The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

Of note is the fact that the number is often separated from the noun it modifies by the verb, that
is, the numeral precedes the usual VSO word order, as shown in the following examples:
57) *aqstitútu kintáawa láas%us%
/’aqsti-tutu& kin-taa-waa láasus"/
SLICE-3 1OBJ-COM-eat orange
‘he offered me three slices of orange to eat’
58) peeqtútu tsanqaniiyáan mimpulátu
/peeq-tutu& tsanqa-nii-aa-ni& min-pulatu/
DISH-3 lack-DAT-IMPF-2OBJ 2POSS-plate
‘you lack three plates’
3.6.2 Numeral classifiers. I have collected 26 numeral classifiers, which are shown in Table
3.29 along with their approximate meaning. This list is not exhaustive; speakers offered several
more but were unsure of their usage, so I have omitted them. As noted above, many of the
classifiers are shape-related (see Levy 1999); and/or have the same origin as body part nouns,
and to participate in the same metaphorical semantic expansion as the body part prefixes (BPP)
(see the list of BPPs in Table 5.2). Thus paa- is both a BPP and a numeral classifier, both of
which refer to belly-shaped things; qan- also serves both functions, and counts objects that are
long and nosed-shaped, like pencils. A few classifiers are etymologically related to BPPs, but
count shapes that are difficult to relate to the body part referred to, such as pi#-, which is the
neck-related BPP, but counts handfuls.
Table 3.29 Numeral classifiers
Classifier For counting: Similar/Same as:
’amaq- X more times
’aq- Spherical objects (also the default classifier) head-related BPP
’aqa- Spherical/round objects on a stem, like
flowers, trees
’aqsti- Slices, furrows
! ".*!
ear-related BPP
c"aa- People and chiles leg-related BPP
ki#- Objects with an opening that is pursed to
close it, like a sack
ki#'ak- Pieces of wood or firewood
ki#mak- Floor in a house; used without a noun, i.e.,
ki"maktútu s%c%iki& ‘his house has three floors'
mouth-related BPP