Pipil grammar

Last updated

This article provides a grammar sketch of the Nawat or Pipil language, an endangered language spoken by the Pipils of western El Salvador, belonging to the Nahua group within the Uto-Aztecan language family. There also exists a brief typological overview of the language that summarizes the language's most salient features of general typological interest in more technical terms.

Pipil language language

Pipil is a Uto-Toltec or Uto-Nahuan language native to Central America. It is the southernmost extant member of the Uto-Aztecan family. It was spoken in several parts of present-day Central America before the Spanish conquest, but now is mostly confined to western El Salvador. It has been on the verge of extinction in El Salvador and has already gone extinct elsewhere in Central America, but as of 2012 new second language speakers are starting to appear.

Endangered language language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language

An endangered language, or moribund language, is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead language". If no one can speak the language at all, it becomes an "extinct language". A dead language may still be studied through recordings or writings, but it is still dead or extinct unless there are fluent speakers. Although languages have always become extinct throughout human history, they are currently dying at an accelerated rate because of globalization, neocolonialism and linguicide.

El Salvador country in Central America

El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. As of 2016, the country had a population of approximately 6.34 million.

Contents

Sounds

Basic phonemes and word stress

Basic vowels
Front Back
High iu
Mid e
Low a

A back vowel is any in a class of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the highest point of the tongue is positioned relatively back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark vowels because they are perceived as sounding darker than the front vowels.

Allophone Sounds considered the same in a language

In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds, or phones, or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, and the aspirated form are allophones for the phoneme, while these two are considered to be different phonemes in some languages such as Thai and Hindi. On the other hand, in Spanish, and are allophones for the phoneme, while these two are considered to be different phonemes in English.

In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may have arisen from one etymologically, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most other dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in many other languages, for instance in Arabic, Finnish, Fijian, Kannada, Japanese, Old English, Scottish Gaelic and Vietnamese. It plays a phonetic role in the majority of dialects of British English and is said to be phonemic in a few other dialects, such as Australian English, South African English and New Zealand English. It also plays a lesser phonetic role in Cantonese, unlike other varieties of Chinese.

Basic consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Plosives ptk[k], [ɡ], [ɣ]kw
Affricates tz[ts]ch[tʃ]
Fricatives ssh[ʃ]j[h]
Nasals mn[n], [ŋ], [m], [ɲ]
Liquids l
Semivowels y[j]w[(ɣ)w]

The voiced allophones of /k/, [ɡ] and [ɣ], are common but their distribution is subject to both dialect variation and phonological rules (and their exceptions).

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways to refer to two different types of linguistic phenomena:

A phonological rule is a formal way of expressing a systematic phonological or morphophonological process or diachronic sound change in language. Phonological rules are commonly used in generative phonology as a notation to capture sound-related operations and computations the human brain performs when producing or comprehending spoken language. They may use phonetic notation or distinctive features or both.

The /n/ phoneme has various allophones, as follows:

  • When followed by a vowel it is usually alveolar.

naja 'I, me', ini 'this', nunan 'my mother' [n]

Place of articulation Place in the mouth consonants are articulated

In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator, and a passive location. Along with the manner of articulation and the phonation, it gives the consonant its distinctive sound.

senpa[m] 'once, again', Ken tinemi? 'How are you?' [n], inchan[ɲ] 'at their house', tenkal 'door, patio' [ŋ]

  • Preceding other consonants or a pause, the pronunciation of n is most often velar[ŋ].

Kan nemi? 'Where is (he/she/it)?', anyawit 'you (pl.) are going';

Ini ne apan 'This is the river', Shimutalikan! 'Sit down!' [ŋ]

  • In word-final position preceding a vowel, it is also velar[ŋ].

Ken ajsik? 'How did he/she arrive?', wan ini 'and this' [ŋ]

  • Velar[ŋ] occurs intervocalically in some words; this may be represented in writing by nh.

nemanha 'later, straight away', kinhita 'sees them', tenhat 'river bank' [ŋ]

Most words are stressed on the second to last syllable. Some are stressed on the last syllable: these include a few lexical compounds such as tenkal 'door, patio' (from ten 'mouth' and kal 'house'), certain prefixed or reduplicated monosyllables such as (optionally) kajkal 'houses', and many diminutives in -tzin or -chin. There are also words in these categories with regular penultimate stress.

In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word, or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. This emphasis is typically caused by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length, full articulation of the vowel, and changes in pitch. The terms stress and accent are often used synonymously in this context, but they are sometimes distinguished. For example, when emphasis is produced through pitch alone, it is called pitch accent, and when produced through length alone, it is called quantitative accent. When caused by a combination of various intensified properties, it is called stress accent or dynamic accent; English uses what is called variable stress accent.

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. It is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins. Syllables are often considered the phonological "building blocks" of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic metre and its stress patterns. Speech can usually be divided up into a whole number of syllables: for example, the word ignite is composed of two syllables: ig and nite.

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. That is, in familiar terms, compounding occurs when two or more words or signs are joined to make one longer word or sign. The meaning of the compound may be similar to or different from the meaning of its components in isolation. The component stems of a compound may be of the same part of speech—as in the case of the English word footpath, composed of the two nouns foot and path—or they may belong to different parts of speech, as in the case of the English word blackbird, composed of the adjective black and the noun bird. With very few exceptions, English compound words are stressed on their first component stem.

Phonotactics

  • Syllables can have any of the shapes permitted by the formula (C)V(C), and words may have any number of such syllables.

kal 'house', at 'water', ne 'there', nu-ish 'my eye', a-pan 'river', mis-tun 'cat', kat-ka 'was', uj-ti 'path', kwa-wit 'tree, wood, stick', nu-kwaj-kwach 'my clothes', metz-ti 'moon', nech-kwa 'he/she/it is eating me', tzak-tuk 'closed', shik-tzuj-tzun-ta-mej-ti-kan 'sharpen the ends! (pl.)'

  • Most Nawat consonants can occur in any position, but m and kw do not occur at the end of a syllable (or word), and there are no words ending in p either. Where morphological processes would place them in syllable-final position, m changes to n (for the pronunciation of which see above), and kw changes to k.

tekuma-t 'gourd' but nu-tekun 'my gourd', ki-tzakwa 'he closes it' but tzak-tuk 'closed'

  • J has a limited distribution: it never follows another consonant and normally cannot begin a word either. J at the end of words is pronounced weakly and often disappears altogether.

naja 'I, me', ujti 'path', nikwaj 'I ate it', shushukna(j) 'green'

Secondary semivowels

When one vowel phoneme immediately follows another within a word a [j] (the y sound) is often inserted between them ([w] if the first vowel is u). This is common when the first of the two vowels is stressed.

  • miak 'many' → [ˈmijak]
  • *shikwa + -ashikwaya 'eat it already!'
  • se-uk (from *se + -uk) 'other' → [ˈsejuk]
  • nu-ika-w 'my younger brother' → [nuˈwiɡaw]

In other cases, /i/ or /e/ preceding another vowel is often replaced by [j].

  • ki-pia-ya 'he already has it' → [ɡiˈpjaja]
  • seujti (from *se + ujti) 'once' → [ˈsjuhti]

But this [j] is commonly dropped following sh or ch.

  • shiawa! (for *shi-yaw-a) 'go already!' → [ˈʃ(j)awa]
  • shi-k-chia-kan! 'wait! (pl.)' → [ʃikˈtʃ(j)akaŋ] / [-ɡaŋ]

Following alveolar n or /k/ = [ɡ], [j] often combines to yield [ɲ] (like Spanish ñ) or /y/ [j] respectively.

  • niajki (for *ni-yaj-ki) 'I went' → [ˈnjahki] / [ˈɲahki]
  • kielkawa 'he forgets' → [ɡjelˈkawa] / [jelˈkawa]

Reduplication

Reduplication is a morphological process employed in several parts of the grammatical system, which is characterized in phonological terms. Nawat reduplication takes the form of repetition of a word's first syllable (actually only the (C)V part thereof). So for example, a reduplication of kunet 'child' is ku-kunet 'children', and a derivative of the root petz- 'smooth' is pe-petz-ka 'a kind of small, silvery fish', local Spanish pepesca.

Another more productive variety of reduplication involves adding a j after the reduplication, e.g., ku-j-kunet 'children', pe-j-petz-naj plural of petz-naj 'smooth, naked'. Generalizing, plain reduplication (without j) is governed by lexical criteria. J-reduplication, on the contrary, is used by grammatical rules that:

  • generate noun or adjective plurals from singulars

tamal 'tortilla' → taj-tamal 'tortillas'

mistun 'cat' → mij-mistun 'cats'

kal 'house' → kaj-kal 'houses'

apan 'river' → aj-apan 'rivers'

taketza 'he talks' → taj-taketza 'he converses'

nemi 'he is (somewhere)' → nej-nemi 'he walks about'

paki 'he is laughing' → paj-paki 'he is happy'

ki-ajwa 'he scolds him' → ki-aj-ajwa 'he tells him off'

Noun phrase

Determiners and quantifiers

Common determiners and quantifiers
Some determinersSome quantifiers
  • ne 'the'
  • se 'a(n)'
  • ini 'this'
  • uni 'that'
  • se(j)se 'some, each'
  • miak 'many'
  • ch(i)upi 'few, a few'
  • muchi 'all'
  • se 'one'
  • ume 'two'
  • yey 'three'
  • nawi 'four'
  • makwil 'five'

The determiners (except for ne) and quantifiers may be used pronominally, i.e., without a noun head, or preceding the noun they determine or quantify, e.g., ne takat 'the man', ini techan 'this village', miak kal 'many houses', ume siwat 'two women'.

Possession

The prefixes shown below are attached to nouns to express who they 'belong' to, e.g., nu-yak 'my nose', i-eltiw 'his/her sister', tu-mistun 'our cat', mu-techan 'your village'.

Possessive indices
Singular possessorPlural possessor

nu- 'my'

mu- 'your'

i- 'his/her/its'

tu- 'our'

anmu- 'your'

in- 'their'

Some nouns are always 'possessed', so that it is bad Nawat just to say *se yak 'a nose' or *ne eltiw 'the sister': instead one has to say se iyak 'one her-nose', ne nueltiw 'the my-sister', or whatever possessive form fits the context best. These include most nouns expressing either a part of the body or a member of one's family.

Other nouns can occur either with or without a possessor. Some of these have two different forms, one (the absolute form) for use without a possessive prefix and the other (the possessed form) for use with a possessive prefix. These 'states' may be indicated by different suffixes, e.g., ne kune-t 'the child' → ne nu-kune-w 'my child; ne sin-ti 'the maize' → ne nu-sin 'my maize'; ne es-ti 'the blood' → ne nu-es-yu 'my blood'. When both states of the noun are zero-marked (like mistun and techan), the noun is 'invariable'.

Absolute and possessed suffixes
AbsolutePossessed
Singular
  • -t
  • -ti
  • zero
  • -w
  • zero
Plural
  • -met
  • -ket
  • zero
  • -wan
  • zero

The possessive indices tell us the person and number of the possessor, which may be specified by a noun phrase following the possessed noun. When that happens, the possessed normally has the third-person index, e.g., ne i-mistun ne piltzin 'the boy's cat' (literally: 'his-cat the boy').

There is an alternative way to express this, if the noun is alienable, using the preposition pal or the relational ipal: ne mistun pal ne piltzin ('the cat of the boy'). Even with an inalienable possession, it is possible to say ne inan pal ne piltzin ('the his-mother of the boy').

The plural

Nouns may be made plural by two different procedures:

through reduplication (see above)

  • mistun 'cat' → mij-mistun 'cats'

using a plural suffix (-met, -ket)

  • taka-t 'man' → taka-met 'men'

For possessed forms:

There is a special possessed plural suffix, -wan, used with certain nouns denoting family relations and similarly intimate 'possessions'.

  • nu-elti-w 'my sister' → nu-elti-wan 'my sisters'
  • nu-kunpa 'my comrade or friend' → nu-kunpawan 'my comrades or friends'
  • nu-pal 'mine' → nu-pal-wan 'my possessions'

Otherwise the reduplicated form of the singular possessed form is used.

  • nu-kune-w 'my child' → nu-kuj-kune-w 'my children'
  • nu-kwach 'my clothnu-kwaj-kwach 'my clothes'

Sometimes the possessive prefix is reduplicated instead.

  • nu-ish 'my eye' → nuj-nu-ish 'my eyes'
  • i-kshi 'his foot' → ij-i-kshi 'his feet'

Some word that may accompany a noun in the noun phrase, such as the determiners ne, ini, uni, are invariable for number, e.g., uni mistun 'that cat', uni mijmistun 'those cats'. On the other hand, nouns accompanied by a quantifier that is plural in meaning need not themselves be pluralized morphologically, e.g., ume mistun 'two cats'.

Adjectives

Adjectives used attributively can precede or follow the noun, e.g., se selek iswat or se iswat selek 'a tender leaf' (selek 'tender, fresh, green', iswat 'leaf').

There is considerable variation regarding how to mark plural number in noun phrases containing an adjective. As long as some element or other in the noun phrase marks the phrase as plural, it seems not to matter which one, or even how many elements are (redundantly) pluralized, though there some speakers seem to indicate a preference for (1) marking plurality in the first possible component, and (2) avoiding redundancy, thus chijchiltik tzaput or tzajtzaput chiltik, but ume chiltik tzaput or ume tzaput chiltik.

Pronouns and adverbs

No noun phrase is marked for case, and this is just as true of the pronouns, which have each a single form that can perform any function in the sentence.

Personal pronouns
SingularPlural

naja 'I/me'

taja 'you'

yaja 'he/him, she/her, it'

tejemet 'we/us'

anmejemet 'you'

yejemet 'they/them'

Other pronouns and deictic adverbs
PronounsPlace adverbsOther adverbs
Demonstrative
  • ini, yajini 'this'
  • uni, yajuni 'that' (remote)
  • yaja ne 'that'
  • nikan 'here'
  • ikuni 'there' (remote)
  • ne 'there'
  • ijkini, kiene 'like this'
  • ijkiuni, kiunij 'like that, so'
  • kiane 'so'
  • ash(k)an 'now, today'
  • kwakuni 'then'
  • nemanha 'later'
Interrogative
  • 'who?'
  • tey/tay 'what?'
  • katiawel? 'which one?'
  • kan? 'where?'
  • ken? 'how? what like?'
  • keman? 'when?'
Indefinite
  • aka 'anybody'
  • inte aka 'nobody'
  • tatka 'anything'
  • inte tatka 'nothing'
  • kanaj 'somewhere else'
  • inte kanaj 'nowhere'
  • nujme 'everywhere'
  • inte keman 'never'

Case, prepositions and relationals

Noun phrases in core grammatical functions are not marked for case. To specify other roles, a preposition or a relational may precede a noun phrase. The main prepositions are:

Prepositions
ka'to, at (etc.)'
  • ka tiupan 'to the church'
  • ka tayua 'at night'
tik'in, to, from (etc.)'
  • tik ne techan 'in/to/from the village'
  • tik Nawat 'in Nawat'
pak'on'
  • pak ne metat 'on the grinding stone'
tech'at, by, near, to'
  • tech ne apan 'by the river'
  • tech ne siwat 'to the woman'
wan'with (etc.)'
  • wan ne siwat 'with the woman'
chan 'chez'
  • chan ne siwat 'at/to/from the woman's house'
pal'of, for'
  • pal nunan 'for my mother'
  • se siwat pal nutechan 'a woman from my village'

All the above prepositions derive diachronically from relationals. In some cases the preposition merely represents an abbreviation of the relational by omitting the i- prefix.

Relationals are quasi-nouns expressing some relationship (sometimes spatial, but not always) to their possessive complement. For example, nu-jpak, meaning 'on or over me', consists of the relational (i)jpak conveying 'position above' with a first person singular possessor. Some relationals are shown in third-person-singular forms in the following table:

Some relationals
Spatial relationsOther relations
  • ijtik 'in, inside'
  • ijpak 'on, over'
  • itan 'under'
  • ishpan 'in front of'
  • ipan 'behind'
  • itech 'near, alongside'
  • iwan 'with'
  • ichan 'at/to/from the house of'
  • ipal 'for, belonging to'
  • ipanpa 'on account of, instead of'

Basic verb morphology

Subject and object indices

The following table shows the prefixes that serve to index the subject and object, respectively. (Note that in the subjunctive mood the second-person subject prefix takes the special form shi-.)

Subject and object indices
NumberPersonSubject

prefixes

Object

prefixes

Singular1ni-nech-
2ti-, shi-metz-
3-ki- / -k-
Plural1ti-tech-
2an(h)-, shi-metzin(h)-
3-kin(h)-

Verbs with a plural subject take a plural suffix: basically -t except in the subjunctive when -kan is used:

Subject person and number indices
IndicativeSubjunctive
NumberPersonPrefixSuffixPrefixSuffix
Singular1ni--ni--
2ti-shi-
3--
Plural1ti--tti--kan
2an-shi-
3--

Transitive verbs take, in addition, an object prefix after the subject prefix. The third-singular object prefix ki- is shortened to -k- when preceded by any of the subject prefixes ni-, ti- or shi-. This is illustrated here by the present (indicative) and subjunctive of an intransitive verb (panu 'pass') and a transitive verb with a third-person-singular object (-pia 'have'):

Sample verbs
panu (intransitive)-pia (transitive)
NumberPersonPresentSubjunctivePresentSubjunctive
Singular1nipanuma nipanunikpiama nikpia
2tipanuma shipanutikpiama shikpia
3panuma panukipiama kipia
Plural1tipanutma tipanukantikpiatma tikpiakan
2anpanutma shipanukanankipiatma shikpiakan
3panutma panukankipiatma kipiakan

A few examples follow:

Intransitive:

  • Nuteku tekiti tik ne mil. 'My father works in the cornfield.'
  • Taika tichuka? 'Why are you crying?'
  • Ne kujkunet kuchit. 'The children are sleeping.'

Third-person-singular object:

  • (Naja) nikpia se tiltik mistun. 'I have a black cat.'
  • (Tejemet) tiktemuat kwawit tik ne kujtan. 'We are looking for wood in the forest.'

Non-third-person-singular object:

  • Taika tinechtemua? 'Why are you looking for me?'
  • (Naja) nikinnutza ne kujkunet. 'I am calling the children.'

Transitive with third-person (zero-prefix) subject:

  • Nuteku kipia chiupi tumin. 'My father has some money.'
  • Te nechkakit ne kujkunet. 'The children cannot (do not) hear me.'

Tenses

Tenses (so called for convenience although they include aspect or mood categories) are characterized by distinct suffixes. The plural suffix -t combines with each tense suffix to give us plural tense endings, also shown here.

Tense endings
Singular endingPlural ending
Present--t
Past-ki, -k, -, -j-ket
Perfect-tuk-tiwit
Future-s-sket
Conditional-skia-skiat
Perfect Conditional-tuskia-tuskiat
Imperfect/Pluperfect-tuya-tuyat
Subjunctive/Imperative--kan
Participle-tuk

The present (despite its name), perfect and subjunctive are not time-specific, but may refer to events before, at or later than the time of speaking as determined by the context. They express an ongoing or habitual, completed and potential action or state, respectively.

  • Present:Nemik se takat munamiktijtuk kipiatuya ne isiwaw, wan inte kimati katka ka kisa ka tayua. 'There was a married man who had a wife, and didn't know that she used to go out at night.'
  • Perfect:Yaja pejki kikwa ne tortaj kimakatuk inan. 'He started to eat the bun his mother had given him.'
  • Subjunctive:Kilwij ma walmukwepa. 'He told her to come back (or: that she should come back).'

The imperative only differs from the subjunctive by the absence of the particle ma.

  • Subjunctive:Yawi metzilwia ma shimutali. 'She will tell you to sit down.'
  • Imperative:Shikalaki wan shimutali! 'Come in and sit down!'

The participle acts like a noun or adjective: it does not take object prefixes and is pluralized by reduplication rather than suffixation.

  • Nikpia se kumit tentuk wan et. 'I have a pot full of beans.'
  • Nikpia yey kumit (tej)tentuk wan et. 'I have three pots full of beans.'

Conjugation classes

Regular conjugation classes
PresentPastPerfectSubjunctive
Ikuchi 'sleep'kuchkikuchtukma kuchi
IIpanu 'pass'panukpanutukma panu
IIItajtani 'ask'tajtantajtantukma tajtani
IVmutalua 'run'mutalujmutalujtukma mutalu

The verbs classified as Class I in this table end in a or i in the present and subjunctive, but that vowel is lost in the past (which ends in -ki in this class) and in the perfect (all perfects are in -tuk). Class II verbs, which end in a, i or u, retain this in all forms, and form their past in -k. Class III differs from Class I only in that there is no past suffix at all, only the bare stem. Class IV verbs end in -ia or -ua in the present, but lose their final a in all the other tenses (including the subjunctive), and add a j in the past and perfect.

Mutating Class I verbs
PresentPastPerfectSubjunctive
pew-a 'begin'pej-kipej-tukma pew-a
-inay-a 'hide'-inash-ki-inash-tukma -inay-a
-ku-a 'buy'-kuj-ki-kuj-tukma -ku-a
-pi-a 'have'-pish-ki-pish-tukma -pi-a

Class I includes a sub-class of mutating stems that end in the present and subjunctive in -wa, -ua, -ya or -ia. These change to -j-, -uj-, -sh- and -ish-, respectively, in the past and perfect.

Irregular verbs
PresentPastPerfectSubjunctive
yaw(i) 'go'yajkiyajtukma yaw(i)
witz 'come'walajwalajtukma wiki
-kwa 'eat'-kwaj-kwajtukma -kwa
-kwi 'take'-kwij-kwijtukma -kwi

There are very few truly irregular verbs. The present and subjunctive of yawi 'go' and witz 'come' are given in full here:

yawi 'go'witz 'come'
PresentSubjunctivePastPresentSubjunctivePast
Singular1niawma niawniajkiniwitzma niwikiniwalaj
2tiawma shutiajkitiwitzma shiwitiwalaj
3yawima yawiyajkiwitzma wikiwalaj
Plural1tiawitma tiawittiajkettiwitzetma tiwikikantiwalajket
2anyawitma shumet / sh(i)akananyajketanwitzetma shiwimet / shiwikananwalajket
3yawitma yawityajketwitzetma wikikanwalajket

Directional prefix

The directional prefix wal- 'towards the speaker' follows subject indices but precedes object indices (in transitive verbs) except for ki-. It has the morphological peculiarity that when preceded by ni-, ti-, shi- or ki- both i and w are omitted, leaving nal-, tal-, shal- and kal-. When ni-/ti-/shi-, ki- and wal- would all come together, the ki- component disappears altogether, so that nal-, tal- and shal- do double duty as transitive (= ni- + ki- + wal-, etc.) markers as well as intransitive (= ni- + wal-, etc.) ones. The plural object marker kin- is split in two when combined with wal-. The following examples illustrate.

kiski 'went/came out'walkiski 'came out (towards me)'
nitemuk 'I went down'naltemuk 'I came down (here)'
kiwikak 'he took (it)'kalwikak 'he brought (it)'
nikwikak 'I took (it)'nalwikak 'I brought (it)'
kinnutzki 'he called them'kalinnutzki 'he called them here'
nikinnutzki 'I called them'nalinnutzki 'I called them here'

Syntax

Non-verbal predicates

Non-verbal phrases may be employed as predicates, with no verbal element at all in the sentence.

  • Ini Carlos. 'This is Carlos.'
  • Carlos tumak. 'Carlos is fat.'
  • Yejemet tuj-tumak. 'They are fat.'

Non-verbal predicates do not have most of the morphological categories of verbs (such as tense), but some of them do take the subject indices. As usual there is no prefix for third-person subjects, hence Ini Carlos.

  • Naja ni-Carlos. 'I am Carlos.'
  • Taja ti-tumak. 'You (sg.) are fat.'
  • Tejemet ti-tuj-tumak. 'We are fat.'

Subjunctive non-verbal predicates are possible.

  • Ma ijkia! 'Let it be so!'
  • Naja niknekiskia ma nupal. 'I wish it were mine.'

Non-verbal predicates may be followed (like verbal ones) by an invariable katka, which establishes a past time-frame. In a non-verbal context katka can thus be translated as was or were.

  • Naja ni-tumak katka. 'I was fat / used to be fat.'

Intransitive and transitive

Most Nawat verbs belong clearly to one of two major formal types: intransitive or transitive.

Here, intransitive verbs are those that cannot have an object and corresponding object prefixeswhile transitive verbs are those that must have an object and object prefix. Neither subject nor object noun phrases need be present in the sentence, but whether explicit or implicit, the corresponding subject and object indices must. (This statement rests on the convention of considering the index for a third-person subject to take the form of 'zero'.)

Some of the most common intransitive and transitive Nawat verbs are given below:

Some common Nawat verbs (by transitivity and conjugation class)
Intransitive:
chuka (II)cryina (II)saykalaki (III)enter
kisa (I)go/come outkuchi (I)sleepmiki (II)die
naka (II)staynemi (II)be (in a place or state), existnesi (II)be seen, be born
paki (II)be happy, laughpanu (II)passpewa (I)begin
taketza (I)talktakwika (II)singtami (II)end
tekiti (I)worktemu (II)go downchuka (II)cry
weli (II)be able, know (how to)witz (irr.)comeyawi (irr.)go
Transitive:
-chia (I)wait (for)-chiwa (I)make, do-ilpia (IV)tie
-ilwia (IV)tell (someone)-ishtia (IV)take out-ita (II)see
-kaki (II, IV)hear, listen to-kua (I)buy-kwa (irr.)eat
-maka (II)give (to someone)-mana (I)cook-mati (I)know, understand
-neki (II)want, love-nutza (I)call, speak to-paka (II)wash
-palewia (IV)help-pia (I)have-talia (IV)put
-temua (IV)look for-uni (II)drink-wika (I)take, carry

Valency changes

There are a number of means, grammatical or lexical, for changing a verb's valency (the number of arguments it takes) and thereby effectively 'converting' it to a different transitivity type. A considerable number of lexical pairs exist consisting of two related verbs, one intransitive and the other transitive:

The -i (intr.) ~ -a or -ia (tr.) alternation is very frequent in the lexicon, but is not productive, and does not constitute a hard-and-fast rule.

  • kelun-i (II) 'break' (intr.) ~ -kelun-a (I) 'break' (tr.)
  • tem-i (II) 'become full' (intr.) ~ -tem-a (I) 'fill' (tr.)
  • shin-i (II) 'be sprinkled' (intr.) ~ -shini-a (IV) 'sprinkle' (tr.)
  • tam-i (II) 'end' (intr.) ~ -tami-a (IV) 'end' (tr.)

A more productive lexical derivation that increases valency is the causative suffix -tia.

  • kalak-i (II) 'enter' (intr.) ~ -kalak-tia (IV) 'put in, bring in' (tr.)
  • mik-i (II) 'die' (intr.) ~ -mik-tia (IV) 'kill' (tr.)
  • panu (II) 'pass' (intr.) ~ -panul-tia (IV) 'cause to pass' (tr.)
  • tawan-i (II) 'get drunk' (intr.) ~ -tawan-tia (IV) 'get (someone) drunk' (tr.)

Apart from such purely lexical alternations, there are two prefixes with specific grammatical functions which, attached to transitive verbs, reduce their surface valency (when they are used, there is no object prefix):

The unaccusative prefix ta- indicates that the object is indefinite or unspecified. Compare: Yaja ki-kwa 'He eats it', Yaja ki-kwa ne et 'He eats the beans', but Yaja ta-kwa 'he eats'.

  • -kwa 'eat' (tr.) → ta-kwa (unspecified object)
  • -mana 'cook' (tr.) → ta-mana (unspecified object)
  • -paka 'wash' (tr.) → ta-paka (unspecified object)

The unergative prefix mu- avoids mentioning the agent, and the underlying object gets re-encoded as surface subject, e.g., Mu-kwa 'It gets eaten', Mu-kwa ne et 'The beans get eaten'.

  • -kwa 'eat' (tr.) → mu-kwa 'get eaten'
  • -mana 'cook' (tr.) → mu-mana 'get cooked'

Mu- has three other possible meanings, all involving a survace valency decrease: reflexive, reciprocal and middle.

  • Reflexive: -paka 'wash' (tr.) → mu-paka 'wash oneself'
  • Reciprocal: -ita 'see' (tr.) → mu-ita 'see each other'
  • Middle: -namiktia 'marry (tr.) → mu-namiktia 'get married'

Unmarked oblique complements

Some Nawat verbs have a complement that does not correspond to any index in the verb. These include the following:

Intransitive verbs taking a locative complement. In this case the complement may optionally be replaced by a prepositional or relational phrase.

  • Naja niyaw Sentzunat. 'I am going to Sonsonate.'

(also: Naja niyaw ka Sentzunat.)

  • Yaja nemi Awachapan. 'She is in Ahuachapán.'

(also: Yaja nemi tik Awachapan.)

Ditransitive verbs, i.e., transitive verbs with two 'objects'. Generally one of these has the semantic role of recipient or affected party, and this is encoded as a grammatical object in Nawat. The other complement, normally in a patient role, is made the unmarked oblique complement.

  • Ne siwat nechmakak ne tumin. 'The woman gave me the money.'
  • Yaja kinmachtia Nawat. 'He teaches them Nawat.'
  • Nechishtilijket ne nupiltzin. 'They took my son from me.'

Valency-reduced ditransitives, i.e., verbs of the preceding type that undergo valency-reduction with ta- or mu-, thereby becoming two-argument verbs without a grammatical object. For example, ta-machtia 'teach (something)' (without saying whom we teach).

  • Yaja tamachtia Nawat. 'He teaches Nawat.'
  • Ne siwat tamakak tumin. 'The woman gave money.'

With mu- we have mu-machtia 'learn, study' (i.e., 'teach oneself').

  • Yejemet mumachtiat Nawat. 'They learn (or study) Nawat.'

Verb sequences

There are several ways for a verb to be subordinated to another (preceding) verb.

the subordinate verb may be in the subjunctive (always introduced by ma)...

  • Nikneki ma shinaka. 'I want you to stay.'
...or in the present tense introduced by pal or ka.
  • Niwalajtuk nikan pal titaketzat. 'I have come here so that we may talk.' (literally 'I have come here for we talk')
  • Ken tikchiwki ka yawi ne tawanani? 'How did you get the drunkard to go away?' (lit. 'How did you make that (he) goes away the drunkard?')
But if the first object is the same as the second subject, there may be no subordinator with the present (serial verb construction).
  • Inte nechajkawa nikalaki. 'She won't let me in.' (literally 'She doesn't let me I enter')

Pal may again be used, with both verbs indexed for the same subject:

  • Niwalaj ka nikan pal nitaketza muwan. 'I came here in order to talk to you.' (lit. 'I came here for I talk with you')
The two verbs may be juxtaposed with no intervening subordinator, again with both verbs indexed for the same subject and the second in the present (i.e., unmarked) tense. Called the serial verb construction, this pattern is very pervasive and has many uses in Nawat.
  • Niajki nitaketza iwan. 'I went to speak to him.' (literally 'I went I speak with him')
  • Nikistuk nipashalua. 'I have come out for a stroll.' (lit. 'I have gone out I stroll')
  • Nimuketzki niktatia tit. 'I got up to light the fire.' (lit. 'I got up I light the fire')
  • Nimukwepki nikita. 'I turned around to see.' (lit. 'I turned round I see')
  • Yaja mutalia chuka. 'He is sitting (there) crying.' (lit. 'He sits he cries')

Periphrastic TAM constructions

The serial construction also serves as the structure for a number of compound expressions of tense, aspect and modality, e.g.

yawi (present) + V (periphrastic future)

  • Naja niyaw nimumachtia Nawat. 'I am going to (or I will) learn Nawat.'
nemi + V 'be V-ing'
  • Tejemet tinemit titakwat. 'We are eating.'
pewa + V 'start V-ing'
  • Ne piltzin pejki chuka. 'The boy started to cry.'
-neki + V 'want to V'
  • Naja niknekiskia nimetzpalewia. 'I would like to help you.'
weli + V 'can/be able to/know how to V'
  • Taja tiweli titaketza yek. 'You can speak well.'

But there are also constructions, or variant expressions, that depart from this pattern somewhat.

The invariable word katka, which means 'was' or 'before, in the past', may occur following a verb form to establish past or habitual reference, e.g., inte kimati katka 'he didn't know'.

Negation

Negative particles immediately precede either a verb or a non-verbal predicate. Basically there are three of them:

the ordinary negator inte (with a shorter form: te and a dialect variant tesu),

  • Ne siwatket inte walajtiwit. 'The women have not come.'
  • Tesu nikmati. 'I do not know.'
  • Naja te ni-Carlos. 'I am not Carlos.'
the less frequent nian or nan, which is conjunctive or emphatic,
  • Yejemet inte takwajket nian atiket. 'They neither ate nor drank.'
and the prohibitive maka or .
  • Maka shalmukwepa! 'Don't come back!'

They also combine with pronouns and adverbs to yield other negative expressions, e.g., (in)te (t)atka 'nothing', (in)te aka 'no one', (in)te keman 'never', nian aka 'no one at all, and no one', maka keman 'never ever!', etc.: Inte nikmati tatka (datka) 'I know nothing', Maka shikilwi aka! 'Do not tell anyone!'

Phase

Two suffixes, -a and -uk, lend different phasal nuances to a predicate, i.e., they add certain temporal (or related) notions, expressing that a situation has already been reached (with -a) or that it still obtains (with -uk). The more common phasal suffix, -a, is also used simply to place emphasis on the predicate so marked. Compare for example:

  • Nemi takwal. 'There is some food.'
  • Nemia takwal. 'There is food now.' (implies there wasn't any before)
  • Nemiuk takwal. 'There is still food.' (implies there was food before too)

In negative sentences, the phasal suffixes are added to the negative particle, for example:

  • Inte (te, tesu) nemi takwal. 'There is no food.'
  • Intea (teya, teya su) nemi takwal. 'There is no more food.'
  • Inteuk (teyuk) nemi takwal. 'There is no food yet.'

Questions

Yes-no questions are not differentiated grammatically from the corresponding statements. They may be affirmative, e.g., Taja tikmati? 'Do you know?', or negative, e.g., Inte tikitak kanka witz? 'Didn't you see where he was coming from?'

For replying affirmatively to yes-no questions, one may use E / Ej / Eje 'Yes', and sometimes Kia 'That's right' (literally 'So'). But it is equally common to respond using the appropriately inflected form of the main verb of the question, e.g.. (offering a cookie, for example) Tikneki se? - Nikneki 'Would you like one? - I would', Weli titaketza Nawat? - Weli 'Can you speak Nawat? - I can'. The standard negative answer is Inte / Te / Tesu 'No', or again, the verb of the question negated: Tikitak uni takat ka ne? - Te nikitak 'Did you see that man over there? - I did not'. Other idiomatic responses include Nusan 'Also', Teika inte! or Taika te! 'Why not!' and Inte / Te / Tesu nikmati 'I don't know'.

Wh-questions are formed with a wh-word, which usually immediately precedes the predicate (verbal or non-verbal.

Indirect questions are introduced by either (a)su 'if, whether' or a wh-expression, depending on the kind of question.

Coordination

Wan or iwan (which is also the preposition and relational 'with') serves as an all-purpose coordinating conjunction. There seem not to be any specialised native words for 'but' and 'or' (unless ush 'or' is one), and the Spanish words pero and o are sometimes used. N(i)an 'nor' may be used to coordinate negative statements. Mal or melka 'although, even though' can form adversative clauses, e.g., Niyaw niyaw, mal-te/melka te nikneki 'I will go, although I don't want to'. Nusan 'also' is common, e.g., Yaja nusan walaj 'She also came'; its negative counterpart is simply nusan te... 'not...either', e.g., Naja nusan te nikneki nitakwa 'I don't want to eat either'.

Subordination

subordinate clauses are introduced by subordinators; the following table illustrates some of the most common:

subor-dinatortranslationuseexample
ka'that', 'because'general complementizer, reason
  • Yaja ina ka te kimati tatka. 'He says that he doesn't know anything (about it).'
  • Ne ejekat witz sesek ka ne mishti kitzakwa ne tunal. 'The wind comes cold because clouds cover the sun.'
ma (subjunc-tive)'that', 'to'unrealized different-subject complements, purpose
  • Nikneki ma shitakwika. 'I want you to sing.'
  • Yek ma mumachtikan. 'It is good that they should learn.'
  • Shikajkawa ne at ma seseya. 'Leave the water to cool.'
pal'(in order) to', 'for...to'purpose
  • Ne tujtutut welit patanit pal kitemuat takwal. 'Birds are able to fly in order to seek food.'
  • Nalwikatuk ini pal tikwa. 'I have brought this for you to eat.'
(a)su'if'condition, indirect question
  • Su te nitekiti, te tiawit titakwat. 'If I do not work we will not eat.'
  • Shiktajtanili su weli metzmaka chiupi at. 'Ask her if she can give you some water.'
kwak'when'time clause
  • Kwak niajsik, te nemituya aka. 'When I arrived, there wasn't anybody there.'

Relative clauses, which always follow (rather than precede) their head, may be simply juxtaposed clauses, or introduced by the article ne, the general complementizer ka or the interrogative pronoun (the last two being distinguished phonologically in various ways in the dialects). Headless relative clauses are introduced by interrogative pronouns.

Lexicon

General

As regards origin, the Pipil lexicon consists of the following components:

There exist mechanisms of native origin for the creation of derived and compound words. No doubt these were more actively used in the language's past, since some such mechanisms are only attested in fossilized form. In more recent periods of the language, use of such procedures appears to have decreased, and with them the productivity of the procedures themselves.

Derivation

A selection of well-attested derivational affixes follows:

affixfunctionmeaningexamples
-k or -tik suffixadjectivesgeneral adjective suffix
  • ista-t 'salt' → ista-k 'white'
  • -kukua 'hurt' → kuku-k 'painful, spicy-hot'
  • chil 'pepper' → chil-tik 'red'
-tuk suffixadjectives from verbsparticiple or stative adjective
  • wak-i (verb) 'dry' → wak-tuk 'dry (adj.)'
  • mik-i 'die' → mik-tuk 'dead'
-na(j) suffixadjectivescf. '-ish', '-y'
  • chil-tik 'red' → chi-chil-naj 'reddish'
  • petz-tik 'bare, naked' → petz-naj 'smooth'
-yu suffixnouns from nouns'special' inalienables (non-productive)
  • a-t 'water' → -a-yu 'juice, sauce, soup'
  • -teku 'father' → -tekuyu 'master'
te- prefixnouns from nounsalienable from inalienable (non-productive)
  • -nan 'mother' → te-nan '(somebody's) mother'
  • -pal 'property' → te-pal 'belonging to somebody (else)'
-tzin/chin suffixnouns from nounsdiminutive (or honorific) suffix
  • te-t 'stone, rock' → te-chin 'little stone'
  • -nan 'mother' → nan-tzin 'lady'
-pala suffixnouns from nounsold, pejorative suffix
  • kwach-ti 'cloth' → kwach-pala / kwech-pala 'rag'
  • siwa-t 'woman' → siwa-pala 'whore'
-tal suffixnouns from nounscollective suffix, plantation
  • chapulin 'locust' → chapulin-tal 'swarm of locusts'
  • kamuj 'cassava' → kamuj-tal 'cassava patch'
-l suffixnouns from verbsobject of action
  • ta-kwa 'eat' → ta-kwa-l 'food, animal'
-ni suffixnouns from verbsagent
  • ta-machtia 'teach' → ta-machtia-ni 'teacher'
  • miki 'die' → miki-ni 'dead body'
-lis suffixnouns from verbsaction or result
  • ta-kaki 'hear' → ta-kaki-lis 'hearing'
  • takwika 'sing' → takwika-lis 'song'
-ya suffixintransitive verbs from adjectivesinchoative
  • sese-k 'cold' → sese-ya 'get cold'
-tia suffixtransitive verbs from verbscausative
  • miki 'die' → -mik-tia 'kill'
  • kalaki 'enter' → -kalak-tia 'put in, bring in'
-(i)lia suffixditransitive verbs from transitive verbsapplicative
  • -ishtia 'take out/away' → -ishti-lia 'take out/away from (someone)'
  • -chiwa 'do' → -chiw-ilia 'do (something) to (someone)'
mu- prefixintransitive verbs from transitive verbsreflexive or medio-passive
  • -talia 'put' → mu-talia 'sit'
  • -altia 'bath (trans.)' → m-altia (for *mu-altia) 'bathe (intrans.)'
ta- prefixverbs from transitive verbsunaccusative (though sometimes re-transtivized)
  • -chia 'wait for' → ta-chia 'look, see'
  • -mutia 'scare' → ta-mutia 'be scary'

Ideophones

Ideophones are a distinct set of lexical items, often denoting some process that is directly perceived by the senses (such as a kind of sound or visual experience), which enter into a special range of language-specific grammatical patterns. Nawat is one of many languages possessing such items and the associated patterns, which in this case are 'expressive' verb formations. The root form of a typical Nawat ideophone is a CVCV sequence, e.g., -chala-, -china-, -kelu-, -kina-, -kumu-, -kwala-, -tapa-, -tikwi-, -tzaya-, -tzili-, -tzutzu-. These roots are not words and only acquire full meaning when they enter into one or another of the derivational patterns for Nawat ideophones. Some at least are probably onomatopoeic in origin.

The four most common morphological patterns for such Nawat verb formations are the following (R represents the ideophone root, rR a reduplicated root without j):

patterntype of formationexamples
Rniintransitive diffusion verbs
  • kelu-ni 'break (intr.)'
  • kumu-ni 'swarm'
  • kwala-ni 'get angry'
  • tapa-ni 'explode'
  • tikwi-ni 'thunder'
  • tzili-ni 'ring'
-Rna or -Rniatransitive diffusion verbs
  • kelu-na 'break (tr.)'
  • tapa-na 'cause to explode'
  • tzaya-na 'cause to split'
  • tzutzu-na 'play a musical instrument'
  • kumu-nia 'excite'
rRkaintransitive repetitive verbs
  • cha-chala-ka 'chatter'
  • chi-china-ka 'burn'
  • ki-kina-ka 'complain'
  • kwa-kwala-ka 'boil'
-rRtzatransitive repetitive verbs
  • -ke-kelu-tza 'stir, shake'

Incorporation

Classical Nahuatl is characterized by widespread use of the device of incorporation. This is a grammatical and lexical phenomenon found in different guises in many languages. The Nahuatl system is quite well known to linguists because it is often cited as an example in linguistic literature.

Briefly, in incorporation a lexeme potentially representing one of a verb's semantic arguments or adjuncts, rather than forming a separate grammatical constituent is allowed to be attached directly to the verb itself thereby forming a compound verb. In Nahuatl this incorporated lexeme is prefixed to the verb.

In Pipil, examples of this kind of structure also occur. However, their use is far less widespread than in Classical Nahuatl, and the process is barely (if at all) productive. Therefore existing examples rather resemble ordinary lexicalized compounds. Furthermore, most of those used involve one of a specific, limited range of incorporating elements that show considerable grammaticalization, and are therefore perhaps best viewed, in the Pipil context at least, simply as derivational prefixes.

The grammaticalization of these elements manifests itself in form, meaning and function. The Pipil forms of some of these incorporating stems are somewhat specialized phonologically; moreover, some of the forms used for incorporation no longer have corresponding full-word counterparts.

Most of the narrow set of widely used incorporating elements belong to a single semantic set, that of body parts. While in some compounds the literal meanings of such elements subsists, in many others they only retain a broadly metaphorical sense, while in some it is quite difficult to perceive any particular meaning at all.

A selection of Pipil 'incorporation prefixes' with illustrations of some of their uses follows:

prefixmeaning(s)full wordexamples
a-watera-t 'idem'
  • -a-pachua 'immerse in water' (cf. -pachua 'press, flatten')
  • -a-paka 'wash (in water)' (cf. -paka 'wash')
  • a-kalaki 'enter in water' (cf. -kalaki 'enter')
el-chest, mind(cf. -elpan 'chest', -elishku 'stomach'...)
  • -el-namiki 'remember' (cf. -namiki 'meet')
  • -el-kawa 'forget' (cf. -(aj)kawa 'leave')
ish-eye / face / front-ish 'eye'
  • -ish-mati 'know, be familiar with, recognize' (cf. -mati 'know')
  • -ish-kwepa 'turn around, turn over' (cf. -kwepa 'turn')
ku- (1)tree / wood / stickkwawit 'idem' (possessed -kwaw)
  • ku-temu 'climb down' (cf. temu 'descend')
ku- (2)head
  • -ku-pachua 'hold down (by the head?)' (cf. -pachua 'press, flatten')
ma-hand-mey, -may 'idem'
  • -ma-paka 'wash hands' (cf. -paka 'wash')
sen-one / togetherse 'one'
  • sen-ta-kwa 'eat together' (cf. (ta)-kwa 'eat')
ten-mouth / opening / door-ten 'idem'
  • -ten-namiki 'kiss, revere' (cf. -namiki 'meet')
  • -ten-tzakwa 'close' (cf. -tzakwa 'cover, close')
tzin-bottom / base(cf. tzinkamak 'buttock' etc.)
  • -tzin-kutuna 'cut down' (cf. -kutuna 'cut')
  • tzinh-eskisa 'menstruate' (cf. eskisa 'bleed', itself an incorporation composed of es-kisa 'blood + go out')
tzun-head-tzuntekun 'head'
  • -tzun-teki 'wound' (cf. -teki 'cut')
(y)ek-good / wellyek 'idem'
  • -ek-chiwa 'arrange, prepare' (cf. -chiwa 'make, do')
  • -yek-talia 'tidy, put in order' (cf. -talia 'put')
yul-heart, mind, life-yulu 'heart', yultuk 'alive'
  • yul-taketza 'think' (cf. taketza 'speak')
  • mu-yul-kwepa 'revive, come back to life' (cf. -kwepa '(re)turn')

Examples of sentences containing incorporation compounds:

  • Ne isiwaw mukechkupina kisa pashalua. 'His wife would divide in two at the neck [and the head would] go out and have fun.' (mu-kech-kupina 'REFLEXIVE + neck + separate')
  • Pejki kitzinkutuna muchi ne ijikshi tatuk. 'He started to cut down all the corn stalks.' (ki-tzin-kutuna 'OBJECT + base + cut')
  • Kan kitak ka mutalujket, kutemuk wan kianki ne tumin. 'When he saw that they had run away, he climbed down the tree and picked up the money.' (ku-temu-k 'tree + descend + PAST')
  • Yejemet kikwit ne at pal kiunit wan pal mumapakat. 'They use the water for drinking and washing (their hands).' (mu-ma-paka-t 'REFLEXIVE + hand + wash + PLURAL)'

Other compounds

Lexical stems may combine to form other kinds of lexical compounds. Compounding mechanisms may still exist in the spontaneous language use of some speakers (to the extent that they still have spontaneous language use) but there is limited evidence for their natural, productive application.

Where traditional compounds are concerned, much of what has beensaid about incorporation is equally applicable. In fact, the same lexical combining forms that predominate in incorporation verbs often reappear in other compounds. Since these tend to be monosyllables with a low level of semantic specificity, we may call them 'light elements' and the compounds they form 'light compounds'.

Some 'light' compounds
first elementsecond elementcompoundmeaning of compound
a- 'water'kua- 'snake'a-kua-t'eel'
ish- 'eye, face'kal 'house'ish-kal-yu'face'
ma- 'hand'-kwi 'take'ma-kwi-l'five'
ma- 'hand'pipil 'child, diminutive'ma-pipil'finger'
sen- 'one'-pua 'count'sen-pua-l'five, twenty (lit. one-count)'
ten- 'mouth, opening'kal 'house'ten-kal'patio, door'
ten- 'mouth, opening'-tzun- 'hair'-ten-tzun'beard, moustache'
tzin- 'bottom, base'kal 'house'tzin-kal'corner'
tzun- 'head'-tukay 'name'-tzun-tukay'surname'

Compounds containing more than one 'heavy' lexeme are rather rarer, and when new ones are proposed it is perhaps most often in response to the pressure of Spanish, i.e., in attempts to find a 'native' equivalent to a Spanish word in order to avoid a loanword. In the following table, '%' preceding a word indicates a neologism (proposed by at least one native speaker).

Some 'heavy' compounds
first elementsecond elementcompoundmeaning of compound
achtu 'first, before'-ish 'eye'%achtu-ish'spectacles' (cf. Spanish 'ante-ojos')
kujtan 'forest, countryside'kuyam-et 'pig'kujtan-kuyam-et'peccary' (cf. Spanish 'tunco de monte' )
kujtan 'forest, countryside'techan 'village'kujtan-techan'hamlet' (Spanish 'cantón' )
naka- 'meat'tamal 'tortilla'naka-tamal'tamale (with meat filling)'
siwa- 'female'mistun 'cat'siwa-mistun'female cat'
tajku 'middle, half'tunal 'day'tajku-tunal'noon'
tepus- 'iron'patani 'fly'%tepus-patani'plane'
ujti 'road, way'patawak 'wide'ujti-patawak'main road'
ukich 'male'tijlan 'hen, chicken'ukich-tijlan'rooster'

Loanwords

When speakers fail to find an adequate word or expression in Nawat they may (1) employ a circumlocution (for example, they could call the kitchen kan titamanat '(the place) where we cook'), (2) borrow a Spanish word or expression (e.g., ne cosinaj 'the cocina' (kitchen)), or (3) simply code-switch. However, when we speak of loanwords we have in mind items of foreign origin that have become habitual elements of Nawat usage and may also have undergone adaptation as a result.

Spanish loans into Nawat include some very common words indeed, such as mas 'more' or pero 'but'. Some loans, particularly older ones, may adopt forms or meanings that differentiate them from their Spanish source, e.g., pelu 'dog' (Spanish perro), mesaj 'table' (Sp. mesa), noya 'grandmother' (from Spanish señora 'lady'). There are also cases where the source form or meaning has become less common or disappeared from contemporary Spanish usage (at least in the standard varieties) but lives on in Nawat, e.g., tumin 'coin, money' (older Spanish tomín). In such cases as these, speakers may be unaware of a word's historical origin and simply view it as 'typical Nawat', even preferring it to a neologism created with an intention of greater 'authenticity'.

  • Tiut tiawit a ver su timuchiwa alegrar chupi. 'We'll go and see if you cheer up a little.'
  • Pero kenemej tesu mawiltia ka afuera, muchijki entristecer. 'But in this way he didn't play outside, he became sad.'
  • Nuamigoj igustoj na nikchiwa contar cuentos. 'My friend likes me to tell stories.'
  • Ashkan tiksajsakat chikwasen pual kushtal arroz. 'Today we'll carry a hundred and twenty sacks of rice.'
  • Musta tiu-tiawit hasta ne tatzinu. 'Tomorrow we'll go towards the south.'
  • Tesu kimati katka ka ne isiwaw se brujaj. 'He didn't know that his wife was a witch.'
  • Ne musiwapiltzin yaja mas selek. 'Your daughter is younger.'
  • Tay horaj tinemit? 'What time is it?' (literally 'What hour are we (at)?'

With one possible exception (pashalua 'go for a walk, take time off work' < *pasyarua < Spanish pasear + the non-productive verb suffix -ua), verbs can only be borrowed into Nawat from other languages in an invariable form based on the Spanish infinitive. Such forms cannot be conjugated directly. Instead, they must be preceded by the Nawat verb -chiwa 'make, do' to form compound expressions, e.g., from Spanish escribir 'write' we have Nawat nikchiwa escribir (contracted to nikcha escribir) 'I write' (literally 'I do escribir' ), tikchiwket or tikchijket escribir 'we wrote' (lit. 'we did escribir' ), etc.

Dialect variation

Dialects

Pipil internal dialect variation is incompletely documented at present. While recognising the existence of important gaps in our knowledge (which may or may not ever be filled, as the last native speakers pass on), we do know of two well-defined dialect areas, at least as far as the department of Sonsonate is concerned, which may tentatively be called Upland and Lowland. The Upland dialect area includes the towns of Izalco and Nahuizalco, the Lowland area those of Santo Domingo de Guzmán and Cuisnahuat. Present knowledge also includes some points of differentiation between Santo Domingo and Cuisnahuat. Thus for practical purposes we are chiefly able to speak of three known varieties: Izalco, Cuisnahuat and Santo Domingo.

Phonological variation

Morphological variation

Izalco/UplandCuisnahuatSanto Domingo
'what'teytatay
'who'kakagaj
Izalco/UplandCuisnahuatSanto Domingo
'arrive'asiajsiajsi
'tell'-ilia-ilwia-ilwia
'forest, country'kujtankujtankojtan

Syntactic variation

Lexical variation

A few examples of inter-dialectal lexical differences follow:

Izalco/UplandCuisnahuatSanto Domingo
'be born'takatiwaltakatinesi
'brother (older)'-echkaw-man-manuj (< Sp. hermano
'high'wejkapankujtikkojtik
'laugh'wetzkawetzkapaki
'party, fiesta'yualuilwitilwit
'remain'mukawanakanaka
'send, order'-titania-tuktia-tuktia

Spelling systems

Among the works published since the early twentieth century until the present in which the Pipil language is described or transcribed at any length, rarely do two authors fully coincide in the spelling conventions they use. The spelling system used in this article is that employed in recently produced materials associated with the Nawat language recovery initiative IRIN. The following table allows this to be compared to with other spelling systems, ordered approximately in reverse chronological order.

Comparison of spelling systems
IRIN/

this article

Geoffroy Rivas/

Lemus

CampbellSchultze JenaSpanish-based
aaaaa
eeeee
iiiii
uuuuu, o
ppppp
ttttt
kkkkk, c, qu
kkkgg, gu
kwqkwkuku, cu
tzztststz, ts
chcchčch
sssss, z, c
shxxšsh
jhhχj
mmmmm
nn (m)n (m)n, ń, mn (m)
lllll
yyyy (i)y (i)
wwwuu, hu, gu, gü

See also

Related Research Articles

Tzeltal language language

Tzeltal or Tsʼeltal is a Mayan language spoken in the Mexican state of Chiapas, mostly in the municipalities of Ocosingo, Altamirano, Huixtán, Tenejapa, Yajalón, Chanal, Sitalá, Amatenango del Valle, Socoltenango, Las Rosas, Chilón, San Juan Cancuc, San Cristóbal de las Casas and Oxchuc. Tzeltal is one of many Mayan languages spoken near this eastern region of Chiapas, including Tzotzil, Chʼol, and Tojolabʼal, among others. There is also a small Tzeltal diaspora in other parts of Mexico and the United States, primarily as a result of unfavorable economic conditions in Chiapas.

Halkomelem language

Halkomelem is a language of various First Nations peoples in British Columbia, ranging from southeastern Vancouver Island from the west shore of Saanich Inlet northward beyond Gabriola Island and Nanaimo to Nanoose Bay and including the Lower Mainland from the Fraser River Delta upriver to Harrison Lake and the lower boundary of the Fraser Canyon.

The Nheengatu language, often spelled Nhengatu, is an indigenous language of the Americas from the Tupi–Guarani language family. The name of the language is derived from the words nheen and gatu. The name of the related language Ñheengatu, in Paraguay, is similarly derived. Nheengatu is referred to by a large variety of names in literature, including Nhengatu, Coastal Tupian, Geral, Yeral, Modern Tupí, Nyengato, Nyengatú, Waengatu, Neegatú, Is’engatu, Língua Brasílica and Tupi Amazônico. It is also commonly referred to as Língua Geral Amazônica (LGA) in Brazil.

Yakkha is a language spoken in parts of Nepal, Darjeeling district and Sikkim. The Yakkha-speaking villages are located to the East of the Arun river, in the southern part of the Sankhuwasabha district and in the northern part of the Dhankuta district of Nepal. About 14,000 people still speak the language, out of 17,003 ethnic Yakkha in Nepal. Genealogically, Yakkha belongs to the Eastern Kiranti languages and is in one subgroup with several Limbu languages, e.g. Belhare, Athpare, Chintang and Chulung. Ethnically however, the Yakkha people perceive themselves as distinct from the other Kiranti groups such as Limbu.

Tübatulabal is an extinct Uto-Aztecan language, traditionally spoken in Kern County, California, United States. It is the traditional language of the Tübatulabal, who have now shifted to English. The language originally had three main dialects: Bakalanchi, Pakanapul and Palegawan.

Karajá language language

Karajá, also known as Ynã, is spoken by the Karajá people in some thirty villages in central Brazil. Dialects are North Karaja, South Karaja, Xambioá, and Javaé. There are distinct male and female forms of speech; one of the principal differences is that men drop the sound, which is pronounced by women.

Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'álgyax, is a dialect of the Tsimshian language spoken in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. Sm'algyax means literally "real or true language."

This rather technical article provides a typological sketch of the Pipil language. Another related article outlines Pipil grammar in fuller detail. The distinctive purpose of the present article is to single out those specific features of Nawat linguistic structure that are relevant to this language's general typological classification and characterization, answering the question: What major features make this language similar to or different from other languages? Most of the assertions in this article are generalizations from information found in the Pipil grammar article.

Kurdish grammar has many Inflections, with prefixes and suffixes added to roots to express grammatical relations and to form words.

The verb is one of the most complex parts of Basque grammar. It is sometimes represented as a difficult challenge for learners of the language, and many Basque grammars devote most of their pages to lists or tables of verb paradigms. This article does not give a full list of verb forms; its purpose is to explain the nature and structure of the system.

Bororo (Borôro), also known as Boe, is the sole surviving language of a small family believed to be part of the Macro-Gê languages. It is spoken by the Bororo, hunters and gatherers in the Central Mato Grosso region of Brazil.

Munsee is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family.

The grammar of the Otomi language displays a mixture of elements of synthetic and analytic structures. Particularly the phrase-level morphology is synthetic, whereas the sentence-level is analytic. Simultaneously, the language is head-marking in terms of its verbal morphology, but not in its nominal morphology, which is more analytic. Otomi recognizes three large open word classes of nouns and verbs, and particles. There is a small closed class of property words, variously analyzed as adjectives or stative verbs.

Wandala, also known as Mandara or Mura', is a language in the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, spoken in Cameroon and Nigeria.

Nen, or Nen Zi, is a Trans-Fly–Bulaka River language spoken in the Bimadbn village in Western Province of Papua New Guinea, with 250 speakers as of a 2002 SIL survey. It is situated between the speech communities of Nambu and Idi.

Teiwa is a non-Austronesian, Papuan language spoken on the Pantar island in eastern Indonesia. The island is the second largest in the Alor archipelago, lying just west of the largest island Alor.

Mekéns language language

Mekéns (Mekem), or Amniapé, is a nearly extinct Tupian language of the state of Rondônia, in the Amazon region of Brazil.

Neve’ei, also known as Vinmavis, is an Oceanic language of central Malekula, Vanuatu. There are around 500 primary speakers of Neve’ei and about 750 speakers in total.

The grammar of the constructed Na'vi language was created for the movie Avatar by Paul Frommer. It is a tripartite, primarily affixing agglutinative language.

References