The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

2.6.2.2.2.3 Degemination through dissimilation. Two other homophonous single-consonant
prefixes exist, s%- 3POSSESSIVE and s"- PAST. When either of these precedes an s"- initial word,
the prefix is realized as k.
74) /s"-s"tiilan/ 75) /s"-s"piiq-maa/
3POSS-hen PAST-whistle-PROG
[ks"tíilan] [ks"péeqma]
‘his/her hen’ ‘s/he was whistling’
This process is optional but possible when either of these prefixes precedes a word beginning
with s or ! also.
76) /s"-sqata&/ 77) /s"-#ku-maa xalanati&/
3POSS-baby PAST-burn-PROG coal
[s"sqat%a&]/[ksqat%a&] [s"#kúmaa/k#kúma xalánat%i&]
‘his baby’ ‘the coal was burning’
This optional dissimilation is avoided when the k- possessive prefix would be likely to be
confused with the k- locative prefix, for example, #-simáaqati" ‘his/her tongue’, k-simáaqati" ‘on
the tongue’/*‘his/her tongue’.
2.6.2.3 Vowel epenthesis in CCCC consonant clusters. Consonant clusters of more than three
tautosyllabic consonants are prohibited in FM Totonac. Only one morphological context could
potentially create a four consonant cluster, when a verb root beginning with a CC cluster is
prefixed by both of the single consonant prefixes, PAST #- and 1 st person subject k-, as in #-ksnat
‘I was embracing him/her’. In all such cases, the #a- allomorph of the PAST morpheme is
selected to prevent the illegal cluster: #aksnát. Other examples are #akskaak ‘I was drying
myself’, #ak"tatá ‘I was sleeping’, #ak#watá ‘I was dragging it’.
2.6.3 General constraints on vowels. Two phonological processes affecting vowels are active
across all morphological environments, high vowel lowering and low vowel centralization.
2.6.3.1 High vowel lowering. High vowels may not occur adjacent to a uvular segment; they are
lowered to a mid-vowel, whether the vowel involved is long or short. Adjacent to a glottal stop,
! ')!