Processes The most general morphological process in Ixcatec is
affixation. However, one known account of complete
reduplication occurs when the adjective
ʔi1 'small' becomes
ʔi1ʔi1 when pluralized. Another morphological process is tonal change. In almost all the verbs and some nouns, tonal change indicates past or future tense.
Regressive assimilation occurs in disyllabic words that have an /a/ in each syllable separated by the glottal stop /ʔ/. To form the possessive of the third person singular and plural, the first vowel assimilates to the one in the suffix. There are four inflected forms for the first person, second person, third person, and collective subjects. Personal pronouns are optionally used to emphasize the person of the subject, or to avoid confusion between subjects. The pronouns that correspond to the four grammatical persons are
i2na1na3 (first person),
i2la3 (second person),
su2wa2 (third person), and
i2ni1 (first person plural). Some nouns that are used most frequently as classifiers in noun compounds are:
Possessives Nouns that refer to body parts or kinship require the expression of a possessor, almost always a possessive suffix, while others, such as natural phenomena and wild animals, do not. Nouns express the person of a possessor by adding to their subjects specific suffixes and
enclitics. The regular endings of the possessive include
-ña na (first person),
-aa (second person),
-ee (third person), and
-ni (first person plural). There are four inflectional possessive classes apart from a small number of irregular nouns: Class I, Class II, Class III, and Class IV.
Class I This class is the largest of the inflectional classes. The endings of nouns in this class generate a high tone in the final vowel of the word. This vowel does not change its quality in the first-person singular and plural forms but produces a reduction of vowels in the second and third-person forms. There are two subclasses, Ia and Ib, which differ only in the ending of the third-person forms.
Class II Tonal raising is not carried out in the nouns of this class. The majority of these nouns end in a low tone, which makes up Subclass IIa, whereas others end in a medium tone, subclass IIb. These conserve the medium tone in all inflectional forms and include monosyllabic as well as multisyllabic names. The formal form of the second-person is followed by the enclitic
ri1. The endings are:
Class IV Borrowed terms indicate the person of the possessor with the morphemes of the Ixcatec system. The type of accent that nouns receive in Spanish pronunciation, flat or acute, is diagnostic for its possessed forms in Ixcatec. Nouns with an accent of plain origin form Subclass IVa. They are pronounced with a high tone in the penultimate syllable and can also be in the final. The tone in syllables that precede a stressed syllable is sub-differentiated and pronounced with a medium or low tone. The endings of Subclass IVa coincide with those of Subclass IIa apart from the endings of the first person singular and plural: Nouns that have an acute accent in Spanish comprise Subclass IVb. They have a high tone in the final syllable of the stem while the tone is sub-differentiated in the preceding syllable. The endings of this subclass coincide with Subclass Ia except for the ending of the first person.
Plurality The plural expression for personal pronouns is optional, and the same forms are commonly used to reference the singular as well as the plural. For example, to emphasize the plural of the second-person pronoun, different forms of
tuihu3, a verbal root with an inherent meaning of plurality, are added to the original form:
i2la3ri1tu1hu3ri1 'you' (formal). However, when it is expressed in a noun it is only to indicate the plurality of the possessor. The absolute noun expresses number through lexical means with the use of numerals or other adjectives indicating quantity. == Syntax ==