-ti verber (again-3)

[M Launey]

Dear Mary, dear Tomas, dear listeros

I suggested in the preceding messages that there was only one (N)–ti verber, meaning something like « bring N to existence », and that within this unicity there were indeed two subtypes, one where N can apply as a predicate to the subject of N-ti (e.g. tēuc-ti « act in such a way that there be a lord », i.e. « behave like a lord, become a lord… »), and one where N refers to an external entity (e.g. tequi-ti « act in such a way that the tequitl exist », i.e. « make the tequitl, fulfill the tequitl… »). My claim is that, while this leads to admittedly two different semantic values, stating this difference as « be » vs. « have » is misleading. Now, I’ll comment Tomas Amaya’s example, and I’ll do the same with Mary’ ones in a following message.

Tomas points out that in some dialects there is a verb chān-ti meaning « live, dwell », and that’s true (and as I said, I found that puzzling when I heard it first in Milpa Alta). But I’m still reluctant to a gloss like « have one’s house somewhere ». What strikes me that it is not cal-ti. There are several differences between calli and chān- (I've never met the absolutive *chāntli in the Classical Nahuatl texts, only the possessed forms no-chān, mo-chān etc.), and one is that, while calli refers to a « thing », chān- refers to a place, and is much vaguer, possibly referring to one’s house, one’s town, or one’s country (English « home » is closer than « house » to translate chān-). So while cal-ti (if it exists) will mean « make a house », chān-ti means « make one’s home somewhere », i.e. live there. Note that again this verb is dynamic : when I live somewhere, this means that I can have a lot of activities there. Also note that the verb nemi, which is usually translated by « live », actually means « go, walk » or maybe better « keep going, keep walking », i.e., is typically dynamic, and this is congruent with the dynamicity of chān-ti.

I hope I’ll be able to comment Mary’s examples tomorrow. Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been really hectic these days.

Best

Michel L.
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