The Categorial Status of Body Part Prepositions in Valley Zapotec ...

3.2 Examples of Body Part Prepositions
As in the modern VZ languages, the body part words occur in locative
expressions in the Colonial documents. I present the range of meanings each of the
words seems to have in this section.
3.2.1 Lao 'before, to, in, etc.'
Lao has a very broad range of meanings including 'before' (31-32), 'with' (33-34),
'in' (34-36), 'to' (37-38), 'from' (39), 'for' (40), 'on' (41). Lao is the preposition that has the
broadest range of meanings, both in modern VZ languages and in the Colonial
documents. (There are many non-spatial meanings on modern VZ loh which I have not
addressed in this thesis.)
(31) Oc686, page 2, line 6
lao=tonoo 10 justicia aldes
before=1p justice alcaldes
'before us, the justice-alcaldes'
(32) Oc715, lines 11-12
lao qui-ona testigo chela chona beni-gola oficiales
before IRR-three witness and three person-old official
'before the three witnesses and three elder officials'
10 This particular pronoun seems anomalous because it looks like a first person plural free
pronoun in many modern Valley Zapotec languages, yet we would not expect a free form
to appear in this construction. Perhaps the bound form was simply different for this
pueblo at this time.
In the same document we see the following construction, using the same form as a
bound pronoun:
Oc686, page 2, line 7: firma xiteni=tonoo lani testamento niri
signature of=1p on will this
‘our signatures on this will’
39