SIERRA POPOLUCA SPEECH—FOSTER AND FOSTER 37 
23.5. A pronoun as the object of an imperative 
verb precedes the verb. 
hé?am na?’ma?ya tell it to him (he? him + -?am enc., 
obj. of ind. imp. verb) 
23.6. Other words which also generally precede 
the predicative verb are noun subjects when there 
is also a noun or pronoun object, temporalized 
nouns, pronouns used as subjects, tensors, demon- 
strative adverbs, and quantitative attributives. 
he?m pA‘Si?n iféppa ?i?Ani the man takes out his tor- 
tilla (hé?m pd-Sin the man sub., ?i?4 i his tortilla 
obj.) 
?iminipak apttpa after his coming I go out (?iminipak 
temporalized noun modif. ?aptitpa I go out) 
?AS yA?m aft J am here (?aé I pron. used as sub., 
ya?m here dem. adverb) 
?okma haypdtpa then he speaks (?6kma then tensor) 
hi¢pay mihdya how valiant are you? (lit. “Show much 
are you valiant?”’) (huigpay how much quant. at.) 
23.7. Words that generally follow the predica- 
tive verb are nouns used as subjects (when no 
object is expressed), nouns used as objects, nouns 
inflected with one of the case suffixes, nouns 
used in a locative sense, pronouns used as objects, 
locators, and phrasal modifiers of a noun and a 
locator. 
fa?yné? iyé'mo his wife remained (?iy6"mo his wife 
noun sub.) 
mié inki?tpa yA?p ani you will eat this tortilla (?A i 
tortilla noun obj.) 
tanXkpa hamiém we will go into the woods (hamiém 
into the woods noun inflected with case suf. -hom) 
nuikpa hée?m kuyytikma he arrives up in the tree 
(kuyytikma up in the tree noun with loc. sense) 
*inci?ba pé?m you will give it to that one (pe?m that one 
pron. obj.) 
hémaga?m if yikma there it was (up) above (yikma 
above locator) 
?i¢Ak MAhmMa ttn he left it in the middle of the path 
(mAhma ttin in the middle of the path loc. phrasal 
modifier) 
23.8. The tensor ?idak must directly precede 
or directly follow the verb which it modifies. 
arid fdak I was living, or ?idak a?it I was living 
23.9. A possessor noun or pronoun usually 
directly precedes the possessed noun which it 
modifies, though it may directly follow it if the 
possessed noun is the subject and the possessor the 
object of the verb (an article or demonstrative 
adjective may intervene in either case). 
da ?ink<ypa ?A& anwdn you will not bear my horns 
(?aé I possessor pron. modif. ?anwdn my horns) 
?i?6mi hé?m asiyénda ?ikupo?yd?y the owner of the 
hacienda left it for him (?i?émi its owner possessed 
noun sub. of verb, hé?m asiyénda the hacienda 
possessor noun direct obj. of verb with “for him” 
expressed by indir. suf. -?a?y) 
23.10. Articles, demonstrative adjectives, quan- 
titative attributives, and cardinal enumeratives 
must directly precede the noun or enumerative 
which they modify. If either an enumerative, a 
quantitative, or the demonstrative adjective 
ttingak/ttingam plus an article modify the same 
noun, the article precedes the enumerative, 
quantitative, or demonstrative. 
s6?psum hée?m ibtrro his burro then tired (he?m the 
art. + enc. -m modif. iburro his burro) 
he?m tukutén inika?md¢ the three shook hands with 
him (he?m modif. tukutén three) 
yaA’p yomo hi’t min this woman, from where did she 
come? (ya?p this dem. adj. modif. y6-‘mo woman) 
nkk wasten négro two negroes went (wastén two 
cardinal enumerative modif. négro negroes) 
mifpa he?m wasté?n i¢impa his two dogs come out 
(lit. “they come the two his dogs”) (he?m the, 
wastén two, ?iéfmpa his dogs) 
hému?m ak¢aktd: he?m tangak ¢6-ka there he was left 
(unharmed) by the other thunderbolt (he?m the def. 
art., ttingak other dem. adj., ¢6*ka thunderbolt) 
nikpa he?m hésay hdma after several days (lit. “the 
several days arrive’’) (he?m the, hésan several quant. 
modif. hdma day) 
23.11. Since the main verb and the gerundial 
verb in a gerundial clause construction have the 
same subject and, in the case of transitives, the 
same object, the two verbs are treated as one with 
regard to other syntactic elements in the clauses. 
The other syntactic elements precede and follow 
the two verbs with nothing interposed between 
them. 
sA?ba ?iéin he?m yé'mo the woman was (kept on) bathing 
(sA?ba ?ié{n she was bathing main verb + ger. verb 
construction, hé?m yé'mo the woman sub. of both 
verbs) 
winak hé?m p4-Sin nag ikmé?¢yahtaé takéfiu a long 
time ago the men were sent to search for bee hives 
(nig ikme?¢yahta: lit. “they went to be caused to 
search for,’ main verb + ger. verb, hé?m pA‘Sif 
the men sub., takéfnu beehive obj.) 
23.12. Descriptive attributives modifying a 
noun may either directly precede or directly follow 
the noun. 
éihé6?ypa pAmbak tth it rains hard, or éihé?ypa tah 
pAmbak it rains hard 
