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To
the index
Notes
* The
following conventions and symbols are used in these data:
- Ru Marti
(Martín Méndez, the author of this text) preferred to
write an ā
(a-with-macron),
or, on a typewriter, ä
(a-with-dieresis),
for the vowel written as ö
in other orthographies. In this electronic version it is represented as
ā.
It corresponds to the long a
of Classical Nahuatl and other modern dialects. See the page on the
vowels of Mösiehuali.
- Other orthographic preferences of Ru
Marti are also preserved, such as the use of ts instead of tz or the spelling of the sequence
[Iya]
as iya instead of ia.
- When more than one English word is needed to
translate a
Mösiehuali word, they are joined with
periods. For example, the gloss for quijta
is he.sees.it.
- He, him, and his
are used to gloss third person singular forms when they are likely to
be human, even though animacy and gender are not conveyed by the
Mösiehuali forms. Similarly, it is used when the third person
singular entity is most likely non-human. Independent pronouns are
glossed as if nominative (I,
he, we, they)
even if in context they are used as objects: the Mösiehuali
forms have no indication of grammatical case.
- Honorific
or reverential forms are marked with H..
For example, the gloss for quijtalo
is he.H.sees.it/him,
that is, "honorable 3rd person singular sees 3rd person singular", or
the gloss for tieijta is he.sees.him.H, that is, "3rd
person singular sees honorable third person singular". Extra-honorifics
are marked HH.
- The particle ma
which precedes many subjunctives is glossed may.
It does not indicate (epistemic) possibility or (deontic) permission as
might be supposed from the gloss.
[1]We have generally glossed and
translated the word pueblo
as village rather than town. This was done as an
attempt to preserve the strong distinction in Ru
Marti's usage, and in Mösiehuali
generally, between the people of the pueblos,
who are considered country folk, and city people. The contrast shows up
quite clearly several places in this text, e.g. in the general equation
between the people of the pueblos
and the caltientlācah
'people of the fields' or campesinos,
both glossed as farmers
but sometimes translated as "country folk". (See sentences (6-13) and
especially (131-137).)
[2]Ru
Marti consistently uses honorific forms
(glossed with H.) when
speaking of Townsend, but does not use them with reference to
Cárdenas. This is not for lack of respect towards
Cárdenas, of course. But Cárdenas had died several
years previously (in 1970), and in some sense had become converted into
a historical personage. Townsend, however, was still alive, and was
considered by Ru Marti as
a patrón (employer or patron). In Mösiehuali
one speaks of any living adult in the community, and particularly of
one's patrón, with honorific forms. Ru
Marti also speaks with honorifics of Townsend's first
wife, Elvira Townsend (in sentence (20)), even though she had died more
than thirty years previously. Probably this was out of consideration
for Townsend, bearing in mind the probability that he would be reading
the document.
[3]This first visit of
Cárdenas to Tetelcingo took place on the 21st of January,
1936.
Tetelcingo is part of
the municipio (township or municipality) of Cuautla, and the mayor of
the village is officially called the "ayudante municipal" to the
"presidente municipal" ("municipal helper" to the "municipal
president"), that is, to the President or Mayor of Cuautla. For this
reason the town hall of Tetelcingo, where the "ayudante" and other
officials have their offices, is called the "ayudantía",
rather than the "presidencia" or "palacio municipal" ("municipal
palace"), as it is in other Mexican towns.
[4]
This word is no longer used commonly, and there is some doubt as to its
meaning.
[5]This word, which designates a man
who is not from Tetelcingo, especially one from the city, comes from
the Spanish word for "Christian". The corresponding word for a woman
outsider is xejnula,
which comes from Spanish 'señora' 'madam, lady, Mrs.'
[6]Here Ru
Marti uses an honorific form of Cárdenas, even
though he generally does not do so in this text (see note [2]). This helps express the
surprise that he felt when he suddenly realized that this stranger he
had been ignoring was someone supremely worthy of respect.
[7]The word translated "section" is
an old Spanish term, literally a 'task', designating the amount of land
that can be worked over (cleared, plowed, or planted) in a day.
[8]Interestingly, honorifics are used
of Mr. Genaro Vázquez in this and the following sentence
(117), although they were not earlier (58-59). Perhaps Ru Marti was thinking that Mr.
Vázquez was still living and might conceivably read the
document.
[9]This honorific form of miqui 'die' is used almost without
exception to refer to dead humans; there is something right about
saying that it now means '(human) die (realis), pass on', and that it
no longer is contrastively marked as honorific.
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