The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

6.2.3.8 Summary of variable order prefixes. Most of the prefixes in this zone may occur in
reverse order with an adjacent affix, at least with certain stems (determined both by the root and
the other affixes). The most robustly variable prefixes are the plural object marker kaa- and
round-trip morpheme kii-, both on the outer edge of the zone, which may reverse order with
several non-adjacent prefixes. The adjacent comitative and associative prefixes seem to occur in
either order grammatically. In all cases the frequency of free order of paired prefixes diminishes
as the distance between the slots they occupy increases. Prefixes are also less likely undergo
permutation when this might lead to confusing them with a homophonous affix.
6.2.4 Variable order among suffixes. The free ordering of suffixes in the variable order zone is
much different from that of prefixes. The affixes involved include several of those from suffix
position 4 through 10: DOWN (position 4), the ambulative (5), the iterative (7), the desiderative
(8), the totalitive (9), and MEANWHILE (10). However, the frequency of variable order is much
less among the suffixes, and much more idiosyncratic. That is, some adjacent suffixes are not
capable of reverse order, while others in slots much farther apart are. In addition, the progressive
aspect markers in position 6, the only inflectional markers in this zone, cannot move rootward,
thus meeting my definition of fixed affixes.
Table 6.3 Suffix ordering zones
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Fixed
Transitivizer
Fixed
Indefinite Object
Fixed
Dative
Variable
Down
Variable
Ambulative
Fixed
Progressive
Variable
Iterative
Variable
Desiderative
Variable
Totalitive
6.2.4.1 Variable order and suffix positions 4 and 5. Beginning with the suffixes closest to the
fixed zone adjoining the root, DOWN (position 4) and the ambulative (position 5) may both
occur inside the dative, and the ambulative may also preceed DOWN. A factor in the ability of
DOWN to appear inside the dative may be that it is usually part of derived forms with noncompositional
semantics, as in example 22, where ’ak-tlawa-mii (HEAD-do-DOWN) means
‘exploit, mistreat’. It seems that when –mii occurs inside dative –nii, the verb is being interpreted
as a lexicalized stem, and when the suffixes follow the standard order the morphemes are seen as
separable elements in a string. This is confirmed by another example provided spontaneously in
which –mii occurs inside the habitual suffix –nan of suffix position 2: ’ak-tlawa-mii-nán ‘he
exploits habitiually, he is a cacique’ (7,18 jsf).
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Variable
Meanwhile
Fixed
Reflexive
Fixed
Aspect
Fixed
Deictics
Fixed
Aspect/Person