I got to talk to one of my all-time favorite linguists today, Deborah Tannen. I've read her books, watched her movies, and today we went to the same lecture. And she came up to me afterwards and told me she was impressed with my follow-up question. Then we talked for about ten minutes.
The lecture was about the use of Spanish and Nahuatl (Mexicano) and how it establishes Indian identity. One of my questions was how they added the Nahuatl infinitive verb suffix onto Spanish verbs. The examples the lecturer, Jacqueline Messing, gave were:
vivir-oah
Sp. "to live" + Na. verb infinitive suffix
and
ti-sufrir-oah
Na. "we" prefix + Sp. "to suffer" + Na. verb infinitive suffix.
Well I asked why they added the Nahuatl infinitive verb suffix if there was already the Spanish infinitive verb suffix -ir. The Spanish verb roots are viv- and sufr-, and I asked if anyone ever said viv-oah or sufr-oah. No, she said, they always attach the Nahuatl infinitive suffix to the already Spanish infinitive verb.
I guess that's the "the hoi poloi" of Nahuatl.
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wow, you have a favourite linguist? I have a favourite wildlife biologist and her(their) name(s) is(are) Robin Davidson and Jane Goodall. I imagine if I walked into class and my Camel Lady was standing there and she met the Rat Lady (me) in Love with Camels and Animals, and then Jane Goodall(gorilla lady) walked in who studies my cousins, I would drop dead like O.M.G.
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