ihcequi doing it?s applicative thing

Campbell, R. Joe campbel at indiana.edu
Fri Nov 4 03:41:34 UTC 2011


Mitzuya,

   Andrews lists one of our verbs of interest under the topic of
"valence-neutral" verbstems -- ahci.  He points out that
"valence-neutral" verbstems
can be either transitive or intransitive.  This passage is interesting, but
I found myself disagreeing with some specific statements, particularly
in #24.2.1 and #24.2.2, where he claims that the verbs discussed can
have an applicative or causative meaning.

   I would assume that ahci, toca, temiqui, etc., simply function as
either intransitive or transitive verbs, so I don't see that claiming
the applicative or causative function adds to our understanding.

   However, my understanding of a particular problem certainly
benefitted from re-reading this passage.  Molina lists "huitecqui" as
'herido' and, since I thought of "huitequi" as being only a transitive
verb, I expected an object prefix.  I discussed the problem with a
colleague (a member of the just-dissolved Nahuatl morphology academy 
that functioned at Notre Dame until recently).  We didn't arrive at a 
definite conclusion, but I would suggest that Andrews' intransitive 
"huitequi" provides the answer:

   nitehuitequi       I whip someone
   nihuitequi         I experience whipping

   tehuitecqui        s.o. who has been whipped (by s.o. else)
   huitecqui          s.o. who has experienced whipping (no implied agent)

Joe



>>
>>       On the issue of Nahuatl verbs that are both transitive and
>> intransitive, we have others in the same category -- e.g., e:hua,
>> chipa:hua, mela:hua:
>>
>>      e:hua      she arises
>>     e:huac     she arose
>>     que:uh    she raised it
>>
>>     chipa:hua   it becomes pure
>>    chipa:huac  it became pure
>>   quichi:pauh  he purified it
>>
>>


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