Jaguar 5 –  A Constructed Language

Jaguar 5 Morphology

Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".

Morphology Overview

Person and Number Terminology

The following non-standard terminology is used here:

Word Classification

The morphological word classes are verbs, nouns, and uninflected particles. Verbs are conjugated and nouns are declined. Nouns and verbs have different formats.

Verbs include the words that are scalar, relational, or both as well as conventional verbs.

Word Formats

Slot Abbreviations
% Person JRole Jaguar's Role
0 (null)
Class Noun Classifier
Root Verb or Noun Root Onset Root Verb or Noun Root Rhyme
Voice Voice/direction App Applicative
Asp Aspect Polar Polarity
0 (null) KRole K person's Role/mode
Assoc Associativity # Status and Number

Legend
Asp required slot
Nom required marker
Pro optional slot
Imp optional marker

Finite Verb Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Verb
Root
Voice Asp KRole
Rhyme JRole App Polar
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Imperative Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Verb
Root
Voice Asp Imp
Rhyme JRole App Polar
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Participle Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Verb
Root
Voice Asp
Rhyme Ptc App Polar
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Adverbial Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Verb
Root
 
Rhyme 0
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Superlative Noun Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Verb
Root
Sup Assoc
Rhyme 0 #
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Verbal Noun Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Verb
Root
Voice Assoc
Rhyme 0 App #
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Classifier Noun Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Noun
Root
Assoc
Rhyme Class #
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Compound Noun Format
  Prefixes   Suffixes
Onset % Noun
Root
Verb
Root
Voice Assoc
Rhyme Class App #
  Prefixes   Suffixes

Finite Copula Format
  Prefixes Suffixes
Onset % Asp KRole
Rhyme JRole Polar
  Prefixes Suffixes

Specific Markers

Person

The set of possible persons depends on the format and the clause type. The person represents a noun possessor and otherwise an argument allowed by the JRole and KRole.

Person Prefixes
Prefix Tag Description Finite Imper. Adverb. Partic. Noun
r- J- Jaguar - - OK OK OK
b- 1- 1st person singular [1] OK OK OK OK
k- 2- 2nd person singular [2] - OK OK OK
j- Incl- Inclusive person dual OK - OK OK OK
l- 3E- 3rd person explicit OK OK OK - -
s- 3C- 3rd person coreferential OK OK OK OK OK
'- U- Unspecified OK OK OK OK OK
d- Cmb- Appositive - - - - OK

[1] OK only in question clauses
[2] OK only in statement clauses

Word Format and Jaguar's Role

Noun classifiers also go in this position.

Jaguar's Role Prefixes
Prefix Tag Role Format
ok- JAgt- Agent verb
íl- JPat- Patient
ǽ- Infl- Influence
an- NJ- (no role)
y- Zro- (no role) adverbial or verbal noun
ís- Ptc- (no role) participle

Voice Suffixes

The set of possible directions (grammatical voice) also depends on the format. Scalar and relational verbs omit the inverse marking when no applicative is needed while all other verbs omit the direct marking.

Direction Suffixes
Suffix Tag Description
-l -Dir Direct
-g -Inv Inverse
-s -Rfx Reflexive

The superlative suffix -bæl -Sup, which appears only on scalar verb roots, occupies both voice and applicative slots.

Applicative Suffixes

The direct and inverse suffixes determine which of 2 action nouns is used.

Applicative Suffixes
Suffix Tag Description Group
-Loc Locative Applicative
-ík -Ins Instrumental
-ós -Ben Benefactive
-ár -Mal Malefactive
-y -Nul (none) Other
-ek -AN Action Nouns

Aspect

Aspect is marked if either the aspect needed is not the default for the verb's action type or polarity is marked.

Aspect Suffixes
Suffix Tag Description
-d -Aor Aoristic
-p -Prf Perfect-stative
-j -Pro Progressive-prospective

Polarity

Polarity Suffixes
Suffix Tag Description
-Pos Positive
-æn -Neg Negative
-uk -Aff Affirmative
-PQ Polar Question

K-person's Role

The K-person is either a participant or the argument of the evidential.

K-person's Role Suffixes
Suffix Tag Name Type
-'ok -KAgt Agent participant
-'íl -KPat Patient
-'ás -Imp Imperative (2nd person) Agent
-'y -Hrs Hearsay evidential
-'es -Wit Witness
-'yn -EN Epistemic Necessity
-'a -Fut Future
-'us -Jus Jussive
-'æk -Img Imaginative

Associativity

The non-referential suffix -ku -NR occupies both the associativity and the status and number slots.

Appositive nouns are not marked for associativity, status, or number.

Associativity Suffixes
Suffix Tag Description
-t -NA Non-associative
-f -Asc Associative

Status and Number

Status distinguishes common nouns from proper nouns, indicates whether a common noun has an old or new referent, and specifies the number of a new referent.

Status & Number Suffixes
Suffix Tag Description
-e -Def Old referent
-o -Sg New referent singular
-øk -Du New referent dual
-in -Pc New referent paucal
-al -Pl New referent plural
-él -LN Location Name
-ys -PN Personal Name
-or -GN Group Name

Word Examples

The following finite verb example shows all the verb slots, including the benefactive applicative and the progressive-prospective aspect.

'ílsælgósjø'ok
[ʔi˦l.sæl.go˦s.jɚ.ʔok']
'-íl-sæl-g-ós-j-ø-'ok
U-JPat-give-Inv-ABen-Pro-Pos-KAgt
"I'm going to give the jaguar something."

The next one is a compound noun using an inverse locative applicative to change "in" into "contain".

bynbødagútin
[bɜ̃.mɚ.dɑ.gu˦.tĩ]
b-ynbø-da-g-ú-t-in
1-water-in-Inv-ALoc-NA-Pc
"my water-containers"

Cases

Case is either marked by enclitic particles or unmarked (absolutive). The marked cases are shown in the following table:

Enclitic Case Markers
Word Tag Name
- Gen Genitive
yo Voc Vocative
Loc Locative
- Ins Instrumental
pós Ben Benefactive
- Mal Malefactive
fes Top Topical

Derivational Morphology

A given root syllable can be used as both a verb root and a noun root, according to which affixes appear. Sometimes the meanings are related, as in ? for the verb "lead" and the nouns "head" and "first".

Noun derivation is limited to the following:

  1. In many cases, non-verbal nouns are made up of a classifier + a noun root; in others, this combination is monolithic.
  2. Participant nouns and action nouns (verbal nouns) are derived from verb roots.
  3. Verbal nouns may incorporate non-verbal nouns.

There's no verb derivation.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns are noun forms. They may take number suffixes even though they're semantically definite. For the 3rd person coreferential, number is supplied by the original reference. The valid combinations of person prefix and status and number suffix are shown in the following table; entries marked default are unmarked unless associativity must be marked:

Person Pronouns
Prefix Tag Description Singular Dual Paucal Plural Definite
b- 1 1st person default - - - -
k- 2 2nd person default OK OK OK -
j- Incl Inclusive person - default OK OK -
s- 3C 3rd person coreferential - - - - default
'- U Unspecified normally not marked

Interrogative Pronouns

page started: 2017.Apr.04 Tue
current date: 2017.Apr.09 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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