Classical Nahuatl/Grammar

Classical Nahuatl grammar sketch

Phonology

Syllable structure

Maximal syllable is CVC. Maximal consonant cluster is -CC- medially. Initial and final consonant clusters do not occur. Affixes have two forms, one before/after a vowel, and one before/after a consonant.

Consonant mutations

l + tl > ll (cal- "house" + -tli Absolutive suffix = calli "house (Abs.)")

l + y >/ ll (cual- "good thing" + -yōtl abstract suffix = cuallōtl "goodness")

n + p > mp (on "deictic particle" + pa "locative" = ompa "there")

y wordfinally > x (nicchīya "I observed it" + past tense loss of final vowel = nicchīx "I observed it")

Morphology

The words of Nahuatl can be divided into three basic functional classes: verbs, nouns and particles. Adjectives exist, but they generally behave like nouns and there are very few adjectives that are not derived from either verbal or nominal roots. The few adverbs that can be said to exist fall into the class of particles.

The Noun

Nouns belong to one of two classes: animates or inanimates. Originally the grammatical distinction between these were that inanimate nouns had no plural forms, but in most modern dialects both animate and inanimate nouns are pluralizable. The noun is inflected for two basic contrasting categories: plural and possessedness. Nominal morphology is mostly suffixing. Some irregular formations exist.

In Nahuatl, nouns take a suffix called the "absolutive". This suffix takes the form -tl after vowels (ā-tl, "water") and -tli after consonants, which assimilates to a final /l/ (tōch-tli, "rabbit", but cal-li, "house"). Some nouns have an irregular form in -in (mich-in, fish). These suffixes are dropped in most derived forms: tōch-calli, "rabbit-hole", mich-matlatl, "fishing net".

The absolutive singular suffix has three basic forms: -tl/tli, -lin/-in, and some irregular nouns with no suffix.
The absolutive plural suffix has three basic forms: -tin, -meh, or just a final glottal stop -h. Some plurals are formed also with reduplication of the noun's first syllable.
The possessive singular suffix has two basic forms: -uh (on stems ending in a vowel) or -Ø (on stems ending in a consonant).
The possessive plural suffix has the form -huān.

The table below present some common nouns conjugated as examples.

Plural forms

Only animate nouns can take a plural form. These include most animate living beings, but also words like tēpetl ("mountain"), citlalli ("star") and some other phenomena. Plurals are formed in several ways:

The absolutive suffix is replaced with -h (glottal stop), -tin or -meh
Some nouns may have a reduplication of their first consonant and vowel, with the reduplicated vowel long.

Possible plurals combination
	-h	-tin	-meh
With reduplication	teōtl, tēteōh	tōchtli, tōtōchtin	Never occurs
Without reduplication	cīhuatl, cīhuah	oquichtli, oquichtin	michin, michmeh

The plural isn't totally stable and in many cases several different forms are attested.

Noun Inflection

Absolutive singular	cīhuatl "woman"	oquichtli "man"	totōlin "turkey"	tlācātl "person (sg.)"
Absolutive Plural	cīhuah "women"	oquichtin "men"	totōlmeh "turkeys"	tlatlācah "persons"
Possessed Singular	nocīhuauh "my woman"	noquich "my man"	nototōl "my turkey"	notlācauh "my person"
Possessed Plural	nocīhuahuān "my women"	noquichhuān "my men"	nototōlhuān "my turkeys"	notlācahuān "my persons"

Possessor prefixes

1st Person Singular: no-

nocal "my house"

2nd Person Singular: mo-

mocal "your house"

3rd Person Singular: ī-

īcal "his/her/its house"

1st Person Plural: to-

tocal "our house"

2nd Person Plural: anmo-

anmocal "Your house (pl.)"

3rd Person Plural: īn-

īncal "their house"

Unknown owner: tē-

tēcal "someone's house"

Some other categories can be inflected on the noun such as:

Honorific formed with the suffix -tzin.

cīhua "woman" + tzin+ tli absolutive = cīhuatzintli "woman (said with respect)"

Derivational Morphology

-tia derives from noun X a verb with an approximate meaning of "to provide with X " or "to become X".
-huia derives from noun X a verb with an approximate meaning of "to use X " or "to provide with X".
-yōtl derives from a noun X a noun with an abstract meaning of x-hood or x-ness.
-yoh derives from a noun X a noun with a meaning of "thing full of X" or "thing with a lot of X"

The Verb

The verb is marked with prefixes in order to agree with the person and number of the subject and the object of the sentence; additionally, verbs inflect for tense and aspect.

Subject prefixes and suffix

This set of prefixes are used to express the subject of transitive and intransitive verbs . They can also be prefixed to a noun, X, to make a predicative construction with the meaning "is X".

1st Person Singular: ni-

nitlācatl I am a man", nicochi "I sleep",

2nd Person Singular: ti-

titlācatl "you are a man", ticochi "you sleep"

3rd Person Singular: Ø- (none)

tlācatl "he/she/it is a man", cochi "he/she/it sleeps"

1st Person Plural: ti + plural -h/-queh

titlatlācah "we are men", ticochih"we sleep"

2nd Person Plural: an + plural -h/-queh

antlatlācah "You are men", ancochih "You sleep"

3rd Person Plural: Ø- (none) + plural -h/-queh

tlatlācah "they are men", cochih "they sleep"

Object prefixes

This set of prefixes is used to express the direct object of transitive verbs.

1st Person Singular: nēch

nēchitta "he/she/it sees me", tinēchitta "you see me"

2nd Person Singular:mitz

mitzitta "he/she/it sees you", nimitzitta "I see you"

3rd Person Singular: qui

quitta "he/she/it sees him/her/it"

1st Person Plural: tēch

tēchitta "he/she/it sees us"

2ndPerson Plural: amēch

amēchitta "he/she/it sees You (pl.)"

3rd Person Plural: quim

quimitta "he/she/it sees them"

unknown animate object: tē

tēitta "he/she/it sees someone"

unknown inanimate object: tla

tlatta "he/she/it sees something"

Temporal and aspectual suffixes

Present: has no suffix.
Perfect: -c/h/?/Ø niquittac "I saw him/her/it (preterit aspect) "
Future: -z niquittāz "I will see him/her/it "
Imperfect: -ya niquittāya "I saw him/her/it (imperfect aspect) "
Irrealis: -zquiya niquittāzquiya "I would have seen him/her/it"

Applicative

The applicative construction adds an argument to the verb. The role of the added argument can be benefactive, malefactive, indirect object or similar. It is formed by the suffix -lia.

niquittilia "I see it for him"

Causative

The causative construction adds an argument to the verb. This argument is an agent causing the object to undertake the action of the verb. It is formed by the suffix -tia.

niquittatia "I make him see it/I show it to him"

Unspecified Subject/Passive

The construction called "passive" by some grammarians and "unspecified subject construction" by others removes the subject from the valency of the verb, substituting it with a null reference, and promoting the argument marked by object prefixes to subject. The passive or unspecified subject construction uses one of two suffixes: -lo or -hua.

quitta "he sees it"+ -lo= quittalo "it is seen (by someone)"
miqui "he dies" + hua = micohua "there is dying/people are dying"

Directional Affixes

Deixis:

-on- "away from the speaker"
on+ tlahtoa "to speak" = ontlahtoa "he/she/it speaks towards there"
-huāl- " towards the speaker"
huāl+ tlahtoa "to speak" = huāllahtoa "he/she/it speaks towards here"

Introvert: Imperfective: -qui "comes towards the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + qui ="quittaqui "he/she/it will come here to see it" Perfective: -co "has come towards the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + co =quittaco "he/she/it has come here to see it"

Extrovert: Imperfective: -tīuh "goes away from the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + tīuh ="quittatīuh "he/she/it will go there to see it" Perfective: -to " has gone away from the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + to =quittato "he/she/it has gone there to see it"

Derivational

A number of different suffixes exist to derive nouns from verbs:

-lli used to derive passivized nouns from verbs.

tla "something" + ixca "roast" + l + tli = tlaxcalli "something roasted/ a tortilla"
tla + ihcuiloa "write/draw" + l - tli = tlahcuilolli "scripture/ a drawing"

-liztli used to derive abstract nouns from verbs.

miqui "to die" + liztli = miquiliztli "death"
tlahcuiloa "to write something" + liztli = tlahcuiloliztli "the concept of writing or being a scribe"

-qui used to derive agentive nouns from verbs.

ichtequi "to steal" + qui = ichtecqui "a thief"
tlahuāna "to become drunk" + qui = tlahuānqui "a drunkard"

-ni used to derive habitual nouns from verbs.

miqui "to die" +ni = miquīni "a mortal"
cuacua "to bite" + ni = cuacuāni "someone that is known to be capable of or to habitually bite"

Verbal compounds

Two verbs can be compounded with the morpheme -ti-.

Relational Nouns and Locatives

Spatial and other relations are expressed with relational nouns. Some locative suffixes also exist.

Noun Incorporation

Noun incorporation is productive in Classical Nahuatl and different kinds of material can be incorporated.

Body parts
Instruments.
Objects.

Syntax

The particle in is important in Nahuatl syntax and is used as a kind of definite article and also as a subordinating particle and a deictic particle, in addition to having other functions.

Non-configurationality

Classical Nahuatl can be classified as a non-configurational language, allowing many different kinds of word orders, even splitting noun phrases.

VSO basic word order

The basic word order of Classical Nahuatl is verb initial and often considered to be VSO, although some scholars have argued for it being VOS. However, being non-configurational, all wordorders are allowed and are used to express different kinds of pragmatic relations, such as thematization and focus.

Numeral System

Classical nahuatl has a vigesimal numeral system.

Numbers

cē -1
ōme -2
yei -3
nāhui - 4
macuilli -5
chicuacēn - 6
chicuōme - 7
chicueyi - 8
chicunāhui - 9
matlactli - 10
caxtolli 15
cēmpōhualli - 20

Colour Terminology

The Nahuatl colour system lacks a separate term for blue, and instead uses a single term to cover both blue and green nuances. It has been argued that Nahuatl has no basic colour terms, (in the Berlin & Kay sense of the word) because they are all derived with a -tic suffix from verbs or nouns.

Basic Colour terms

īstac - white
tlīltic - black
chichiltic - red
costic - yellow
xoxoctic- green and blue
quiltic - green
tlilectic - dark

Kinship Terminology

The kinship system of Classical Nahuatl distinguishes older and younger siblings.