Tloc, nahuac, tech, tlan

[David Wright]

Joe:

I'm glad your mind has been grabbed by this category of Nahuatl morphemes.
Your list provides a deeper look into the nepan and netech morpheme
compounds than I ever imagined having the chance to see. I have a couple of
comments, although I don't suppose either can be placed in the "helpful"
category.

I should have learned to understand all of your abbreviations by now, but
several of them still go over my head. Please bear in mind that I'm not a
linguist by training (I studied visual arts as an undergrad and masters
student, transdisciplinary social sciences at the PhD level), although I
find verbal communication just as interesting as visual communication and
try to understand what's going on.

I was a bit puzzled by the "poss" label for the ne element in these
constructions, having previously only conceived of this morpheme as an
"indefinite reflexive prefix." Then I saw Andrews' brief treatment of this
as a "reciprocative possessor morph" meaning "one another's" and "each
other's" (Introduction to classical Nahuatl, 2nd. ed., p. 107). He says this
morpheme is "highly infrequent" and has a "more restricted meaning" than the
homophonous indefinite reflexive prefix (which he labels "a shuntline
reflexive/reciprocative-object morph" in his text [p. 57] and, mercifully,
"reflexive pronoun" in the index [p. 671]). Examples aren't provided in the
places I just cited, although he discusses nepan on pp. 484 and 485: "*nepan
= on one another, over one another [This NNC, whose possessor pronoun shows
reciprocal possession, occurs only as an imbed and as the source for the
adjectival NNC nepa:pan (...)]." So a bit of light begins to shine through
my mental fog.

I'll print out your word list and look at it from time to time so that it
can duly sink in.

Saludos,

David

-----Mensaje original-----
De: Campbell, R. Joe [mailto:campbel at indiana.edu] 
Enviado el: viernes, 20 de noviembre de 2009 12:34 p.m.
Para: David Wright
CC: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
Asunto: RE: [Nahuat-l] Tloc, nahuac, tech, tlan

David, Michael, ihuan occequi Nocnihuan,

   The "postposition" topic is a mind-grabber.  My list for the noun 
function includes the following:

  1. base for verber suffix.
  2. embeds as adverb in verbs (just as "real" nouns do).
  3. takes further postposition (e.g., nepantlah).
  4. takes negative prefix (like noun and verb stems [e.g., ahcan, ahhuic]).
  5. takes plural suffix (e.g., nehuantin).

   I include some collected examples of the first three categories 
below and I would appreciate helpful comments.

Joe

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