We Nahuatlahtos have the "advantage" of working
with a language that (1) is regular in its word grammar, but more
importantly, (2) does not muddy up the shape of the morphemes at
their boundaries (as many languages) do. We look at a word and
it falls apart into its constituent morphemes before our eyes.
I say this because most of us look at documents and aren't
out there sitting on a log and hearing words fall apart before
our ears. We expect regularity.
But since we are accustomed to rationalizing some morpheme
shapes that do vary with phonetic-based explanations (e.g., quiza
vs. quixtia), we panic when faced with variations like cotoni and
cotoctli or patlahua and patlactic. People who look at languages
like English, French, Spanish, etc., are not so panicked -- they
know that they have to carry the tool (or label) of *irregular*
in their toolkit.
Consider Spanish:
hag-o pon-go dig-o
hac-e pon-e dic-e
hac-emos pon-emos dec-imos
hech-o puest-o dich-o
When we look at these varying stems, we hardly see the
irregularity -- they don't impede our understanding of a
discourse because we don't expect to be spoiled by regularity.
But, as Michael remarked, Nahuatl is partly to blame -- it lulls
us into an expectation of further regularity.
SO, naturally I made a list of some of the variation in
patientive nouns. My notation should not be misunderstood to
imply that a process is involved. ".k>ch" merely means that /k/
occurs in the finite verb forms, but /ch/ occurs in some
patientive forms. Obviously, my interest is taxonomic -- aimed
at the practical goal of improving the ease of reading.
Explanation is either over the horizon or not available.
I include a short list of examples here and I will send a
larger list in separate e-mails.
Saludos,
Joe
**************************
*.k>ch***
cemmapichtli. hace o haz de cosas menudas. <cem-ma:itl-pi:qui2-l2
.k>ch>. 55m-10
cemmapichtontli. hacezillo peque¤o. <cem-ma:itl-pi:qui2-l2-to:n-tl
.k>ch>. 55m-10
*.n>ch***
cacalachtic. like a pottery rattle. <dupl-cala:ni1-l2-tic .n>ch>.
b.10 f.4
cacalachtli. caxcauel de barro. <dupl-cala:ni1-l2 .n>ch>. 71m2-2
chientlaxcaltotopochtli. toasted chia tortillas. <chiam-p51-ixca-l1-
dupl-topo:ni-tza-l2 .n>ch>. b.10 f.9
cuauhcacalachtli. pestillo o cerradura de palo. <cuahuitl-dupl-
cala:ni-l2 .n>ch>. 55m-16
cuecueyochtli. ‡arcillo. <dupl-cueyo:ni-l2 .n>ch>. 55m-4
etotopochtli. toasted bean. <etl-dupl-topo:ni-tza-l2 .n>ch>. b.10
f.4
*.n>k***
acoyoctli. sangradera de agua cogida; socarena del agua. <a:tl1-
coyo:ni-l2 .n>k>. 55m-18
altepetenancoyoctli. portillo de muro. <a:tl1-tepe:tl-tetl1-na:mitl-
coyo:ni-l2 .n>k>. 55m-16
altepetenanxitictli. portillo de muro. <a:tl1-tepe:tl-tetl1-na:mitl-
xiti:ni-l2 .n>k>. 55m-16
cacayactic. sparce. <dupl-caya:ni-ca7-l2--tic .n>k>. b.10 f.6
cahcayactic. fragmented. <dupl-caya:ni-l2-tic .n>k>. b.11 f.25
chachapactic. drooping. <dupl-chapa:ni-l2--tic .n>k>. b.11 f.21
chapactic. ; drooping; hanging. <chapa:ni--l2-tic .n>k>. b.11 f.11
*.n>x***
chilpalaxtli. spoiled chili. <chi:lli-pala:ni-l2 .n>x>. b.10 f.4
cuachpalaxtli. spoiled large cotton cape, rotton large cotton cape.
<cua:chtli-pala:ni-l2 .n>x>. b.10 f.4
*.n>z***
yamazpahtic. extremely soft. <yama:ni-l2-pah4-tic .n>z>. b.10 f.7
yamaztia. ablandarse alguna cosa. <yama:ni-l2-v01a-v01b .n>z>. 71m1-
1
yamaztic. soft. <yama:ni-l2-tic .n>z>. b.10 f.6
*.t>ch***
cenmachtli , tla-. something that is completely known. <p51-cem-mati-
l2 .t>ch>. b.11 f.14
iximach , itla-. his acquaintance. <poss-p51-i:xtli-ih2-mati-l2
.t>ch>. b.6 f.5
tlalochcuepa =nino. huir atras. <p11-p54-p51-i:lo:ti-caus02-cuepa
.t>ch>. 55m-11
xapochhuia =ninotla. caer en hoyo peque¤o. <p11-p54-p51-xapotla-l2-
v05b .tl>ch>. 71m1-4
xapochtic. agujero. <xapotla-l2-tic .tl>ch>. 71m1-1
*.w>ch***
cuapatlachiuhqui. having a broad head. <cua:itl-patla:hua-l2-v03a-
prt1-c2 .w>ch>. b.11 f.7
cuitlapatlachtic. having a broad back; wide-bellied. <cuitlatl-
patla:hua-l2-tic .w>ch>. b.11 f.10
cuitlapilpatlach. flat-tailed. <cuitlatl-pilli-patla:hua-l2-tic
.w>ch>. b.11 f.7
olpatlachtli. wide piece of rubber. <o:lli-patla:hua-l2 .w>ch>. b.10
f.5
*.w>k***
acanactli. narrow river. <a:tl1-cana:hua-l2 .w>k>. b.11 f.24
acapitzac , i-. his reed stalk. <poss-a:catl-pitza:hua-l2 .w>k>. b.8
f.2
acapitzactli. carrizo especie de ca¤a. <a:catl-pitza:hua-l2 .w>k>.
55m-3
alacpatic. very slippery. <ala:hua-l2-pah4-tic .w>k>. b.11 f.8
alactic. cosa deleznable, assi como anguilla, pan de xabon mojado, o
flema. &c; deleznable cosa como anguilla; xabon mojado; &c. <ala:hua-
l2-tic .w>k>. 71m2-1
alactic. smooth, slick. <ala:hua-l2-tic .w>k>. b.11 f.6
catzactic. cosa suzia; suzia cosa; suzio por no estar lauado.
<catza:hua-l2-tic .w>k>. 71m2-2
catzactic. dark. <catza:hua-l2-tic .w>k>. b.11 f.21
chicactic. cosa rezia y fuerte, o persona anciana; rezia cosa.
<chica:hua-l2-tic .w>k>. 71m2-4
chicactic. robust; strong; sturdy. <chica:hua-l2-tic .w>k>. b.4 f.8
melactic. cosa derecha y luenga. <mela:hua-l2-tic .w>k>. 71m2-9
pochectic. ahumada cosa; ahumada cosa assi. <po:chtli-e:hua-l2-tic
.w>k>. 55m-00
pochectic. blackish; smoky colored; smoky. <po:chtli-e:hua-l2-tic
.w>k>. b.11 f.10
*.w>z***
alaztic. <lo mesmo es que alactic>; deleznable cosa como anguilla;
xabon mojado; &c. <ala:hua-tic .w>z>. 71m2-1
alaztic. sleek; slick; smooth. <ala:hua-l2-tic .w>z>. b.11 f.1
melaztic. cosa derecha y luenga. <mela:hua-l2-tic .w>z>. 71m2-10
ayopahuaxtli. cooked gourd. <ayohtli-pa:huaci-l2 .z>x>. b.10 f.5
cactlaxtli =tla. descalzada persona, o desherrada bestia. <p51-cactli-
tla:za-l2 .z>x>. 71m2-20
chilpahuaxtli. chili which is cooked in an olla. <chi:lli-pa:huaci-l2
.z>x>. b.10 f.4
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