The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

4.7.2.2 Perfective aspect. The perfective aspect presents “an event as a complete whole, without
specification of internal temporal structure” (Mithun 1999:165). Without a tense affix, that is, in
the unmarked present tense, it is generally glossed in Spanish in the preterite or simple past
tense. The marking of the perfective aspect is somewhat complex. It is marked by the suffix –li"
when the subject is first or third person, and it is one of two aspects (the other is the progressive)
in which the second person singular subject is marked by –ti". Both of these suffixes determine a
stress pattern in which stress falls two syllables before the suffix, and it is this stress pattern that
most saliently distinguishes the perfective from the imperfective. This is because verbs in these
two aspects are often without any overt marking of aspect: PFTV –li" and –ti" are often blocked
morphologically or deleted by phonological processes, and IMPF –aa is also absent under the
conditions specified in §4.7.2.1.
Besides its use in the present tense to indicate a simple past tense, the perfective is the only
aspect that may co-occur with irrealis mood. As described in §4.7.1.1, irrealis mood with
perfective aspect is found in the negative future, the imperative and hortative, and in the
complements of certain verbs such as wan ‘tell’, lakaskin ‘need’ and #lakaskínka ‘it is
necessary’. Examples of the simple past (examples 35 and 36) and all irrealis uses (examples
37-40) of the perfective are provided below.
35) laqs%tiqás%i
/laqs"ti-qas"i-li&/
TEM-punch-PFTV
‘s/he punched him/her in the temple’
36) kískinti&
/kin-skin-ti&/
1OBJ-ask.for-2SUB.sg
‘you asked me for it’
37) "aakaktilaalaaqtsíw
/#aa=ka-k-ti-laa-laaqtsin-wa&/
NEG-IRR-1SUB-CNTR-RECP-see-1pl
‘we will not see each other’
38) katláqti líitlaqNI
/ka-tlaq-ti& lii-tlaq-ni&/
IRR-play-2SUB.sg INST-play-NOM
‘play the guitar!’
! "#.!