Adelaar Willem, Muysken Pieter. The languages of the Andes
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94 2 The Chibcha Sphere
(83) b-quy ‘to do’ qui-sca ‘(he) who does’
m-o- ‘to bathe [transitive]’ o-esca ‘(he) who bathes (someone)’
o- ‘to bathe [intransitive]’ o-esca ‘(he) who bathes (himself)’
b-ca- ‘to eat’ qui-esca ‘(he) who eats’
(84) b-xin- ‘to sew’ xin-suca ‘(he) who sews’
(85) cubun- ‘to speak’ cubun-uca ‘(he) who speaks’
Some present participles are quite irregular in their formation, allowing, in a few cases,
an additional distinction between a frequentative and a non-frequentative meaning. Some
irregular forms coincide either with the future, or with the past participle (86), (87). In
(86) the regular formal opposition is taken over by a frequentative contrast. A future
form (sienga)isused both for present and future, whereas the expected present form
(siesca)isinterpreted as a present frequentative.
(86) na- ‘to go’ sie-nga ‘(he) who goes’, ‘(he) who will go’
sie-sca ‘(he) who goes often’
(87) sucun- ‘to be’ suz-a ‘(he) who is’, ‘(he) who has been’
The future participle, with a few exceptions, takes the same endings as the future
indicative (-nga,-nynga). The past participle generally ends in -a or -ia. There are
many irregular formations, and the final consonant of a stem preceding -a is often not
predictable.
40
The past participle has an additional function. It can be used as a hortative
(a so-called ‘second imperative’) with the possibility of marking the subject for all
persons and number (88). A third-person subject remains unmarked, but it is possible to
distinguish between transitive and intransitive forms by adding the prefix a-tothe latter
(89). Present participles can also be used as hortatives; they convey progressive rather
than punctual aspect meaning.
(88) chi-quy-ia
1S.PL-do-PA.AG
‘(we) who did’, ‘(we) having done’, ‘Let us do!’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 82)
(89) za-ia [b-za-‘to place’]
place-PA.AG
‘(he) who placed it’, ‘Let him place it!’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 104)
40
Considering the fact that the consonants preserved in past-participle endings are also found in
so-called irregular past-tense forms and imperatives, one may conclude that they are part of
original stems, which appear in a truncated form in the present tense; cf. Ostler and Gonz´alez
(forthcoming).
2.9 The Muisca language 95
(90) a-za-ia
[za- ‘to take a place’]
NT-place-PA.AG
‘(he) who took a place’, ‘Let him take a place!’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 104)
When a sentence is introduced by an interrogative pronoun, its main verb must be a
participle, rather than a finite verb (91). (Note that baz-a is a past participle of the verb
m-a- ‘to bring’.) This does not hold when the interrogative pronoun is in an oblique case
or is followed by a postposition (92); cf. Ostler (1994: 221–2).
(91) ipqua fuyz-o ma-baz-a
[fuyze ‘all’]
what all-IR 2S.SG-bring-PA.AG
‘What things did you bring?’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 132)
(92) sie-c-o m-∅∅-cuquy [b-cu- ‘to buy’]
who-AL-IR 2S.SG-T-buy.PA
‘From whom did you buy it?’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 193)
Passive resultative participles can be formed from at least part of the transitive verbs.
The shape of these participles resembles that of stative verbs, and is characterised by a
prefix a- and a suffix -ne, attached to the past-tense stem (93); cf. Ostler and Gonz´alez
(forthcoming).
(93) ia a-chihiquy-ne
already 3S-write-SN
‘It is already written.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 126)
The grammars of the Muisca language mention the existence of two so-called
‘supines’. Examples of use are rare. The first supine has subject marking (personal
reference) and a b-/m- prefix if applicable. It is derived from the root by adding a suffix
-ioa [yowa ∼ yuwa];
41
e.g. ze-b-quy-ioa ‘in order for me to do’. The second supine is
formally related to the present participle, with which it shares most of the irregularities.
It can be obtained by substituting -ca for -suca or -sca, e.g. guity-ca ‘(in order) to beat’,
cf. guity-suca ‘(he) who beats’; qui-ca ‘(in order) to do’, cf. qui-sca ‘(he) who does’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 110).
The passive in Muisca is formed by means of a prefix n-, added to a transitive root
deprived of its (possible) b-/m- prefix. All indicative tense forms, all originally active
participles, as well as the first supine can be passivised. The subject (patient) of a passive
form is identified by means of a personal reference prefix which precedes n-; the agent
41
The pronunciation [yuwa] is suggested by the fact that Lugo writes a diacritic on the u,asin
a-guit
-yˆua ‘for him/them to beat’ (Lugo 1619: 48–9). The National Library grammar has -ioa.
96 2 The Chibcha Sphere
cannot be expressed. A special prefix a-, identical in form to a third-person subject
marker, accompanies the passive marker, except when the preceding subject marker
already ends in a. This a- prefix of the passive construction is absent before participles
whose subject–patient is third person (also in their hortative function). If we assume that
a- is part of the passive formation, the third-person subject marker of the passives may
be interpreted as a zero marker throughout.
42
(94) chi-a-n-quy-squa
1S.PL-PS-PS-do-IA
‘We are being done’. ‘It is being done to us.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 111)
(95) m-a-n-quy-ioa
2S.SG-PS-PS-do-SP
‘for you to be suffered’, ‘so that it may be done to you’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 112)
(96) ∅∅-a-n-quy-nga
3S-PS-PS-do-F
‘He/it will be done.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 112)
(97) ∅∅-n-quy-ia
3S-PS-do-PA.AG
‘(he) who was done’. ‘Let him/it be done!’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 113)
Some passive formations are irregular, as is the case of ucan- ‘to know’, where n-
is infixed, rather than prefixed, e.g. chi-a-u-n-cane ‘we were known’. Compare also
cha-nn-isty ‘I was seen’ from m-isty- ‘to see’ (cf. Ostler 2000: 284), where a vocalic
onset of the root is compensated by doubling of the passive prefix.
Personal reference marking in Muisca is morphological and consists of prefixation.
Two sets of personal prefixes have to be distinguished minimally. They are summarised
in table 2.8 together with the syntactically free personal pronouns.
The roots contained in the case for third-person personal pronouns are demonstratives,
rather than personal pronouns. They represent the three usual degrees of distance (near
speaker / near addressee / remote).
The form of the first-person-singular prefix exhibits an interesting variation. It appears
as i- before alveolar and palatal consonants (e.g. i-chuta ‘my son’, i-nyquy ‘my brother’)
42
Historically, the a- prefix is probably identical to the homophonous third-person prefix. Ostler
(2000: 285) shows that a wasathird-person singular pronoun in Proto-Colombian Chibchan. If
we analyse a- synchronically as part of the passive formation, no more than two sets of personal
reference markers have to be distinguished.
2.9 The Muisca language 97
Table 2.8 Personal reference in Muisca
Set 1 Set 2 Personal pronouns
1 pers. sing. z-/i-/Ø- cha- hycha
1 pers. plur. chi- chi- chie
2 pers. sing. m- ma- mue ∼ muy*
2 pers. plur. mi- mi- mie
3 pers. a- Ø- sis(y) / ys(y) / as(y)
*Word-final high vowels in monosyllabic words are normally
followed by -e; the form muy [m
w
]isfound before words with
an initial vowel, as in muy um-boi ‘your cloak’.
and as z(e∼y)- elsewhere (cf. Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 75).
43
The latter is found as
z- before vowels (e.g. z-ue ‘my house’) and as ze- (Lugo:
h
-) before consonants (e.g.
ze-boi ‘my cloak’), although z- is often written instead of ze-. The National Library
grammar indicates that the prefix ze-was usually left out before a b-/m- prefix, e.g.
b-quy-squa ‘I do’ instead of ze-b-quy-squa (Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 87). However, this
last practice is rarely reflected in the examples. When the prefix z- precedes ia [ya] or io,
the semi-vowel i is lost, e.g. in z-an-suca ‘I flee’, from ian- ‘to flee’. The presence
of the second-person-singular prefix m- eliminates a following b-/m- prefix, as in
m-iohoty-suca ‘you drink’, from b-iohoty- ‘to drink’; this prefix can be preceded by u in
order to facilitate its pronunciation in clusters. The third-person prefix a- is merged with
a following high vowel, following the rules a + i > e, a + y > a; a + u > o, e.g. epqua
(< a + ipqua) ‘his belongings’; ata (< a + yta ‘his hand’); oba (< a + uba) ‘his face’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 140).
The division of labour that obtains between Set 1 and Set 2 prefixes is of particular
interest. The indicative tenses and first supine (in -ioa)ofthe active verbs select Set
1 prefixes to indicate a subject, and Set 2 prefixes to indicate a first- or second-person
object (98). The simultaneous indication of subject and object is limited to the combina-
tions chi-a- (third-person subject and first-person-plural object) and mi-a- (third-person
subject and second-person plural object) (99).
44
If any other combination of participants
involving a first- or second-person object is to be expressed, the object is indicated mor-
phologically by means of a prefix, whereas the subject can be expressed by a noun or a
full pronoun. A third-person object is morphologically zero.
43
There is a striking parallel with the Chol´on language (see section 4.11), where the same alter-
nation is found in the third-person-plural prefix i-/ˇci-.
44
It may be possible to analyse these combinations as contractions of chi(e) a- and mi(e) a-,
respectively. One would expect a final -e to be omitted before a vowel.
98 2 The Chibcha Sphere
(98) Pedro cha-guity
Pedro 1O.SG-beat.PA
‘Pedro beat me.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 143)
(99) Pedro-z mi-a-guit-ua [guity- ‘to beat’]
Pedro-EU
45
2O.PL-3S-beat.PA-IR
‘Did Pedro beat you (plural)?’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 143)
Stative verbs in -ne behave like the active verbs in that their subject is expressed by
means of Set 1 prefixes. By contrast, the irregular verb ha- ‘to say’ (as in cha-ha-sugue
‘I say’, ma-ha-sugue ‘you say’, etc.) takes Set 2 prefixes for subject reference. The
participles or relative verbs (including when used as ‘second imperatives’) also take
Set 2 prefixes that refer to a subject; see (88) and (91). Objects can only be indicated by
means of a free pronoun or noun (100).
(100) Dios gue chie ma-quy-ia
46
God be we LP-make-PA.AG
‘God is the One who made us.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 143)
Passive verbs take Set 2 prefixes for the specification of their subject–patient; see
(94)–(96). True imperatives do not take prefixes; an object can only be indicated by
means of a free pronoun (101).
(101) hycha gu
[b-gu- ‘to kill’]
I kill.IM
‘Kill me!’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 143)
Nouns can take both sets of prefixes. As we have seen in some of the cases mentioned
previously (a-uba, i-chuta), Set 1 prefixes are used to indicate a possessor. By contrast,
Set 2 prefixes refer to the subject of a predicative construction. They are attached to the
noun or adjective which is used predicatively.
47
(102) cha-muysca cho gue
1S.SG-man good be
‘I am a good man.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 142)
45
The element -z (Lugo -
h
)isdescribed as an ‘adornment’ in the Royal Palace Library grammar
(Lucena Salmoral 1967: 56). It is, in fact, unexplained (cf. Ostler 1994: 213). In some contexts
it appears to express the meaning of ‘also’, ‘too’, e.g. fa-z a-hu-za ‘he has not come today (fa)
either’ (Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 322).
46
A prefix ma- (homophonous with second-person-singular ma-) can be added to participles of
the verb ‘to do’ with no other semantic effect than ‘elegance’ (Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 144).
47
In the original the prefix cha-iswritten separately.
2.9 The Muisca language 99
The case-marking strategies of Muisca are extensively treated in Ostler (1993). When
expressed by free lexical items, the subject and the object of a verb are not marked for
their respective roles. These are made explicit by word order. Ostler (1993: 8) illustrates
this with the following example.
(103) Pedro Juan a-b-gˆu
Pedro Juan 3S-T-kill.PA
‘Pedro killed Juan.’
(Lugo 1619: 94–5)
Oblique case is marked by suffixes or postpositions. Three case suffixes -c(a), -n(a),
and -s(a) are of central importance. Ostler (1993: 9) characterises their basic local
meanings as Goal, Location and Path, respectively. With the case suffix -c(a) the emphasis
is on movement. With -n(a) rest in location is meant, but it can also refer to a source, in
particular when the name of a place is mentioned (106).
(104) gua-c a-sy-ne
[sy-ne ‘to roam’]
mountain-AL 3S-roam-ST
‘He is out roaming through the mountains.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 301)
(105) ta-s ze-mi-squa [mi- ‘to pass’]
field-PT 1S.SG-pass-IA
‘I walk through the field.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 290)
(106) chunsa-n fac
48
a-iane [ian- ‘to flee’]
Tunja-L outward 3S-leave.PA
‘He left Tunja.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 227)
Characteristic of the Muisca language is the existence of fused forms of personal
pronouns and case markers. The personal reference markers in these combinations co-
incide with the Set 2 prefixes; they are followed by an element -ha- and a case marker.
The third-person forms do not contain -ha- and are based on the deictic element y-.A
further set of fused forms is based on Set 1 prefixes followed by an element -hu- and a
case marker. Ostler (1993: 11) identifies this -hu- element with the adverb hui ‘inside’.
Again the third-person forms are special.
49
An overview of the fused forms is given in table 2.9.
The forms in the three upper rows represent straightforward combinations of person
and case, the forms in the three lower rows indicate physical nearness (‘with’, ‘at’,
‘among’). The following examples are discussed in Ostler (1993: 10). In (109) hui-na
has no prefix, because it is preceded by a full noun as a possessor (suetiba).
48
In the original text: uac.
49
The existence of these fused combinations of person markers and case markers is reminiscent
of a similar phenomenon in the Tupi–Guaran´ı languages. Like Muisca, these languages have a
fair amount of idiosyncratic case marking governed by verbs.
100 2 The Chibcha Sphere
Table 2.9 Inventory of Muisca pronoun and case combinations (based on Ostler 1993)
1 pers. sing. 1 pers. plur. 2 pers. sing. 2 pers. plur. 3 pers.
Goal chahac chihac mahac mihac yc
Location chahan chihan mahan mihan yn
Path chahas chihas mahas mihas ys
Goal zuhuc chihuc muhuc mihuc hoc
Location zuhuin(a) chihuin(a) muhuin(a) mihuin(a) ahuin(a), bon
Path zuhus – muhus – hos
(107) bo-n i-zo-ne
3P.presence-L 1S.SG-be.there-ST
‘I am at his disposal.’
(Quesada Pacheco 1991: 50)
(108) zu-hui-n a-na
1P-presence-L 3S-go.PA
‘He went away from me.’
(Quesada Pacheco 1991: 80)
(109) suetiba hui-na fac chi-a-b-ta
devil presence-L outside 1O.PL-3S-T-take.PA
‘He took us out of the power of the devil.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 350)
Ostler (1993: 9) notes that the third-person allative pronoun y-c can be used as a sort
of proclitic complement of the verb, even when it is preceded by the real complement
noun phrase.
(110) gata y-c cu
[b-cu-‘to blow’]
fire that-AL blow.IM
‘Blow on the fire!’ (lit. ‘The fire, blow on it!’)
(Uricoechea 1871: 70)
The grammars and vocabularies of the Muisca language contain a wealth of infor-
mation concerning the derived uses of the three basic case markers, which are highly
varied and idiosyncratic. Ostler (1993: 13–15) analyses their behaviour in connection
with seventeen representative verbs. Some of the examples he mentions are:
(111) pquapqua i-zy-s ∅∅-b-za-squa
[zye ‘hair’]
hat 1P.SG-hair-PT 1S.SG-T-locate-IA
‘I put a hat on my head.’
(Quesada Pacheco 1991: 85)
(112) muysca cho-c ze-ga-squa
man good-AL 1S.SG-become-IA
‘I become a good man.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 269)
2.9 The Muisca language 101
Uricoechea (1871: 68–73) offers an extensive list of Muisca verbs and the case com-
plements they govern. The choice of complements and verbs can be highly idiomatic,
as is illustrated in (113)–(115).
(113) cha-ha.c a-quib-go
[y-c quib-go- ‘to take leave of’]
1P-AL 3S-leave-FA.PA
‘He took leave of me.’
(Quesada Pacheco 1991: 58)
(114) cha-ha.s a-fihiza-n-suca [y-s fihiza-n- ‘to be heavy’]
1P-PT 3S-heavy-NT-IA
‘(The load) is heavy on me.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 295)
(115) Dios yˆe h-u-c a-b-gˆa [ho-c b-ga- ‘to teach’; ie ‘road’]
God way 1P-presence-AL 3S-T-cause.to.be.PA
‘She taught me the way of God.’
(Lugo 1619: 116)
Muisca has a rich array of postpositions, mostly derived from body-part terms. These
postpositions can be combined with the case markers in order to further specify the
relation they convey. They can also take possessive personal prefixes. Examples of
such postpositions are fihista ‘chest’ (‘on’), uba ‘face’ (‘before’, ‘in front of’) and inta
‘substitute’ (‘in place of’). The comitative–instrumental postposition bohoza and those
postpositions referring to a beneficiary (-san, uaca) are not normally combined with
other case markers.
The genitive relationship is expressed in different ways with the sole common charac-
teristic that a possessor must precede the head. If the possessor is a full personal pronoun
referring to one of the participants in the speech act, the corresponding possessive prefix
is added to the head noun, e.g. muy um-boi [you 2P.SG-cloak] ‘your cloak’. When the
possessor is not a participant in the speech act (that is, when it is neither first, nor second
person), no possessive prefix intervenes, but the noun referring to the possessor may
undergo formal changes. One of these changes is the elimination of a final vowel a,as
we have seen in muysc chimy ‘human flesh’ and in muysc cubun ‘language of man’.
Alternatively, it is possible to replace the suppressed a byahigh vowel u or y.
(116) ze-pab-u chuta
[paba ‘father’]
1P-father-G son
‘my father’s son’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 73)
(117) i-chut-y gui [chuta ‘son’]
1P-son-G wife
‘my son’s wife’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 73)
The loss of final e following a high vowel has also been recorded. It may have to
do with the fact that the e itself was originally added by phonological rule, rather than
102 2 The Chibcha Sphere
being part of the inherited form. Example (120) illustrates the use of a postposition in a
genitive construction.
(118) su cubun
[sue ‘Spaniard’, ‘bird’]
Spaniard.G language
‘Spanish’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 73, 138)
(119) iie [ie ‘smoke’]
smoke.G road
‘chimney’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 137)
(120) xi uaca-ua [xie ‘who’]
who.G for-IR
‘for whom?’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 288)
Finally, a suffix -s can be added as a genitive marker. This option has been attested
with the words cha ‘man’, ‘male’ and guecha [wet
y
a] ‘uncle on mother’s side’.
(121) cha-s gue
man-G house
‘the man’s house’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 73, 137)
Relative clauses in Muisca are mainly constructed by means of participles. Ostler
(1993: 24–5) observes that Muisca occasionally encodes oblique case relations in a
relative clause. The pronoun–case combination y-n ‘in it’ was used to mark a relativised
element as locative (122), whereas a rarely attested verbal prefix u- ‘with it’ could do
the same for an instrumental relativised element. As far as the latter is concerned, Ostler
draws attention to a formally and semantically similar construction in the Rama language
of Nicaragua (Craig 1991).
(122) guˆe
-n c
−
ha-suh-a h-ˆıpqua gu
house it-L 1S.SG-be-PA.AG 1P-belonging be
‘The house in which I live is mine.’
(Lugo 1619: 106–7)
The possibilities of verbal complementation in Muisca are numerous. They consist in
the addition of suffixes or postpositions, some of them similar to the ones operating in
the case system, to specific forms of the verbal paradigm. The element -xin,exemplified
in (123), is added to a participle in order to express a simultaneous event which is real;
the element -san is used in the same way to express a hypothetical event (124); -nan,
affixed to a finite verb, denotes a condition (125). For a full inventory of the possibilities
see Ostler (1993: 27–8).
2.9 The Muisca language 103
(123) cha-qui-sca-xin
1S.SG-do-PR.AG-SM
‘when I am doing...’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 91)
(124) cha-quy-nga-san
1S.SG-do-F.AG-HY
‘if I would have to do...’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 91)
(125) ze-b-quy-nga-nan
1S.SG-T-do-F-CD
‘ifIhavetodo...’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 90)
A complement of the verb gu- ‘to say’, ‘to think’, ‘to believe’ is formed by adding
the allative case marker -c(a) to a finite verb, if it is negative, and to a participle, if it is
positive. The former possibility was illustrated in (59) (m-hu-za-c ze-guque ‘I thought
you had not come’); an example of the latter is (126).
(126) Pedro huca-c ze-guque
Pedro come.PA.AG-AL 1S.SG-say.PA
‘I thought Pedro had come.’
(Gonz´alez de P´erez 1987: 257)
2.9.4 Lexicon
An interesting feature of the more basic verbs of the Muisca lexicon is the fact that
some of them appear to be semantically underspecified. Uricoechea (1871: 73) observes
that the transitive verb zebtascua (b-ta-) ‘does not mean anything by itself’. Only in
combination with a locative adverb or complement does it acquire a meaning, e.g. hui
b-ta- translated as Spanish meter ‘to put inside’ or encarcelar ‘to lock up in gaol’.
Uricoechea gives many examples of such combinations, which suggest that the verb
means something like ‘to act upon an object with force so as to affect its location in space’
(‘to throw’). However, it is certainly difficult to fit in all the idiomatic uses Uricoechea
mentions, such as Doctrina y-s b-ta ‘I failed to attend religious training’. Clearly, some
sort of force or violence is implied, because ‘to place’, ‘to put’ is preferably translated
by b-za-, a verb with an equally wide spectrum of idiomatic possibilities. The verb
b-ga-, another case of low semantic specification, can best be translated as ‘to provide
someone or something with a state or characteristic’ (compare French rendre). But
again, it is not easy to relate this broad interpretation to the meaning of the expression
ho-c b-ga- ‘to teach’, illustrated in (115). The existence of such idioms, which seem
reminiscent of slang expressions in present-day European languages, is typical for the
Muisca language. There is a remarkable contrast with Andean languages further south,
such as Aymara, Mapuche and Quechua, where this sort of idiomatic expressions are
practically non-existent.