CHIQUIHUITLÁN MAZATEC
- Facts
- Sources of the data
- Orthography
- Inflectional classes by person marking pattern
- Inflectional classes by person suffixes
- Stem changes and the marking of aspect-mood
- Inflectional classes by tone
Facts
Chiquihuitlán Mazatec is a Mazatec language spoken in the village of San Juan Chiquihuitlán in the state of Oaxaca. The 2000 census estimated the existence of 1,500 speakers. It is the most divergent of Mazatec languages.
Sources of the data
Jamieson Carole, 1996. Diccionario mazateco de Chiquihuitlán, Oaxaca. Tucson, SIL Publications. Available online.
Jamieson Carole, 1988. Gramática mazateca del Municipio de Chuiquihuitlan, Oaxaca. Mexico City: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
Jamieson Carole, 1982. Conflated subsystems marking person and aspect in Chiquihuitlán Mazatec verb, International Journal of American Linguistics 48, 139-167.
Orthography
We have made slight modifications to the practical orthography used in the source materials.
| IPA notation |
Source notation |
Our notation |
|---|---|---|
| NASALITY | Vn | – |
| LENGTH | VV | – |
| β | v | b |
| ʔ | h | ʔ |
| ʃ | x | – |
| tʃ | č | – |
| h | j | h |
| j | y | – |
Tone
Mazatec has a very complex tonal system. While most of the tones are involved in the maintenance of lexical contrasts, some are only found in verbal inflection.
| Level | 1 | High | ho¹ | ‘two’ |
| 2 | Mid-High | sa² | ‘moon’ | |
| 3 | Mid-Low | ntsa³ | ‘my hand’ | |
| 4 | Low | hnu⁴ | ‘corn-field’ | |
| Rising | 21 | Mid-High > High | seen²¹ | ‘I don´t sing’ |
| 31 | Mid-Low > High | khɛɛ³¹ | ‘fault’ | |
| 41 | Low > High | skwɛɛ⁴¹ | ‘s/he'll see’ | |
| 42 | Low > Mid-High | čhoo⁴² | ‘egg’ | |
| Falling | 14 | High > Low | tsa¹⁴ | ‘sack’ |
| 34 | Mid-Low > Low | tyha³⁴ | ‘arm’ | |
| 24 | Mid-High > Low | sen²⁴ | ‘sorrow’ | |
| 214 | Mid-High > High > Low | fiin²¹⁴ | ‘we don't arrive’ | |
| 414 | Low > High > Low | xtiin⁴¹⁴ | ‘we won't dance’ |
Inflectional classes by person marking pattern
Verbs fall into at least three classes attending to how they encode the person of the subject.
| Personal endings | |
|---|---|
| ‘remember’ | |
| 1SG | bas-ɛ |
| 1PL.EXCL | čas-in |
| 1PL.INCL | čas-en |
| 2SG | čas-e |
| 2PL | čas-un |
| 3SG | bas-ɛ |
| Masc | |
| Fem | |
| Animal | |
| 3PL |
| Active pronouns | ||
|---|---|---|
| ‘get closer’ | ||
| matiña | ngaʔan | /matiña-ʔan |
| matiña | ngayin | /matiña-yin |
| matiña | ngayaan | /matiña-yaan |
| matiña | ngaye | /matiña-ye |
| matiña | ngayun | /matiña-yun |
| matiña | ||
| matiña | cha | |
| matiña | na | |
| matiña | chu | |
| matiña | me | |
| Inactive pronouns | |
|---|---|
| ‘have’ | |
| thin | ná |
| thin | nihi |
| thin | naha |
| thin | ri |
| thin | nuhu |
| thin | rɛ |
| thin | rɛ cha |
| thin | rɛ na |
| thin | rɛ chu |
| thin | rɛ me |
The database gives information about all such verbs. Verbs which require pronouns – active (subject-like) or inactive (object-like) – have little morphology, which leaves the verbs with personal endings as the morphologically complex ones.
Inflectional classes by person suffixes
Verbs which take person suffixes fall into different inflectional classes, according to the set of suffixes they take, as presented in the table below. The database indicates the class membership of each verb (INV. stands for invariable).
| POSITIVE POLARITY | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 2SG | 3rd | 1PL EXCL |
1PL INCL |
2PL | |
| INV. | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| I | a | e | a | in | an | un |
| II | an | in | an | in | an | un |
| III | e | e | e | in | en | un |
| IV | ɛ | e | ɛ | in | en | un |
| V | ɛ | i | i | in | en | un |
| VI | eʔen | iʔin | eʔen | iʔin | een | uʔun |
| VIII | en | in | en | in | een | un |
| IX | o | e | o | in | on | un |
| X.a | u | i | u | in | un | un |
| X.b | un | in | un | in | un | un |
| NEGATIVE POLARITY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 2SG | 3rd | 1PL EXCL |
1PL INCL |
2PL |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ |
| an | in | ain | in | an | un |
| an | in | ain | in | an | un |
| en | in | in | iin | en | un |
| en | in | in | in | en | un |
| en | in | in | in | en | un |
| een | iin | iin | iin | een | uun |
| een | iin | iin | iin | een | uun |
| on | in | uain | in | on | un |
| un | in | in | in | un | un |
| un | in | in | in | un | un |
NOTE: Classes II, VIII and X.b have nasal endings, while Class VI has a laryngeal vowel.
Stem changes and the marking of aspect-mood
Verbs inflect for various aspect-moods, but only two are relevant for morphological purposes. In the so-called ‘neutral’ aspect some verbs undergo a stem change involving the 1st person singular and the 3rd person vs. everything else, while others don't. This information is given in the database.
| basɛ | baka | |
|---|---|---|
| ‘remember’ | ‘burn’ | |
| 1SG | basɛ | ba³ka¹ |
| 1PL.EXCL | č+asin | ba²kin²⁴ |
| 1PL.INCL | č+asen | ba²kan² |
| 2SG | č+ase | ba²ke² |
| 2PL | č+asun | ba²kun² |
| 3 | basɛ | ba³ka² |
The completive, or past tense, is built on the neutral form by the marker ka-, probably a clitic, while the progressive has ti-. The forms for the neutral aspect are used when aspect is not on focus. The incompletive is built in more complex ways which also involve stem alternations.
| NEUTRAL | INCPL | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEUTRAL | CPL | PROG | ||
| 1SG | ba³ka¹ | ka=ba³ka¹ | ti=ba³ka¹ | kua³ka¹ |
| 1PL.EXCL | ba²kin²⁴ | ka=ba²kin²⁴ | ti=ba²kin²⁴ | kua⁴kin²⁴ |
| 1PL.INCL | ba²kan² | ka=ba²kan² | ti=ba²kan² | kua⁴kan⁴² |
| 2SG | ba²ke² | ka=ba²ke² | ti=ba²ke² | kua⁴ke² |
| 2PL | ba²kun² | ka=ba²kun² | ti=ba²kun² | kua⁴kun² |
| 3 | ba³ka² | ka=ba³ka² | ti=ba³ka² | kua⁴ka² |
Inflectional classes by tone
The verb baka ‘burn’ illustrates that tone is not only involved in the realisation of person, but also in the expression of aspect-mood.
| NEUTRAL | INCPL | |
|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 3-1 | 3-1 |
| 1PL.EXCL | 2-24 | 4-24 |
| 1PL.INCL | 2-2 | 4-42 |
| 2SG | 2-2 | 4-2 |
| 2PL | 2-2 | 4-2 |
| 3 | (3-2) | (4-2) |
The tones in the form used for the 3rd person are lexical (indicated below by X). Inflectional tone replaces lexical tone. Verbs fall into different tonal classes, which are indicated in the database.
| CLASS | Positive Neutral |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1SG | 2SG | 1PL.EXCL | 1PL.INCL | 2PL | |
| A-11/4-rep | X-X | 3-1 | 3-1 | 3-14 | 3-31 | 3-1 |
| A-11 | X-X | 3-1 | 3-1 | 3-14 | 3-31 | 3-1 |
| B-1 | X-X | 1 | 1 | 14 | 31 | 1 |
| B-1/4-rep | X-X | 1 | 1 | 14 | 31 | 1 |
| B-11 | X-X | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-11/4-rep | X-X | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-14 | X-X | 1-4 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-31 | X-X | 3-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-31/4-rep | X-X | 3-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| C | X-X | 14-3 | 14-3 | 14-34 | 14-42 | 14-3 |
| D-11 | X-X | 1-1 | 3-2 | 3-24 | 3-2 | 3-2 |
| D-31 | X-X | 3-1 | 3-2 | 3-24 | 3-2 | 3-2 |
| CLASS | Negative Neutral | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 2SG | 1PL.EXCL | 1PL.INCL | 2PL | |
| A-11/4-rep | 4-41 | 4-41 | 4-414 | 4-41 | 4-41 |
| A-11 | 2-21 | 2-21 | 2-214 | 2-21 | 2-21 |
| B-1 | 21 | 21 | 214 | 21 | 21 |
| B-1/4-rep | 41 | 41 | 414 | 41 | 41 |
| B-11 | 2-21 | 2-21 | 2-214 | 2-21 | 2-21 |
| B-11/4-rep | 4-41 | 4-41 | 4-414 | 4-41 | 4-41 |
| B-14 | 2-21 | 2-21 | 2-214 | 2-21 | 2-21 |
| B-31 | 2-21 | 2-21 | 2-214 | 2-21 | 2-21 |
| B-31/4-rep | 4-41 | 4-41 | 4-414 | 4-41 | 4-41 |
| C | 24-41 | 24-41 | 24-414 | 24-41 | 24-41 |
| D-11 | 1-1 | 3-2 | 3-24 | 3-2 | 3-2 |
| D-31 | 3-1 | 3-2 | 3-24 | 3-2 | 3-2 |
| CLASS | Positive Incompletive | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1SG | 2SG | 1PL.EXCL | 1PL.INCL | 2PL | |
| A-11/4-rep | 4-X | 3-1 | 4-1 | 4-14 | 4-31 | 4-1 |
| A-11 | 4-X | 3-1 | 3-1 | 3-14 | 3-31 | 3-1 |
| B-1 | 4-X | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-1/4-rep | 4-X | 1-1 | 4-2 | 4-24 | 4-2 | 4-2 |
| B-11 | 4-X | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-11/4-rep | 4-X | 1-1 | 4-2 | 4-24 | 4-2 | 4-2 |
| B-14 | 4-X | 1-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-31 | 4-X | 3-1 | 2-2 | 2-24 | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| B-31/4-rep | 4-X | 3-1 | 4-2 | 4-24 | 4-42 | 4-2 |
| C | X-X | 14-3 | 14-3 | 14-34 | 14-42 | 14-3 |
| D-11 | 4-X | 1-1 | 3-2 | 3-24 | 3-2 | 3-2 |
| D-31 | 4-X | 3-1 | 3-2 | 3-24 | 3-2 | 3-2 |
Note: We have not been able to reconstruct the Negative Incompletive with certainty.
