Tseltal agreement

Tseltal marks person with two sets of affixes. Set A, the prefixes j-, a- and s-, before a vowel k-, aw- and y-, indexes the transitive subject and the possessor and marks person only; a plural person adds a suffix, -tik for the inclusive first person and -ik for the second and the third, the exclusive first person varying by dialect. Set B, which indexes the intransitive subject and the transitive object, is suffixal throughout, -on, -at and zero, with the plurals -otik, -ex and -ik. The alignment is ergative in every aspect, and the verbal complex runs aspect, Set A, stem, Set B. Polian's sketch of Tseltal and Tsotsil and Aissen and Polian's summary of the two sets are the sources.

Main definitions

• Tseltal.setAExponent, Tseltal.setAPlural, Tseltal.setBExponent: the paradigms.
• Tseltal.template, Tseltal.assignCase: the verbal complex and the ergative case function.

References

• [Pol17b]
• [AP25]

The verbal complex

def Tseltal.template : Morphology.AffixTemplate Mayan.VerbSlot

The position classes of the verbal complex, the aspect marker and Set A before the stem and Set B after it.

Equations

• Tseltal.template = { prefixSlots := [Mayan.VerbSlot.aspect, Mayan.VerbSlot.setA], suffixSlots := [Mayan.VerbSlot.setB] }

def Tseltal.assignCase : UD.Aspect → ArgumentRole → Case

Tseltal is ergative in every aspect.

Equations

• Tseltal.assignCase x✝ = Alignment.ergative

The paradigms

def Tseltal.setAExponent : Phonology.Segment.Class → Mayan.ExponentTable

The Set A markers by the following segment, the same prefix in both numbers since Set A marks person alone.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Tseltal.setAPlural : Person → List Morphology.Morph

The plural suffix that goes with a Set A prefix, -tik for the inclusive first person and -ik for the second and the third; the exclusive first person varies by dialect and is not recorded.

Equations

• Tseltal.setAPlural Person.first = [Morphology.Morph.suff "tik"]
• Tseltal.setAPlural Person.firstInclusive = [Morphology.Morph.suff "tik"]
• Tseltal.setAPlural Person.second = [Morphology.Morph.suff "ik"]
• Tseltal.setAPlural Person.third = [Morphology.Morph.suff "ik"]
• Tseltal.setAPlural Person.firstExclusive = []

def Tseltal.setBExponent : Mayan.ExponentTable

The Set B suffixes, with a zero third person singular and the plural -ik alone in the third person.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.