Zinacantec Tzotzil Problem Set 1 Notes This problem set introduces transitive verb morphology. Verbs agree in person with their subjects, and in person/number with their direct objects (this will turn out to be part of an ergative/absolutive agreement system). In addition, the first person plural object agreement displays an inclusive/exclusive distinction. Evidence for this distinction comes from glosses and starred forms. Subject agreement is expressed with a prefix, whereas object agreement is expressed with a suffix; these are as follows: Subj Obj 1s j- -on p -otik (incl) -otikotik (excl) 2s a- -ot p -oxuk 3s s- -0 p -0 All of the verb forms in this set occur in the perfective aspect. This is marked by the suffix -oj. This suffix precedes the object agreement markers, thus, the verb forms are all of the form: Subj-Stem-Perfect-Object Yes/no questions are introduced with the interrogative particle mi; this seems to occur as a separate word from the verb. There are no overt noun phrases in this set, indicating that Tzotzil is a pro-drop language. Zinacantec Tzotzil Problem Set 2 Notes Part 1 of this problem introduces intransitive verbs and non-verbal predicates. The suffixes that mark person/number agreement with subjects are the same as those that mark agreement with objects in transitive verbs, indicating an ergative/absolutive agreement system. The verb forms cited are in the perfective aspect, but intransitive verbs use a different perfect suffix: -em. These verb forms follow the same pattern as those of set 1, except they lack the ergative prefixes: Stem-Perfect-Absolutive Predicate nominals and adjectives such as "She is a woman" and "They are tall" exhibit the same absolutive agreement as the intransitive verb forms. However, they are not inflected for aspect: Non-verbal predicate-Absolutive This is one of the indications that these nonverbal predicates are not verbs. The data in part 2 establishes the two imperative suffixes -- one for intransitive stems (-an), the other for transitive stems (-o). This latter suffix does not surface with with overt absolutive suffixes. Since these are all vowel-initial, one could conclude that the imperative suffix precedes the absolutive suffixes, but is deleted before another vowel. A plural suffix -ik (marking plural addressee) is also introduced. This follows all other suffixes, and triggers /o/-deletion when there is no intervening overt absolutive suffix (i.e., when it is "preceded" by the zero 3rd person absolutive suffix). Thus, imperatives appear to be of the form: Intransitive Stem-an-(ik) Transitive Stem-o-(Absolutive)-(ik) Along with a (possibly morphologically conditioned) rule that deletes /o/ before another vowel. Zinacantec Tzotzil Problem Set 3 Notes Taken as a whole, this series of little problems provides data on the ergative prefixes which occur with glottal stop initial transitive verb stems. The initial glottal stop drops after the ergative prefix, so you don't see it on the verb form (part 1). However, the glottal stop surfaces in various other forms: perfect passives (part 2); certain agentive nominals (part 3); certain reduplicated forms (part 4). There are no vowel-initial verb stems in the language. So the main division is between 7-initial, and those beginning with other consonants. (Instructor's note to instructor's note: Parts 2, 3, and 4 were not included in the problem you got.) Part 1 shows that a new set of ergative prefixes is used for glottal stop initial verb stems: 1 k- 2 av- 3 y- The initial glottal stop is dropped after these prefixes. However, at this point it might be more reasonable to presume that the stems in question are vowel-initial, and that this new set of prefixes occurs before vowel initial stems, with the glottal stop inserted word initially. ... Zinacantec Tzotzil Problem Set 4 Notes Part 1 of this set introduces completive and incompletive aspectual prefixes (7i- and ta x- respectively). Since this part includes only intransitive verbs with 3rd person subjects (thus, zero-absolutive agreement), it would be reasonable to presume that the morphotactics are as follows: Aspect-Stem-Absolutive Part 1 also establishes that the same affixes used to cross-reference ergatives in clauses are used to cross-reference genitives within NPs. In addition, certain kinterms are restricted to the kin of males or the kin of females. Part 1 illustrates two morphophonological processes: the optional contraction of the incompletive prefix (ta x- --> ch-), and an example of spirant assimilation (in this case, s --> x / __ ch). Part 2 demonstrates the use of the aspectual prefixes in transitive clauses (but again, always with 3rd person absolutives, thus, no reason to believe that absolutive agreement is anything but a zero suffix). The aspectual prefixes precede the ergative prefixes: Aspect-Ergative-Stem-Absolutive Part 2 illustrates more morphophonological processes; these are summarized as follows: x-y --> x /ta x-y-7il/ --> ta xil 'he'll see it' x-j --> j /ta x-j-man/ --> ta jman 'I'll buy it' x-s --> s /ta x-s-toj/ --> ta stoj 'she is paying him' x-x --> x /ta x-s-chon/ --> ta xxchon --> ta xchon 'he is selling it' s-x --> x /s-xonob/ --> xonob 'her sandals' s-s --> s /7i-s-suk'/ --> 7isuk' 'she rinsed it out' With the exception of the first two, which appear to be somewhat idiosyncratic, these processes might be characterized as spirant assimilation followed by degemination. The incompletive prefix contracts to /tz/ when its /x/ has been deleted through assimilation and degemination triggered by a following /s/: underlying: /ta x-s-toj/ 'she is paying him' assimilation: ta sstoj degemination: ta stoj contraction: tztoj When the result of a contraction is identical with the following segment, it is deleted by degemination: underlying: /ta x-s-tzob/ 'she is gathering them together' assimilation: ta sstzob degemination: ta stzob contraction: tztzob degemination: tzob underlying: /ta x-s-chabi/ 'he is caring for them' assimilation: ta xxchabi degemination: ta xchabi contraction: chchabi degemination: chabi OVERALL: These problem sets provide enough data to determine that: Tzotzil's basic word order is VOS Agreement is Ergative/Absolutive The ergative markers serve as possessor markers The absolutive markers cross-reference subjects of nonverbal predicates There is suppletive allomorphy in both aspect and mood that is sensitive to transitivity There is phonologically conditioned allomorphy in the ergative markers Students should end up with a better sense of how ergative-absolutive agreement systems work, and of how morphotactics, allomorphy, and morphophonology interact in the expression of verbal morphology.