Tsotsil agreement

Tsotsil marks person with two sets of affixes. Set A, the prefixes j-, a- and s-, before a vowel k-, av- 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, has two subsets: the suffixes -on, -ot and zero, with the plurals -otik, -oxuk and -ik, and the prefixes i-, a- and zero, which appear only after a verbal aspect prefix and never before the second person Set A, so l-i-tal 'I came' has the prefix and tal-em-on 'I have come' the suffix. The alignment is ergative in every aspect. The verbal complex in citation order runs aspect, Set A, stem, Set B. Polian's sketch of Tseltal and Tsotsil and Aissen's clause-structure monograph are the sources.

Main definitions

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

Implementation notes

The template records the citation order with Set B after the stem; the prefixal subset, whose distribution is dialectally heterogeneous, is a second paradigm rather than a second template.

References

• [Pol17b]
• [Ais87]
• [AP25]

The verbal complex

def Tsotsil.template : Morphology.AffixTemplate Mayan.VerbSlot

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

Equations

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

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

Tsotsil is ergative in every aspect.

Equations

• Tsotsil.assignCase x✝ = Alignment.ergative

The paradigms

def Tsotsil.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 Tsotsil.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

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

def Tsotsil.setBExponent : Mayan.ExponentTable

The Set B suffixes, with a zero third person singular and the plural -ik alone in the third person; -on and -otik have the harmonic variants -un and -utik.

Equations

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

def Tsotsil.setBPrefixExponent : Mayan.ExponentTable

The Set B prefixes, used only after a verbal aspect prefix and never before the second person Set A: i-, a- and zero, the inclusive first person plural ij-, the second plural a- with -ik, and the third plural -ik alone.

Equations

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