Slides presented at SSILA Annual Meeting at Washington DC, January 8, 2016.

1. On the so-called “purposive”
verbs in Nahuatl
Mitsuya Sasaki
University of Tokyo, JSPS Research Fellow
SSILA Annual Meeting
at Washington D.C., January 8, 2016
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2. Outline
Introduction: What is a “purposive” verb?
“Purposive” in Ixquihuacan Nahuatl
Semantic tests for “purposives”
Discussion
Summary
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3. Nahuatl morphological directionals
Directional prefixes on- / wāl-
“Purposive” suffixes -tīw / -kīw etc.
Compound with ‘go’ -tiw / -tiwāllaw etc.
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4. Andative vs. venitive
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ANDATIVE
-on, -tīw, etc.
VENITIVE
-wāl, -kīw, etc.

5. Directional prefixes: (1)–(3)
(1) ‘They [Aztec envoys] gave (andative)
them [the Spaniards] all these things.’
(2) ‘They [the Spaniards] returned (venitive)
the gift.’
(3) ‘They [the Spaniards] gave (venitive)
them [the Aztec envoys] green and yellow
necklaces…
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6. “Purposive” forms
Traditionally described as
“go/come in order to …”
–ka ō=ti-kim-itta-to-’
AFF ANT=1PLS-3PLO-see-ANDP.PST-PLS
‘We went to see them.’
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7. “Purposive” forms: (4)–(6)
(4) ‘We went to see the gods …’
(5) ‘We went to give them all your capes.’
(6) ‘… we came to greet him, salute him.’
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8. Non-purposive use of “purposives”
(7) ‘When they arrived (lit. came to arrive) at
Tecoac …
(8) ‘It was already dark when they arrived (lit.
came to arrive) here.’
(9) ‘It has gone to be known all the way to
Castile that …’
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9. Dialectal variations, etc.
Amith (1988) on Ameyaltepec Nahuatl:
– Directional prefixes: motion of the object
– “Purposive” forms: motion of the subject
Metaphoric uses of directional prefixes
– Andrews (1981), Launey (1997), etc.
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10. San Francisco Ixquihuacan
Municipality of Ahuacatlán, Puebla
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Ixquihuacan
State of Puebla
©Google
©INEGI

11. “Purposive” in Ixquihuacan Nahuatl
Andative Venitive
Nonpast -tih (-tīweh) -kih (-kīweh)
Preterit -to(h) -ko(h)
Optative -h (-tih) -ki (-kih)
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12. Typical use of “purposives” in
Ixquihuacan Nahuatl
(10) ‘May they come to see who the thieves are.’
(11) ‘Luis’s mother entered (lit. went to enter) the
house again …’
(12) ‘We go all the way to Zacatlán to take things …’
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13. Non-typical use of “purposives” in
Ixquihuacan Nahuatl
(13) ‘It became dark when we came at this point.’
13
ō-tlayuwa-ko
(venitive purposive)

14. Non-typical use of “purposives” in
Ixquihuacan Nahuatl
(14) ‘if he passes away on the way [to the city]…’
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poliwi-tih
(andative purposive)

15. Purpose and non-purpose uses
“Purpose” use
– I went to the market to get some shoes.
“On-way” use
– It became dark when we reached here.
– The patient died on the way to the city.
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16. Question:
The “Purpose” use and the “on-way” use:
How can these two distinct usages be
accounted for?
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17. Purposive = Motion (M) + Event (E)
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Event
(E)
Motion (M)
ni-k-nāmiki-tih
1SGS-3SGO-meet-ANDP
‘I go meet her.’

18. Semantic tests for “purposives”
(a) Does E actually happen?
(b) Does E occur after M is completed?
(c) Is E the objective of M?
(d) Do M and E share the subject?
(e) Does E occur at the same place as the subject of M?
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E
M

19. (a) Does the event actually happen?
(15) ō-ni-Ø-kōwa-ko ZAPATOS
PST-1SGS-3SGO-buy-VENP shoes
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CONTEXT:
I came to the market to buy shoes.
READING:
✔ I actually bought shoes.
✔ I haven’t bought any shoes but I’m still looking for ones.
? I could not find any shoes so I gave up.

20. (b) Is the motion completed?
(Purpose use)
(16) ō-ni-k-tlahpalō-ko sē no-AMIGO
PST-1SGS-3SGO-greet-VENP one 1SGP-friend
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CONTEXT:
My friend lives in another village and I went to say hello to
him.
READING:
✔ I came to his house and said hello to him.
? Soon after I left my village, I ran into him and said hello.

21. (b) Is the motion completed? (On-way use)
(17) ō-Ø-poliwi-to n no-knih
PST-3S-be.lost-ANDP ART 1SGP-brother
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CONTEXT:
My brother is sick; so we brought him to the hospital.
READING:
✔ He died before arriving at the hospital.
✘ He died as soon as he arrived at the hospital.

22. (c) Is E the objective of M?
(Purpose use)
(18) a. ō-ni-k-nāmiki-to sē no-AMIGO
PST-1SGS-3SGO-meet-ANDP one 1SGP-friend
b. #ō-ni-k-ahsi-to sē no-AMIGO
PST-1SGS-3SGO-arrive-ANDP one 1SGP-friend
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CONTEXT:
I visited my friend. I met him at his house.

23. (c) Is E the objective of M?
(On-way use)
(19) a. #ō-ni-k-nāmiki-to sē no-AMIGO
PST-1SGS-3SGO-meet-ANDP one 1SGP-friend
b. ō-ni-k-ahsi-to sē no-AMIGO
PST-1SGS-3SGO-arrive-ANDP one 1SGP-friend
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CONTEXT:
On my way to the city, I ran into my friend.

24. (d) Do M and E share the subject?
“On-way” use:
(13) ‘It became dark when we came at
this point.’
(14) ‘if he passes away on [his] way [to
the city]…’
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25. (e) Does E occur at the place of the subject
of M? (On-way use)
(20) #ō-Ø-tlami-ko
PST-3S-finish-VENP.PST
‘It finished when I came to this point.’
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CONTEXT:
I’m on my way back to my village in order to help my family
build a new house. On the way to the village, they called me
and said that they had just finished building the house.

26. Summary:
“Purpose” use and “on-way” use
“Purpose” use “On-way” use
(a) Yes Yes
(b) Yes No
(c) Yes No
(d) Yes Yes/No
(e) Yes Yes
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27. Discussion: A unified account
(i) “Purposive” as M–E succession
(ii) Projection of the semantic features
(iii) Relevancy condition
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28. Presupposition 1:
“Purposive” as M–E succession
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The so-called “purposive” suffixes are
unspecified as to the logical/causal relation
between the motion and the event;
They simply denote that the motion and
the event occur in succession

29. Presupposition 2:
Projection of verbal semantic features
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The argument structure and semantic
features of the “purposive” verbal complex
are identical to those of the verb stem
The “purposive” affixes -tīw, -to, etc. do
not affect the argument structure of the
whole verb

30. Presupposition 3:
Relevancy principle
A verb form cannot combine two events
logically or cognitively irrelevant to each
other.
M and E are interpreted as relevant to
each other
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31. “Purpose” use
(21) ni-Ø-kōwa-kih ZAPATOS
1SGS-3SGO-buy-VENP shoes
‘I go in order to buy shoes.’
– M–E succession: ‘come’ → ‘I buy shoes’
– The whole verb is agentive
– Relevancy: The motion should be logically
related to the event
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32. “On-way” use
(22) ō-tlayuwa-ko
PST-be.dark-VENP.PST
‘Night fell when [we] came to this point.’
– M–E succession: ‘come’ → ‘it gets dark’
– Agentivity: The whole verb is non-agentive
– Relevancy: The motion should be logically
related to the event
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33. “On-way” use
(23) Ø-poliwi-tih
3S-be.lost-ANDP
‘He passed away on his way.’
– M–E succession: ‘go’ → ‘he passes away’
– Agentivity: The whole verb is non-agentive
– Relevancy: The motion should be logically
related to the event
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34. Non-purposive use of “purposives”
(7) ‘When they arrived (lit. came to arrive) at
Tecoac …
(8) ‘It was already dark when they arrived (lit.
came to arrive) here.’
(9) ‘It has gone to be known all the way to
Castile that …’
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35. san toncochi’tlēwako’ san tontēmikiko’
a’nelli a’nelli tinemiko’ in tlāltikpak
‘We merely come to stand sleeping, we merely
come to dream. It is not true, not true that we
come to live on earth.’
(Cantares mexicanos f. 14v; trans. by Bierhorst)
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36. 36
Ōannēchmocnēlilihqueh! (Classical)
Tlasohkāmati! (Modern)