164 Paulette Levy
(32) tantum qu:lu pa'xni
tan-turn qu:lu pa'xni
NUMCL:animal-one male pig
'A male pig.'
lakcu'majdn chichi'ni:n
lak-cu'maj-dn chichi'-ni:n
DiST-young.female-pl dog-pi
'Little female dogs, before they have a litter.'
lakcha:ti:n lakcu'majdn
lak-cha:t-i:n lak-cu'maj-dn
DiST-old.women-pi DiST-girl-pl
'Old maids.'
(33) qu:ru uxpi'
old.man crocodile
'Mr crocodile.' (address form, from text)
cha:t waka:x
old.woman cow
'Mrs cow.' (address form, from text)
The terms for 'young' and 'old' can appear in the secondary predication structural
position in a sentence without further structural measures, as in (34), but not the
other terms for stage-in-life/kind of human being, as shown in (35), which have to
use the construction with the comparative adverb la: 'like, as'. Both terms take in-
tensifiers, as in (36). The rest do not. These last two features show clearly that the
terms for 'young' and 'old' are not two nouns in apposition, but are true adjectives.
(34) qa'wasa chilh Pedro nak ka':chiki':n
qa'wasa chin-lh Pedro nak ka':chiki':n
young arrive.here:i/3-cpL Pedro LOG Papantla
'Pedro arrived young to Papantla.'
Pedro qu:lu alh nak ka':chiki':n
Pedro qu:lu an-lh nak ka':chiki':n
Pedro old.man go:i/3-cpL LOG Papantla
'Pedro left Papantla when he was old.'
(35) /• yah chiwi:ndn la: cu:sqa'ta',
J. yah chiwi:nan-a: la: cu:-sqa'ta',
J already.not s/he.talks-icpL like little-baby
/ chiwi:nan=d' la: chi'xku
J chiwi:nan-a:=d' la: chi'xku
J. s/he.talks-!CPL=already like man
'John doesn't talk like a child anymore, he already talks like a man.'