_{A boundary marker showing the border between two communities in the Tlacolula Valley.}

This lesson is about identificational sentences and related patterns. Sections §19.1–19.3 present identificational sentences without “be” and with two “is” verbs, na and rac. Section §19.4 explains more about identificational sentences, and section §19.5 more about rac. Adjectives are introduced in section §19.6.

Xiëru Zalo Ra Dizh

1. The main duty of the lasliery or “constable” (alguacil, in Spanish) is to patrol the streets of the community and enforcing curfew. This position, like other municipal offices in San Lucas and other towns in Oaxaca, is a cargo duty (see dialogue VI-4).

2. Diseases are viewed and treated very differently in Zapotec culture from the way we expect in the United States. Your teacher can tell you about diseases like xlyiayas and xlyiayats (not the same as “yellow fever” in Western medicine) and about how diseases are treated by the wnya in a traditional Zapotec community. You can read more about medical vocabulary in section VIII-3 in this unit.

3. As you’ll see in section §19.6.3, some adjectives, such as ncweby, change when used as modifiers. The modifying (“mod.”) form of such adjectives is listed in the Ra Dizh.

§19.1. Identificational sentences without “be”

An IDENTIFICATIONAL sentence tells that one person or thing is the same as another or gives the category to which that person or thing belongs, as with I’m Chica’s brother or The teacher is a woman or This is a blal. In English, we use a form of the verb be to do this. (Be is the most irregular English verb. Forms of be include am, is, are, was, were, and more!) The noun phrase that comes before the form of be in English (I, my teacher, this) is the subject; the noun phrase that comes after the form of be in English (Chica’s brother, the teacher, this) is the PREDICATE, which the speaker uses to identify the subject with.

There are three different ways to express identificational sentences in Valley Zapotec, all of which you have already seen in Blal xte Tiu Pamyël. The simplest one is with the predicate noun phrase followed by the subject, as in the following examples:

Unlike the English sentences, there is no word that means “be” in these sentences! (The other two types of Valley Zapotec identificational sentences do have a word for “be”, as you’ll see later in this lesson.)

_{Fot Teiby xte Lecsyony Tseinyabtap. Day of the Dead altar in Tlacolula.}

This sentence pattern may look very simple, but there is one thing about this pattern that’s quite strange. The subject in the first sentence is expressed not with a bound pronoun, but with a free pronoun!

This is the first type of Valley Zapotec sentence you’ve seen that uses free pronouns to express subjects. (Maybe free pronouns are used here because there is no verb for the bound pronoun to attach to — but who knows?) As you can see, either the subject or the predicate can be a phrase containing more than one word. Here are some more examples:

You cannot focus the subject in identificational sentences of this type. The predicate always comes first.

Question word identification questions. Here are some examples:

These questions use the following patterns:

As you can see, it’s the question word that counts as the predicate in this pattern.

Negative versions of this type of identificational sentence do not use queity. Instead, they use a new identificational negative word, ati [a’ti’]. Here are some examples:

The negative ending –di is used following the predicates in these sentences, just as –di follows the verb in sentences with the regular negative word queity. However, when the predicate consists of a possessed noun phrase like bzyan Bed or xabal Tiu Pamyël, -di goes immediately after the possessed noun, rather than at the end of the possessed noun phrase:

The pattern for negative sentences where the predicate is not possessed is:

The pattern for negative sentences whose predicates are possessed is:

In these sentences, the negative particle –di comes right after the possessed noun, followed by the possessor and the subject. If xte or xten is used, this word comes before the possessor, after –di. Since it is the possessed noun that is the actual predicate, the basic pattern is the same (it just may seem a little unexpected!).

Something similar happens with the “must” particle –zhyi. If the predicate is not possessed, as in the first example below, –zhyi follows the predicate. When the predicate is possessed, as in the second example, –zhyi comes right after the possessed noun (which, again, is the actual predicate).

In all these examples, then, –di and –zhyi go right after the first word of the predicate (before any other endings, such as possessor endings). This is the pattern you will hear in most cases. Listen to how Valley Zapotec speakers construct identificational sentences without “be”, and you may hear other sentence patterns, however.

Don’t try to use the patterns in this section if the subject of the sentence is a plural noun phrase containing ra or two nouns joined by cuan “and” — speakers feel these sentences don’t sound appropriate. You’ll learn about identificational sentences with plural subjects in the next section.

§19.2. Identificational sentences with na

Using na to say “is” or “are”. The second type of Valley Zapotec identificational sentence uses the word na [nàa], a “be” verb which usually can be translated with “is” or “are”. (Listen to your teacher! Na “is” is not pronounced the same as the words na “now” or na “says”, or as naa “I”. Can you pronounce all these words so that another student can identify which one you mean?) Here are some examples:

These sentences are translated in the present, and that is generally how we will translate na in this book, but you may hear speakers use na to refer to the past as well. In that case, it may be translated “was” or “were”. You can suggest this by using the adverb chicy “then, at that time”, as in:

As you can see, these sentences look quite similar to the first type of identificational sentence, but they have na between the subject and the predicate. There is a difference, however. This na pattern has two versions, one with the predicate first, one with the subject first:

Both types of sentences are used frequently, and speakers feel that there is little difference in meaning between them. (As you can see, you can often say the same sentence both ways.) The subject-first pattern is especially common when the predicate is a long phrase.

(You may wonder how you can tell the difference between subject and predicate. The subject is the person or thing you are talking about and trying to identify for your hearer; the predicate is what you are using to identify that person. Sometimes, of course, it might be possible to view a sentence both ways!)

Using teiby in the predicate. A predicate in an identificational sentence with na may contain teiby “a”:

In the English translations of such sentences, a appears before the noun in the predicate (a doctor, a bird, and so on). In Valley Zapotec predicates, teiby is equivalent to English a – but it is not always used — speakers feel that sentences like Doctor na Rnest and Teiby doctor na Rnest mean just the same. (Teiby is not used in identificational sentences without a “be” word.)

Identificational sentences with plural subjects. Here are some identificational sentences with plural subjects:

In sentences like these, the predicate usually comes first. Speakers feel that if the subject is first, it is focused, and sounds very emphatic:

Even though we use doctors in the English predicate, ra is never used in the predicate of a Zapotec identificational sentence. A sentence like <Ra doctor na ra mna> doesn’t sound like good Zapotec.

Negative sentences with na. Negative identificational sentences with na work similarly to negative identificational sentences without “be”:

Again, the sentence starts with the special identificational negative word ati, with –di after the predicate, followed by na and the subject.

If the predicate is a possessed noun, the possessor comes between the predicate plus –di and na, just as in the first type of negative identificational sentence:

Na with pronoun subjects. Here are some examples of na used with pronoun subjects:

As you would expect, a pronoun subject is expressed with a bound pronoun attached to na. As the examples show, several patterns are possible. Most commonly, the predicate comes first in the sentence, followed by na and the bound pronoun subject:

Alternatively, you can focus the subject pronoun. In this case, the focused pronoun subject comes first, followed by na, the bound pronoun subject, and the predicate:

Here are the forms of na with attached bound pronoun subjects:

Na is never used with “I” or informal “you” singular subjects. (No one knows why! But if you want to make an identificational sentence with an “I” or informal “you” subject, you can express it without “be”, as in section §19.1, or with another pattern you’ll learn later in this lesson.)

Negative na sentences with pronoun subjects are quite similar to other negative na sentences:

As you can see, the pattern is the same as the one you saw earlier:

Question word questions with na. Here are some examples of question word questions with na:

These questions use the following patterns:

There may be a subtle difference in meaning between these questions and those without na. See what your teacher thinks.

Asking someone’s name. Here’s a very important type of identificational question that usually doesn’t use na or nac:

Asking someone’s name uses an identificational question without “be”. What may seem odd here is that in English we say this with “what”, but in Zapotec you use the word “who”!

More about na. Na looks like a neutral verb — it refers to a state, and it begins with n. But unlike the neutral verbs you learned about in Lecsyony Tseinyabchon, there are no other forms of this verb. Na only is used in this one form — it has no habitual, perfective, or irrealis stem (or any other form at all).

§19.3. Identificational sentences with forms of rac

_{Fot Tyop xte Lecsyony Tseinyabtap. What’s written here? Who should wear this shirt?}

 If you want to use the particle –zhyi with an identificational sentence containing nac or another form of rac, it goes on the predicate:

Putting the subject first in an identificational sentence with nac shows a strong focus:

Habitual rac often has the meaning of “becomes” or “gets to be”, as in

(Gab [ga’ab] means “few”.) The same translation is often used for the irrealis:

Negative sentences with rac. Negative identificational sentences with rac follow a pattern that is similar to the other negative identificational patterns. Here are some examples, and the new pattern:

§19.4. More about identificational sentences

A-queity questions with na and rac. If you want to question an identificational sentence that uses na or a form of rac, you can simply add e at the end of the pattern with the predicate first, followed by na or a form of rac, followed by the subject.

 Starting the question with the subject puts focus on the subject:

Some questions use another word order that’s not usually used in simple identificational sentences like those you saw in sections §19.2–§19.3, as in

This word order, with the “be” word first, followed by the subject, and then the predicate, can be used in questions and also in more complicated sentences, such as

(Buny “person” is frequently used in sentences like this, where the speaker wants to make a general statement about people in general.)

Negative sentences with atizh. In sections §19.1–§19.3, you learned to use ati to make identificational sentences negative. There is another way to make identificational sentences (both with and without “be”) negative, by using a different identificational negative word, atizh [a’ti’zh:], rather than ati. Sentences with atizh usually don’t use –di:

(You will hear some speakers use –di in these sentences. In that case, atizh works just like ati.)

Identification and location. In English, identificational sentences like Ernesto is a doctor and locational sentences like Ernesto is in the museum seem quite similar, because they both use the verb is. These two types of sentences are very different in Zapotec. Unlike identificational sentences, Zapotec locational sentences need to have a verb. The identificational verbs na and rac that you’ve learned in this lesson are generally not used in locational sentences, and locational verbs are generally not used in identificational sentences in Zapotec. (You will learn about one type of locational sentence that uses na in Lecsyony Galy.)

§19.5. More about rac

Rac has a number of other meanings and uses. Some of these may seem similar to the “be” idea, but others may not! These other types of rac sentences are not identificational, however, so they do not contain noun predicates, and they don’t use ati or atizh for their negatives.

“Happens”. First, rac can also mean “happens”, as in

(The progressive of rac, cayac [cayahc], makes sense with this meaning of the verb, but not in its identificational use.) In these sentences, the subjects are the bound pronoun –i “it” and xi “what”. Sometimes, however, you will see rac used without a subject, to mean “it happens” with nothing used to say “it”, as in

Sentences about illness. Two additional meanings of rac that are related to illness. Rac can mean “hurts” or “aches”, as in

In these examples, the body part that hurts is the subject of rac. With a person as the subject, rac can mean “suffers from” or “has (an illness)”:

You’ll learn more about ways to talk about illness in S-23 at the end of this unit.

Negatives of the new rac sentences. To make a sentence with one of these new uses of rac negative, use queity, not ati or atizh.

Ati and atizh are only used in negatives of identificational sentences. When rac means “happens” or “hurts”, it’s working more like a normal verb, not as an identificational “be”.

“Exists”. Finally, rac can mean “exists”, as in

English translations of sentences like this will often use “there is” or “there are”.

To make an “exists” sentence negative, you use a special negative verb, caria [carììa’] “does not exist”. This verb goes at the beginning of the sentence, but does not need a –di:

§19.6. Adjectives

An ADJECTIVE is a word like English blue, old, tall, or new — usually, adjectives name qualities that can be used to describe things. Adjectives are used in two main ways. First, they can be predicates, as in English sentences like This book is blue or Jeronimo’s car is new (blue and new here are called PREDICATE ADJECTIVES). Alternatively, they can be used as MODIFIERS of nouns, in noun phrases like blue book and new car (in these noun phrases, blue and new are MODIFYING ADJECTIVES). A modifier is a single word that works similarly to the modifying phrases you learned about in Lecsyony Tseiny (15), by telling some characteristic of a noun that the speaker wants to mention.

In Valley Zapotec, many adjective ideas are expressed with verbs. Some examples you’ve already learned include rcyetlaz “gets happy, is happy”, rdyan “gets hungry”, rzhiby “gets scared”, and ryac “gets well”. (Habitual forms of Valley Zapotec verbs that express adjective ideas usually include the meaning “gets”.)

Valley Zapotec also has adjectives that are not verbs. Here are some examples:

(As you can see, many Valley Zapotec adjectives start with n.) As in English, these adjectives can be both predicates and modifiers.

Predicate adjectives. Valley Zapotec sentences with predicate adjectives and noun subjects look like identificational sentences. Here are some examples:

These three groups of sentences illustrate patterns for predicate adjectives that are just like the three basic patterns you learned for identificational sentences: first comes the predicate adjective; next either na, a form of rac, or no “be”; and finally the subject.

      However, things are a little different with pronoun subjects. The na and nac patterns look just like the identificational sentences, but a different pattern is used for the third type of sentence, the one that doesn’t use a “be” verb:

Here’s the pattern:

As the examples show, when you don’t use a “be” verb, subjects of adjective predicates are shown by bound pronouns (not by free pronouns, as in identificational sentences).

Although each of the ten new adjectives in this lesson can be used in all three of these patterns (with na, with a form of rac, and without “be”), many other Valley Zapotec adjectives sound best to speakers only in one or two of these ways (only with na, only with a form of rac, or only with no “be” verb). You’ll learn more about using different types of predicate adjectives by listening to people talking the language.

Another predicate adjective pattern (for adjectives that can be used with na) is for the subject to come first, followed by na, and then the predicate adjective.

This subject-first pattern is usually only with a noun subject plus na, not with forms of rac or without a “be” verb.

As with identificational sentences, negative predicate adjective sentences use ati or atizh rather than queity.

Speakers may feel that negative sentences with no “be” verb (the last pattern in each set) seem contrastive (suggesting something like “…rather, it’s red”).

As you know, atizh sentences are also contrastive.

To make a question from a predicate adjective sentence, just put e at the end of a sentence beginning with the predicate adjective:

Modifying adjectives. Here are some sentences containing modifying adjectives:

These sentences illustrate the Valley Zapotec modifying adjective pattern:

In Valley Zapotec, modifying adjectives come after the nouns that they modify (just as with the modifying phrases you learned about in Lecsyony Tseiny (15)). This is different from English, where modifying adjectives come before the noun. (Some Valley Zapotec modifiers, such as numbers and words like gab “few”, do come before the noun.)

If you look at the last two examples, you can see something extra that happens with some modifying adjectives. Certain adjectives that start with n when used as predicates lose this n when used as modifiers. The modifying form of ncweby “new” is cweby — so we say Ncweby carr “The car is new”, but carr cweby “new car”. There are other patterns too. The modifying form of bro “big” is ro. Every adjective that changes when used as a modifier (“mod.”) will have this listed in its Ra Dizh and Rata Ra Dizh entries.

Special modifier forms of color adjectives. A few adjectives referring to color have special modifer forms that are used only in certain types of words.

• Ngas “black” has the special modifying form –yas [yàa’as]. This special modifier form of ngas is not a separate word, but is added as an ending on the noun it follows. It’s used only with words for black animals (such as becwyas [bèe’ecwyàa’as] “black dog”) and in a few other fixed expressions (such as xlyiayas [x:lyiàa’yàa’as] “black fever”). When modifying other nouns, however, ngas does not change.

• Nga “green; unripe” works in two different ways, depending on meaning. When it refers only to color, the modifying form is unchanged (ngas). When it means “unripe, raw, uncooked”, the modifying form is –ya [ya’ah], as in nrazhya “unripe orange”. This modifying form is also an ending.

• Ngats “yellow” has a special modifying ending form –yats [yaàa’ts] that is used primarily in fixed expressions, such as xlyiayats [x:lyiàa’yaàa’ts] “yellow fever”. You don’t really need to memorize this modifying form, since you can’t use it to make up new expressions yourself, but it’s good to be able to recognize it when you hear it.

Other color adjectives work like normal modifying adjectives.

Abbreviations

mod. modifying, modifier

_{Fot Chon. The gazebo in the center of the jardín (central square) in Tlacolula.}