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Noun modifier Conditioning

 

1. tatala + ~ poss. --> tatal.iia etc. Morphological

2. tatal.fia as modifier of another noun loses Syntactic &
final vowei by three-vowel rule: Phonological

tatal.fia --> *tatal.fi

3. tatal.fi + vowel restoration --> tatala.i Phonological

In Calacala, Jopoqueri, and Salinas personal
possessive suffixes may take a preceding consonant unless
a final consonant cluster would thereby result, but
they often take a preceding vowel even though no con-
sonant cluster would otherwise occur. In other words,
in those dialects there seems to be some free variation
in the morphophonemics of the suffixes, except when
avoidance of final consonant clusters is a factor.

In Huancané personal possessive suffixes require
a preceding vowel on two-vowel nouns but a consonant on
nouns or noun stems having more than two vowels. That is,
the three-vowel rule operates before personal possessives.
The examples are all of single noun subjects; what happens
when the nouns lose their final vowels as zero comple-

ments or modifiers is not known. Examples:
kufitu.ja ‘my story' < Spanish cuento

awich.ja ‘my grandmother' awicha ‘grandmother’