applicative a>i

[Michael McCafferty]

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

> Hi Michael,
> 	You picked strange verbs for the objections.
> 	"Piya" is a special case because it is probably made of the older
> verb "pi", "to pull at s.t." and the durative "ya", so it?s actually
> a compound root.
> 	In modern Huasteca Nahuatl there is only one class 4 verb that has a
> regular applicative form: "nahua", "to carry s.o. or s.t. in one?s
> arms" goes to "nahuilia", "to carry s.o. else?s baby in one?s arms".
> "mama" and "pa" don?t have applicative forms, and "cua" has a very
> strange "cualilia", "to eat s.o. else?s food".
> John

cualilia looks like a reduplication of the applicative suffix -li(a).

Best,

Michael


>
> On May 6, 2010, at 2:37 PM, Michael McCafferty wrote:
>
>> 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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