Abstract

RAMOS, Pafnuncio Antonio. Nominal derivational morphology in the zapotec from San Pedro Mixtepec, Oaxaca. Káñina [online]. 2019, vol.43, n.3, pp.77-102. ISSN 2215-2636.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/rk.v43i3.41817.

In this paper, I describe nominal derivational morphology in the Zapotec language spoken in the community of San Pedro Mixtepec, Oaxaca. In this language, there are four morphemes used to derive nouns. The first one is the w- morpheme. This prefix is used in verbal or nominal roots to derive nouns. The second one is the prefix giel-. This is a nominalizing morpheme, which occurs with adjectival, verbal or nominal roots to derive new nouns, and there are even instances in which this morpheme is prefixed to already nominalized verbs. The third one is the morpheme ngw-, with its allomorphs {ngw-}, {nkw-}, {ng-} and {n-}. This morpheme attaches to verbal roots to derive agent nouns. However, when it is attached to place names, it derives demonyms. The last one is a morpheme that occurs with animal names m- with its allomorphs {m-} and {n-}. This last system represents what has remained of the grammaticalization of at least two lexical elements originating in the protozapotecan and protozoquean linguistic families, which have gone through several phonological processes until becoming prefixes that occur at the beginning of animal names.

Keywords : Morphology; derivation; nouns; prefixes; Zapotec.

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