ReReReduplication in Nahuatl

Reduplication occurs in both nouns and verbs in Nahuatl. Discussed here are 3 forms (among many others) of reduplication on verbs.

• Reduplication happens to the root of a verb
• Reduplication most commonly occurs as prefixation on the verb
• Reduplication occurs with the first consonant and first vowel (CV), along with a phonological modification to the V

There are three possible phonological patterns of reduplication in Nahuatl; the first is with a short vowel (CV), the second is with a glottal stop (CVʔ), and the third is with a long vowel (CV:).

 

1) Intensifying the action: reduplicating the first CV of a verb with the /CV:/ pattern of reduplication makes the action more intense.

Example A:

a) Huel-tza:-tza’tzi

3sgS-INTENSE.shout

‘He shouts very loudly’

In this example, we see that the first CV of the verb tza’tzi has been reduplicated as a prefix and the vowel lengthened phonetically to make the ‘shouting louder’.

tza’tzi shout

tza: – tza’tzi INTENSE – shout ‘shout very loudly’

b)  Here we see the verb zaca undergoing reduplication of the first CV a prefix with the vowel being lengthened to mean ‘lots of transportation happening’.

ni – tla – zaca 1sgS – thing – transport ‘I transport something’

ni-tla-za:-zaca 1sgS – thing-INTENSE.transport ‘I transport many things’

Shown below is the word structure tree for ni-tla-za:-zaca to show how the morphemes attach. Interestingly, the noun tla and the verb with reduplication za:zaca form a compound. The inflection attaches after compounding has taken place.

2) Distributive: When the first CV of a verb root is reduplicated with the /CVʔ/ pattern, the action is distributed to several recipients.

Example B:

In this example we see the first CV of the verb zaca undergoing reduplication with a glottal stop after the vowel to make the ‘transportation being distributed to many places’.

zaca transport

ni – tla – zaʔ – zaca 1sgS – thing – DISTRIBUTIVE-transport ‘I transport something to various places’

3) Pluralizing the Subject/object of verb: reduplicating the first CV of the verb root with the /CVʔ/ pattern can pluralize the subject or object of the verb.

Example C:

In this example we see a reduplication of the first CV of the verb tlapohua along with a glottal stop after the vowel to pluralize the door that is being referred to.

mo – inpuerta – tlapohua – 1sgPOSSESSIVE  – door – open ‘my door opens’

mo – inpuerta – tla’tlapohua 1sgPOSSESSIVE – door plural – open ‘All my doors open’

Note: typo in example C fixed (possessive-V-N fixed to possessive-N-V)

Shown below are the 1) Word Structure Tree  2) Deep Structure Syntax tree  3) Surface Structure Syntax Tree (showing head-movement of the verb)

Note: the reduplicative prefix does not change the category of the unit.

1) 

QP is ‘assumed’ for the reduplicative morpheme and it dominates VP. It only has semantic content and a phonological shape.

2) 

3) 

Note: Reduplication also occurs to convey other less commonly used meanings in Nahuatl verbs that are not discussed here, for example, verb weakening in which a verb like ‘eat’ (cua) would become ‘graze’ (eg: sheep-grazing) (cucua) with first CV reduplication.

Note: typo fixed cuacua changed to cucua