Nouns, pronouns, and verbs are inflected; there are also uninflected quantity words, determiners, and particles. For most inflected words, a final vowel suffix is appended to the stem, which ends in a consonant (usually); the usage of the vowel depends on the stem class.
The ending of a verb form specifies the syntactical function:
| Suffix | Tag | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| -u | -SS | same subject | non-final (switch-reference) |
| -a | -DS | different subject | |
| -i | -Inf | infinitive | followed by a coreferential auxiliary |
| -ay | -Imp | imperative | |
| -e | -Fin | final | |
| -o | -Ptc | participial | non-final phrase constituent |
A verb form with a switch-reference ending may contain a conjunction suffix, which immediately precedes the verb ending:
| Suffix | Tag | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| -if ? | -If | conditional | conditional |
| -ev ? | -Seq | sequential conjunction | foreground |
| -et ? | -Sim | simultaneous conjunction | |
| -ot ? | -Dis | disjunction |
Most verb forms may contain a tense/aspect suffix, which precedes any other suffix:
| Suffix | Tag | Tense | Aspect | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -0 | -Aor | aoristic | not used with static verbs | |
| -ik ? | -Prs | present | imperfective | 0 if static verb |
| -ab ? | -Pst | past | retrospective | |
| -ur | -Fut | future | prospective |
The following 2 tables show the possible suffix combinations:
| Tense | Conjunction | Ending | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marked | 0 = | Marked | ||
| Inf | Infinitive | |||
| Pst Fut Prs | Aor | Imp | Imperative | |
| Pst Fut | Prs | Fin | Final | |
| Seq Sim Dis | SS DS | Foreground | ||
| Pst Fut | Prs | If | SS DS | Conditional |
| Pst Fut Prs | Aor | SS DS | Background | |
| Pst Fut | Prs | Ptc | Participial | |
| Tense | Conjunction | Ending | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marked | 0 = | Marked | ||
| Inf | Infinitive | |||
| Prs | Imp | Imperative | ||
| Pst Fut | Prs | Fin | Final | |
| Seq Sim Dis | SS DS | Foreground | ||
| Pst Fut | Prs | If | SS DS | Conditional |
| Pst Fut | Prs | SS DS | Background | |
| Pst Fut | Prs | Ptc | Participial | |
Verbs may also take a grammatical voice prefix:
| Prefix | Tag | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ?- | P1- | Passive 1 | promotes (direct) object |
| ?- | P2- | Passive 2 | promotes indirect object |
The final vowel of a noun or pronoun specifies the case (more or less). The cases and their assigned vowels might be:
| Suffix | Tag | Case | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| -u | -Nom | nominative | animate only |
| -a | -Acc | accusative | animate only |
| -a | -Abs | absolutive | inanimate only |
| -i | -Gen | genitive | |
| -ay | -Voc | vocative | animate only |
| -e | -Loc | locative | followed by a relational word |
| -o | -App | appositive | non-final phrase constituent |
The 1st person, 2nd person, and reflexive pronouns take the same case endings as animate nouns.
| Stem | Tag | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| m- | 1S | 1st person singular | |
| nos- | 1XP | 1st person exclusive plural | |
| as- | 1NP | 1st person inclusive plural | |
| t- | 2S | 2nd person singular | |
| vos- | 2P | 2nd person plural | |
| s- | Rfx | reflexive | any person, no nominative |
The 3rd person, correlative, demonstrative, quantifier, indefinite, and content question pronouns distinguish gender (animate and inanimate). They're formed by appending the following suffixes to the 3rd person or determiner stem:
| Animate | Inanimate | Role | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suffix | Tag | Case Name | Suffix | Tag | Case Name | |
| -uu | Nom | nominative | - | Erg | ergative | Agent |
| -ii | Abs | absolutive | Subject | |||
| -ui | Acc | accusative | Patient | |||
| -u | Com | comitative | -i | Loc | locative | Location |
| -ubi | AIns | instrumental | -ibi | IIns | instrumental | Instrument |
| -ule | ADat | dative | -ile | IDat | dative | Recipient, Purpose |
| -ua | AGen | genitive | -ia | IGen | genitive | Possessor, Whole |
The gendered pronoun stems are as follows:
| Stem | Tag | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| c- | 3C | 3rd person correlative | |
| h- | 3 | 3rd person other | |
| k- | CQ | content question | |
| it- | Prox | proximal demonstrative | |
| es- | Medi | medial demonstrative | |
| al- | Dist | distal demonstrative | |
| tot- | Uni | universal quantifier | |
| alg- | Exi | existential quantifier | |
| null- | Nul | nullar quantifier |
The gendered pronoun endings are appended to quantity words in constructing part quantities, and also to superlative and ordinal number stems.
Cardinal numbers greater than 10 are constructed according to the formula:
(Factor-o) Base(-e Addend)-o
where the value is (Factor × Base) + Addend. Addend is from 1 to Base - 1 (default 0) and Factor is from 2 to Base - 1 (default 1).
dekeduo
"12"
tetrokatepento
"405"
Superlative stems are formed from scalar stems by appending the suffix -Sup -at (-t after vowels other than y or w). Ordinal number stems are formed from cardinal number stems by appending the suffix -Ord -at (-t after vowels), except that the "1st" stem is prot. Superlatives and ordinal numbers, like quantity words, take either appositive endings or gendered pronoun endings.
page started: 2014.Dec.07 Sun
current date: 2014.Dec.20 Sat
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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