The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

49) s%-lii-ta-wilí-nii-ti&
3POSS-PURP-MV?-hit-DAT-NOM
‘he should be hit’
50) s%-lii-táa-staa-ti&
3POSS-PURP-MV?-sell-NOM
‘it should be sold’
The nature of the ta- prefix in this construction is problematical. It may be the middle voice
verbal prefix which attaches to certain resultative roots to derive a middle voice (MV) reading
from an active verb, for example, s'tiit ‘s/he cuts it’, ta#tiit ‘it gets cut’; qaps ‘s/he folds it’,
taqaps ‘it folds up’ (see §5.4.4.2.2). However, the MV prefix is not grammatical with most
transitive verbs. If it is involved in the passive ‘ought to’ construction, it would mean that an
ungrammatically derived transitive verb is permissible only when serving as the base for this
construction, that is (s%- (*lii-(*ta-kus%-tu)-ti").
In §3.3.11.5.1, a similar issue was discussed related to result nominalizations such as tatsóqn"i"
‘that which is written, message’. Again, in this construction, whose semantics include a nonactive
voice reading, the ta- MV prefix would be appropriate except that it does not affix
grammatically to the many transitive, non-resultative verbs which undergo this nominalization.
The morphosemantics of the ta- prefix in these two constructions needs further analysis.
3.3.11.7 Glottalization and deverbal nouns. An additional group of deverbal nouns are formed
by one of the constructions discussed above and glottalization of the final consonant rather than a
final suffix. The criteria for determining which verbs undergo this process are unclear, although
positional verbs and verbs ending in sonorants make up most of the examples in my database, as
do result nouns.
51) púutaam’a& 52) qa"táawil’a&
/puu-ta-maa/ /qa#-ta-wila/
LOC-MID-lying MOUTH-MID-sitting
‘fallow field’ ‘pot lid’
53) ta’oqspúl’a& 54) tapaasáw’a&
/ta-'oqspula/ /ta-paas"awa/
PURP-occur PURP-be.happy
‘event’ ‘happiness’
! "..!