The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

For some speakers, the –ii form is used productively with most roots, but for others, consonantfinal
verbs with a or u in the root take the vowel harmonic form of the transitivizer.
104)/maa-xas"-ii/ 105) /maa-skux-ii/
CAUS-rest-TRAN CAUS-work-TRAN
[maaxas"áa] [maaskuxúu]
‘he makes him rest’ ‘he makes her work’
For all speakers, monosyllabic vowel-final verb roots that undergo glide epenthesis rather than
vowel coalescence (see §2.6.4.1) when suffixed with the transitivizer, show vowel harmony.
106) /#ku-ii/
burn-TRAN
[#kuyúu]
‘she burns it’
The other vowel harmonic affix is the indefinite object suffix. It is a valence-decreasing
morpheme that detransitivizes transitive roots and often adds a habitual meaning (see §5.4.4.1),
e.g. staa ‘s/he sells it’, staanán ‘s/he sells (for a living)’. Some verb roots are lexicalized to
appear with this suffix, except when causitivized. For some speakers, the usual form of the
INDEFINITE OBJECT is –nan, with vowel harmony only with certain roots with final i or u.
The vowel harmonic allomorphs below seem to be frozen, lexicalized forms rather than the result
of a productive constraint for these speakers.
107) Examples of vowel harmony in -nan
c%axa-nan tsoq-nun c%ic%i-nín qoxoo-nún
‘it hails’ ‘he writes’ ‘it’s hot’ ‘he coughs’
pa"-nán poNqs%-nún siit-nín
‘she sweeps’ ‘she washes (clothes)’ ‘he cuts (w/ scissors)
Common lexicalized non-harmonic forms for all speakers are:
108) Non-harmonic examples in -nan
c%iwii-nán loonq-nán lukux-nán qa"ti-nán
‘s/he speaks’ ‘it’s cold’ ‘s/he fights’ ‘s/he responds’
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