The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

Table 6.4 2 nd subject morphology suppressed by 2/1 laa-
P11 0 S4 S6 S13 S14
2/1 ROOT* DOWN* Progressive* Deictics* 2 Subject
laa- paa (maa)
pin (’an)
tan (min)
-pii (-mii) -paa (-maa) -c%ita& (-c%i&)
qas%pat (qas%mat)
*Suppletive roots and affixes (with non-2 nd subject forms)
! ###!
-pi& (-c%a’a)
-ti&/[cg] 2sg
-titi& 2 pl
6.4 Interpenetration of zones. A standard model well attested cross-linguistically for
hierarchically structured verbs has various morphophonological processes confined to and
definitive of particular stems or subzones of the verb. In Filomeno Mata Totonac this situation is
the exception rather than the rule, found only with the causativized stem. Generally the major
zones (defined by affix ordering possibilities) and subzones (spelled out by morphophonology
and morphosyntax) tend to interpenetrate into neighboring zones in ways that will be discussed
in the second half of this chapter. This tendency has already been apparent in certain facts which
reveal that even inflection and derivation are not confined to cleanly separable areas of the verb:
a single inflectional prefix on the edge of the derivational zone, OBJ.pl kaa-, participates in
variable affix ordering; and a set of inflectional suffixes, the progressive aspect markers, occur in
the middle of a string of derivational affix positions. (Neither can affixes and clitics be clearly
distinguished from one another; see §6.5.3.2). It is possible that this fuzziness at zone boundaries
is related to the fact that FM Totonac shows clear signs of both templatic and hierarchical
structure. This may be typical of an agglutinating language with a diachronically nascent
hierarchical structure. Far too little has yet been done on the reconstruction of proto-Totonac-
Tepehua to say whether this is the case.
6.5 Evidence of verb structure. The rest of this chapter will address in detail the phenomena
that diagnose some degree of hierarchy in the FM Totonac verb. The major divisions will be first
the root with the fixed affix order zones on either side in §6.5.1, which comprises the
causativized stem; then the next larger structure that includes the variable order zones of mostly
derivational morphemes in §6.5.2; and finally the full verb with the outer zones of fixed order
affixes and clitics (which are often difficult to distinguish from one another) in §6.5.3. Within
and sometimes shading across these areas are subzones defined by various phonological and
morphological processes that apply only across certain subdivisions of the verb.
6.5.1 Zone 1. The inner fixed/scopal order zone spans the first five prefix positions, the root, and
the first three suffix positions, as depicted in Table 6.5.