The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

2.6.1.1 Nasal deletion and assimilation. Nasals delete or assimilate in three contexts within
words: in the case of false geminates (identical nasals brought together at morpheme
boundaries); preceding a consonant that differs from it in place or manner of articulation; in the
case of leftward stress shift when n is word-final.
2.6.1.1.1 Nasal degemination. Whenever morphological constructions bring two n segments
together at a boundary, a regular process causes the deletion of one of the nasals. Many verb
roots end in n, as do four common suffixes, and degemination of false n geminates occurs with
all of them, as well as in all other cases of n-n at morphemic junctures. This contrasts with other
degemination processes, which are limited to particular morphemes only (see §2.6.2.2.2).
2.6.1.1.2 Nasal-consonant constraints. Within words, the only consonants that nasals may
precede are homorganic plosives, with a few exceptions to be discussed. Since m rarely occurs
syllable-finally, all alternations involve n. More specifically, n is deleted preceding sonorant
consonants, fricatives or glottal stop, that is, it is found only preceding a vowel or a homorganic
oral stop or affricate, or word-finally.
36) /skin-li&/ 37)/min-sqata&/ 38)/qoot-nan-wa&/
request-PRFTV 2POSS-child drink-HAB-1pl
[ski#] [misqáta&] [qootnúw]
‘he requested it’ ‘your child’ ‘we drank’
The deletion of n also occurs preceding an epenthetic glottal stop inserted before a word-initial
vowel:
39) /kin-aqunqs"-li&/ 40) /min-asiwiti&/
1OBJ-braid-PFTV 2POSS-guayaba
[ki’áqoNqs"#] [mi’asíwit h i&]
‘she braided my hair’ ‘your guayaba fruit’
Preceding oral stops and affricates that differ in place of articulation, rather than delete, n
undergoes homorganic nasal assimilation:
41) /tan-paa-ti&/ 42)/k-waayan-kutun/ 43) /kin-qáwiti&/
come-PROG-PFTV 1SUB-eat-DES 1POSS-nixtamal
! #-!