Temoaya Otomi
Encyclopedia
Temoaya Otomi also known as Toluca Otomi or Otomi of San Andrés Cuexcontitlan is a variety of the Otomi language
spoken in Mexico
by ca. 37,000 people in and around the municipality of Temoaya
, and in three communities within the municipality of Toluca
: San Andrés Cuexcontitlán, San Pablo Autopan and San Cristobal Huichochitlan. The speakers themselves call the language Ñatho. Lastra (2001) classifies it as a southwestern dialect along with the dialects of Mexico state.
. A possessed noun is prefixed with a morpheme agreeing in person with the possessor. If the possessor is plural or dual the nouns is also marked with a suffix agreeing with the possessor's number. Below is gven the inflectional paradigm for the word /ngų´/ "house".
, Preterit, Perfect, Imperfect, Future
, Pluperfect, two different Subjunctives, present and past Continuative and Imperative
. On transitive verbs Person of object is inflected by a suffix. If either subject or object is dual or plural it is shown with a plural suffix following the object suffix.
The structure of the Otomi verb is as follows:
The preterite
uses the prefixes do-, go- and bi-, perfect uses to-, ko-, ʃi-, imperfect uses dimá, gimá, mi, future uses go-, gi- and da- and pluperfect tamą-, kimą-, kamą-. All tenses use the same suffixes for dual and plural numbers and clusivity as the present tense, from here on oly the singular forms will be given. The difference between preterit and imperfect is similar to the distinctiion between the preterit
in Spanish
habló "he spoke (punctual)" and the imperfect hablaba "he spoke/He used to speak/he was speaking (non-punctual)".
In Toluca Otomi the semantic difference between the two subjunctive forms (A and B) are not easily defined according to Lastra sometimes Subjunctive B has a meaning that is more recent in time than Subjunctive A. Both have the meaning of something counterfactual. The past and present progressive are similar in meaning to English was and is X-ing respectively. The imperative is for issuing direct orders.
Verbs expressing movement towards the speaker such as ʔįhį "come" use a different set of prefixes for marking person/T/A/M. These prefixes can also be used with other verbs to express "to do something while coming this way". In Toluca Otomi mba- is the third person singular imperfect prefix for movement verbs.
3rd person/movement/imperfect-sing
To form predicates
from nouns the subject prefixes are simply added to the noun root:
I/present/continuative-priest
is split between active–stative and accusative systems.
In Toluca Otomi the object suffixes are -gí (1st person), -kʔí (2nd person) and -bi (3rd person), but the vowel /i/ may harmonize
to /e/ when suffix to a root containing /e/. The first person suffix has is realized as -kí after sibilants and after certain verb roots, and -hkí when used with certain other verbs. The 2nd person object suffix may sometimes metathesis
e to -ʔkí.The third person suffix also has the allomorph
s -hpí/-hpé, -pí, -bí, and sometimes 3rd person objects is marked with a zero morpheme.
Plural and dual number of object is marked by the same suffixes as the subject, in some cases leading to ambiguity about the respective numbers of subject and object. With object suffixes of the first or second person some times the verbal root changes, often dropping final vowels.
A class of words that describe properties or states have been described either as adjectives or as stative verb
s. This wordclass consists of words with a meaning of attributing a property to an entity, e.g. "the man is tall", "the house is old". Within this class some roots use the normal subject/T/A/M prefixes, while others always use the object suffixes to encode the person of the patient/subject. The fact that they use the same suffixes that are used to encode the patient/objects of transitive verbs to encode the patient/subject of the predicate has been interpreted as a trait of Split intransitivity. This phenomenon occurs in all dialects, but which Stative verbs the object prefixes, and how many take, vary between dialects. In Toluca Otomi most stative verbs are conjugated using a set of suffixes similar to the object/patient suffixes and a third person subject prefix, while only a few use the present continuative subject prefixes. The following examples of the two kinds of stative verb conjugation in Toluca Otomi.
ial meanings to be inflected on the verb.
From Toluca Otomi examples of adverbial affixes are:
Other affixes express inchoative
aspect, instrumental
function or purpose. There is also a suffix with the meaning of "mean while"
Otomi language
Otomi is an Oto-Manguean language and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by approximately 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico. The language is spoken in many different dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible, therefore it is in...
spoken in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
by ca. 37,000 people in and around the municipality of Temoaya
Temoaya
Temoaya is a town and municipality in Mexico State, Mexico, It is located from Toluca and from Mexico City. It is known for its large ethnic Otomi population, the Centro Ceremonial Otomí and its tradition of making Persian style rugs using Mexican designs....
, and in three communities within the municipality of Toluca
Toluca
Toluca, formally known as Toluca de Lerdo, is the state capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located west-southwest of Mexico City and only about 40 minutes by car to the...
: San Andrés Cuexcontitlán, San Pablo Autopan and San Cristobal Huichochitlan. The speakers themselves call the language Ñatho. Lastra (2001) classifies it as a southwestern dialect along with the dialects of Mexico state.
Pronominal system
The pronominal system of Toluca Otomi distinguish four persons: 1st inclusive and exclusive, second and third and three numbers singular, dual and plural.| - | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person Incl. | * | nugó-bé "you and I" | nugó-hé "I and you guys" |
| 1st Person Excl. | nugó "I" | nugó-wí "we two (not you)" | nugó-hɨ´ "We all (not you)" |
| 2nd Person | nukʔígé "you" | nukʔígé-wí "you two" | nukʔígé-gɨ´ "you guys" |
| 3rd Person | gégé "she/he/it" | nugégé-wí "the two of them" | nugégé-hɨ´ "they" |
Nouns
Otomi nouns are inflected for possession. The particular pattern of possessive inflection is widespread throughout the Mesoamerican Linguistic AreaMesoamerican Linguistic Area
The Mesoamerican Linguistic Area is a sprachbund containing many of the languages natively spoken in the cultural area of Mesoamerica. This sprachbund is defined by an array of syntactic, lexical and phonological traits as well as a number of ethnolinguistic traits found in the languages of...
. A possessed noun is prefixed with a morpheme agreeing in person with the possessor. If the possessor is plural or dual the nouns is also marked with a suffix agreeing with the possessor's number. Below is gven the inflectional paradigm for the word /ngų´/ "house".
| - | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person Excl. | * | mą-ngų´-bé "Our house (me and him/her)" | mą-ngų´-hé "Our house (me and them)" |
| 1st Person Incl. | mą-ngų´ "my house" | mą-ngų´-wí "Our house (me and you)" | mą-ngų´-hɨ´ "Our house (me and you and them)" |
| 2nd Person | ri-ngų´ "your house" | ri-ngų´-wí "you two's house" | ri-ngų´-hɨ´ "you guys' house" |
| 3rd Person | rʌ-ngų´ "her/his/its house" | yʌ-ngų´-wí "the house of the two of them" | yʌ-ngų´-hɨ´ "their house" |
Articles
Plurality of nouns is expressed with articles preceding the noun, rʌ "the (singular)" or yʌ "the (dual/plural)":| Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| rʌ ngų´ "the house" | yʌ yóho ngų´ "the two houses" | yʌ ngų´ "the houses" |
Verbs
On verbs all of the categories of person of subject, tense, aspect and mood are marked by the means of a single prefix on each verb. The categories distinguished are PresentPresent tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
, Preterit, Perfect, Imperfect, Future
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
, Pluperfect, two different Subjunctives, present and past Continuative and Imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
. On transitive verbs Person of object is inflected by a suffix. If either subject or object is dual or plural it is shown with a plural suffix following the object suffix.
The structure of the Otomi verb is as follows:
| Person of Subject/T/A/M | Misc. prefix (e.g. adverbial) | Root | Object suffix | Plural/Dual suffix |
Person, Number, Tense, Aspect and Mood
The present tense prefixes are di- (1st person), gi- (2nd person), i- (3rd person).| - | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person Excl. | * | di-nú-bé "we see (me and him/her)" | di-nú-hé "we see (me and them)" |
| 1st Person Incl. | di-nú "I see" | di-nú-wí "We see(me and you)" | mdi-nú-hɨ´ "We see (me and you and them)" |
| 2nd Person | gi-nú "you see" | gi-nú-wí "You two see" | gi-nú-hɨ´ "You guys see" |
| 3rd Person | gi-nú "she/he/it sees" | gi-nú-wí "the two of them see" | gi-nú-hɨ´ "they see" |
The preterite
Preterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
uses the prefixes do-, go- and bi-, perfect uses to-, ko-, ʃi-, imperfect uses dimá, gimá, mi, future uses go-, gi- and da- and pluperfect tamą-, kimą-, kamą-. All tenses use the same suffixes for dual and plural numbers and clusivity as the present tense, from here on oly the singular forms will be given. The difference between preterit and imperfect is similar to the distinctiion between the preterit
Spanish grammar
Spanish grammar is the grammar of the Spanish language , which is a Romance language that originated in north central Spain and is spoken today throughout Spain, some twenty countries in the Americas, and Equatorial Guinea....
in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
habló "he spoke (punctual)" and the imperfect hablaba "he spoke/He used to speak/he was speaking (non-punctual)".
| - | Preterite | Perfect | Imperfect | Future Tense | Pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Person singular | do-nú "I saw (punctual)" | to-nú "I have seen" | dimá-nú "I saw (non-punctual)" | go-nú "I will see" | tamą-nú "I had seen" |
| 2nd Person singular | go-nú "you saw (punctual)" | ko-nú "you have seen" | gimá-nú "you saw (non-punctual)" | gi-nú "you will see" | kimą-nú "you had seen" |
| 3rd Person Singular | bi-nú "she/he/it saw (punctual)" | ʃi-nú "she/he/it has seen" | mi-nú "you saw (non-punctual)" | da-nú She/he/it will see" | kamą-nú "she/he/it had seen" |
In Toluca Otomi the semantic difference between the two subjunctive forms (A and B) are not easily defined according to Lastra sometimes Subjunctive B has a meaning that is more recent in time than Subjunctive A. Both have the meaning of something counterfactual. The past and present progressive are similar in meaning to English was and is X-ing respectively. The imperative is for issuing direct orders.
| - | Subjunctive A | Subjunctive B | Present progressive | Past Progressive | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Person singular | (n)gwa-nú "I would have seen" | kwa-nú "I would have seen" | drʌ-nú "I am seeing" | ndrʌ-nú "I was seeing" | * |
| 2nd Person singular | (n)gwi-nú "you would have seen" | kwi-nú "you would have seen" | grʌ-nú "you are seeing" | dgrʌ-nú "you were seeing" | nú "See!" |
| 3rd Person Singular | (n)di-nú "she/he/it would have seen" | trʌ-nú "she/he/it would have seen" | rʌ-nú "she/he/it is seeing" | mbrʌ-nú She(he/it was seeing" | * |
Verbs expressing movement towards the speaker such as ʔįhį "come" use a different set of prefixes for marking person/T/A/M. These prefixes can also be used with other verbs to express "to do something while coming this way". In Toluca Otomi mba- is the third person singular imperfect prefix for movement verbs.
To form predicates
Predicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
from nouns the subject prefixes are simply added to the noun root:
Transitivity and stative verbs
Transitive verbs are inflected for agreement with their objects by means of suffixes, while using the same agent prefixes as the intransitive verbs to agree with their arguments. However in all dialects a few intransitive verbs take the object suffix instead of the agent prefix, usually these intransitive verbs are stative, i.e. describing a state. This has led to the interpretation that in Otomi morphosyntactic alignmentMorphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the system used to distinguish between the arguments of transitive verbs and those of intransitive verbs...
is split between active–stative and accusative systems.
In Toluca Otomi the object suffixes are -gí (1st person), -kʔí (2nd person) and -bi (3rd person), but the vowel /i/ may harmonize
Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
to /e/ when suffix to a root containing /e/. The first person suffix has is realized as -kí after sibilants and after certain verb roots, and -hkí when used with certain other verbs. The 2nd person object suffix may sometimes metathesis
Metathesis (linguistics)
Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
e to -ʔkí.The third person suffix also has the allomorph
Allomorph
In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant form of a morpheme. The concept occurs when a unit of meaning can vary in sound without changing meaning. The term allomorph explains the comprehension of phonological variations for specific morphemes....
s -hpí/-hpé, -pí, -bí, and sometimes 3rd person objects is marked with a zero morpheme.
| 1st person object | 2nd person object | 3rd person object |
|---|---|---|
| bi-ñús-kí "he wrote me" | bi-ñús-kʔí "he wrote you" | bi-kré-bi "he believed it" |
| he/past-write-me | he/past-write-you | he/past-believe-it |
| bi-nú-gí "he saw me" | bi-nú-kʔí "he saw you" | bi-hkwáhti-bí "she/he hit him/her" |
| he/past-see-me | he/past-see-you | he/she/past-hit-him/her |
Plural and dual number of object is marked by the same suffixes as the subject, in some cases leading to ambiguity about the respective numbers of subject and object. With object suffixes of the first or second person some times the verbal root changes, often dropping final vowels.
| dual object/subject | plural object/subject |
|---|---|
| bi-ñaʃ-kʔí-wí "the two of them cut your hair" or "he cut the hair of the two of you" | bi-ñaʃ-kí-hɨ´ "they cut my hair" or "he cut our hair" |
| he/past-cut.hair-you-dual | he/past-cut.hair-you-plural |
A class of words that describe properties or states have been described either as adjectives or as stative verb
Stative verb
A stative verb is one that asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property . Statives differ from other aspectual classes of verbs in that they are static; that is, they have undefined duration...
s. This wordclass consists of words with a meaning of attributing a property to an entity, e.g. "the man is tall", "the house is old". Within this class some roots use the normal subject/T/A/M prefixes, while others always use the object suffixes to encode the person of the patient/subject. The fact that they use the same suffixes that are used to encode the patient/objects of transitive verbs to encode the patient/subject of the predicate has been interpreted as a trait of Split intransitivity. This phenomenon occurs in all dialects, but which Stative verbs the object prefixes, and how many take, vary between dialects. In Toluca Otomi most stative verbs are conjugated using a set of suffixes similar to the object/patient suffixes and a third person subject prefix, while only a few use the present continuative subject prefixes. The following examples of the two kinds of stative verb conjugation in Toluca Otomi.
| with patient/object suffix | with subject/agent prefix |
|---|---|
| rʌ-nô-hkʔí "I am fat" | drʌ-dôtʔî "I am short" |
| it/present-fat-me | I/present/continuative-short |
Other affixes
Temoaya Otomi also allow different kinds of adverbAdverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
ial meanings to be inflected on the verb.
From Toluca Otomi examples of adverbial affixes are:
- bí- An evidentialEvidentialityIn linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and/or what kind of evidence exists. An evidential is the particular grammatical element that indicates evidentiality...
prefix used about progressive events being witnessed by the speaker (It only exists in third person singular) - kʔʌ rʌ ʃùa ya bì-pɛphí "Juan is working now (I see)"
- Indicative the Juán now bí-work
- ga- A prefix expressing two simulataneous events or one event immediately preceding another. Also has the second person ngo-
- bɨ ga-thô rʌ-tá mbrʌ-mí-thó "When his father came by he was already sitting"
- when ga-pass.by 3.person/past/continuative-sit-completive
- ndɨ- A prefix expressing that something was done well or a lot.
- do-ndɨ-chú "I got really scared"
- ist person/pefect-ndɨ-scared
Other affixes express inchoative
Inchoative
Inchoative aspect is a grammatical aspect, referring to the beginning of an action or state. It can be found in conservative Indo-European languages such as Latin and Lithuanian, and also in Finnic languages. It should not be confused with the prospective, which denotes actions that are about to...
aspect, instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
function or purpose. There is also a suffix with the meaning of "mean while"