The main word classes are nouns, verbs, and cardinal numbers. There are also pronouns, auxiliaries, conjunctions, and particles.
Each noun has an inherent gender, animate or inanimate. Nouns are inflected for case. The case suffixes are:
| Suffix | Tag | Name | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| -0 | .Abs | absolutive | themes, patients, subjects, and predicates |
| -l | -Erg | ergative | donors, agents, and instruments |
| -ki | -Dat | dative | recipients, perceivers |
| * | -Mod | modal | modal auxiliary arguments |
| -ka | -Gen | genitive | possessors |
| -te | -Par | partitive | wholes |
| -so | -Voc | vocative | addressees |
There are a number of suffixes which act like cases but are really secondary predicates.
| Suffix | Tag | Name | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| -bū | -Loc | locative-comitative | locations |
| -dō | -All | allative | destinations |
| -mē | -Abl | ablative | origins |
| -sī | -Per | perlative | routes |
| -pel? | -Std | standard | standard of comparison |
Adverbs of degree are formed by adding the suffix -Deg to nouns denoting units of measurement.
Adverbs of manner are formed by adding the suffix -Man to verbs.
| Word | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| # | -Deg | degree of comparison |
| # | -Man | manner |
Pronouns are mostly inflected for case like nouns. They include:
| Word | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| o | 1S | 1st person singular |
| ma | 1P | 1st person plural |
| se | 2 | 2nd person |
| ge | Rfx | reflexive |
| a | 3A | 3rd person animate |
| i | 3I | 3rd person inanimate |
Verbs are inflected for grammatical voice, aspect, tense, person and number or gender of subject, and person and number or gender of object. In addition to the finite and attributive forms, there are infinitives (-Inf) and secondary predicate forms (.Cor).
Depending on the verb's class, the voices are active (.Act) and either passive (-Pas) or causative (-Cau). Also depending on the verb's class, the aspects are durative (.Dur) and either perfect (-Prf) or inchoative (-Inc). This produces 4 verb classes.
The tenses are present (.Prs), past (-Pst), and future (-Fut).
Roots are classified according to their final vowel or consonant. They're grouped as V (low tone vowel), H (high tone vowel), L, N (nasal), S, C (voiceless stop), and U (voiced obstruent). The following table shows the stem formants for each combination of stem and root class. Stem 0 specifies the form of the root to which derivational suffixes are appended; the other stems are referred to in the next section.
| # | Class | V | H | L | N | S | C | U | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | αβγδ | ō | ū | ī | Hi | Vhi | li | mi | ni | si | pi | ti | ki | Ci |
| 2 | αβγδ | ē | ||||||||||||
| 3 | α--δ | ā | ō | ū | Ho | Vho | lo | mo | no | so | po | to | ko | Co |
| 4 | αβγδ | oh | uh | Hh | lh | ŋ | s | f | þ | x/ç | Cuh | |||
| 5 | α-γ- | as | es | is | Hs | lc | nc | ss | tc | Cus | ||||
| 6 | -β-δ | a | e | i | H | l | ŋ | s | k | Cu | ||||
| 7 | -βγδ | lu | ŋu | su | pu | tu | ku | |||||||
| 0 | αβγδ | l | m/n | |||||||||||
Note: Prevocalic uh corresponds to ū. Prevocalic oh is problematic in that it can correspond to ō or ā.
Each of the following tables gives the paradigm for one of the 4 verb classes. The forms given are those for the infinitive, the secondary predicate, and the 3 tenses of the animate participle (the inanimate participle is obtained by changing the final a to i). Each entry shows the stem number followed by the ending. The 2nd row for the past and future durative passive entries applies to roots of the S class.
| Aspect | Voice | Infin. | Coref. | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| durative | active | 1-0 | 6-0 | 4-a | 2-þa | 1-ŋa |
| perfect | active | 5-i | 7-s | 5-a | 5-iþa | 5-iŋa |
| durative | passive | 4-i | 3-0 | 3-ha | 4-iþa | 4-iŋa |
| 3-kiþa | 3-kiŋa | |||||
| perfect | passive | 3-si | 3-s | 3-sa | 3-siþa | 3-siŋa |
| Aspect | Voice | Infin. | Coref. | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| durative | active | 1-0 | 6-0 | 4-a | 2-þa | 1-ŋa |
| inchoative | active | 6-ki | 7-k | 7-xa | 6-kiþa | 6-kiŋa |
| durative | causative | 7-li | 7-l | 7-lha | 7-liþa | 7-liŋa |
| inchoative | causative | 7-lki | 7-luk | 7-luxa | 7-lkiþa | 7-lkiŋa |
| Aspect | Voice | Infin. | Coref. | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| durative | active | 1-0 | 6-0 | 4-a | 2-þa | 1-ŋa |
| perfect | active | 5-i | 7-s | 5-a | 5-iþa | 5-iŋa |
| durative | causative | 7-li | 7-l | 7-lha | 7-liþa | 7-liŋa |
| perfect | causative | 7-lci | 7-lus | 7-lca | 7-lciþa | 7-lciŋa |
| Aspect | Voice | Infin. | Coref. | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| durative | active | 1-0 | 6-0 | 4-a | 2-þa | 1-ŋa |
| inchoative | active | 6-ki | 7-k | 7-xa | 6-kiþa | 6-kiŋa |
| durative | passive | 4-i | 3-0 | 3-ha | 4-iþa | 4-iŋa |
| 3-siþa | 3-siŋa | |||||
| inchoative | passive | 3-ki | 3-k | 3-xa | 3-kiþa | 3-kiŋa |
The ending of a finite verb specifies the person and number or gender of the subject; it replaces the final a of the animate participle. Note that the 3rd person endings are the same as those of the corresponding participles.
The person and number or gender of the patient (if pronominal) is specified by a prefix. For trivalent verbs, there may be an animate recipient and an inanimate theme; these are fused into a single prefix when both occur.
| Object | Fused | Subject | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| o- | hi- | -ā | 1S | 1st person singular |
| ma- | mē- | -aŋ | 1P | 1st person plural |
| se- | sē- | -as | 2 | 2nd person |
| - | -ē | Imp | imperative (2nd person) | |
| te- | tē- | - | Rfx | reflexive |
| a- | ē- | -a | 3A | 3rd person animate |
| i- | - | -i | 3I | 3rd person inanimate |
Nouns can take endings for the person and number or gender of the subject, added directly to the noun root.
| Tag | V | H | L | N | S | C | U | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3A/3I | a | e | i | H | l | ŋ | s | pu | tu | ku | Cus | ||
| 1S | ā | ō | ū | Ho | Vho | lo | mo | no | so | po | to | ko | Co |
| 1P | aŋ | eŋ | iŋ | Hŋ | luŋ | muŋ | nuŋ | suŋ | puŋ | tuŋ | kuŋ | Cuŋ | |
| 2 | as | es | is | Hs | lus | mus | nus | sus | pus | tus | kus | Cus | |
| Imp | ē | ī | Hi | Vhi | li | mi | ni | si | pi | ti | ki | Ci | |
| Inf | ohō | uhō | Hhō | lhō | ŋō | sō | fō | þō | çō | Cuhō | |||
| Cor | ohe | uhe | Hhe | lhe | ŋe | se | fe | þe | çe | Cuhe | |||
For the agent and patient nominals, the causative and passive forms, respectively, can be used if the active form isn't sufficient. Other participant nominals are formed with derivational suffixes added to the root.
| Suffix | Tag | Gender | Subject Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ba | -Loc | inanimate | location |
| -di | -Prd | inanimate | product? |
| -ze | -Ins | inanimate | instrument? |
page started: 2013.Dec.08 Sun
current date: 2013.Dec.10 Tue
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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