origins of alternation and variation: rethinking the "urban nahuatl" hypothesis

Origins of alternation and variation:

Rethinking the “Urban Nahuatl” Hypothesis

Mitsuya SASAKI （佐々木充文） (Univ. of Tokyo, JSPS Research Fellow)

150th Meeting of the LSJ at Danto Bunka University

June 20, 2015

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Outline

1. Introduction (Nahuatl and Classical Nahuatl)

2. The “Urban Nahuatl” hypothesis by Canger

3. Diffusion of the “urban” features

4. Rethinking the koine theory

5. Modern dialectal mixture in Highland Puebla

6. Conclusion

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Nahuatl (Nahua)

Uto-Aztecan > Southern UA > Nahuan

1.5 million speakers in Mexico

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©Google

Classical Nahuatl

16–17c. written documents

Valley of Mexico

– Mexico-Tenochtitla

(Mexico City)

“Language of the Aztecs”

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Valley of Mexico

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©Google

Canger’s (2011) hypothesis

Traditional view

Nahuatl

Huasteca

Eastern

Central Classical

Western

“Urban Nahuatl” hypothesis

CN as an urban koine

By-product of the intense

dialect contact in Mexico-

Tenochtitlan

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“Urban Nahuatl” hypothesis

7 Photo by Wolfgang Sauber via Wikimedia Commons

“Urban” traits (Canger 2011)

i. Contraction of possessive prefixes ii. Assimilation in reflexive prefixes iii. Truncated stem of “to go” iv. Metathesis in certain applicative forms v. Use of short stems in thepreterit tense vi. Allomorphy in plural formation vii. Lexical variation

= features limited to the “urban” area

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(i) Possessive prefixes: “X’s paper”

Classical Nahuatl

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Sg. Pl.

1 n-āma-w t-āma-w 2 m-āma-w am-āma-w 3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w

Outside of the Valley of Mexico Sg. Pl.

1 no-āma-w to-āma-w 2 mo-āma-w (n)amo-āma-w 3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w

(ii) Reflexive prefixes: “to seat oneself”

Classical Nahuatl

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Sg. Pl.

1 ni-no-tlālia ti-to-tlālia 2 ti-mo-tlālia am-mo-tlālia 3 Ø-mo-tlālia Ø-mo-tlālia


1 ni-mo-tlālia ti-mo-tlālia 2 ti-mo-tlālia (n)am-mo-tlālia 3 Ø-mo-tlālia Ø-mo-tlālia

The verb stem “to go”

Classical Nahuatl

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Sg. Pl.

1 ni-yaw ti-wi-’ 2 ti-yaw an-wi-’ 3 Ø-yaw Ø-wi-’


1 ni-yawi ti-yawi-h 2 ti-yawi (n)an-yawi-h 3 Ø-yawi Ø-yawi-h

“Urban” traits (Canger 2011)

i. Contraction of possessive prefixes ii. Assimilation in reflexive prefixes iii. Truncated stem of “to go” iv. Metathesis in certain applicative forms v. Use of short stems in thepreterit tense vi. Allomorphy in plural formation vii. Lexical variation

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Dialectal koineization

“Regional koine” (Siegel, 1985)

– Greek koine; colloquial koineized Arabic

“Interdialect” (Trudgill, 1986)

– Development of /øy/ in Oslo Norwegian

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Distribution of the “urban” traits

Contraction of possessive prefixes – *no-āmaw “my paper” > n-āmaw

Assimilation in reflexive prefixes – *ni-mo-tlālia “I seat myself” > ni-no-tlālia

“Metathesis” in applicative forms – *-pātsowi-liā ”to crush for s.o.” > -pātsolwiā

Short preterit stem – -kīsa “to go out” > pret. -kīs (cf. Eastern Nahua: -kīsa-k)

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Valley of Mexico

15 ©Google

The use of short preterit stems is observed everywhere in Central Nahuatl

kīsa “he goes out” kīs ”he went out”

Diffusion of the urban traits

Valley of Mexico

1. Milpa Alta

2. Amanalco

Other areas

3. Naupan

4. Colonial Tlaxcala

5. Zacapoaxtla

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Diffusion of the “urban” features

Class. M.Alta Aman. Nau. Tlax. Zacap.

Contraction in possessive + + – – – –

Assimilation in reflexive + + + – – –

-lwiā metathesis + + + + – –

Short preterit stem + + + + + –

e~i variability e, i i i e i i

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Classical Nahuatl as a koine?

The new features of Classical Nahuatl

consistently increase irregularity and

morphological opacity

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Possessive prefixes: _V vs. _C

Classical Nahuatl

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Sg. Pl.

1 n-āma-w t-āma-w 2 m-āma-w am-āma-w 3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w

Other dialects Sg. Pl.

1 no-āma-w to-āma-w 2 mo-āma-w (n)amo-āma-w 3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w

Sg. Pl.

1 no-meka-w to-meka-w 2 mo-meka-w amo-meka-w 3 ī-meka-w īm-meka-w

Sg. Pl.

1 no-āma-w to-āma-w

2 mo-āma-w (n)amo-āma-w

3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w

-lwiā metathesis in applicative forms

Classical Nahuatl

-nōtsa / -nōchi-liā

-i’tlakoā / i’tlaka-lwiā

-pātsoā / -pātsi-lwiā

-poloā / -polwiā

Other dialects

-nōtsa / -nōchi-liā

-ihtlakoā / ihtlakowi-liā

-pātsoā / -pātsowi-liā

-poloā / polowi-liā

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Noun pluralization

Classical Nahuatl

chichi / chichi-me’

siwā-tl / siwa-’

tōch-in / tō~tōch-tin

kōwā-tl / kō~kōwa-’

tēlpōch-tli / tēlpō~pōch-tin

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Ixquihuacan, Puebla

tipē-tl / tipē-meh

siwā-tl / siwā-meh

tōch-tli / tōch-meh

kōwā-tl / kōwā-meh

tēlpōch-tli / tēlpōch-meh

Typical koineization (1)

“This reduction [of variability] takes

place through the process of koinéization,

which consists of the levelling (...) and of

simplification, which involves, crucially, a

reduction in irregularities.”

(Trudgill, 1986, 102)

e.g. Greek koine

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Typical koineization (2)

Interdialectal forms in Oslo Norwegian

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(Rekdal, 1971 cited in Trudgill, 1986)

Sunndal Oslo Interdialect

“to work” /jub/ /jɔbǝ/ /jubǝ/

“the matches” /fyʂʈikɔɲ/ /fyʂʈikǝɲǝ/ /fyʂʈikan/

A Pre-Tenochtitlan Mexica speech community?

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Códice Boturini via Wikimedia Commons

Dialect contact in Highland Puebla

Sierra Nahuat (azz)

– Eastern

Western Sierra (nhi)

– Central

Northern Puebla (ncj)

– Central

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Ixquihuacan

Optionality in Ixquihuacan Nahuatl

Two 1PL subject prefixes (ti-/sē-)

Optional use of pret. -ki in some verbs – ōtlã (< ōtlan) ~ ōtlan-ki “it finished”

Omission of the 3PL object prefix k- – ō-ki-kwah ~ ō-kwah “he ate it”

Lexical variations – chikāk ~ chikāwak “strong”

etc.

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Origin of optionality (1)

Tenango

First person plural ti-

Impersonal sē-

(Schroeder, 2014)

Ixquihuacan

First person plural

sē- (more frequent)

ti- (less frequent)

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Two 1PL subject prefixes (ti-/sē-)


Classical Ixquihuacan Huasteca etc.

“He goes out” kīsa kīsa kīsa

“He went out” ō-kīs ō-kīs ~ ō-kīs-ki ō-kīs-ki

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Optional use of preterit -ki (in some Class 2 verbs)


Ixquihuacan chikāwak ~ chikāk “strong”

“We don’t say chikāk; that’s the way they

speak in San Francisco [Ixquihuacan]”

(speaker from Analco)

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Prehispanic vs. modern dialect contact

Classical Nahuatl

Prestigious variant

Alternation, allomorphy

Elaborated irregularity

Modern dialect contact

Absence of a prestigious

variant

Optionality, synonymy;

coexistence of competing

forms

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Speakers’ attitudes

Spanish

Nahuatl dialect B

Nahuatl dialect A

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Vertical vs. horizontal contact?

Dialect A

Dialect B Optionality

Synonyms

Regularization

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Dialect A Dialect B

Preservation of

prestigious irregularity

Alternation, allomorphy

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Ōannēchmocnēlilihqueh! (Classical)

Tlasohkāmati! (Modern)

origins of alternation and variation: rethinking the "urban nahuatl" hypothesis

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