The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

Table 6.9 Valence-changing subzone
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3
Reciprocal
Round-trip/Pass-by
Instrumentals
Comitative
Associative
Causatives
Locatives
Body Parts
Middle Voice/Inceptive
6.5.2.2 Morphological blocking subzone. The next subzone within Zone 2 is characterized by
the long-distance co-occurrence restriction between the prefix 2/1 laa- in position 11 and all 2nd
person subject marking across the verb, as detailed in §6.3. Since 2/1 laa- blocks all 2 nd person
subject morphology from the root out to suffix position 14 (see example 38), a model in which
2/1 laa- is affixed before the suppleting suffixes or person agreement markers in positions 4, 6,
13 and 14 is reasonable. 8 This evidence thus picks out almost the same subzone as that of the
valence-changing affixes.
38) s%kinqas$pátpaapi%
/s"-kin-qas!pat-paa-pi&/
PAST-1OBJ-hear2-PROG2-DEICTIC2
‘you were listening to me over there’
s%kilaaqas%matmaac$a’áw
/s"-kin-laa-qas!mat-maa-c!a’a-wa&
PAST-1OBJ-2/1-hear-PROG-DEICTIC-1pl
‘you were listening to us over there’
The analysis of variable but non-scopal affix ordering is difficult in any currently available
framework, but it seems likely that the affixes that engage in free ordering may attach to the verb
8 Since four roots in FM Totonac have 2 nd person subject suppletive forms which are blocked
when 2/1 laa- is present, the morphology must have an ability to ‘see’ the subject/object
specifications before the root form is chosen. This may be conceptualized as having access to a
morphosyntactic target that guides the construction of the verb. If this is the case, it might be
argued that the affixation of 2/1 laa- need not precede that of the suppleting suffixes, since the
grammar would be able to view the target at any point in the construction.
! ##,!
Distributive
ROOT
Transitivizer
Habitualizer/Indef.Object
Dative