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.