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Honorifics in Mösiehuali̱
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In Mösiehuali, when you speak to or about an adult, you generally need to use honorific forms (also called reverential or respect forms). There are also extra- or ultra-honorific forms which allow speakers to express unusually high degrees of respect on certain occasions, for instance when speaking to god-parental relatives or in prayer to God.
Details are given below on the following topics:
There are recordings of many of the examples, marked . The sound files average about 50KB in size.
Honorifics on verbs
Second person honorifics on verbs
Second person honorific forms on verbs are generally formed by a combination of the reflexive prefix mo- with a causative or applicative suffix such as -ti̱a or -li̱a. These combinations produce a meaning something like cause yourself to do it (causative) or do it for yourself (applicative), rather than the non-honorific (and simpler) do it. Sometimes a different verb stem with a causative meaning is used instead of a causative suffix, like take/carry youself for the non-honorific go.
When the respected second person is subject of an intransitive verb, the causative suffix is usually the one that is used.
For instance:
When the respected second person is the subject of a transitive verb, an applicative is generally used instead of a causative, though some verbs use a causative anyway. If the object is third person singular (and sometimes if it is plural) no object prefix other than mo- is used, but if it is first or second person (and sometimes when it is third plural) the object prefix precedes mo-.
For example:
When the respected second person is the object of a transitive verb, the same combination of mo- and a causative or applicative is used as if that person were subject, but the object prefix mi̱tz- (for singulars) or nemiech- (for plurals) appears, preceding mo-. (The use of nemiech- prevents using a subject prefix, so where it occurs the subject must be deduced from the context.)
Since the reflexive prefix mo- is used to mark respect in all these forms, the problem comes up of how to express reflexivity. It is done by utilizing, instead of a causative or applicative, the honorific suffix -tzinoa (a combination of honorific -tzi(n) with the verbalizer -oa), which when combined with mo- means honorific reflexive.
Stem | Non-honorific | Honorific | Meaning | Added morphemes |
---|---|---|---|---|
i̱jta | ti̱mojta | tomojtajtzinoa | you see yourself | mo-, -tzinoa |
i̱lfi̱a | ti̱molfis | ti̱molfi̱jtzinus | you will tell yourself | mo-, -tzinoa, -s future |
Third person honorifics on verbs
When the subject of a verb is a third person who should be spoken of with respect, the verb usually carries an honorific suffix -hua or -lo, or sometimes -o. (These suffixes produced passive verbs in Classical Nahuatl, and there are still traces of that usage in some corners of the Mösiehuali̱ lexicon.) As the examples will illustrate, the vowel i̱ appears in its "long" form i when it precedes -hua or -lo, and o similarly appears in its "long" form u when it precedes -lo. Some forms are irregular in other ways.
The hu of -hua is not written when it follows o, even though it is pronounced (as can be heard in the sound file for biloa below.)
Especially in tenses where plurality is not marked by a suffix, it is normal for plural honorifics to be reduplicated. Thus, for instance, nejnemoa means they (respected ones) live, niechi̱ji̱jtalo means they (respected ones) see me.
In the future, the preterite, and the subjunctive, the third person honorific is sometimes formed with -hua or -lo, with the affixes appropriate to the tense or mood. Nevertheless, it is also usual to use the normal plural non-honorific form, with an honorific singular meaning.
For third person honorific objects special prefixes are used: tie- singular, and tie-in/m- plural. (Tie- comes from the prefix tē- non-specified human object which appears in Classical Nahuatl and in other modern variants, in/m- is the same element that occurs in the non-honorific object prefix qu-i̱n/m- them).
Reflexive third person honorifics use the object prefix ne-, which in Classical Nahuatl and other variants means non-specified reflexive/reciprocal human object, and still has traces of that meaning in mösiehuali̱. (E.g. ne-maca, with maca give, doesn't mean (honorable person) give himself/herself (something) but rather sell, that is exchange with someone merchandise for money). Since the subject (like the object) is an honored third person, the appropriate suffix (-lo or -hua) is used.
Stem | Non-honorific | Honorific | Meaning | Added morphemes |
---|---|---|---|---|
i̱jta | mojta | nei̱jtalo | he/she sees him/herself | ne-, -lo |
i̱lfi̱a | molfis | nei̱lfilus, nei̱lfisqui̱ | he/she will tell him/herself | ne-, -lo, -s future, -qui̱ plural |
Third person extra-honorifics in verbs
Extra-honorific third person forms can be produced according to the same rules as for second person, but without the second person subject prefix ti- or ne(n)-.
Stem | Non-honorific | Honorific | Meaning | Added morphemes |
---|---|---|---|---|
pano | ti̱mopanulti̱a | mopanulti̱a | (you hon., he/she extra-hon) pass(es) | mo-, -lti̱a causative |
nemi̱ | nenmonemi̱ti̱a | monejnemiti̱a | (you pl. hon., they extra hon.) live | mo-, -ti̱a causative |
ya(bi̱) | ti̱mobica | mobica | (you hon., he/she extra-hon.) go(es) | mo-, bica carry instead of ya(bi̱) go |
Ultra-honorific forms can be made from combinations of that pattern with -lo. Consider the following examples, built on the stem chiwa do:
Other honorifics
Pronouns
The second and third person independent pronouns have honorific forms. Here they are presented next to the non-honorific forms for easy comparison. It will be noted that the morpheme -tzi(n) honorific, diminutive appears in the honorific forms.
The syllable jua that occurs in these forms could also be (and has sometimes been) written juö; the phonetic difference between a and ö following [w] is very slight.
Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Non-honorific | Honorific | Non-honorific | Honorific | |
2nd person | taja | tejuatzi | nemejua | nemejuantzi̱tzi |
3rd person | yaja | yejuatzi | yejua | yejuantzi̱tzi |
Possessives and postpositional objects
In Mösiehuali̱ (as in Nahuatl generally) the possessive pronouns and the pronominal objects of postpositions are formally identical. The honorific forms are again presented together with the corresponding non-honorifics. Once again -tzi(n) appears in some of the honorifics. (The noun stem cal house is used to illustrate the use of possessives, and the postposition -pan in, on to illustrate the use of postpositional objects.)
Possessive | Object of a postposition | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Non-honorific | Honorific | Non-honorific | Honorific | |
2nd person sg. | mocal your house |
mocaltzi your (hon.) house |
mopa in/on you |
mopantzi in/on you hon. |
2nd person pl. | nemocal you children's house |
nemocaltzi you adults' house |
nemopa in/on you children |
nemopantzi in/on you adults |
3rd person sg. | ical (child)'s house |
tiecal (adult)'s house tiecaltzi (highly respected person)'s house |
ipa in/on him/her/it (child, thing) |
tiepa in/on him/her (adult) tiepantzi in/on him/her (highly respected person) |
3rd person pl. | incal (children)'s house |
tieincal their (adults') house tieincaltzi their (highly respected people's) house |
impa in/on them (children, things) |
tieimpa in/on them (adults) tieimpantzi in/on them (highly respected people) |
Nouns
Some Mösiehuali̱ nouns can take -tzi(n) with an honorific meaning (though on others it will have a diminutive meaning or both). For example, tlöcatl means man, and tlöcatzintli̱ means lord, dignitary, gentleman; teopi̱xqui̱ is priest, and teopi̱xcötzintli̱ is (respected) priest. Some words always take this suffix. For example, you would always say nocultzi my grandfather or nosi̱jtzi my grandmother; *nocul or *nosis would sound terribly rude or uncouth.
For naming adult men one often uses the almost prefixal word ru, which comes from the Spanish don. For instance, ru Mönobiel Sir Manuel, Mr. Manuel corresponds to the Spanish don Manuel. The names of adult women (with the exception of one's own wife) normally bear the honorific suffix -tzi(n), for instance Xohuanajtzi, from the Spanish (doña) Juana, means Lady Jane.
--David Tuggy
The Mösiehuali̱ speaker whose voice is heard in the examples is Trinidad Ramírez Amaro.
References
For a more technical and extensive description of the Mösiehuali̱ honorific system, see the article "Nahuatl honorifics" by Richard S. Pittman. Also see the section on honorifics in David Tuggy's grammatical sketch (1979:94-102), and the brief description in Tuggy 1981:516-519.
The Vocabulario Mexicano de Tetelcingo gives a second and a third person honorific form for each verb it lists which takes a human subject. It gives a brief explanation of the honorific system on pages 271-272.
J. & K. Hill (1978) describes honorific usage in Nahuatl-speaking communities near the Malinche volcano (states of Puebla and Tlaxcala.) [Jane Hill & Kenneth Hill. 1978. Honorific usage in modern Nahuatl. Language 54:123-155.]
See also
- A greeting in Mösiehuali̱
- See how to build the following long word in Mösiehuali̱: nehualmoyecastemojmoluni̱jtzinuti̱nemi̱squiöni̱.
- Spanish borrowings in Mösiehuali̱
- Mösiehuali̱ vowels
- Mösiehuali̱ consonants