© 2019 michael stoop
TRANSCRIPT
COMPLEX VERBS OF EMOTION IN COPALA TRIQUI
By
MICHAEL STOOP
A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
2019
© 2019 Michael Stoop
To my parents
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to extend my thanks first and foremost to the Triqui speakers who helped me
learn about this aspect of their language: Monica de Jesus Ramirez, Román Vidal López, and
Jesus Fuentes. I also owe much thanks to George Aaron Broadwell, Lauren Clemens, and
Jamilläh Rodriguez for their comments and conversation that helped develop this work, as well
as Barbara Hollenbach for graciously sharing her notes and answering my questions, as well as
the audiences of SCoT 2018, the UF Fieldwork Forum, and SSILA 2019.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4
LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................7
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..........................................................................................................8
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................11
1.1 This Research Project ......................................................................................................12 1.2 Broader Impacts ...............................................................................................................12
1.3 Summary of Paper ...........................................................................................................14
2 BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................................15
2.1 Copala Triqui Language ..................................................................................................15
2.2 Body Part Extensions .......................................................................................................16 2.3 Emotions ..........................................................................................................................17
3 EMOTION PARTICLES AND COMPLEX VERBS ............................................................20
3.1 Background on Complex Verbs .......................................................................................20
3.2 Complex Adjectives .........................................................................................................23 3.3 Emotion Complexes .........................................................................................................24
3.3.1 Rá nimán complexes ..............................................................................................24 3.3.2 Paradigm of Emotion Complexes ..........................................................................27 3.3.3 Compositional and Non-Compositional Complexes .............................................27
3.3.4 Previous Documentation .......................................................................................28 3.3.5 Lexical Variation ...................................................................................................30
4 FROM THE BODY TO THE VERB .....................................................................................32
4.1 Body Parts Terms ............................................................................................................32 4.1.1 BPTs in Complex Verbs ........................................................................................32
4.1.2 Background to rá ...................................................................................................34 4.1.3 Background to nimán ............................................................................................35
4.2 Extensions of Body Part Terms .......................................................................................36 4.2.1 Inalienable Possession ...........................................................................................36 4.2.2 Body Parts as Prepositions ....................................................................................37 4.2.3 Body Parts as Adverbs and Adjectives ..................................................................38
4.3 Path to the Verbal Complex .............................................................................................38
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4.3.1 Are Emotion Particles from Adjectives? ...............................................................38
4.3.2 Are Emotion Particles from Prepositions? ............................................................39
4.3.3 Emotion Particles as Syntactic Reanalysis ............................................................40 4.4 Degrees of Incorporation of Emotion Particles ...............................................................43 4.5 F2 Tone-Lowering Rule ..................................................................................................46 4.6 Findings From Albany Diaspora Community .................................................................47 4.7 Early Incorporation ..........................................................................................................48
4.7.1 Structural Ambiguity .............................................................................................49 4.8 Late Incorporation ...........................................................................................................50 4.9 A Comparison to Colonial Valley Zapotec and Mitla Zapotec .......................................52
5 ALTERNATION BETWEEN EMOTION PARTICLES ......................................................56
5.1 Momentary Contexts .......................................................................................................56 5.2 Describing Character .......................................................................................................60 5.3 Connection to Personal Relationships .............................................................................62
5.4 Describing Intensity .........................................................................................................64 5.5 Exceptions ........................................................................................................................66
5.6 Summary ..........................................................................................................................67
6 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................69
6.1 Summary ..........................................................................................................................69
6.2 Limitations .......................................................................................................................69 6.3 Closing Remarks ..............................................................................................................70
APPENDIX
A BODY PART TERMS IN COMPLEX VERBS ....................................................................71
B LIST OF COMPLEX VERBS OF EMOTION ......................................................................72
LIST OF REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................78
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................81
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LIST OF TABLES
Table page
3-1 Paradigm of Emotion Complexes ......................................................................................27
4-1 Broadwell's classification of complex verbs ......................................................................43
4-2 Stages of Incorporation of Particles ...................................................................................46
5-1 Intensity ratings of emotion complexes .............................................................................65
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1 first person
2 second person
3 third person
acc accusative
caus causative
com completive
con continuative
dec declarative
du dual
EMO1 emotion particle 1
EMO2 emotion particle 2
EMO3 emotion particle 3
f feminine
hab habitual aspect
indef indefinite
irr irrealis
m masculine
neg negation, negative
perf perfective
poss possessed
pl plural
9
pot potential aspect
q question particle/marker
quot quotative
rel relative
sg singular
stat stative
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Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School
of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
COMPLEX VERBS OF EMOTION IN COPALA TRIQUI
By
Michael Stoop
May 2019
Chair: George Aaron Broadwell
Major: Anthropology
Copala Triqui (iso:trc) is an Otomanguean language spoken in Western Oaxaca, Mexico,
and many diaspora communities. Like many languages in the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area,
Copala Triqui takes advantage of frequent incorporation of Body Part Terms (BPTs) into verbs
to form complex verbs. Almost all verbs for emotional and psychological states in Copala Triqui
are expressed with complex verbs. These verbs are formed primarily with two emotion particles,
rá and nimán, both of which are likely derived from words for "heart". These emotion complexes
have received limited attention in Copala Triqui and in languages that have similar forms. This
paper presents a new understanding of these verbs in a few key aspects. First, this paper shows
emotion particles can be used interchangeably in most complexes. Second, it argues that each
emotion particle is preferred in different contexts. Taken as a whole, this suggests that the choice
between emotion particles offers speakers a tool to express emotional nuance. Finally, this paper
argues that these BPTs found their way into the verb complex via a process of syntactic
reanalysis, and that this process is ongoing and can be seen in inter-speaker differences today.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Almost every language has a way for expressing feelings or emotions. In this paper, I
discuss how emotions are expressed in Copala Triqui (ISO:trc), an Otomanguean language from
Oaxaca, Mexico. Almost all emotional and mental states are expressed in Copala Triqui using a
particular type of verb, referred to in this paper as a complex verb of emotion (often shortened to
"complex"). These verbs are formed from a verb stem plus one or more emotion particle, as in
the example below:1
(1) achráá rá
hate EMO1
"to hate"
There are two emotion particles used in complexes, rá (glossed EMO1) and nimán
(glossed EMO2). This paper presents a few key findings: first, these emotion particles can be
used interchangeably in almost all emotion complexes. Second, each emotion particle is
preferred in different contexts. Taken as a whole, this paper argues that the choice between
variants of an emotion complex offers speakers a tool to express emotional nuance in the
language. This, in turn, is important to document to capture the social use of the language.
Additionally, this paper explores the historical development of these complexes. Both
emotion particles are likely derived from body part terms (BPTs); specifically, both particles
either once or currently refer to the heart. This paper argues that these BPTs found their way into
1 The orthography used in this paper are based on the practical orthography developed by Barbara and Bruce
Hollenbach for the Summer Institute of Linguistics for their translation of the New Testament (Hollenbach and
Hollenbach 2009). I follow their representation of the consonants, including the following conventions: <x> = [ʃ],
<xr> = [ʂ] (a retroflex alveopalatal sibilant), <ch> = [t ʃ], <chr> = [t ʂ], <c> = [k] (before front vowels), <qu> = [k]
(before back vowels), < ' > = [ʔ], <v> = [β], and <j> = [h]. <Vn> represents a nasalized vowel. Copala Triqui has 5
tones and 3 contour tones, labelled 5 at the highest and 1 at the lowest following the Hollenbachs' conventions. In
the practical orthography, tones in the high register (4 or 5) are represented with an acute accent < ´ >, and tones in
the low register (1, 2, 31) are marked with an underline < _>.
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the verb complex via a process of syntactic reanalysis, and that this process is ongoing and can
be seen in inter-speaker differences today.
1.1 This Research Project
Copala Triqui is an Otomanguean language, part of the Mixtecan branch. Precontact, the
language was spoken primarily in San Juan de Copala in Western Oaxaca, Mexico. Currently,
approximately 30,000 people speak the language (Simons and Fennig 2018). However, many of
these speakers live in diaspora communities in other parts of Mexico and the United States. This
research was conducted with members of one such diaspora community, centered in Albany,
NY. The research is part of an ongoing relationship between members of the community and the
Copala Triqui Working Group, which represents researchers from both University of Albany and
University of Florida (Clemens 2018).
Research for this project was conducted over the course of two months in Albany, with
three Copala Triqui speakers. One speaker is in his early sixties, one speaker is in his early
thirties, and the third is in her late twenties. All speakers were born in Oaxaca and have since
migrated to the Albany area. Research consisted primarily of linguistic elicitation, supplemented
by some methods from cognitive anthropology, especially free lists.
1.2 Broader Impacts
Emotion complexes like those in Copala Triqui are very common in related languages.
Despite this, these complexes have received very little attention from language documentation,
with syntactic (Broadwell 2014a) and morpho-syntactic (Cruz and Stump 2018) properties
explored. How these complexes are used in discourse by speakers or how they connect to a
broader cultural context is still poorly understood. It is hoped that this paper will begin to close
this gap.
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This paper adopts the view that documenting emotional language is particularly
important because communicating emotions is one of the primary social functions of language. It
is hoped that documenting emotional language and incorporating it into resources for language
learners can help increase community interest and buy-in with the language project.
Including emotional language in language documentation is also important because
emotional language stops being produced early in the language change progress. Emotional
language often captures relationships with people, and is used primarily in conversation with
another person. Once speakers shift to another language for daily communication, speakers of
the first language lose interlocutors to discuss feelings with. For this reason, documenting
emotional language is urgent.
Finally, this research has potential impacts for other areas. One instance is medical, as
some of the complexes discussed here are used to describe medical conditions. Consider the
examples belowː the complex in example 2 is used to refer to Attention Deficit/Hyper-activity
Disorder (ADHD); the complex in example 3 is used with the word chi'ii "illness" to describe
depressionː
(2) Ra'ñanj rá no'
con:to:be:hurried EMO1 3:f:sg
"She feels hurried."
(3) 'Unj nicaj chi'ii nanó rá.
1ːsg con:carry illness sad EMO1
"I suffer from depression."
Lopéz and Broadwell (2013)
Copala Triqui speakers, like many indigenous groups from southern Mexico, often have
to migrate to find employment as farm workers in the United States. Healthcare for migrant farm
workers is limited by a variety of factors, including misunderstandings around language (Holmes
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2013). Recording how the Copala Triqui language discusses medical conditions may help
interested healthcare providers provide better care.
1.3 Summary of Paper
Chapter 2 will provide background on the Copala Triqui language and how the body and
emotions have been studied in the past. Chapter 3 will describe how emotion complexes are used
contemporarily in the Copala Triqui language, highlighting that emotion particles can be
interchanged freely for most emotion complexes. Chapter 4 will explore the diachronic
development of emotion complexes. Finally, Chapter 5 explores how emotion particles are used
in different contexts by Copala Triqui speakers to express emotional nuance. Chapter 6 provides
some concluding remarks.
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CHAPTER 2
BACKGROUND
2.1 Copala Triqui Language
Copala Triqui, like many related languages, has VSO order.
(4) A’níí Mariá chraa rá yoó a.
con:put: Maria tortilla in container dec
"Maria puts the tortilla in the tenate (straw container)
Broadwell (2014a)
However, SVO order is very common in elicitation settings. For this reason, some of the
examples in this text will be in SVO order. As will be seen later, this word order possibility
becomes important when testing what is in the verb phrase versus the subject.
(5) Mariá tu'véj rnee cuana.
Maria con:sell bean now
"Maria is selling beans right now."
In Copala Triqui, aspect is often marked via an interplay of a prefix /k(V)-/ on the verb
and a change in tone. In previous work on Copala Triqui, aspect has been labelled by terms that
are different than those in general use: these are continuative, which equivalent to imperfective;
completive, equivalent to perfective; and potential, equivalent to irrealis.
Some verbs do not take the aspectual prefix, and only show aspect through tone. Others
use a combination of prefix and tone to show aspect. For these verbs, the essential pattern is that
progressive aspect has no prefix and high tone, completive has a prefix and high tone, and
potential aspect has a prefix and low tone. An example of each is given in the example below:
(6) a. Náj Juán.
con:stay Juan
"Juan stays."
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b. Qui-náj Juán.
com-stay Juan
"Juan stayed."
c. Qui-naj Juán.
pot-stay Juan
"Juan will stay."
Broadwell, Clemens, and Stoop (2017)
Negation combines with the expression of aspect in complicated ways, which are beyond
what's necessary to discuss for this paper.
2.2 Body Part Extensions
The syntax of complex verbs in Copala Triqui has been explored previously by
Broadwell (2014a). This work is discussed more in section 4.4. Little research has been
completed on the use of these complexes in context, or the effects of alternating emotion
particles.
Likewise, although complexes of emotion are very common in related languages, only
one study has explored these complexes outside of Copala Triqui: a study of San Juan Quiahije
(SJQ) Chatino by Hilaria Cruz and Gregory Stump (2018). This study primarily focuses on the
morphosyntactic properties of the emotion particles, which Cruz and Stump term "essence
predicates". Complexes that likely act in similar ways have been documented in other languages
but not explored in-depth. Examples can be found in Chalcatongo Mixtec (Macaulay 1996),
Panixtlahuaca Chatino (Pride and Pride 2004), and varieties of Zapotec (for a discussion of these
languages, see section 4.9).
Copala Triqui is part of the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area, meaning that it shares many
features with nearby languages, regardless of relatedness (Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark
1986). Having BPTs incorporated into verbs is one of these features (1986:551). BPTs extending
17
to other nouns and other grammatical categories seems to be a common feature of Mesoamerican
languages in general. BPTs are often extended to describe other objects via metaphor (e.g. the
neck of the vase). In Copala Triqui, an undergraduate honors thesis has been published on this
topic (Weiner 2010), and Hollenbach discusses this as well (1990).
Barbara Hollenbach has also explored the extension of BPTs to prepositions in Copala
Triqui, and from prepositions to other grammatical categories. This is more thoroughly explored
in section 4.2.2. The extension of BPTs to prepositions has also been explored in related
langauges: in Chalcatongo Mixtec by Claudia Brugman (1983), in Ayoquesco Zapotec by Robert
MacLaury (1989), and in Juchiteco Zapotec by Gabriela Pérez Báez (2012). This extension to
prepositions can be compared to English, where BPTs also find their way into prepositons, for
example "beside", "facing", and "behind".
2.3 Emotions
"Emotion" is a term rooted in English language and culture. Many languages have no
equivalent term. Copala Triqui is one such language: for our consultants there is not a close
synonym for "emotion" or "feeling". In fact, there does not seem to be a hypernym that
encapsulates some or all emotion words. According to our consultants, it is not common to ask
"how are you feeling?" as in English; instead, speakers typically ask if someone is feeling a
specific emotion. Yet, in a free list task (see Bernard 2017) where consultants were asked to give
Copala Triqui words that were examples of the English word "emotions", they gave these
emotion complexes as a response. In talking to speakers, there is a sense that these emotion
complexes form a culturally-salient category.
In this paper, the word "emotion" in "emotion complexes" is used with the understanding
that it provides an imperfect fit for the predicates described. What are called emotion complexes
in this paper cover a much wider semantic range than typical definitions of emotion. Emotion has
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been defined as requiring reference to a feeling, thought, and a physical state (Wierzbicka
1999:2). In Copala Triqui, there are many emotion complexes that match this definition. In fact,
it seems almost all words that fall under this definition are emotional complexes. However, there
are many emotional complexes that fall outside of this definition, for example some that do not
have a clear mental component:
(7) a. nataj nimán
breath.w/.difficulty EMO2
"breath with difficulty"
b. a'ne' rá
stop EMO1
"to stop, to break up (with someone)"
It is completely expected that there would be some mismatch between the conception of
emotions in English and in Copala Triqui. For the sake of being able to speak about these
complex forms as a unit, the term emotion complexes is adopted for all verbal complexes with
either rá or nimán as an incorporated particle1. How exactly Copala Triqui categories of internal
sensation compare to those in English is a topic ripe for future exploration using methods from
cognitive anthropology.
There has not been a previous study of emotions or emotional language in an
Otomanguean language. As the cross-cultural comparison of emotions becomes an increasingly
important topic, it is important to add more "voices" to the discussion, including the voice of
Otomanguean languages. Two examples are discussed below to provide an idea of how
Otomanguean languages in general, and Copala Triqui in particular, can contribute to current
scholarship on emotions.
1 The class of emotion complexes also should include some complexes made from raa "head", as these also seem to
refer to internal states. This point is discussed further in section 4.1.1.
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It has been argued that all languages have a way of linking "feelings based on thoughts
with events or processes involving the body", particularly through "body images" that use
imaginary events taking place inside the body to describe subjective experiences (Wierzbicka
1999:305). An example of this is "my heart sank" in English. As Ameka (2002) points out,
languages differ in whether body images are the marked or unmarked term for any given
emotion. For example, "my heart sank" seems marked compared to "I was disappointed" in
English. This isn't necessarily the case. In Copala Triqui, body images in the form of emotion
complexes seem to be the unmarked forms for most emotions. This is a topic that can be
explored further in the future.
Likewise, in Copala Triqui, almost all words for emotions currently make reference to the
heart or are historically derived from the term for heart. This means that the vast majority of
emotion words in Copala Triqui make reference to internal organs. This fact makes Copala
Triqui interesting in the cross-linguistic study of emotions, as most languages use a mixture of
internal and external organs in body-images. There is of course some variation, for example the
Austronesian language Dalabon that uses mostly external organs in emotion body images
(Ponsonnet 2014). Copala Triqui contrasts strongly with this, and provides a good point of
comparison for this component of the cross-linguistic study of emotions.
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CHAPTER 3
EMOTION PARTICLES AND COMPLEX VERBS
In Copala Triqui, the vast majority of words for emotions or feelings are complex verbs
(Hollenbach 2015:49). Put most simply, complex verbs are verbs that are formed by two or more
words but act syntactically like simple verbs (Broadwell 2014a; Hollenbach 2008:90). In this
paper, I will often refer to the first component of the complex as the verb stem, and the second
word as the emotion particle. A simple example is given below:
(8) A'maan rá 'unj.
con:be:angry EMO1 1:sg
"I am angry."
Copala Triqui has two highly productive emotion particles, rá and nimán. In previous
publications on Copala Triqui, whether an emotion complex had one or the other emotion
particle was seemingly left up to lexical specification. One key finding of this research project is
that both emotion particles are possible for almost every emotion complex, and that the choice
between emotion particles represents an important difference in meaning (this second claim is
explored in section 5). Instead of being the result of fixed and unanalysed idioms, emotion
particles are important tools for expressing emotional nuance in the Copala Triqui language. This
section introduces complex verbs, and provides evidence for the claim that emotion particles can
be used productively with most emotion complexes.
3.1 Background on Complex Verbs
Complex verbs are formed with many other incorporated elements in addition to emotion
particles (Hollenbach 1992:256). These include other BPTs (example 9a) and kinship terms
(example 9b).
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(9) a. ru'maan che'e
con:put foot
"to stomp"
b. Anó tuvi' ro' so' a.
con:grab companion the:du 3:m:sg dec
"They fight with each other."
Hollenbach (1992:256)
As Broadwell notes, these verbal complexes show syntactic incorporation but not
phonological incorporation (2011:5). As Broadwell argues, there are many phonetic distinctions
between final and non-final syllables in Copala Triqui. The verb stems of complex verbs don't
show any of the restrictions expected for non-final syllables. For instance, tone on non-final
syllables are mostly predictable from the tone on the final syllable (Hollenbach 1984). If the final
syllable ends in a high tone (tones 3,4,5,31, or 32), the preceding syllables will be tone 3 (see
example 10a). If the final syllable ends in a low tone (tones 1,2, or 13), the preceding syllables
will be tone 2 (see example 10b). The following examples have tones marked to demonstrate
thisː1
(10) a. a3chen4
"to walk"
b. nu2mii13
"tied" (adj.)
In complexes, the tone of the first component of the complex doesn't follow this pattern,
and can't be predicted from the final tone of the second component. This shows that verb stems
in verbal complexes act like independent words.
1 Example 10 uses a tonal orthography, which is used as an alternative to the practical orthography used throughout
the rest of the text. This orthography marks tone through superscript numbers, with 5 representing a high tone and 1
a low tone. Two numbers together represent a contour tone, for example in 10b.
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(11) ru'maan3 che'e1
put foot
"to stomp on"
Also, Broadwell argues non-final syllables typically cannot contain long vowels, vowels
followed by a glottal stop, or vowels followed by /h/ (written in the orthography as 'j'). Yet these
are allowed in verb stems of complexesː
(12) a. navij nimán
be:tired EMO2
"to be tired"
b. a'ne' rá
stop EMO1
"to stop/to resign"
And yet it's still clear that complexes are syntactic units. One clear test of this is that they
can be separated from subjects by adverbs that appear post-verbally. One such example is ndo'o
"very":
(13) A'maan rá ndo'o unj.
con:be:angry EMO1 very 1ːsg
"I am very angry."
Evidence related to adverbs will be discussed in much more detail in section 4. Another
piece of evidence is copy control constructions in Copala Triqui (Broadwell 2014a). In this
construction, the subject of the embedded clause must be a copy of the subject in the matrix
clause. As can be seen in example 14, nimán is not part of the subject, and thus must be part of
the verb.
(14) ... Ne a'néé nimán núj qui-'yaj suun núj rihaan Diose
... and con:determine EMO2 1ːpl pot-work 1ːpl to God
"... and we are determined to work for God." 2 Corinthians 6:6
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3.2 Complex Adjectives
Complexes can also take the role of adjectives, as in the example below:2
(15) 'Unj ga-ne'e man chii chij rá.
1:sg com-see acc man serious EMO1
"I saw the serious man."
Adjectives can also be used as predicates. Adjectives can be distinguished from verbs by
inflecting them in potential aspect. If adjectives need to encode aspectual information they must
be preceded by a dummy verb that takes the inflection, for example guun 'will become' or gaa
'will exist' (Broadwell 2014a).
(16) G-uun niha' rá=j a.
pot-become happy EMO1=1ːsg dec
"I will become happy."
1 Corinthians 1:14
Interestingly, for our consultants, it seems that emotion complexes are the only types of
complexes that can be used as adjectives. Complexes referring to other types of predicates are
seemingly not used as adjectives. In Hollenbach's Spanish-Triqui Dictionary, the only other body
part term (BPT) besides rá and nimán listed with derived compound adjectives is raa 'head',
which is listed with two adjectives, coloj raa "dumb" and cuu raa "intelligent" (2015:245-246).
These arguably also refer to internal emotional states, and there is some sense in which other raa
complexes should be considered emotion complexes. This is discussed further in section
4.1.1.Thus, there is possibly a connection between emotional meaning and the ability for
complexes to serve as adjectives, though this isn't explored further here.
2 The most common inflected for of ne'e "to see" is que-ne'e. One consultant, however, consistently produced ga-
ne'e for the inflected form of this verb. This is reflected in this example and others elicited from this consultant.
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3.3 Emotion Complexes
As stated above, there are two emotion particles in Copala Triqui: rá and nimán. For
almost all verb stems that enter into emotion complexes, either particle can be used. This means
that there are two variants, a rá variant and a nimán variant, for most emotion complexes. A
representative example is given below:3
(17) a. So' nachri' rá ne'e man no'.
3:m:sg con:hate: EMO1 see acc 3:f:sg
"He hates her."
b. So' nachri' nimán ne'e man no'.
3:m:sg con:hate EMO2 see acc 3:f:sg
"He hates her."
In many cases the complex with either particle are nearly equivalent in meaning. Cases
where the the emotion particles do not encode equivalent meanings are discussed in section 5.
3.3.1 Rá nimán complexes
Additionally, nimán can be added in emotion complexes after rá in almost every verbal
complex. Consider the example below:
(18) A'maan rá nimán ndo'o unj.
con:be:angry EMO1 EMO2 very 1:sg
"I am extremely angry."
Rá nimán complexes are previously unreported in published material, although Barbara
Hollenbach reports encountering this complex variant in her notes (2018). Documenting and
describing rá nimán complexes is an important contribution to the documentation of the Copala
Triqui language as a whole.
3 Copala Triqui makes frequent use of an Emotional Auxiliary construction in sentences that discuss emotions
(Broadwell 2013). This construction includes a so-called "light verb" ne'e 'to see' or ni'yaj 'to look'. Any effects on
sentential meaning of this construction are unclear.
25
This does not mean that emotion particles can be alternated or added freely, however.
Adding complexes in the order nimán rá is ungrammatical:
(19) *'Unj ga-ne'e man chii gisii nimán rá.
1:sg com-see acc man stubborn EMO2 EMO1
"I saw the stubborn man."
Adding nimán after rá doesn't change the denotative meaning of the complex. It does
have a subtle effect on the pragmatics of the term, which will be discussed further in section 5.
As can be seen in example 20, however, both complexes have the same denotative meaning.
Examples 20a and 20b were judged as synonymous by our consultant:
(20) a. Daj nanj nachrij rá=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate EMO1=1:sg acc pl people speak lying
"I hate people who lie."
b. Daj nanj nachrij rá nimán=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate EMO1 EMO2=1:
sg
acc pl people speak lying
"I hate people who lie."
While this will be discussed further in section 4, it is important to discuss here how rá
nimán complexes are related to body part terms (BPTs).
In Copala Triqui, BPTs are inherently possessed. This means that body parts must have a
possessor, and possession isn't marked. In Copala Triqui, the possessed noun precedes the
possessor, as in the example below:
(21) Ra'a xnii
handːof child
"the child's hand"
Hollenbach (1992)
Thus, it is possible to interpret example 20b as meaning "My heart hates people who lie."
instead of "I hate people who lie". However, there is evidence that nimán is incorporated into the
26
verb complex: nimán can be separated from the subject by an adverb ndo'o, which would not be
possible if nimán were part of the subject:
(22) Chuman rá nimán ndo'o Juan man Maria.
con:believes EMO1 EMO2 very Juan acc Maria
"Juan believes Maria too much."
Additionally, the subject can be fronted while nimán remains in place:
(23) Juan chuman rá nimán ndo'o Maria.
Juan con:believes EMO1 EMO2 very Maria
"Juan believes Maria too much."
This shows that nimán is not part of the subject. If it was, it would be expected to be
fronted with its possessor.
More data about adverbs and emotion complexes is discussed in section 4 below. For
older speakers adverbs are more limited in where they can appear in the verb complex (see
section 4.7). This means it is sometimes difficult to test conclusively whether nimán in rá nimán
complexes is part of the verb phrase or the subject phrase. This, indeed, could provide the
ambiguity that helped nimán be reanalyzed into the verb phrase to begin with. The issue of
syntactic reanalysis is explored later in section 4.3.3.
The existence of rá nimán complexes has some interesting consequences for a syntactic
description of these complex verbs. First, it suggests that there isn't just one position for
incorporated particles. If there were only one position, it would be expected that rá and nimán
could not co-occur. Additionally, the fact that nimán must appear to the right of rá indicates that
the position of nimán is probably lower in the structure. Generating these positions presents an
interesting challenge, and will hopefully be explored in future work.
27
3.3.2 Paradigm of Emotion Complexes
In summary, complexes can be formed with either rá, nimán, or rá nimán. The paradigm
for a typical verb is given below:
Table 3-1. Paradigm of Emotion Complexes
Emotion Complex Gloss Free translation
a'maan rá be:angry EMO1 to be angry
a'maan nimán be:angry EMO2 to be angry
a'maan rá nimán be:angry EMO1 EMO2 to be angry
Some individual lexical items seem to resist one or another form. Details on this are
given in section 3.3.5. These are exceptions to what is otherwise a strong pattern observed in
most emotion words.
3.3.3 Compositional and Non-Compositional Complexes
In Table 1, the verb stem a'maan does not have the same meaning as the complex forms.
A'maan alone is a verb meaning "to be hot", while all of the complex forms have the meaning "to
be angry".4 Complexes where the stem doesn't have the same meaning as the complex will be
referred to as non-compositional complexes in this text.
If non-compositional complexes are used without emotion particles, they lose their
emotional meaning:
(24) a. 'Unj ga-ne'e man chií nichraj nimán.
1ːsg com-see acc man sticky EMO2
"I saw the stubborn man."
b. 'Unj ga-ne'e man chií nichraj.
1ːsg com-see acc man sticky
"I saw the sticky man."
4 As an aside, this is probably related to the derivation of the complex via metaphor, an idea which is explored
further in section 4.3.3.
28
Meanwhile, approximately 18 of the 97 emotion complexes observed from our fieldwork
and from the existing literature seem to be compositional, meaning that the emotion complexes
have the same denotative meaning as the verb stem (for a full list of emotion complexes, see
Appendix B). An example of a compositional complex is given below:
(25) a. So' nachri' ne'e man no'.
3ːmːsg con:hate see acc 3ːfːsg
"He hates her."
b. So' nachri' rá ne'e man no'.
3ːmːsg con:hate EMO1 see acc 3ːfːsg
"He hates her."
Both the verb stem and an emotion complex derived from it can be used in the same
context. While the relationship between the verb stem and the complexes forms are different
from non-compositional complexes, compositional complexes act similarly to non-compositional
complexes in other regards. For example, they show the same patterns in relation to adverbs
(discussed further in section 4.7 and 4.8), and they show the same pattern of felicity in different
contexts (discussed further in section 5). Thus, non-compositional and compositional complexes
are treated as two sub-types of emotion complexes, and not as unrelated phenomena.
3.3.4 Previous Documentation
Previous documentation has treated emotion complexes as idioms. This can be seen in the
entries in the Spanish-Triqui Learner's Dictionary (Hollenbach 2015). For many emotion
complexes, only one variant of the emotion complex was listed, when in fact all variants are
possible and unremarkable, at least for our consultants. Nique rá is a typical example, where only
the rá complex is listed in the dictionary (Hollenbach 2015:218) but the other complexes are also
acceptable to our consultants:
29
(26) a. 'Unj ga-ne'e man chií nique rá.
1ːsg com-see acc man sad EMO1
"I saw the sad man."
b. 'Unj ga-ne'e man chií nique nimán.
1ːsg com-see acc man sad EMO2
"I saw the sad man."
c. 'Unj ga-ne'e man chií nique rá nimán.
1ːsg com-see acc man sad EMO1 EMO2
"I saw the sad man."
Especially interesting are compositional complexes like nachri' "to hate" used in example
25 above. Many compositional complexes were listed as single lexical items in the dictionary,
with no reference to complex forms in the existing literature. For example, nachri' is listed with
just the base verb in the dictionary (Hollenbach 2015:170). For our consultants, all four variants
of the emotion complex were possible:
(27) a. So' nachri' ne'e man no'.
3ːm:sg con:hate see acc 3ːf:sg
"He hates her."
b. So' nachri' rá ne'e man no'.
3ːm:sg con:hate EMO1 see acc 3ːf:sg
"He hates her."
c. So' nachri' nimán ne'e man no'.
3ːm:sg con:hate EMO2 see acc 3ːf:sg
"He hates her."
d. So' nachri' rá nimán ne'e man no'.
3ːm:sg con:hate EMO1 EMO2 see acc 3ːf:sg
"He hates her."
Thus, emotion particles are more productive than previously documented in Copala
Triqui. Complexes are not idiomatic combinations of a verb stem with a particular emotion
particle; rather, either particle, or both, can be used with almost all emotion complexes. Strictly
30
speaking, this should require a rethinking of lexical entries for emotion complexes, perhaps with
emotion particles listed separately from verb stems. Practically speaking, however, the easier and
more intuitive proposal is to include rá, nimán, and rá nimán complexes in most lexical entries
for emotion terms.
3.3.5 Lexical Variation
While all three variants are available for most emotion complexes, for a handful of
lexical items one or more of the emotion complexes is unavailable. There are three possible
patterns for which emotion complexes are available. First, there seem to be some complexes
where only rá complexes are available:
(28) a. 'Unj me rá cuchi.
1ːsg con:want EMO1 car
"I want a car."
b. #'Unj me nimán cuchi.
1ːsg con:be heart car
"I am the heart of the car." (intended: "I want a car.")
It is possible that emotion complexes showing this pattern are among the few fully
lexicalized complexes. It would be expected that more frequently used emotion complexes are
more likely to show this pattern. This is definitely true for me rá in the example above. Another
word that shows this pattern, nano' rá "to be sad", is also very common, and was listed among
the first few items when speakers were asked to list emotion words in a free list task.
Secondly, there are some complexes where only nimán complexes are available, for
example xtá nimán in example below:
(29) a. *Inaj nimán 'unj tsaj ne so' xtá rá.
con:be:calm EMO2 1ːsg but 3ːm:sg stubborn EMO1
intended: "I am calm but he has a bad temper."
31
b. Inaj nimán 'unj tsaj ne so' xtá nimán.
con:be:calm EMO2 1ːsg but 3ːm:sg stubborn EMO2
intended: "I am calm but he has a bad temper."
c. *Inaj nimán 'unj tsaj ne so' xtá rá nimán.
con:be:calm EMO2 1ːsg but 3ːm:sg stubborn EMO1 EMO2
intended: "I am calm but he has a bad temper."
It is possible that examples of this type are newer constructions. Xtá nimán from the
example above is not attested in Hollenbach's dictionary, which reflects fieldwork primarily in
the 1960s and 1970s (2015). Xtá nimán also shows a probable connection to metaphor. Xtá alone
is an adjective meaning "upward". When discussing this term with our consultant, he agreed that
it felt similar to the English phrase "my blood is boiling" or "my temperature is rising", which is
a common metaphorical mapping (Lakoff and Johnson 1980). This relates to the proposal that
these complexes are sometimes derived via metaphor, which is discussed more in section 4.3.3.
The fact that this metaphorical mapping was analyzable to our consultant may suggest that this is
a newer construction.
Finally, there are some complexes that are resistant to rá nimán variants. An example of
this is given below:
(30) No chu'vi (rá / nimán / *rá nimán) ne'e man ta'naj
3ːf:sg con:be:afraid (EMO1 / EMO2 / *EMO1 EMO2) see acc ghost
"She is afraid of the ghost."
It is unclear why rá nimán wouldn't be acceptable for this verb when both rá and nimán
individually are. This may have something to do with the pragmatics of this verb, and is
definitely a fruitful topic for future exploration.
32
CHAPTER 4
FROM THE BODY TO THE VERB
Rá is believed to be the obsolete term for "heart", and nimán is the current term for
"heart". How did these body part terms become reanalyzed into the verb and gain their emotional
meaning? In turn, as these body part terms were reanalyzed, how did they change, add, and lose
meanings? In order to understand the present-day use of emotion complexes, it is helpful to
understand how they developed.
In this research, the syntactic reanalysis of emotion particles can be seen happening in
real time between members of different generations in the Copala Triqui diaspora community.
For older speakers, emotion particles seem to be syntactically distant from the verb stem, while
for younger speakers, emotion particles are syntactically closer to the verb stem. This provides
insight into how emotion particles were incorporated into emotion complexes, and how their
meaning has developed.
4.1 Body Parts Terms
4.1.1 BPTs in Complex Verbs
Judging from Ann Weiner's thesis (2010) on body part terms (BPTs) and Hollenbach's
article on BPT extension to prepositions (1990), as well as this project, Copala Triqui seems to
have at least twenty-eight BPTs. In Hollenbach's Triqui-Spanish learner's dictionary (2015),
sixteen of the twenty-eight body part terms have derived complex forms listed in their lexical
entries. These are given in Appendix A.
In the Triqui-Spanish dictionary, most of these BPTs have less than five derived complex
forms. There are seven BPTs that are more productive: che'e "foot" with nine complexes, raa
"head" with thirteen complexes, ra'a "hand" with eighteen complexes, tu'va "mouth" with
twenty-three complexes, and rihaan "face" with twenty-four complexes. Nimán is listed with
33
eighteen derived complexes, and rá is listed with eighty-five complexes, in a dedicated appendix
in Hollenbach's dictionary (2015:49).
The number of complex forms reported in previous documentation almost certainly
under-represents the number possible. For nimán and rá, at least, it seems many more verbs are
available with these particles than previously thought, as section 3 argues. Even then, the
numbers in Hollenbach's dictionary show how much more frequently the emotion particle rá is
incorporated into verbal complexes than other BPTs.
Another BPT with an under-reported number of complex forms is raa "head", which has
so-far been found in at least seventeen complexes, many of which also express psychological
predicates. For this reason, raa will be tentatively glossed as EMO3 here. Some of these are
given below (more can be found in Appendix B)ː
(31) a. acaj raa " to reflect, to think about"
b. 'anj raa "to be out of one's mind"
c. snúú raa "to become crazy (from drinking)"
For the sake of brevity, only rá and nimán complexes are discussed in this paper. This is
because rá and nimán are significantly more productive, and because they pattern in similar
ways and seem to interact with each other. Raa does not pattern similarly to rá and nimán: it
cannot be interchanged with rá or nimán in complexes (see example 32), and cannot be followed
by nimán like rá nimán complexes (see example 33):
(32) 'Unj ga-ne'e man chii snúú (raa / *rá / *nimán).
1ːsg com-see acc man crazy (EMO3 / *EMO1 / *EMO2)
"I saw the crazy man."
(33) 'Unj ga-ne'e man chii coloj (raa / *raa nimán).
1ːsg com-see acc man stupid (EMO3 / *EMO3 EMO2)
"I saw the stupid man."
34
Raa complexes, however, will have to be explored further in the future to provide a full
picture of the emotional lexicon of Copala Triqui.
4.1.2 Background to rá
Hollenbach has argued previously that rá is the obsolete word for "heart" in Copala
Triqui. This has been noted multiple times in her work (1984:179, 1992:256, 1990:284). Also,
Hollenbach notes that the cognate for rá in the related language Chicahuaxtla Triqui, ruwa, is
cited by Robert Longacre as the obsolete word for heart (Hollenbach 2018, citing Longacre
1957:42).
However, for the other language in the Triqui family, Itunyoso Triqui, Christian DiCanio
is skeptical that the cognate ra43 is derived from a BPT (DiCanio p.c.). When contemporary
documentation started on these languages in the 1960s, rá and its cognates already had their
contemporary meanings as emotion particles. It is impossible at this point to say definitively if rá
is derived from a BPT or developed independently. For some languages with a longer written
history, it is clear that the word for heart was incorporated into the verb over the course of many
hundreds of years. One example of this is Colonial Valley Zapotec, which is discussed in section
4.9.
If rá was previously used as a BPT, it is clear it is no longer used as such. Instead, it is
used in a handful of set phrases and functional roles in addition to emotion complexes. One
primary functional role rá takes is as a preposition meaning 'in':
(34) Nuu chana rá ve' a.
con:is:inside woman in house dec
"The woman is in the house."
Hollenbach (2015:245)
35
This prepositional use of rá will be discussed in more detail later, as it presents some
difficulty in interpreting verbal complexes (see section 4.3.2). Rá can also be used as a quotative,
following verbatim statements or thoughts. In this context, rá might be glossed as something like
"to think":
(35) Gaa ne navij rá chana ne ¿Daj qui-'yaj? rá chana ne.
then con:worry EMO1 woman and how pot-make quot woman and
"Then the woman worried, thinking 'what am I going to do?'."
Broadwell et al. (2009:33)
Interestingly, our younger consultants don't recognize or accept this usage of rá, while
our older consultant does. This suggests rá may be losing this use.
4.1.3 Background to nimán
Nimán is the current term for heart in Copala Triqui. This can be seen in the example
belowː
(36) Vaa sa' nimán=j ndaa doctor.
con:is good heart=1ːsg to doctor
"My heart is good according to the doctor."
Nimán is a loan word from the Spanish word for spirit, ánima Hollenbach (1990:285). In
her notes, Barbara Hollenbach says "In the past ten or twenty years, I have noted increasing use
of nimán in addition to or instead of rá in emotion idioms, especially for emotion verbs with a
moral component used in Bible translation." (Hollenbach 2018). While this paper has not
examined the moral character of emotional complexes, it does agree with Hollenbach's other
observation.
Perhaps because of nimán's more recent history, it does not seem to have been extended
in the same ways that rá has. For instance, it has not been extended to a prepositional use, or as a
quotative.
36
4.2 Extensions of Body Part Terms
4.2.1 Inalienable Possession
In the Mesoamerican linguistic area, body parts are frequently 'inalienably' or 'intimately'
possessed (Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark 1986:549). This means that body parts must
have a possessor, and that possession isn't marked. In Copala Triqui, the possessed noun
precedes the possessors, as in the example below:
(37) ra'a xnii
handːof child
"the child's hand"
Hollenbach (1992:282)
In addition to body parts, kinship terms are inalienably possessed in Copala Triqui.
(38) vij tinúú xnii
two brother boy
"the boy's two brothers"
Hollenbach (1992:283)
This can be compared with optionally possessed nouns. Optional possession can be
shown in multiple ways, with "d or t replacing the initial y; the prefix ta-, ti-, s-, or sh-; or the
nominal marker se preceding a low-tone form of the noun." (Hollenbach 1992:283). An example
of each of these options is given in the examples below:
(39) a. daj so'
poss:flower 3ːm:sg
"his flower" (cf. yaj "flower")
b. ichij sto 'unj
seven possːgrindstone 1ːsg
"my seven grindstones" (cf. to "grindstone")
c. se mixté xnii
poss machete boy
"the boy's machete"
Hollenbach (1992:284)
37
4.2.2 Body Parts as Prepositions
The extension of BPTs from nouns to prepositions in Copala Triqui has been thoroughly
explored by Hollenbach (1990). Hollenbach argues that BPTs extend to prepositions through a
process called the "optical illusion mechanism" (Hollenbach 1990:275). Because inherently
possessed nouns don't show overt marking for possession, they are structurally ambiguous with
nouns inside a prepositional phrase. Hollenbach uses the sentence reproduced in example 40 as
an demonstration, arguing "it is possible to view 'side' as a noun referring to the area that projects
out... [or] as a preposition referring to the relation between John and his brother." (Hollenbach
1990:283).
(40) Nicun' guá x'núú tinú so' a.
con:stand John side brother:of 3ːm:sg dec
"John is standing next to his brother."
Hollenbach (1990)
This paper will argue later that a very similar "optical illusion" process has occurred with
complex verbs.
An interesting consequence of BPTs being extended to prepositions is that these words
can then undergo further syntactic shift. One of the more interesting cases is the extension of the
BPT che'é "feet" to the conjunction che'e se "because":
(41) c-avi' so' che'e se c-achén aga' rque so' a.
com:die 3ːmːsg feet-of com-pass metal stomach-of him dec
"He died because a bullet passed through his stomach."
(Hollenbach 1990:291)
The extension of BPTs to prepositions is fairly common in Otomanguean languages, and
has been observed in at least Chalcatongo Mixtec (Brugman 1983), Valley Zapotec (Lillehaugen
2003), and Ayoquesco Zapotec (MacLaury 1989).
38
4.2.3 Body Parts as Adverbs and Adjectives
Also relevant to this discussion is the productive extension of BPTs to adjectives. In
Copala Triqui, adjectives can be derived from nouns via a rule where the tone of the noun lowers
(Hollenbach 1990:288). Hollenbach gives some of the following examples of BPTs extended to
adjectives:
(42) a. chuman' ra'a
town handlike
"unimportant town" (cf. ra'a "hand of")
Hollenbach (1990:288)
b. rco'oo tocoo
bowl footed
"bowl with feet" (cf. tacóó "foot of")
Hollenbach (1990:289)
Importantly, not all adjectives show this tone-lowering; only those derived from nouns.
Copala Triqui also has a rule where adjectives can be used as manner adverbs "with no change in
form" (Hollenbach 1990:289). BPT-derived adjective can also be extended to adverbs, as in the
example below:
(43) Chéé rque Juan a.
conːwalk stomachlike John dec
'John walks downhill.' (cf. rque 'stomach of')
Hollenbach (1990:89)
This presents the interesting possibility that the emotion particles rá and nimán were
incorporated from adverbs, which will be discussed in next section, section 4.3.1.
4.3 Path to the Verbal Complex
4.3.1 Are Emotion Particles from Adjectives?
All nouns, including BPTs, can be extended to adjectives and adverbs in Copala Triqui
through a tone-change rule (Hollenbach 1990:288). Can this explain the incorporation of BPTs
39
into verb complexes? There is indeed evidence from related languages that comparable emotion
particles have adverbial qualities. Cruz and Stump describe the comparable particles in San Juan
Quiahije Chatino as a "quasi-adverb formative" (Cruz and Stump 2018:233). Formative here
means a component of a words with a regular meaning, whether or not it can be claimed to be a
morpheme.
There's a reason to reject this for emotion complexes in Copala Triqui, however. The
adjective formation rule stated above requires a lowering in tone, as can be seen in example 43
above. Rá however, never shows tone lowering in the verbal complex. A representative example
is given below:
(44) Da nanj nachri' rá=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate EMO1=1ːsg acc pl people speak neg
"I hate people who lie."
Based on recordings in our elicitation sessions, nimán does not show tone lowering when
used as an emotion particle either:
(45) Nachri' nimán no' man so' a.
con:hate EMO2 3ːf:sg acc 3ːm:sg dec
"She hates him."
This provides evidence against the argument that emotion complexes, at least, are derived
from adjectives. The picture for complex verbs formed with other BPTs is more complicated.
This is discussed briefly in section 4.5.
4.3.2 Are Emotion Particles from Prepositions?
Another possible path for the derivation of emotion particles is from prepositions. This is
important to the interpretation of the emotion particles, because it would suggest the original
meaning of the complexes was to feel something "inside" as opposed to "in the heart". Indeed,
40
Hollenbach glosses rá as "adentro" multiple times in her work (Hollenbach 1984:180, 1992:256).
She also states in her syntactic sketch of the language "when the incorporated element [of the
verb] is the preposition 'inside', the verb nucleus and rá form an idiomatic unit that refers to a
psychological state." (Hollenbach 1992:256).
There is some sense in which a locative meaning of rá is a good description of the
semantics of rá complexes. For example, a verb like amáán rá "to be angry" could follow
metaphorically from the literal meaning "to be hot inside".
There are multiple reasons to believe, however, that emotion particles are not derived
from prepositions. First, nimán can replace rá in these complexes, but does not have a
prepositional form. Thus, it would be impossible for nimán as an emotion particle to be formed
via a prepositional path.
While it would be possible to propose a path from the preposition for rá only, this
analysis isn't preferred here because rá and nimán seem to have similar denotative meanings as
emotion particles. If rá were derived from a preposition and nimán from the BPT, we might
expect a bigger difference in meaning than the rather subtle difference we do see (summarized in
section 5).
This relates to a larger problem: many of the other body part terms that are incorporated
into complex verbs lack prepositional forms as well. This includes chihá "neck", rque tzij
"armpit", xcóó "shoulder", chruj "nape", ra'a "arm", and tacúún "nose". A path from
prepositions, then, could not explain all BPT incorporation into verbal complexes. That rá
individually is derived from the preposition and not the BPT can't be ruled out conclusively.
4.3.3 Emotion Particles as Syntactic Reanalysis
The simplest explanation for the inclusion of emotion particles in verbal complexes is
through something similar to the "optical illusion mechanism" from Hollenbach (1990),
41
discussed in section 4.2.2 above. Section 4.2.2 argued that BTPs were reanalyzed as prepositions
because they are structurally ambiguous between the two in sentences like the one below,
repeated from 40 above.
(46) Nicun' guá x'núú tinú so' a.
con:stand John side brother-of 3ːm:sg dec
"John is standing next to his brother." or "John is standing (at) his brother's
side."
In a similar way, in sentences with emotion complexes, rá and nimán can be structurally
ambiguous between two positions: the final position of the verb phrase (example 47a), or the first
position of the subject (example 47b). This is show for nimán in the example below:
(47) a. [Yi'aan nimán]VP no'.
con:be:on:fire EMO2 3ːf:sg
"She is angry."
b. Yi'aan [nimán no'.]DP
con:be:on:fire heart 3ːf:sg
"Her heart is burning."
While rá is not used as a BPT in current speech, it is likely that it would have been
ambiguous in the same way when it was still used as a BPT.
Comparing the complex verb interpretation in example 47a to the possessed BPT
interpretation in example 47b, a possible metaphorical connection between them can be seen.
This is not to suggest that yi'aan nimán is currently interpreted as metaphorical by Copala Triqui
speakers; rather, that metaphor may have played a role in the initial extension of BPTs to some
complex verbs. The idea that complex verbs were formed via metaphor was first suggested in
section 3.3.3. In example 47, the sense of yi'aan nimán as "to be angry" may be from the
metaphorical mapping of anger as one's heart being on fire. This is, in fact, a common
metaphorical mapping Lakoff and Johnson (1980).
42
There are other pieces of evidence to suggest that metaphor was an important reason for
the initial reinterpretation of rá and nimán into emotion complexes. While metaphors don't need
to be accessed in everyday use of these complexes, these connections can still seem to be
referenced in some cases. For instance, section 3.3.5 discussed a complex that seemed to be a
recent innovation, xta' nimán "to have a bad temper". Xta' nimán is formed with the adjective
xta' "upward" plus the emotion particle nimán. Our consultant associated the emotion complex
xta' nimán with the English expression "my blood is boiling"; this implies that both languages
draw from a similar metaphorical representation, a representation that is common cross-
linguistically (Lakoff and Johnson 1980).
Also, in a text written by our consultant that uses poetic forms, the source domain of a
metaphor in the emotion complex (see example 48a) is referenced in the following line of text
(see examples 48b and 48c). The image in Ya'aan ndo'o rá "to be very angry" (lit. be:on:fire very
EMO1) is picked back up in the next line when the speaker asks the listener not to stir the fire
anymore:
(48) a. Vaa soj ya'aan ndo'o rá donj.
seem 2ːpl beːeasilyːangered very EMO1 part.
"You are so hot-tempered."
b. Se g-uun rá soj nachraa soj ...
not pot-doːvoluntarily EMO1 2ːpl feedːfire 2:pl ...
c. ... doj ya'an a mene.
... more fire dec phraseːfinal
"Don't choose to stir up the fire anymore."
Vidal Lopéz (2011)
It is important to clarify here that these complexes are not figurative in the way that
similar metaphors are in English. In English, using metaphors to describe emotions are a very
marked form; in Copala Triqui, these emotion complexes are the unmarked forms. As such, their
43
use is likely not considered creative or fanciful; rather these forms are the unremarkable norm.
What is proposed here is that these forms seem to share some connection to widely observed
patterns of metaphorical extension. Scanning Appendix B included in this paper, for example,
shows many more complexes that follow well-documented metaphorical mappings.
In conclusion, we suggest that body part terms in emotion complexes were initially
reinterpreted into the verb through Hollenbach's "optical illusion mechanism" (1990), and that
this process was helped along by metaphorical connections between the verbs and BPTs.
One consequence of this is that it suggests emotion particles were initially analyzed at the
right-most position of the verb complex. This position would be necessary to allow for the
ambiguity between the complex verb interpretation and the possessed BPT interpretation. In the
next section, we'll look at evidence for what position emotion particles have in the verb complex
currently.
4.4 Degrees of Incorporation of Emotion Particles
Broadwell (2014a) describes three subtypes of complex verbs in Copala Triqui based on
syntactic properties. He uses the adverb ndo'o "very" as a diagnostic of syntactic position. These
are given in the table below:1
Table 4-1. Broadwell's classification of complex verbs
Broadwell's Classification Diagnostic
Incorporation Type V1 (*ndo'o) V2 (ndo'o)
Adjunction Type V1 (ndo'o) V2 (ndo'o)
Non-Constituent Type V1 (ndo'o) V2 (*ndo'o)
1 In the table, I continue Broadwell's notation of using V1 and V2 to refer to the two components of the complex
verb.
44
The titles of each type are descriptive of Broadwell's analysis. In the Incorporation Type,
the second component of the verb is fully incorporated into the verb head. The adverb ndo'o
cannot intervene between the two components. An example of this type of verb is given below:
(49) Toco' (*ndo'o) vaj (ndo'o) xnii se nave so' a.
com:hang (*much) hang (much) boy poss hat 3:sg:m dec
"The boy hung up his hat many times."
Broadwell (2014a:13)
In the Adjunction Type, the second component of the verb is generated lower in the
structure, and is optionally raised into an adjoined position in the verb head. This explains the
possibility of the particle appearing both to the right and the left of the adverb. An example of
this is given belowː
(50) Ru'maan (ndo'o) che'e (ndo'o) Juán man nij xcuaa.
com:put (much) foot (much) Juan acc pl ant
"Juan stomped on the ants many times."
Broadwell (2014a:13)
In the Non-Constituent Type, Broadwell considers the second component of the verb a
noun head that is generated lower than the verb but is still lexically linked to the verb. Broadwell
states that the only complexes of this type are ones with the emotion particle rá (Broadwell
2011). An example is given below:
(51) Me (ndo'o) rá (*ndo'o) no' gaa ta'nii no'.
com:want (much) EMO1 (much) 3:sg:f pot:exist child 3:sg:f
"She wanted very much to have children." (lit. "she wanted very much for
her children to exist.")
Broadwell (2014a:13)
Following Broadwell's description, then, we should expect rá complexes to follow the
pattern of Non-Constituent complexes; in other words, we should expect adverbs to intervene
between the verb stem and the emotion particle. What we will see in the next sections is that this
45
describes the speech of our older speaker, while younger speakers are doing something
different.2
Nimán complexes are not discussed explicitly in Broadwell's typology of complex verbs.
In an unpublished manuscript, he argues that all Spanish loan words should fall into the
Incorporation Type (Broadwell 2011:8). What we see in the following sections is that nimán
actually patterns along with rá; for our older speaker, it follows the pattern of the Non-
Constituent Type, and for younger speakers it does something different. This, then, requires a
mild revision of Broadwell's proposal, in that rá is not the only particle that enters into the Non-
Constituent Type of complex, at least for some speakers.
Finally, as rá nimán complexes had not been previously documented in the language,
Broadwell's paradigm makes no predictions for these complexes.
It is important to note that the ordering possibilities in Broadwell's typology, especially
the Adjunction Type and the Non-Constituent type, are possible because of assumptions in the
Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) framework. Trying to achieve these ordering possibilities in
mainstream minimalist syntax presents serious difficulties. While this is a very worthwhile field
of investigation, it is beyond the scope of this paper.
What is significant here is that the three types of complex verbs Broadwell proposes
represent different degrees of incorporation into the verb phrase. The Non-constituent Type is the
least-incorporated and the furthest from the verb stem, the Incorporation Type is the most-
incorporated, and is inseparable from the stem, and the Adjunction Type is in between.
2 "Younger" and "older" here are used as shorthand for what is a complex sociocultural situation. While age is a
significant factor in the type of language speakers use, language history, types of socialization opportunities in the
language, and many other factors play an important and complicated role in language use.
46
Broadwell does not explicitly attribute these types of complex verbs to a historical
process, but Hollenbach makes a relevant observation in a footnote in her syntactic sketch,
saying that verbal complexes undergo "an historical process in which a body-part noun moves
from the subject towards the verb" (Hollenbach 1992:257). She identifies four stages in this
process. These stages map approximately onto Broadwell's complex verb types:
Table 4-2. Stages of Incorporation of Particles
Stage Hollenbach (1992) description Broadwell (2013) Stage
1 The nucleus of a possessive noun phrase
expressing the subject
N/A (inherently-possessed BPT)
2 The final incorporated-element position in the
verb-phrase
Non-Constituent Type
3 The modifier of a complex nucleus,
immediately following the verb
Adjunction Type
4 Fused with a verb into a compound verb. Incorporation Type
Combining these two observations forms a proposal for the path particles take as they
approach the verb stem. This produces predictions for how syntactic change should occur. These
predictions are explored in this paper specifically for emotion particles. What we find is evidence
that emotion particles are indeed further incorporated into the verb for younger speakers than for
older speakers.
4.5 F2 Tone-Lowering Rule
In the Adjunction Type, the second component of the verb undergoes a tone-change rule
called the F2 rule (Hollenbach 1984:236). Broadwell argues that this tone change applies to
heads when they appear on the right branch of a branching constituent, otherwise called "right-
node lowering" (Broadwell 2011:13). Thus the tone change provides evidence for the adjunction
position of the second component.
47
(52) Ru'maan che'e Juán man nij xcuaa.
com:put foot Juan acc pl ant
"Juan stomped on the ants." (cf. che'é 'foot')
As discussed above in the section on whether emotion particles were derived from
adjectives (section 4.3.1), neither rá nor nimán show tone lowering. Examples from this section
are reproduced below:
(53) Daj nanj nachrij rá=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate EMO1=1ːsg acc pl people speak lying
"I hate people who lie."
(54) nachri' nimán no' man so' a
con:hate EMO2 3ːf:sg acc 3ːm:sg dec
"She hates him."
This provides additional evidence that rá and nimán are not Adjunction Type complexes
in Broadwell's description.3
4.6 Findings From Albany Diaspora Community
In linguistic elicitations with members of the Copala Triqui diaspora community,
speakers seemed to be at different places along the spectrum of incorporation of emotion
particles. For the oldest speaker,in his early sixties, the emotion particles seemed less-
incorporated into the verb complex, while the two younger speakers (in their early thirties and
late twenties respectively) had similar judgments that both emotion particles were more closely
incorporated with the verb. This suggests that we are watching syntactic change happen in real
time in the Albany community. The data in support of this is discussed below.
3 As an aside, the tone lowering in other verbal complexes could be motivated either by the F2 "right node lowering"
rule, or by the adjective derivation rule discussed in section 4.3.1. As this paper is focused on emotion complexes,
this ambiguity isn't explored any further here.
48
4.7 Early Incorporation
The judgments reported in Broadwell (2014a) were taken from the same speaker as the
oldest speaker in this study. Unsurprisingly, then, this speakers judgments match with those
reported in that study. For this speaker, the adverb ndo'o can only be used between the verb stem
and rá in verbal complexes:
(55) a. Achraa rá=j ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO1=1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
"I hate him."
b. Achraa ndo'o rá=j ne'e man so'.
con:hate very EMO1=1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
"I really hate him."
c. *Achraa rá ndo'o 'unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO1 very 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
intended: "I really hate him."
The adverb ndo'o also could only be used between the verb stem and nimán in nimán
complexes:
(56) a. Achráá nimán 'unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO2 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
"I hate him."
b. Achráá ndo'o nimán 'unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate very EMO2 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
"I really hate him."
c. *Achráá nimán ndo'o 'unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO2 very 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
intended: "I really hate him."
This means that both rá complexes and nimán complexes can be considered Non-
Constituent complexes following Broadwell's paradigm. This also means that the emotion
particles are furthest from the verb stem, following the proposal outlined in section 4.4.
49
Because the adverb ndo'o has to appear to the left of either rá and nimán, perhaps it is
unsurprising that it also can only appear to the left of rá nimán in rá nimán complexes.
(57) a. Achráá rá nimán unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO1 EMO2 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
"I hate him."
b. Achráá ndo'o rá nimán unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate very EMO1 EMO2 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
"I really hate him."
c. *Achráá rá ndoó nimán unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO1 very EMO2 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
intended: "I really hate him."
d. *Achráá rá nimán ndo'o unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO1 EMO2 very 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
intended: "I really hate him."
In summary, these results are consistent with the Non-Constituent Complex type as
proposed by Broadwell (2014a). This suggests that the speech of our older speaker shows an
earlier stage of incorporation that matches with previous descriptions.
4.7.1 Structural Ambiguity
As discussed briefly in section 3.3.1, one consequence of this pattern is that ndo'o can't be
used as a diagnostic for determining whether nimán is an emotion particle or an inherently
possessed body part in examples like 57a.
Sentences like 57a are ambiguous between the two interpretations, with nimán part of the
verb phrase or part of the subject. In fact it is possible that the same sentence may be interpreted
with one or the other structure depending on the context. In elicitation sessions with our older
speaker, it was possible to front both just the subject (example 58) and also the subject plus
nimán (example 59). This suggests that sometimes nimán was considered part of the subject, and
sometimes it was considered part of the verb complex.
50
(58) a. Sca' rá nimán 'unj
be:strong EMO1 EMO2/heart 1ːsg
"I feel very strong." or "My heart is strong."
b. 'Unj sca' rá nimán
1ːsg be:strong EMO1 EMO2
"I feel very strong."
(59) a. Ra'ñanj rá nimán 'unj.
con:be:hurried EMO1 EMO2/heart 1ːsg
"I am very hurried." or "My heart is hurried"
b. Nimán 'unj ra'ñanj rá.
heart:of 1ːsg con:be:hurried EMO1
"My heart is hurried."
4.8 Late Incorporation
The two younger language consultants who participated in this project showed patterns
that contrasted with the older speaker above. Both emotion particles, rá and nimán, could be
optionally preceded or followed by the adverb ndo'o:
(60) a. So' a'maan (ndo'o) rá (ndo'o).
3ːm:sg con:be:angry (very) EMO1 (very)
"He is (very) angry."
b. So' a'maan (ndo'o) nimán (ndo'o).
3ːm:sg con:be:angry (very) EMO2 (very)
"He is (very) angry."
Following Broadwell's (2014a) description (summarized in section 4.4), these verbs
would be best described as Adjunction Type complexes. Following Broadwell's argument, these
particles can appear in one of two places: first, they can stay in situ in the lower position, in
which case the adverb ndo'o appears to the left of the emotion particle. Second, they can be
raised to a position closer to the verb, past the adverb ndo'o.
51
One complication for the argument that these complexes are Adjunction Type is that they
do not show the F2 tone lowering pattern as predicted by Broadwell (see section 4.5).
Adverbs can also appear freely in rá nimán compounds. There are three possible
positions of adverbs, all of which are acceptable to these speakers:
(61) a. Juan chuman ndo'o rá nimán Maria.
Juan con:believe very EMO1 EMO2 Maria
"Juan believes Maria too much."
b. Juan chuman rá ndo'o nimán Maria.
Juan con:believe EMO1 very EMO2 Maria
"Juan believes Maria too much."
c. Juan chuman rá nimán ndo'o Maria.
Juan con:believe EMO1 EMO2 very Maria
"Juan believes Maria too much."
This pattern requires a little explanation. It is unlikely that there are three syntactic
positions for adverbs. Rather, the pattern can be best explained by saying that either rá on its
own or the full constituent containing both rá and nimán can be raised into a position closer to
the verb.
A previous section discussed reasons for stating that rá and nimán probably have
different syntactic positions (see section 3.3.1). In light of these facts, however, rá and nimán
still need to form a syntactic constituent at some level to explain how both could be raised past
the adverb.
Also, as discussed earlier, nimán cannot appear before rá in emotion complexes (see
example 62, repeated from example 19).
(62) *'Unj ga-ne'e man chii kisii nimán rá.
1ːsg com-see acc man stubborn EMO2 EMO1
"I saw the stubborn man."
52
This means that whatever is proposed for the syntactic structure of complexes, it cannot
allow for nimán to be raised and for rá to remain in situ.
The same patterns of adverb use held when complexes were used in an adjectival position
(example 63), including rá nimán complexes in an adjectival position (example 64).
(63) a. Ne'e=j man chii sca' (ndo'o) rá (ndo'o).
con:see=1ːsg acc man strong (very) EMO1 (very)
"I see the (very) strong man."
b. Ne'e=j man chii sca' (ndo'o) nimán (ndo'o).
con:see=1ːsg acc man strong (very) EMO2 (very)
"I see the (very) strong man."
(64) a. Ne'e=j man chii sca' ndo'o rá nimán.
con:see=1ːsg acc man strong ver) EMO1 EMO2
"I see the very strong man."
b. Ne'e=j man chii sca' rá ndo'o nimán.
con:see=1ːsg acc man strong EMO1 very EMO2
"I see the very strong man."
c. Ne'e=j man chii sca' rá nimán ndo'o.
con:see=1ːsg acc man strong EMO1 EMO2 very
"I see the very strong man."
The patterns also held when adjectives were used as verbs preceded by a dummy verb
(example 65, see section 3.2 for a discussion of complexes as adjectives):
(65) 'Unj g-uun nique (ndo'o) rá (ndo'o).
1sg com-become sad (very) EMO1 (very)
"I became (very) sad."
4.9 A Comparison to Colonial Valley Zapotec and Mitla Zapotec
Copala Triqui was first documented using contemporary linguistic methods in the 1960s.
At this point, rá had already been reinterpreted into an emotion particle, and had lost all direct
reference to the heart (if it indeed referred to the heart; see section 4.1.2 for further discussion).
53
As stated earlier, many related languages have verbal complexes that appear similar to
those in Copala Triqui. This section looks briefly at a related language with a much longer
written history in order to provide another piece of evidence that emotion particles incorporate
into the verb over time. This, in turn, provides evidence that the observations made here about
emotion complexes in Copala Triqui could be applicable to other languages in the language
family.
An excellent case to explore this is in Central Valley Zapotec. There are written records
of Central Valley Zapotec dating back about 500 years (Broadwell 2014b). These records have
been organized into a searchable online database at the Ticha project (Lillehaugen et al.
2016).The variety that was spoken at this time has been referred to as Colonial Valley Zapotec.
Importantly, Colonial Valley Zapotec is a protolanguage to many contemporary Central
Zapotecan languages, for example Mitla Zapotec (e.g Stubblefield and Stubblefield 1994) and
San Lucas Quiavini' Zapotec (e.g Lee 2006). Thus, observations can be made about changes in
the language between the colonial records and the languages spoken today.
In Colonial Valley Zapotec, the word that acts comparably to rá or nimán is lachi "heart".
Although this is not a direct cognate with rá, it enters into compounds similar to those in Copala
Triqui. Consider acalachi "to want" and loobilachi "to do with all one's heart" in the example
below:
(66) a. Hua n-ana=lo, tevela r-acalachi co-chaaga=ñaa=ni ...
q stat-
know=2:sg
if hab-want(be-
heart)
perf-join=with=3 ...
"Do you know if they want to marry..."
b. gui-loobilachi-too=ni?
irr-do.w/.all.your.heart(one-heart)-great=3
"... with all their heart?"
54
In the recorded texts of Colonial Valley Zapotec, lachi occurs most frequently with the
adverbs chahui "well" and lijca, an emphatic (EMPH) . These adverbs were found with verbs
containing lachi 23 times in the corpus. Of these times, lachi appeared to the right of the adverb
in all but one instance. A representative example is given below:
(67) Pe-zaa chahui lachii=lo . . .
perf:caus-create well heart=2ːsg . . .
"You create well..."
Lillehaugen et al. (2016)
This shows that emotion particles in earlier forms of Central Zapotec were more distant
from the verb. The pattern seen in the example above is equivalent to the pattern seen in the
speech of the older speaker of Copala Triqui reported earlier, following what Broadwell calls
Non-constituent incorporation.
This can be compared with modern varieties of Central Zapotec. First we'll consider
Mitla Zapotec, which is a contemporary variety closely related to the Colonial variety. In Mitla
Zapotec, the BPT for heart is a laz, a form clearly related to the historical form lachi
(Stubblefield and Stubblefield 1994). In this variety, laz has become fully incorporated into the
verb, and adverbs no longer intervene between the verb stem and the emotion particle. Consider
the example below, with the verb balaz and the adverb dus "very":4
(68) a. ByunehZti Juan ro'k ka-balaz=dus=ni ...
was-way-just John there liking-very-he ...
b. ... nãhru spurni r-balaz=duxh.
... with-more of-donkey-he liking-very
"Then Juan, with his donkey, entered his way from there, he was very
happy"
Stubblefield and Stubblefield (1994:58)
4 Glosses and free translation taken from Stubblefield and Stubblefield (1994).
55
This shows a later stage of incorporation, where the emotion particle has been completely
reinterpreted as part of the verb.
A similar pattern has occurred in San Lucas Quiavini' Zapotec. In this variety, the word
for heart is lààa'z, another cognate from lachi. In her dissertation, Felicia Lee shows that lààa'z
is part of the verb and not the subject by showing that it cannot be separated by the modal zhya'
"might" (2006). This is reproduced in the following example:
(69) a. B-yann-lààa'z-zhya' Gye'eihlly n-gyaàa'nn Gye'eihlly bèe'cw.
perf-forget-heart-might Mike subj-feed Mike dog
"Mike might have forgotten to feed the dog"
b. *B-yann-zhya'-lààa'z Gye'eihlly n-gyaàa'n Gye'eihlly bèe'cw.
perf-forgot-might-heart Mike subj-feed Mike dog
"Mike might have forgotten to feed the dog"
Lee (2006:60)
In summary, there is evidence that emotion particles have become more incorporated into
the verb over time in Central Zapotecan languages. This provides support for the argument that
the same process is happening contemporarily in Copala Triqui.
56
CHAPTER 5
ALTERNATION BETWEEN EMOTION PARTICLES
Earlier, it was argued that emotion particles are more productive than previously realized
(see section 3). This means that all three variants of an emotion complex (i.e. complexes with rá,
nimán, or rá nimán) can be used with almost every verb that describes an emotion predicate.
This choice between the three variants of emotion complexes is important because each variant
expresses a subtly different meaning. While it is hard to generalize, because emotion complexes
in Copala Triqui describe a wide variety of actions and feelings, there seem to be general
patterns in how rá, nimán, and rá nimán are preferentially used. Even though emotion particles
seem to hold different syntactic positions for the younger versus older speakers consulted for this
project, they seem to share the same observations about the differences in meanings of these
terms. These patterns are reported here.
Speaking generally, rá is preferred in contexts where emotions are felt in the moment,
internally. Nimán is preferred for emotions that are longer in duration, that describe semi-
permanent states for the speaker. Rá nimán in some cases seems to take one or the other
meaning, or mean a combine of both. These statements will be further developed in subsequent
sections.
5.1 Momentary Contexts
Examining particular discourse contexts can reveal characteristics of the emotion
complexes that are not readily apparent to speakers. For example, in one elicitation session our
consultant insisted that all four variants of nachri' were exactly synonymous (because nachri' is a
compositional complex, the verb stem is also considered a variant of the emotion complex):
(70) a. Daj nanj nachri=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate=1ːsg acc pl people speak lying
"I hate people who lie."
57
b. Daj nanj nachri' rá=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate EMO1=1ːsg acc pl people speak lying
"I hate people who lie."
c. Daj nanj nachri' nimán=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate EMO2=1ːsg acc pl people speak lying
"I hate people who lie."
d. Daj nanj nachri' rá nimán=j man nij yuvii a'mii ne.
always con:hate EMO1 EMO2=1ːsg acc pl people speak lying
"I hate people who lie."
Alternatively, the following discourse context revealed different felicity judgments for
each complex. This context arose naturally in conversation with our consultant, and was then
explored further in elicitation. Our consultant had been sick the week before, and had had to
cancel an elicitation session. The next week, we explored possible ways for him to say he was
feeling stronger, using variants of the complex sca' rá "to be strong". The results are given
below:
(71) Context: Speaker was feeling sick last week but is feeling better now
a. #'Unj sca'.
1ːsg be:strong
intended: "I feel strong."
b. 'Unj sca' rá.
1ːsg be:strong EMO1
"I feel strong."
c. ?'Unj sca' nimán.
1ːsg be:strong EMO2
intended: "I feel strong."
d. 'Unj sca' rá nimán.
1ːsg be:strong EMO1 EMO2
"I feel strong."
58
Each of these options will be discussed in turn. First, in this context, the verb stem sca' is
infelicitous. While sca' is technically a compositional compound, the sense in which it means
"strong of character" is a minor sense, and it is most often interpreted as meaning "hard". This
interpretation was the most available to speakers in this context.
It is unsurprising then that sca' is infelicitous here. What this does show, however, is that
the felicity of sca' rá is because of the contribution of rá, and not based on the semantics of the
verb stem alone. In this context, sca' rá was the variant first offered in elicitation, and the
preferred variant:
(72) 'Unj sca' rá.
1ːsg be:strong EMO1
"I feel strong."
In this context, nimán sounded questionable, and was definitely dispreferred to rá.
Interestingly, nimán sounds better if it is used with a temporal adverb that specifies the change is
recent:
(73) a. ?'Unj sca' ndo'o nimán.
1ːsg be:strong very EMO2
intended: "I feel strong."
b. 'Unj sca' ndo'o nimán yaj.
1ːsg be:strong very EMO2 now
"I feel stronger now."
Even though sca' nimán ya is acceptable in this context, this doesn't necessarily mean it
has the same interpretation as rá. The inclusion of the adverb ya raises an interesting idea: that
sca' nimán may encode a shift between two semi-permanent states. The adverb ya would then
indicate that a new state has been achieved. The speaker would then be indicating that they felt
more permanently strong now. Whether this is indeed the case in this context will need to be
59
tested further. Nimán's connection to semi-permanent states is explored further in the next
section.
Rá nimán is also appropriate in this context, without or without ya.
(74) 'Unj sca' rá nimán.
1ːsg be:strong EMO1 EMO2
"I feel strong."
The use of rá nimán remains a mystery. In this example, it patterns with rá. In the
example discussed next, it seems to pattern with nimán. What meaning rá nimán complexes have
relative to rá or nimán complexes remains unresolved here. Other uses of rá nimán are discussed
in the following sections, especially section 5.4.
Another context that selected for emotions felt in the moment was explored. The results
of this are explored below:
(75) a. Síí inaj nimán me se tsaj ne ndaa yaj a'maan rá so'.
rel con:be:calm heart cleft but upːto now con:be:angry EMO1 3:m:sg
"He is one who is calm but right now he is angry."
b. #Síí inaj nimán me se tsaj ne ndaa yaj a'maan nimán so'.
rel con:be
:calm
heart cleft but upːto now con:be:
angry
EMO2 3ːm:sg
intended: "He is one who is calm but right now he is angry."
c. #Síí inaj nimán me se tsaj ne ndaa yaj a'maan rá nimán so'.
rel con:be
:calm
heart cleft but upːto now con:be:
angry
EMO1 EMO2 3ːm:sg
intended: "He is one who is calm but right now he is angry."
In this context, only rá was acceptable in the second position, and nimán and rá nimán
were judged as infelicitous. As stated above, here rá nimán patterns with nimán, where as in the
example above it patterned with rá. Rá and nimán individually, however, follow the same pattern
60
as discussed above: rá is preferentially used to describe a temporary emotional state, or feeling
something tin the moment, while nimán is not.
5.2 Describing Character
Section 5.1 discusses a context with the emotion particle rá is preferred over the emotion
particle nimán. This section discusses a discourse context where the opposite is true. In this
context, our consultants were asked to describe the character of another person. The following
terms were offered to describe a person who is calm, using the verb inaj. Both variants are
acceptable, but nimán was offered first, and was deemed as preferred in following discussion:
(76) a. síí inaj nimán
rel be:calm EMO2
"One who is calm"
b. síí inaj rá
rel be:calm EMO1
"one who is calm"
Other examples can come from speaker intuitions about certain forms. Consider the
following sentence, which was explored with all variants of the emotion complex:
(77) Ne'e=j man chii sca' (rá / nimán / rá nimán).
see=1ːsg acc man strong (EMO1 / EMO2 / EMO1 EMO2)
"I saw the strong man."
When asked when one would use sca' rá, our consultant said you use it, "when you know
he is strong". In further discussion, it was determined that saying the man was sca' rá could
imply that he was weak in the past. For sca' nimán, our consultant said it meant, "He always has
a strong heart... He is doing pretty well, that's why he got done what he got done." This seems to
imply a more permanent state, one that describes the man's past behaviors. Finally, rá nimán
61
implied that you were telling someone else about the man in question. This would also be
consistent with an interpretation that rá nimán describes character.
One consultant offered the glosses of rá and nimán as "thoughts" and "feelings"
respectively, saying, "nimán lasts longer than rá, because feelings last longer than thoughts".
This can be a helpful way to begin to conceptualize the difference between the two emotion
complexes.
It has also been helpful to the analyst in understanding nimán complexes to think about
them informally with the gloss "to feel X in the heart". This seems to capture the semi-permanent
nature of the complexes. The idea for this first came when a consultant shared a saying in Copala
Triqui:
(78) Nuu catuun nimán sayuun qui-rii ma.
As:soon comːget:in heart problem pot-get:out neg.
"As soon as a problem gets in your heart, it can't get out."
Although it is often difficult to interpret text without full context, the contrast between rá
and nimán presented in this section and section 5.1 is reflected in a passage from the the New
Testament, given below in example 79. In this passage, it is said that the word of God will help
the people gain courage. In this passage, gaining courage is a permanent change, a change in the
characteristics of the people. Gaining strength is translated as nari' nucuaj nimán "to be
encouraged" (lit. find strength EMO2). Importantly, this emotion complex uses nimán to
describe a change in character. This can be contrasted with uun ya rá "to be convinced" (lit.
become true EMO1), which is immediately following in the text. Here, this describes an even
that is going to happen in the future, and describes a momentary state of feeling convinced.
Importantly, this complex uses rá:
62
(79) a. Gaa naá me se c-achrón nii nana rihaan danj Diose ...
when long:
ago
cleft com-put 3ːin
def
lang-
uage
to thus God ...
"Long ago they wrote the words of God's book ..."
b. ... yan qui-nari' ma'an ní' daj qui-'yaj ní' ...
... so:that pot-find self 1ːpl how pot-make 1ːpl ...
"... so that we ourselves would find out how we could act ..."
c. ... gaa ne g-uun nucuaj ní' qui-'yaj canaán ní' rihaan ...
... then pot-
have:strength
1ːpl com-unsure 1ːpl to ...
"... so that we would have strength or conquer ..."
d. ... sayuun ne qui-nari' nucuaj nimán ní' ...
... problem and com-be:encouraged EMO2 1ːpl ...
"... problems and so that our hearts would be strong ..."
e. ... gaa ne c-a'vee g-uun ya rá ní' ...
... then pot-be:able pot-be:convinved EMO1 1ːpl ...
" ... and we would be able to be convinced ..."
f. ... se vaa vaa güii cavii sa' ní' a.
... that some:day pot-turn:out good 1ːpl dec
"... that some day we would turn out well."
Romans 15ː4
5.3 Connection to Personal Relationships
The last section showed nimán is preferentially used in contexts talking about semi-
permanent emotional states. Nimán was also found to be preferred in other contexts, specifically,
when talking about people, especially family or romantic relationships. This context could be
thought about as an instance when one is more likely to have semi-permanent feelings towards
another person. Additionally, nimán may be used in this context because of its connotations as
the BPT "heart".
The following section discusses examples 80 and 81, where the verb niha' rá "to be
happy" is used in two different contexts. First, it is important to note that niha' nimán seems to
63
show a lexical variation, where the nimán complex is interpreted as relatively mild, and the rá
nimán complex seems to behave more like the nimán complex would be expected to. Niha' rá
and niha' nimán are very frequently used, and it is possible this lexical idiosyncrasy is caused by
a semantic bleaching of niha' nimán. The specific behavior of niha nimán could also be because
of a related sense that means "to be promiscuous". Speakers may wish to avoid this sense of the
word in elicitation contexts. The behavior of niha' rá nimán is explored more in section 5.5.
Thus, although niha' rá nimán was offered in example 81a, it is argued here that this is
representative of wider patterns in the use of the nimán particle. The key here is whether or not
nimán can be included in the emotion complex at all.
In the context describing something good but unrelated to family, nimán cannot be added
to the complex (example 80), while in the context describing something good happening to
family, rá nimán is the preferred variant 81).
(80) a. Guun niha' ndo'o rá (#nimán) 'unj gaa ...
com-become happy very EMO1 (# EMO2) 1ːsg when ...
"I was happy when..."
b. ... 'unj me síí 'yaj ganaán loteria.
... 1ːsg is one.who win lottery
"... I won the lottery."
(81) a. G-uun niha' ndo'o ra niman 'unj gaa ...
com-become happy very EMO1 EMO2 1ːsg when ...
"I was happy when ..."
b. ... c-achén sa' ra'vij 'unj gaa ...
... com-pass good sister 1ːsgːposs when ...
" ... my sister was okay when ..."
c. ... c-uchruj no' ne'ej.
... com-giveːbirth 3ːf:sg baby
" ... the baby was born."
64
Another example is given below. In this case, nimán is further limited, being
preferentially used for romantic relationshiups rather than familial ones:
(82) a. #Na'vej nimán=j ca-'anj ra'vij.
con:don't:want EMO2=1ːsg com-go brother
"I don't want my brother to go."
b. Na'vej nimán=j ca-'anj s=novio=j.
con:don't:want EMO2=1ːsg com-go poss=boyfriend=1sg
"I don't want my brother to go."
This example reinforces the idea that nimán maintains some of the connotations of the
word heart. Here, nimán seems connected to a romantic notion of the heart in Copala Triqui,
similar to how it is in English.
The connection to romantic situations was also reflected in judgments given by our older
consultant. When asked to describe a setting where niha' rá nimán might be used, our consultant
offered the following example. The context is that the speaker is trying to court a woman and she
finally talks to them:
(83) Guun niha' ndo'o ra niman unj gaa a'mii so' ga 'unj.
com-
become
happ
y
very EMO
1
EMO2 1ːsg when con:t
alk
2ːs
g
with 1ːsg
"I am very happy that you talked with me."
In conclusion, nimán's use as an emotion particle still seems to be connected to and
informed by its use as the body part term for "heart". This can be found in nimán's preferential
use in situations that are considered domains of the heart in Copala Triqui (as well as in English):
when talking about family, and when talking about romance.
5.4 Describing Intensity
So far, we've been able to isolate three broad patterns about the use of rá and nimán: first,
rá is preferentially used to discuss emotions in the moment; second, nimán is preferentially used
65
to discuss semi-permanent states; third, nimán is preferentially used to discuss feelings about
family or romantic partners.
These three facts put together can help explain another pattern that emerged in the usage
of these terms: that emotion complexes can often be put onto a scale of increasing intensity.
Consider the results of the following exercise, where a consultant was asked to provide
appropriate targets for the different variants of the verb nachri' "to dislike":
Table 5-1. Intensity ratings of emotion complexes
Intensity Variant Target Comment
Least Intense nachri' tarantulas "I already hate them." (spanish: "de por
si odio.")
nachri' rá onions in the moment; "sometimes I can eat
onions."
nachri' nimán slave owners "I hate them officially, with all my
heart."
Most Intense nachri' rá nimán Hitler "despise... as soon as you think of him
you have an emotional reaction."
The ordering of intensity as well as the comments were all supplied by our consultant. In
this example, the verb stem nachri' seems to show a long-term emotional state, but it was judged
as relatively week. Compared to nachri' rá, we can see that rá is important for changing the
meaning to a momentary reaction. Nachri' rá describes a reaction in the moment. Our consultant
went on to explain that using nachri' rá didn't imply that you never ate onions, but rather that
you disliked them on a particular dish, for example. Meanwhile, nachri' nimán implies a more
intense emotional reaction, one that is long term. Finally, nachri' rá nimán is more intense still,
and in conversation our consultant said that it seemed to imply both a long term hatred "in the
heart", and a reaction in the moment. It's not clear whether all rá nimán can be described as a
combination of the meanings of rá and nimán, or if all speakers share the same intuitions.
66
In some cases, rá nimán variants are so strong they become difficult for speakers to
imagine contexts that are appropriate:
(84) #Achráá rá ndoó nimán 'unj ne'e man so'.
con:hate EMO1 very EMO2 1ːsg see acc 3ːm:sg
"I really hate him from my heart."
In elicitation, this sentence was first judged as infelicitous. Upon further discussion, the
speaker gave this explanation: "if I'm joking with somebody I can say that… I don't really want
to say that to the person… I'm not the kind of people to use this kind of expression."
This might connect to gendered patterns of language use. The same, male consultant who
offered the explanation above said that nimán was more likely to be used by women than men.
He said that it felt inappropriate for him to use nimán versions of emotion complexes, but
women would use them more frequently.
The connection between nimán and intensity has also been noted by Barbara Hollenbach.
In her notes, she writes that her consultant says complexes with nimán are more sincere or
profound (Hollenbach 2018).
5.5 Exceptions
The mapping of emotion particle to intensity was observed for many complexes, but was
not without exceptions. One notable example is the complex niha' nimán. This was introduced
above in section 5.3 preceding example 81. As discussed above, niha' nimán is unexpectedly
interpreted as lacking force, while niha' rá nimán shows the increased intensity and connection
to family expected based on the arguments above.
Niha' nimán instead has another meaning that became clear through elicitation. In this
complex, nimán implies "for me only; other people's feelings may be different". The sentence in
example 85a was judged to be markedly weak, and implied the following clause in example 85b.
67
(85) a. Cu-niha' niman 'unj ga-naman so' ve' ...
com-be:happy EMO2 1ːsg pot-return 3ːm:sg house ...
"I'm happy for you to return to my house."
b. ... tzaj
ne
odaj nij yuvi
i
me se ni ne'e me daj 'uun rá nij s
o'.
... but anot
her
pl peo
ple
cleft neg see how.m
uch
con:t
hink
EM
O1
3:pl
"... but as for other people, I don't know what they're thinking."
Here, nimán seems to emphasize that this is the opinion of the person speaking. Why this
is different from other uses of nimán is unclear. As stated above, this could be because niha'
complexes are very common, and niha' nimán may have been bleached of its intensity through
repeated use. In this case, rá nimán, being less frequent, becomes the complex that is used to
express intensity. Whether other complexes share this "in my opinion" sense is a topic of future
exploration.
5.6 Summary
In conclusion, broad patterns in how rá, nimán, and rá nimán complexes are used in
context can be observed. Rá is preferentially used to discuss emotions in the moment and nimán
is preferentially used to discuss semi-permanent states or feelings about family or romantic
situations. Rá nimán is less clear cut: in some cases, it is used most similarly to rá, in others it is
used more similarly than nimán.
These qualities combine together to produce a rough paradigm of intensity for emotion
complexes, with rá complexes as the weakest, then nimán complexes, then rá nimán complexes.
Through the process of linguistic elicitation, we were able to put together clues to the
Copala Triqui constellation of emotions, and figure out how emotions are put in relation to each
other. The observations presented here are of course preliminary. With something as subtle and
culture-bound as emotions, intensive ethnographic work will be necessary to truly understand
68
how emotions are understood and expressed in Copala Triqui. It is hoped that this work,
however, provides a starting point for future exploration.
69
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION
6.1 Summary
The preceding paper has explored a type of complex verb in Copala Triqui, so-called
complex verbs of emotion. These verbs are formed from a verb stem plus an emotion particle.
Copala Triqui uses two emotion particles, rá and nimán. One important finding in this paper is
that rá and nimán can be combined as rá nimán and used in most emotion complexes. Similarly,
although previous documentation treated whether a complex had one or another emotion particle
as lexical specification, this paper shows that almost every complex can take all three forms, rá,
nimán, and rá nimán. Likewise, the choice between these forms is meaningful, with rá and
nimán being used preferentially in different contexts, and each emotion particle implying a
different amount of intensity of emotion. Finally, this paper argues that rá and nimán are derived
from body part terms (BPTs), and have been incorporated into the verb trough syntactic
reanalysis, a process which can be seen occurring today between speakers of different ages.
6.2 Limitations
The results of this research are constrained by their context: in-depth linguistic elicitation
was done with three speakers. Many of the observations made here are based on speaker
judgments about internal states. Internal states may be difficult to communicate, especially
through a fluent second or third language. The results are also limited by the number of speakers:
this paper reports results from one speaker in an older cohort and two younger speakers. Ideally,
these complexes would be looked at in speakers who represented a variety of ages and other
factors in order to better understand variation in the use of these complexes.
70
6.3 Closing Remarks
Through linguistic analysis, this paper has expanded what we understand about how
Copala Triqui speakers use language to express emotions. Instead of seeing emotion words as
idiomatic or as composed of unanalyzable parts, this analysis shows that some broad conclusions
can be reached about the meaning of emotion particles and their connection to the verb stem. It is
hoped that this analysis will inspire students of other Otomanguean languages to explore emotion
complexes in their languages, and to find similarities and differences between them and Copala
Triqui. Not only is this important to the documentation of emotion language and Mesoamerican
languages; it is also important because expressing emotions is one of the most important social
functions language can serve.
71
APPENDIX A
BODY PART TERMS IN COMPLEX VERBS
Body Part Term Gloss
che'é "feet (obs.)"
chihá "neck"
chruj "nape"
nimán "heart"
ra'a "arm/hand"
rá "heart (obs.)"
raa "head"
rihaan "face"
rque "stomach"
rque tzij "armpit"
tacóó "leg/foot"
tacúún "nose"
tanuu "insides"
tu'va "mouth"
xnúú "side"
xcóó "shoulder"
xráá "back"
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APPENDIX B
LIST OF COMPLEX VERBS OF EMOTION
Listed below are many of the emotion complexes in Copala Triqui, taken from previous
documentation. Making the decision about which form should be the citation form of these
emotion complexes is difficult, as there are three or four acceptable variants of most emotion
complexes. For emotion complexes taken from Barbara Hollenbach's Bilingual Triqui-Spanish
dictionary (2015), the decision making process is as follows: if the verb stem of a compositional
complex was listed, this is assumed to be the base form of the complex. Note that for single-
word entries in the following list, these are all compositional can take all emotion particles. For
non-compositional complexes, if only the rá or nimán variant was listed, this variant is assumed
to be the more common form and listed here as the citation form. If both rá and nimán forms are
listed, rá is listed here as it is assumed to be older, and is also probably syntactically simpler than
the nimán variant. As stated above, no rá nimán variants are listed in the dictionary, so this is not
a concern.
Word POS Definition of Complex Definition of First
Component
Source
acaj raa V to reflect on s.t. to begin (to feel an
emotion)
Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
achén rá V to complete (e.g. term);
to die (euph.)
to pass; to walk Hollenbach 2015
achraa rá V to hate unsure Hollenbach 2015
achríj rá V to suspect; to realize to smear; to put; to plant Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
acuij raa V be smart; to be clear-
headed
unsure Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
a'maan rá V to get angry to be warm Hollenbach 2015
amán rá V to be content (in a
belief); obey
to arrive home here Hollenbach 2015
a'manj rá V to be astonished unsure Hollenbach 2015
73
Word POS Definition of Complex Definition of First
Component
Source
a'ne' rá V to stop; to break up with
s.o
to cut Hollenbach 2015
ane rá V to be a know-it-all to bathe Hollenbach 2015
a'néé nimán V to determine to to put inside Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
anicaj rá V to repent; to change
opinion
to turn; to return Hollenbach 2015
anicaj raa V to feel dizzy to turn; to return Hollenbach 2015
'anj rá V to be stunned to go Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
anj raa V to be absent mentally to go Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
anó rá V to be proud to grab Hollenbach 2015
aran' rá V to agree with; to like
s.o/s.t.
to hide; to spend the
night
Hollenbach 2015
a'vej rá V to permit; to allow unsure Broadwell 2013
avii raa V be intelligent to ascend Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
chéé nimán V to be restless to pass; to walk Hollenbach 2015
chrij Adj serious N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
chumán rá V to believe to arrive home here Hollenbach 2015
chu'vi' V to be afraid N/A (compositional) Broadwell 2013
cochroj rá Adj kind-hearted fragrant; precious Hollenbach 2015
coloj raa Adj dumb, stupid turkey Hollenbach 2015
cunaj Adj good (of personality) N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
cuu raa Adj intelligent skulllike Hollenbach 2015
ee rá V to love; to take care of heavy Hollenbach 2015
inaj Adj patient, calm N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
laruu rá Adj benign, patient, stupid smooth Hollenbach 2015
luj Adj generous, kind-hearted, N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
ma'anj rá V to admire to leave Hollenbach 2015
me rá V to want; to love to be Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
74
Word POS Definition of Complex Definition of First
Component
Source
'na' raa V be inspired; be
intelligent
to come Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nachran' rá V to be humiliated; to be
repentent
to break Hollenbach 2015
nachri' V to hate; to disrespect N/A (compositional) Broadwell 2013
nacoo rá Adj disdainful, proud dry Hollenbach 2015
náj nimán V to suffer susto to be in Hollenbach 2015
na'maan rá V to be calm to cool; to decrease Hollenbach 2015
namán rá V to be content to arrive home here Hollenbach 2015
nanaj rá Adj patient, docile slowly Hollenbach 2015
nanicaj rá V to change opinion to turn; to return Hollenbach 2015
nanó rá V to be sad to tell Hollenbach 2015
na'nuj rá V to remember (s.t.) to heal Hollenbach 2015
nanuu rá V to wake up to dress Hollenbach 2015
naránj rá V to rest to repurchase Hollenbach 2015
nari' nimán V to satisfy to meet Hollenbach 2015
nataj nimán V to breath with difficulty unsure Hollenbach 2015
na'vej V to disagree N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
navij nimán V to be tired; to die to be finished up Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
navij rá V to decide; to celebrate to be finished up Hollenbach 2015
nayón nimán V to regain consciousness to be in Hollenbach 2015
nica' Adj humble N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
nica rá Adj honest, just straight Hollenbach 2015
nicaj raa V to be wise; to be
intelligent
to carry Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nichraj rá Adj stubborn sticky Hollenbach 2015
niha' Adj happy; likely to (do
something)
N/A (compositional) Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
ninaj rá V to be tired gasp; weak Hollenbach 2015
nique Adj compassionate; sad N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
niquee rá (only
in NEG)
Adj with energy to wear Hollenbach 2015
75
Word POS Definition of Complex Definition of First
Component
Source
nitunj nimán V to worry; to reflect on to lean; to incline Hollenbach 2015
nuchruj raa V to think about unsure Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nucuaj Adj healthy N/A (compositional) Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nucui' rá V to be hypocritcal; to be
proud
to arrive home there Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nutunj nimán V to repent; to regret unsure Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nutunj raa V to reflect emotion component Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nuu rá V to remember to wear; to be inside Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
nuu raa V to put in the head (spn.
llevar en la cabeza)
to wear; to be inside Hollenbach 2015
ñuun rá V to be inattentive empty Hollenbach 2015
o rá Adj with the whole heart one Hollenbach 2015
orún' nimán Adj dedicated; of one
thought
only Hollenbach 2015
raan rá Adj stubborn secure Hollenbach 2015
ra'yanj V to be hurried; to be
attentive
N/A (compositional) Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
ri' rá V to be discouraged to separate Hollenbach 2015
rihuun rá (only
in NEG)
V to heed (s.o) unsure Hollenbach 2015
rii nimán V to think; to be willing to take out Hollenbach 2015
rmii Adj lazy, slacking N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
ruvi' rá (only in
NEG)
V to feel suspicions to appear Hollenbach 2015
sa' Adj good, generous N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
sca' Adj strong, mature N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
si'iín rá Adj with no appetite unsure Hollenbach 2015
síj rá V dare to complete;arrive here Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
76
Word POS Definition of Complex Definition of First
Component
Source
snihaan rá Adj with mad intention unsure Hollenbach 2015
snúú rá Adj distracted, agitated crazy Hollenbach 2015
snúú raa V to become crazy (from
drinking)
to be crazy Hollenbach 2015
suun rá Adj difficult, sticky to work Hollenbach 2015
tinachej raa V to agitate; to disturb to mix up Hollenbach 2015
tinanuu rá V to wake to wear; to dress Hollenbach 2015
tu'vee rá Adj jealous, greedy expensive Hollenbach 2015
uchi' rá V to be proud to arrive there Hollenbach 2015
unee raa V to court (of animals) unsure Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
urihanj nimán V to die; to love a lot
(figurative)
to leave; to quit; to
appear
Hollenbach 2015
uta' raa V to swear (in the name of
s.t.)
to put Hollenbach 2015
uun rá V to think to put Hollenbach 2015
uyanj rá V to be furious to boil Hollenbach 2015
vaj nimán V to shift attention to move Hollenbach 2015
ve'ee niman V to have stomach or
emotional pain
to ache Hollenbach 2015
véj nimán V to have a pulse only Hollenbach 2015
vij rá Adj hesitant, of two minds two Hollenbach 2015
xcaj raa V to think to buy; to get Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
xej Adj satisfied (adj) N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
xij nimán Adj generous big Hollenbach 2015
xraan Adj strong (of the heart);
perseverant
N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
xri' rá V to become sad unsure Hollenbach 2015
ya rá Adj gullible true Hollenbach 2015
yaa rá V to think to appear Broadwell 2013
ya'aan rá Adj grumpy hot Hollenbach 2015
77
Word POS Definition of Complex Definition of First
Component
Source
ya'anj rá Adj generous, agreeable life; god Hollenbach 2015
yanu' rá Adj mean, stingy, miserly unsure Hollenbach 2015
yi'aan rá V to be angry to be on fire Lopéz and
Broadwell 2013
yuun rá Adj handy, ready for
lending
easy, simple Hollenbach 2015
yuvaa Adj angry, upset, jealous,
greedy
N/A (compositional) Hollenbach 2015
yu'vee rá Adj jealous, greedy of bad quality Hollenbach 2015
78
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Michael Stoop first became interested in the study of language while taking Chinese and
English literature courses in undergrad. He worked with the Departments of Anthropology,
Linguistics, and Education to create a course of study that concentrated on the documentation
and revitalization of indigenous languages. He received his Master of Arts in anthropology in
spring 2019.