Dual-category verbs in -oa and middle vs. passive voice

[Gordon Whittaker]

Nicca, Joe!

I would be honoured to have my -ify immortalized!

But seriously, apart from suspecting that this -oa class is in fact a
dual-status category (like your examples, chipahua, ehua), where in this
case intransitivity is connected with a named agent (I, she, etc.) and
reflexive transivity with impersonality or an unnamed agent (one makes
tortillas, tortillas are made), I wonder whether these apparently very
rare instances of formally reflexive intransitives are not limited
experiments with a kind of middle voice.

Consider the fact that the Leyenda de los Soles has at least two instances
of passive constructions with a named agent, something that we also
shouldn't have. Could both developments (or experiments) be part of a
related shift that was arrested before it could take root? Perhaps a
16th-century reaction to Spanish usage? Not that such inspiration is
necessary.

And, just a thought - could we perhaps be dealing with a sequence -o-hua
instead of -oa? Are there any preterites on record that would settle the
matter?

Well, that's all that occurs to me at the moment -- I'm still a little
foggy after a rather short night.

Best,
Gordon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gordon Whittaker
Professor
Linguistische Anthropologie und Altamerikanistik
Seminar fuer Romanische Philologie
Universitaet Goettingen
Humboldtallee 19
37073 Goettingen
Germany
tel./fax (priv.): ++49-5594-89333
tel. (office): ++49-551-394188
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


_______________________________________________
Nahuatl mailing list
Nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/nahuatl