Verbs of wearing in San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec and Copala Triqui

Work in progress -- Verbs of wearing in Zapotec and Copala Triqui show tremendous complexity in the relationship between the lexical semantics and the syntactic realization of the arguments.  They include whether the person, the body part of the person, or the item of the clothing is selected as subject of the sentence. I think these verbs pose tremendous problems for simple versions of mapping theory.

 

Verbs of wearing in San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec

 

Verb	Subject	Object	Items	Example	Translation
rr-cáá	Clothing	Body part of Person	glasses, tattoos, scars, shoes, watches	1.) Cáá rrèlòj náá=eby	1.) He is wearing a watch (on his hand).
r-ajcw	Person	Clothing	shirt, dress (vestido)	1) R-àjcw Juáàny cùtòòny.	1.) Juan is wearing a shirt. (15:011)
r-áày	Person	Clothing	skirt, diapers	1.) N-ááy bdòò zù'údy	1.) The baby is wearing diapers.
rr-be'cy	Person	Clothing	pants, underwear	1.) Rr-bè'cy Juáàny pàntlòòn.	1.) Juan is wearing pants.
n-ù'ú	Clothing	Body part of Person	earrings, false teeth, wigs, stockings, belts, girdles, gloves, ribbons, hat	1.)N-ù'ú lìxtóóny ììcy=bi. 2.) N-ù'ú làày pòstííjs rù'ú=by	1.)She has a ribbon on her head. 2. He has false teeth in his mouth. (15:030)

 

 

 

Verbs of wearing in Copala Triqui

Verb	Subject	Object	Items	Example	Translation
'nij	Body part of Person	Clothing	shoes, gloves, sash	'nij ra'a Juán nuj guanté. Juán 'nij catuu̱n marque̱.	Juan is wearing gloves. Juan is wearing a sash. [Inserted BP Theme]
nuu (1)	Person	Clothing	shirt, huipil, pants, dress, underwear	Nuu Juán cotoó mare̱e.	Juan is wearing a red shirt [Wear Person Theme]
nuu (2)	Clothing	Body part of person	hat, mask	Nuu nave̱ raa̱ Juán. Nuu nuj na'na̱ rihaan Juán.	Juan has a hat on his head. Juan has a mask on his face. [Is-placed Theme BP]
nuu (3)	Body part of person	Clothing	glasses, ring, watch	Nuu rihaan Juán scura̠a̠n.	Juan is wearing glasses. [Supports BP Theme]
táá	Clothing	Body part of person	turban, mask	Táá tsej raa̱ Juán.	Juan is wearing a turban. [Be-on-top Theme BP]
nacutáj ~ nutáj	Clothing	Body part of person	diaper	Nacuta̱a̱ tséj catuu̱n ne'ej.	The baby will wear a diaper. [Encircle Theme BP]

 

Unreal ni- in Colonial Valley Zapotec, continued

The following example from Aguero (1666) shows some instances of a puzzling <oo> between the prefix /ni-/ and the following verb stem.

Aguero, Confessionario, p2

Unreal ni- in Colonial Valley Zapotec

Another example of early use of ni-, in a negative context:

Feria f31

The literal sense of the 3rd line is something like 'if he had not wanted, then all the Jews and all the people of the world would not be (strong) enough to touch him.'