applicative a>i

[Michael McCafferty]

Hi, John,

The thing is, you don't get, for example, *piyilia:, piyalia. And long 
/a:/ certainly doesn't change: ma:ma:lia:, not *ma:mi:lia:

But, sure, cho:ca, zaca, chi:hua, mo:tla, quetza...

I've always thought the changes you talk about were examples of /a/ 
assimilating to the /i/ of /-lia:/.

I hope that Joe is around and can chime in.

Thanks for the thoughts,

Michael





Quoting "John Sullivan, Ph.D." <idiez at me.com>:

> Listeros,
> 	I was taught that when transitive verbs ending in -a take the
> applicative suffix -lia, that final -a of the verb root changes to
> -i. The more I look at it, the more it seems that what is actually
> happening is that the transitive form reverts to the intransitive
> form, ending in -i (which in many cases is not used by itself) before
> adding the applicative suffix. The following examples are from modern
> Huastecan Nahuatl.
> 1. cahui ("to become loose", only attested in mahcauhtoc, "it/they
> are loose) > cahua, "to leave s.t." > cahuilia, "to leave s.t. for
> s.o.)
> 2. tzacui ("to become closed", only attested in tzauctoc, "it is
> closed") > tzacua, to close/enclose s.t." > tzacuilia, "to get in
> s.o.?s way" or "to prop s.t. up")
> 3. temi, "for s.t. to fill or swell" > tema, "to empty things out
> (into a container)" > temilia, "to fill s.t. up"
> 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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