744

tense. The allomorph /-nani/ may have derived from the
nominalizing suffix -fia plus -ni possessor/enumerator

which are also used in all dialects (but without person
reference) to connote (future) obligation, e.g., sara.fia.ni
“going is necessary, one must go'. (Why this homophony
should be acceptable while the other is not is evidence

for the arbitrariness of language change.)

Whether or not they may now be changing under
La Paz influence, Aymara dialects have changed in the past
and are still changing in accordance with their own internal
processes. Analogous patterning within a dialect accounts
for certain idiosyncratic allomorphs such as /-ray/,
/-tay/, and /-y/ in Sitajara for morphemes which in other
dialects end in /ki/ or /ji/ rather than /y/, and the
allomorphs of 371 and 374 person/tense suffixes in Juli.
The future of these and other idiosyncratic features that
characterize individual dialects will depend on the extent
to which they resist, or yield to, innovations from within
and without.

That the dialects of La Paz should be influencing
others to change, rather than vice versa, is the logical
result of the economic and social power concentrated in
and near the Bolivian capital. The prestige of La Paz
is reflected in the general belief that the best Aymara
is spoken there, and this belief predisposes speakers

from other areas to adopt La Paz usages. Also, since