Search: Start Page ➙ Language: Nahuatl, Classical (nci) Alternative Names  Classical Aztec Family/Group  Uto-Aztecan, Southern Uto-Aztecan Area  North America Typological Information  • polysynthetic language, marking both subject and object on the predicate • potential of object incorporation and of incorporating adverbial elements • rich derivational system • all adjectives are formed from a verb root • VO word order • simple phonological inventory, distinguishing short and long vowels • Simple syllable structure: CVC, CV, VC, V Reduplication Form-Function  • reduplication with a long vowel used in the formation of plural of nouns (unproductive) • frequentative verbs derived from a restricted set of roots through the suffixes -ka and -ca and reduplication with a short vowel; nonfrequentative verbs are formed from the same set of roots with the suffixes -ni and -na/-nia (unproductive) • frequentative verbs derived from other verbs through reduplication (productiv) Relationship Form-Function  various forms - various functions Diachrony  Virtually every UA language displays verbal reduplication of some kind, and in some cases a variety of patterns. (Langacker 1977:128) Forms  Select Value σ CV CV: CVC V   Functions  Select Valuelexical enrichment pluralization Patterns  Select Valuepartial full with affixation partial with affixation Semantics  Select Valuenot decided other plurality   Word Classes  Select Value0 — adjective/adverb 0 — noun 0 — verb adjective/adverb — adjective/adverb noun — not decided noun — noun verb — verb   All Examples  ⊟ References Canger, Una 1981. "Reduplication in Nahuatl, in Dialectal and Historical Perspective". In Texas Linguistic Forum 18: 29-55  Canger, Una 2009. gdr Questionnaire on Reduplication (Nahuatl). Ms.  Carochi, Horacio 2001. Grammar of the Mexican Language with an Explanation of its Adverbs (1645). Stanford University Press   1 of 2       Terminology    Glossary    Field Descriptions

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