Elements between compound verbs in Colonial Valley Zapotec

Several words that function as single words in most modern Valley Zapotec languages are compounds, often with the word lachi 'heart'.  For example, a verb like r-ielilachi is 'believe' in several modern languages.

The general structure in modern languages is Asp[Verb-lachi](=adv clitics)

In the Colonial texts, we see a number of elements that may appear between the final root in the compound and the initial material.  So we instead see a structure like

Asp-Verb (=clitics) (other elements?) lachi

The following examples show some of the items that are between the two parts.
a.) The negative clitic =ti
This example shows up in the phrase aca xi penni=ti lachi=a 'I have not paid attention'

Aguero 1666 p. 6

b.) a quantifier like quitobi 'all'

This is in the phrase Coxenni quitobi lachi=a 'I have entrusted all'

Aguero 1666 p. 6

c.) adverbs like chahui 'well'
d.) emphatic clitics like =lij and =ca

Both of these possibilities are shown in the following example:

Aguero 1666 p 2

[to be continued]

A verb of position as a diachronic source for continuous aspect in Zapotec?

This morning I was reading a bit of


Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins, and William Pagliuca (1994). The Evolution of Grammar. Tense,
Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World, Chicago: The University of Chicago.

where she discusses the evolution of progressive aspect in languages around the world.  In many languages, it originates in some construction that involves a locative expression, either with a verb of position or something like 'be in X'.

This got me to wondering about the Continuous aspect in modern Valley Zapotec languages.   This is not a well-attested aspect in Colonial Valley Zapotec, but I find some examples of incipient grammaticalization, all in the construction 'I say', where the verb nni is used with a preceding ca- prefix that looks very much like the continuous aspect ca- found in modern Valley Zapotec.

A possible connection to a verb of position is the word cáá 'hang, be located (in a high place)'.  The lexical entry for this word in San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec in the current draft of my own dictionary looks like the following:

In the Colonial Valley Zapotec examples that I have, only 'I speak' is used with a preceding ca:

It is probably also significant that both of these examples are accompanied by the adverb anna 'now', as would be appropriate for a continous aspect marker.   

But I do want to emphasize that continous aspect marking is incipient in Colonial Valley Zapotec, and I haven't identified any other examples in the texts.  In modern Valley Zapotec languages, you can use continous for a wide range of verbs; in CVZ only the verb 'say' is attested so far.

Preverbal adverbs in Triqui

In previous posts here and here, I talked about the adverbs that show up immediately after the verb in Copala Triqui.  I've recently been looking at a few that are in the class of immediately preverbal adverbs.  One such adverb is yo'o or 'o which means 'continuously' (it is homophonous with the numeral 'one').

2 Thess 1:4

Another adverb in this group is ve'é 'well', as in the following example:

     

Hollenbach on p. 253 of her sketch also has examples of the adverbs nanj 'thus' and two intensives uxrá and tiquij (both meaning 'a lot, very much') in the same preverbal position. 

I don't have examples in my data of tiquij in my corpus.  I do have many examples of uxrá, but most are postverbal instead of preverbal.

Adverb positions in Triqui 2

The adverb uún 'also' also typically appears between the verb and the subject, as in the following example (twice) (click to enlarge)

Also in the following example, between 'go' and 'Grandmother Ca'aj':

Adverb positions in Triqui 1

My friend Christian in his blog post here, asks a question about adverbs that intervene between the verb and the 1st person clitic subject.   That prompted me to start searching my corpus for examples of adverbs that appear between the verb and the subject.  (I don't have 1st person examples for all these, so I need to verify with a speaker that the 1st person appears in the same place as other subjects.)

Here's my first example, with the adverb uun 'just, only':

The next is yuve 'secretly':

More examples to come in future posts, but the logic of this argument is to look at a full range of items that appear in this position, and to ask whether it is sensible to think of all such adverbs as incorporated.