Teuctli

[Frances Karttunen]

On Oct 9, 2007, at 12:29 PM, David Wright wrote:

> Regarding Fran's statement "In Milpa Alta the word has bifurcated,  
> with the original form retaining its meaning of 'lord' and a  
> spelling pronunciation based on tecuhtli having taken on the  
> meaning of 'boss'": In the cassettes prepared by José Concepción  
> Flores Arce ("El Maestro Xochime") for teaching Nahuatl, I hear  
> [te:ku?tli].

In my experience with M.A. Nahuatl, the labialized [kw] has  
simplified to [w], so te:uctli is pronounced [te:wtli] (the name of  
the local sacred mountain).  The 'boss, bureaucrat' word derived from  
the spelling pronunciation is pronounced [te:kohtli] with the [h]  
here representing the local pronunciation of the glottal stop.  But  
the o/u distinction being nonsignificant in most varieties of spoken  
Nahuatl, including M.A. as I know it, it might be pronounced more  
like [te:kuhtli].


> In the accompanying book, in the vocabulary list, I find "tecu'tli,  
> (sust.) dirigente, gobernante." I also see the root with the kw > k  
> shift in the word "tecpampa, (sust.) palacio, oficina." El Maestro  
> Xochime is from Milpa Alta (in southeastern Mexico City). I assume  
> that the unusual (for a native speaker) pronunciation [te:ku?tli]  
> is the result of influence from Mexico City academics of the  
> Garibay school. Fran (or others): do you have any information or  
> comments on this?

It might well be.  I just think of it as spelling pronunciation.  The  
spelling "tecuhtli" managed to mislead Thelma Sullivan, who used the  
word in her Compendio as an example of how the -tli form of the  
absolutive suffix is used after saltillo (glottal stop). Perhaps this  
was inherited from her teacher, who was none other than Garibay.


Fran
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