Slides presented at the 150th meeting of the Linguistics Society of Japan, Daito Bunka Univ., June 20, 2015. Proceedings pp. 332–337.

1. Origins of alternation and variation:
Rethinking the “Urban Nahuatl” Hypothesis
Mitsuya SASAKI （佐々木充文）
(Univ. of Tokyo, JSPS Research Fellow)
150th Meeting of the LSJ at Danto Bunka University
June 20, 2015
1

2. Outline
1. Introduction (Nahuatl and Classical Nahuatl)
2. The “Urban Nahuatl” hypothesis by Canger
3. Diffusion of the “urban” features
4. Rethinking the koine theory
5. Modern dialectal mixture in Highland Puebla
6. Conclusion
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3. Nahuatl (Nahua)
Uto-Aztecan > Southern UA > Nahuan
1.5 million speakers in Mexico
3
©Google

4. Classical Nahuatl
16–17c. written documents
Valley of Mexico
– Mexico-Tenochtitla
(Mexico City)
“Language of the Aztecs”
4

5. Valley of Mexico
5
©Google

6. Canger’s (2011) hypothesis
Traditional view
Nahuatl
Huasteca
Eastern
Central Classical
Western
“Urban Nahuatl” hypothesis
CN as an urban koine
By-product of the intense
dialect contact in Mexico-
Tenochtitlan
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7. “Urban Nahuatl” hypothesis
7
Photo by Wolfgang Sauber via Wikimedia Commons

8. “Urban” traits (Canger 2011)
i. Contraction of possessive prefixes
ii. Assimilation in reflexive prefixes
iii. Truncated stem of “to go”
iv. Metathesis in certain applicative forms
v. Use of short stems in thepreterit tense
vi. Allomorphy in plural formation
vii. Lexical variation
= features limited to the “urban” area
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9. (i) Possessive prefixes: “X’s paper”
Classical Nahuatl
9
Sg. Pl.
1 n-āma-w t-āma-w
2 m-āma-w am-āma-w
3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w
Outside of the Valley of Mexico
Sg. Pl.
1 no-āma-w to-āma-w
2 mo-āma-w (n)amo-āma-w
3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w

10. (ii) Reflexive prefixes: “to seat oneself”
Classical Nahuatl
10
Sg. Pl.
1 ni-no-tlālia ti-to-tlālia
2 ti-mo-tlālia am-mo-tlālia
3 Ø-mo-tlālia Ø-mo-tlālia
Outside of the Valley of Mexico
Sg. Pl.
1 ni-mo-tlālia ti-mo-tlālia
2 ti-mo-tlālia (n)am-mo-tlālia
3 Ø-mo-tlālia Ø-mo-tlālia

11. The verb stem “to go”
Classical Nahuatl
11
Sg. Pl.
1 ni-yaw ti-wi-’
2 ti-yaw an-wi-’
3 Ø-yaw Ø-wi-’
Outside of the Valley of Mexico
Sg. Pl.
1 ni-yawi ti-yawi-h
2 ti-yawi (n)an-yawi-h
3 Ø-yawi Ø-yawi-h

12. “Urban” traits (Canger 2011)
i. Contraction of possessive prefixes
ii. Assimilation in reflexive prefixes
iii. Truncated stem of “to go”
iv. Metathesis in certain applicative forms
v. Use of short stems in thepreterit tense
vi. Allomorphy in plural formation
vii. Lexical variation
12

13. Dialectal koineization
“Regional koine” (Siegel, 1985)
– Greek koine; colloquial koineized Arabic
“Interdialect” (Trudgill, 1986)
– Development of /øy/ in Oslo Norwegian
13

14. Distribution of the “urban” traits
Contraction of possessive prefixes
– *no-āmaw “my paper” > n-āmaw
Assimilation in reflexive prefixes
– *ni-mo-tlālia “I seat myself” > ni-no-tlālia
“Metathesis” in applicative forms
– *-pātsowi-liā ”to crush for s.o.” > -pātsolwiā
Short preterit stem
– -kīsa “to go out” > pret. -kīs (cf. Eastern Nahua: -kīsa-k)
14

15. Valley of Mexico
15©Google
The use of short preterit stems is observed
everywhere in Central Nahuatl
kīsa “he goes out”
kīs ”he went out”

16. Diffusion of the urban traits
Valley of Mexico
1. Milpa Alta
2. Amanalco
Other areas
3. Naupan
4. Colonial Tlaxcala
5. Zacapoaxtla
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17. Diffusion of the “urban” features
Class. M.Alta Aman. Nau. Tlax. Zacap.
Contraction in
possessive + + – – – –
Assimilation in
reflexive + + + – – –
-lwiā
metathesis + + + + – –
Short preterit
stem + + + + + –
e~i variability e, i i i e i i
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18. Classical Nahuatl as a koine?
The new features of Classical Nahuatl
consistently increase irregularity and
morphological opacity
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19. Possessive prefixes: _V vs. _C
Classical Nahuatl
19
Sg. Pl.
1 n-āma-w t-āma-w
2 m-āma-w am-āma-w
3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w
Other dialects
Sg. Pl.
1 no-āma-w to-āma-w
2 mo-āma-w (n)amo-āma-w
3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w
Sg. Pl.
1 no-meka-w to-meka-w
2 mo-meka-w amo-meka-w
3 ī-meka-w īm-meka-w
Sg. Pl.
1 no-āma-w to-āma-w
2 mo-āma-w (n)amo-āma-w
3 ī-āma-w īm-āma-w

20. -lwiā metathesis in applicative forms
Classical Nahuatl
-nōtsa / -nōchi-liā
-i’tlakoā / i’tlaka-lwiā
-pātsoā / -pātsi-lwiā
-poloā / -polwiā
Other dialects
-nōtsa / -nōchi-liā
-ihtlakoā / ihtlakowi-liā
-pātsoā / -pātsowi-liā
-poloā / polowi-liā
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21. Noun pluralization
Classical Nahuatl
chichi / chichi-me’
siwā-tl / siwa-’
tōch-in / tō~tōch-tin
kōwā-tl / kō~kōwa-’
tēlpōch-tli / tēlpō~pōch-tin
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Ixquihuacan, Puebla
tipē-tl / tipē-meh
siwā-tl / siwā-meh
tōch-tli / tōch-meh
kōwā-tl / kōwā-meh
tēlpōch-tli / tēlpōch-meh

22. Typical koineization (1)
“This reduction [of variability] takes
place through the process of koinéization,
which consists of the levelling (...) and of
simplification, which involves, crucially, a
reduction in irregularities.”
(Trudgill, 1986, 102)
e.g. Greek koine
22

23. Typical koineization (2)
Interdialectal forms in Oslo Norwegian
23
(Rekdal, 1971 cited in Trudgill, 1986)
Sunndal Oslo Interdialect
“to work” /jub/ /jɔbǝ/ /jubǝ/
“the matches” /fyʂʈikɔɲ/ /fyʂʈikǝɲǝ/ /fyʂʈikan/

24. A Pre-Tenochtitlan Mexica speech
community?
24
Códice Boturini via Wikimedia Commons

25. Highland Puebla (Sierra Norte de Puebla)
25
Puebla
Highland Puebla
©Google
©INEGI

26. Dialect contact in Highland Puebla
Sierra Nahuat (azz)
– Eastern
Western Sierra (nhi)
– Central
Northern Puebla (ncj)
– Central
26
Ixquihuacan

27. Optionality in Ixquihuacan Nahuatl
Two 1PL subject prefixes (ti-/sē-)
Optional use of pret. -ki in some verbs
– ōtlã (< ōtlan) ~ ōtlan-ki “it finished”
Omission of the 3PL object prefix k-
– ō-ki-kwah ~ ō-kwah “he ate it”
Lexical variations
– chikāk ~ chikāwak “strong”
etc.
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28. Origin of optionality (1)
Tenango
First person plural ti-
Impersonal sē-
(Schroeder, 2014)
Ixquihuacan
First person plural
sē- (more frequent)
ti- (less frequent)
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Two 1PL subject prefixes (ti-/sē-)

29. Origin of optionality (2)
Classical Ixquihuacan Huasteca etc.
“He goes out” kīsa kīsa kīsa
“He went out” ō-kīs
ō-kīs ~
ō-kīs-ki
ō-kīs-ki
29
Optional use of preterit -ki (in some Class 2 verbs)

30. Origin of optionality (3)
Ixquihuacan chikāwak ~ chikāk “strong”
“We don’t say chikāk; that’s the way they
speak in San Francisco [Ixquihuacan]”
(speaker from Analco)
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31. Prehispanic vs. modern dialect contact
Classical Nahuatl
Prestigious variant
Alternation, allomorphy
Elaborated irregularity
Modern dialect contact
Absence of a prestigious
variant
Optionality, synonymy;
coexistence of competing
forms
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32. Speakers’ attitudes
Spanish
Nahuatl
dialect B
Nahuatl
dialect A
32

33. Vertical vs. horizontal contact?
Dialect A
Dialect B
Optionality
Synonyms
Regularization
33
Dialect A Dialect B
Preservation of
prestigious irregularity
Alternation, allomorphy

34. 34
Ōannēchmocnēlilihqueh! (Classical)
Tlasohkāmati! (Modern)