present vs present progressive

[John Sullivan, Ph.D.]

Piyali momachtianih,
	We figured out something today that has been bothering us for a while. I always understood the difference between the present tense and the present progressive tense to be:
	Carla choca. "Carla cries." (present)
	Carla chocaticah. "Carla is crying." (present progressive)
In Modern Huastecan Nahuatl, at least, it doesnʻt work like that. Here is how it works:
	"Carla choca" means "Carla is crying" and this is the present progressive. If I add the words "mohmoztlah", "everday" or "axquemman", "never", for example, then the same tense give us:
	Carla choca mohmoztla, "Carla cries everyday."
	Carla axquemman choca, "Carla never cries."
	Domingtica Carla choca, "Carla cries on Sundays."
This is more like a present continuous or quotidian meaning.
	Now for the -ticah/-ticateh constructions, and this is really cool!
	Carla chocaticah, "Carla está llori-llore."
	Carla mahuiltihticah, "Carla está juegui-juegue."
	Carla momachtihticah, "Carla está estudi-estudie."
The translation is Mexican Spanish (a verb reduplication that probably comes from Nahuatl) and I can't think of how to say this in English, but it's an action that is intense and lasting: lasting longer than just the, "What are you doing? I'm taking a bath" kind of lasting.
	One last thing. This idea of duration is expressed for states of being only with the auxiliary construction, -ti-ihcac. So "Mario mocehuihtihcac", "Mario is still seated". "Maria motectihcac", "Maria is still laying down." And using the same verb as a root (retaining it's classical meaning) and an auxiliary: "Calli ihcatihcac", "The building is still standing."
John



John Sullivan, Ph.D.
Professor of Nahua language and culture
Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
Zacatecas Institute of Teaching and Research in Ethnology
Tacuba 152, int. 43
Centro Histórico
Zacatecas, Zac. 98000
Mexico
Work: +52 (492) 925-3415
Fax: +1 (858) 724-3030 (U.S.A.)
Home: +52 (492) 768-6048
Mobile: +52 1 (492) 103-0195
idiez at me.com
www.macehualli.org

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