The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

As with the instrumental and locatives, the BPPs may be argued to act as applicatives in certain
constructions, while in many cases they have no effect on valence. They serve a more clearly
applicative function with the inceptivized positionals in examples 152 and 153. Here, the BPPs
FACE and BACK can be analyzed as metonymic markers of the direct objects ‘me’ and ‘horse’
respectively. They thus meet Dixon & Aikhenvald’s (1997) criteria by transitivizing the
intransitive verbs they combine with, and bringing a peripheral argument into the core in O
function.
152) kakintiilaqtás%tu
/ka-kin-tii-laqa-ta-s"tu-li&/
IRR-1OBJ-PASS-FACE-INC-out-PFTV
‘come by to see me!’
153) qeetawaká kawáayu
/qee-ta-waka-aa kawaayu /
BACK-INC-up-IMPF horse
‘he back-mounts the horse’
Other similar constructions with BPPs, however, are less prototypically applicative in function.
In many cases they serve as transitivizers, but the body part marked on the verb is not brought
into the core; it remains an oblique argument (often a goal), while the core object is the possessor
of the body part. In other words, the BPPs derive transitive possessor raising constructions:
154) lakatanúu
/laka-ta-nuu-aa/
EYE-INC-enter-IMPF
‘he puts something in his eye’
155) kamaqatawíla mi!elóh
/ka-maqa-ta-wíla-li& mi-$elox/
IRR-HAND-INC-seated-PFTV 2POSS-watch
‘put your watch on your hand!’
156) ’aqc%aatawilá
/aqc"aa-ta-wila-aa/
SHO-INC-seated-IMPF
‘he carries it on his shoulders’
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