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Quaderno de algunas Reglas y apuntes sobre el Ydioma pame

Valle, Francisco

DomaineTraditions non-occidentales
SecteurGrammaires amérindiennes [4663]
Auteur(s)

Valle, Francisco

Datation: fl. 18e s.

Nothing is known about Francisco Valle’s life, except that he was a Franciscan (O.F.M.) and the author of Quaderno de algunas Reglas y apuntes sobre el Ydioma pame (Martínez Rosales 1989, p. 12).

Titre de l'ouvrageQuaderno de algunas Reglas y apuntes sobre el Ydioma pame. Notas acerca de las Letras con que se escriben muchos terminos, sus acentos, y modo de ponunciar
Titre traduitNotebook with some rules and notes on the Pame language. Notes on the letters with which many terms are written, their accents and how to pronounce them
Titre courtQuaderno de algunas Reglas y apuntes sobre el Ydioma pame
Remarques sur le titreComplete title: The title of the Viñaza edition is: Quaderno de algunas Reglas y apuntes sobre el Idioma Pame. Notas acerca de las Letras con que se escriben muchos términos, sus acentos, y modo de pronunciar. Contiene ademas la Doctrina Christiana, traducida en “Idioma Pame”, “Confesionario”, y un “Epilogo de nombres y Pronombres de la lengua Pame” . Relativos, adberbios. Cuerpo humano” (nombres de sus partes). Firma del autor. Fr. Fran Valle.
Période|18e s.|
Type de l'ouvrageManuscript. Grammatical introduction containing 113 numbered paragraphs. Introduction to phonology and orthography. Descriptive grammar, mainly including verbal morphology. The original has been lost, but in the title, we read that it also included religious texts (Doctrina Christiana, Confessionary), not incorporated into Viñaza’s transcription.
Type indexéGrammaire descriptive | Grammaire didactique | Grammaire élémentaire | Texte religieux
Édition originaleIn BICRES III (Niederehe (2005, p. 15), we find three entries referring to Francisco Valle. n° 86 with the title Cuadernos de algunas Reglas y apuntes sobre el Idioma Pame. Notas acerca de las letras con que se escriben muchos terminos, sus acentos y modo de pronunciar, referring to Viñaza (18th century). N° 371 (Niederehe (2015, p. 75) has the same title as no 86, but here the approximate year is 1730 Is given. In the index of Niederehe the title is different: Algunas reglas sobre el idioma pame (17??). The original Ms is, according to BICRES, n° 371 housed in the Archivo Histórico de Madrid. The third title in the index of Niederehe is “Sobre el idioma pame”, without further explanation.
Édition utiliséeMs Archivo Histórico Nacional de España, Madrid. Códices 82-B (n, 579), 18th century. Facsimile 1989 edition of Martínez Rosales.
VolumétrieNo specific details are given about the Ms in Martínez Rosales in his introduction, but on the back cover we read that the volume has the size of a “medio folio”, bound in parchment (“encuadernado en pergamino”), containing 66 fols. The front page contains a crown with scrolls and birds (“roleos y aves”). The text is divided in 113 numbered paragraphs.
Nombre de signes80000
Reproduction moderneMartínez Rosales (1989).
DiffusionViñaza reproduced the grammatical compendium in his Bibliografía Española de lenguas indígenas de Amércia (1892, n° 1069, p. 287-314). The Doctrina Christiana and other texts are not included. In the colophon of entry 1069, El Conde de la Viñaza observes that the Doctrina Christiana, traducida en idioma Pame starts on f. 53 and ends on f. 55, also signed by the author Francisco Valle. On f. 56 the Confessionario starts with texts in Castilian and Pame and ends on f. 62. On f. 63 the “Epílogo” starts, arranged in two columns, first the Pame entries, with Castilian equivalents on the right. Finally, there are 10 blank pages (Viñaza 1892, p. 314). Schuller’s 1925 edition is not complete and ends on page 40. There is a facsimile edition prepared by Martínez Rosales (1989). In 1925, Rudolf Schuller published the first 40 § of the work under the title “La única gramática conocida de la lengua pame”. A certain “doctor de la Maza” made a copy of Viñaza’s edition, adding sections not included in Viñaza, which he took directly from the Archivo de Madrid. Manrique Castañada (1960) used this material for his brief description of Pame, but he did not give more information concerning the sections which were not reproduced by Viñaza (the remaining parts of speech, apart from the verb).
Langues ciblesPame (Otomanguean family, Otopamean branch).
According to Velázquez (1982), as cited in Martínez Rosales (1989, p. 11), the variety which is described is southern Pame, extinct today (“pame meridional”). Today the endonym Ñãʔũ, to be distinguished from central Pame (Šiʔúi, also spelled as Xi’iuy, also called “Chichimeca Pame”) and Northern Pame (Šiyúi, also spelled as Xi’oi).
Del Valle also mentions several regional varieties (Martínez Rosales 1989, p. 109; Viñaza 1892, p. 287), where he informs his readers that the Indians from the Pamería have a different pronunciation. Other varieties are recorded from speakers from the ‘rancherías’ in Tamcoyol, Aalpan, Landa and Tilaco (ibid.). We also find place names like Pacula and Ailiapan and “los Montes” [the mountains]. It is also highlighted that some speakers speak “corruptly” (“… que corrompe la lengua”) (ibid.)
MétalangueCastilian, and sometimes Latin (as in the description of diphtongues) (p. 288)
Langue des exemplesPame
Sommaire de l'ouvragePage numbers refer to Martínez Rosales’ 1989 edition. The first 10 numbered paragraphs on pages 107-118, dealing with phonology, do not have titles. The title “De las letras y de su pronunciación” in Viñaza’s edition (p. 287-290) is added by the editor, not found in the origin al Ms.
De los acentos (§ 11; p. 118-120); De los semipronombres (§ 12-13; 120-121); § 14 [without a title, deals with conjugations] (122-123); primera conjugación (§ 15-40;123-138); segunda conjugación (§ 41-51;138-145); tercera conjugación (§ 52-62; 145-153); de los verbos pasivos, y como se suplen por no haberlos en este idioma (§ 63-66; 153-156); de los verbos intransitivos (§ 67-68; 156-158); primer modo de intransitivos llanos (§ 69-76; 158-164); de las mudanzas de de estos verbos (§ 77-80; 164-169); segundo modo de los verbos intransitivos llanos (§ 81-83; 169-171); de las mudanzas de los verbos intransitivos o absolutos del 2.o modo (§ 84-91; 172-179); modo de formar intransitivos (§ 92-98; 180-185); de los verbos reflexivos (§ 99-100; 186-189); modo de formar los verbos reflexivos (§ 101-104; 189-193); de los verbos que comienzan con u vocal (§ 105-108; 193-197); [no title given for this section] Paradigm of the conjugation of the verb “cortar” and several “notes” (§ 109-113; 197-204). At the end of the grammar we find Francisco Valle’s signature.
Doctrina Cristiana, traducida en Idioma Pame (206-210); Confesionario (211-223); Epílogo de Nombres y Pronombres de la lengua pame (224-228); relativos adverbios (228-230); cuerpo humano (230-231) (The finbal section “epílogo” contains Pame-Castilian word lists, not arranged alphabetically).
Objectif de l'auteurNo prologue, no explicit didactic principles.The author seems to have had the aim to write a first sketch of the language, since he did not consider his work to be definitive. Frequently he admits that he did not understand how the mechanisms exactly worked regarding certain phenomena and, in other cases, he expresses his doubts (p. 83). Practice (“use”) will be the best teacher (ibid.).
Intérêt généralTogether with Soriano’s grammars of the two languages Otomi and Pame, Francisco Valle’s grammar is one of the few documents from the colonial period describing Pame. It is much more detailed than Soriano’s grammar of Pame. The fact that Francisco Valle almost exclusively deals with verbal morphology in his section containing “rules”, is a novelty. According to his view, only the verb can be reduced to grammatical rules (p. 314). The major part of his grammar is devoted to verbal morphology, and much attention is given to the “mudanzas”, i.e. morpho-phonological changes of the initial letters of the verbal roots, a typical feature of the Otomanguean verb generally. Although the text is available now, it remains neglected until today, although quite a few aspects deserve attention. Dealing with orthography and phonology, the author attempts to describe suprasegmental phonemes. He gives an example of Spanish “cántara” (if pronounced short “breve”), versus “cantará”, the future tense if it is pronounced “long” (“largo”). As in Castilian, the Pame language has to be written with accents or signs (“acentos o señales”), that serve to shorten (“abreviar”) or lengthen (“alargar”), or to give less or more” force” to its pronunciation (“darle más o menos fuerza à la pronunicacion”), or they serve to indicate that the letter have to be pronounced more “harshly or more softly” (“áspero o mas suave”). The author distinguishes between the pronunciation with “detention”, or ”suspension”, (detención o suspencion), which is different from the pronunciation with “the little jump” (“saltillo”), a distinction not made by Soriano in his Pame grammar (Martínez Rosales 1989, p. 118).
The author gives three conjugations in his section on the verb, but he frankly admits that he did not completely understand the system, since the verbs of the third conjugation can also be inflected in accordance with the first and second. It is not frequently recorded that authors admit when they have not be capable of understanding something (“no lo he podido entender”). Nevertheless, he attempts to give an explanation (ibid.). Special sections are devoted to the “instrumento con que se haze la cosa que significa el verbo”.
Parties du discoursThe grammar of Valle starts with rules on orthography, accents and pronunciation. The remaining part is exclusively devoted to the verb. The author does not summarise the parts of speech and does not treat the traditional eight parts of speech separately in his grammar. The final section (“Epílogo”) seems to be partially organised according to some parts of speech (“nombre y pronombres” and “relativos adverbios”).
Innovations term.Semipronombres conjugativos (§ 12-13; p. 120-121). The term “semipronombre” was introduced by Rincón (1595, f. 7r) and was followed up by Carochi (1645, f. 10r; 15r). The term had been developed by grammarians describing Nahuatl. The term is used by Vetancurt (1673, f. 8r) and Ávila (1717, f. 15r). Pérez uses the term “conjugativo” (1713, p. 11) (for a complete overview, see Zwartjes & Flores Farfán (2017, p. 90-91)). As far as we could trace, this is the only source describing an Otomanguean language where the term “semipronombre” is used. The term belongs, according to the author, to an “established doctrine” (“doctrina asentada”). According to Valle’s definition, the “semipronombres conjugativos” are used in compound forms (“sirven para hacer composiciones”). They cannot be used “standing by themselves” (“no pueden estar por si solo”) (§ 12-13; p. 120-121). The bound pronominal prefixes are complex in Pame, as in other Otomanguean languages, since they mark not only the person, but also number, and six different tenses/aspects (Manrique Castañeda 1960).
Another term used by Valle is “llano” in the categroies “intransitivos llanos” and “imperativo llano” and the distinction between “futuro de indicative” and “[futuro de] circunloquio”. The author also introduces the terms “circunloquios de gerundios, y de supino”, which are lacking in this language. Apparently, the author refers to the Spanish translations from the Latin gerundium and supinum where “circunloquios” are used. It is remarkable that the author states that Pame lacks these constructions (equivalent to the Spanish circunloquios), and not lacking the categories which exist in Latin (§ 36, p. 135).
Valle gives a definition of the reflexive verbs which is of interest: “su accion dentro de si, como invivita, sin que salga afuera, sino que siempre se queda adentro, y como embebida en el mismo verbo” (§ 99; p. 186).
Corpus illustratifPame. The text of the grammar is written in a descriptive style, where rules and examples are also given in paradigms, mainly in the sections describing verbal morphology.
Indications compl.
Influence subieUnknown. In Guadalupe Soriano’s grammar, Nebrija’s grammar is frequently mentioned, but no references are given by Valle. He was familiar with earlier sources which used the term “semipronombre”, which was a term circulating in Central Mexico as an established doctrine (“doctrina adentadas”).
Influence exercéeAs in Guadalupe Soriano, Valle also uses the term ‘root’ (raíz) (p. 120). If the estimated date of 1730 is correct, Francisco Valle was the first by whom Guadalupe Soriano might have been inspired.
Renvois bibliographiquesBartholomew D., Lastra Y., Chemin H., Manrique Castañeda L. & Castro C. A. (éd.) 2012; Lastra Y. 2005; Manrique Castañeda L. 1960; Martínez Rosales A. (éd.) 1989; Niederehe H.-J. 2005; Schuller R. R. 1925; Soustelle J. 1937; Valle F. 1892 {[ca 1730]}; Velázquez P. F. 1982; Viñaza E. C. 1892 {p. 287-315}; Zwartjes O. & Flores Farfán J. A. (éd.) 2017
Rédacteur

Zwartjes, Otto

Création ou mise à jour2018-09