The phonology and morphology of Filomeno Mata Totonac

122)/waa-nan-niita&-[cg] 2 / 123) /puuti-niita&-ts’a&/
eat-IND.O-PRFT-2SUB.sg evaporate-PRFT-YA
[waayaníit’a&] [puutiníitats’]
‘you have eaten’ ‘it has already evaporated’
124)/tsuku-niita&-wa&/ 125) /snapu-niita&-titi&/
begin-PRFT-1pl cover-PRFT-2SUB.pl
[tsukuniitáw] [snapuniitátit h i&]
‘we have begun’ ‘you pl. have covered it’
2.6.4.4.3 Suffixes ending in latent vowels. Most monosyllabic suffixes ending in latent
vowels—person/aspect markers 2OBJ –ni", 1pl –w!, 2Sub.sg –ti", perfective –li"; and nominal
pluralizer and deverbal nominalizers –ni" ---simplify, in the ways described below.
2.6.4.4.3.1 Person markers –ni! and –w!. When –ni" 2OBJ or –w! 1pl follow a vowel-final stem,
the latent vowel deletes entirely and the sonorant resyllabifies with the final syllable of the stem.
Evidence that the latent vowel is deleted comes from the facts of post-lexical vowel epenthesis.
When a consonant-final word precedes a consonant-initial word, a constraint requires the
insertion of a vowel node that is filled either by the latent vowel following the consonant if
present, or by the general epenthetic vowel i (see §2.6.5.1). Following a verb ending in
resyllabified –wa", i is inserted, not a, demonstrating that the latent vowel has been deleted. When
either suffix occurs after an obstruent, the entire suffix devoices.
126)/maqtaqa#-ni&/ 127) /qaps-wa&/
care.for-2OBJ fold-1pl
[maqtaqá#n&i&] [qápsw&a&]
‘she cared for you’ ‘we folded it’
128)/kuc"u-ii-ni&/ 129) /skiti-wa&/
cure-TRAN-2OBJ grind-1pl
[kuc"íin] [skitíw]
‘she cured him’ ‘we ground it’
2 [cg], or constricted glottis, is a floating feature that marks second person subject in some
contexts.
! ('!