2003/07/01 by Carolyn J. MacKay, Frank R. Trechsel · 2 citations
Psychology · Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Phonetics and Phonology Research #Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies #Linguistic Variation and Morphology #Reciprocal #Linguistics #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1086/381337
openalex publication_date 2003/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
In Totonacan languages, the verbal prefix /laa‐/ ‘recip’ occurs on transitive and ditransitive verbs to mark a reciprocal relation between a subject and a direct or indirect object. In many of the languages, this prefix also occurs on regular, nonreciprocal verbs to mark subject/object combinations involving only local (first‐ or second‐person) participants. This paper describes the distribution of the prefix /laa‐/ ‘recip’ in Totonacan languages and explains this distribution in both reciprocal and nonreciprocal contexts on the basis of its semantics. We argue that /laa‐/ is historically a reciprocal morpheme which signals that the individual members of a group perform more than one thematic role in a transitive or ditransitive relation. It is this common reciprocal function that unites the diverse uses of /laa‐/ ‘recip’ in Totonacan and provides the basis for the extension of this prefix into other, nonreciprocal domains.