Feb26 –  A Constructed Language

Feb26 Inflectional Morphology

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

Morphology Overview

The morphology tends to be modifier-head, unlike the syntax.

Person and Number Terminology

The following non-standard terminology is used here:

• 1st person refers here to the speaker and possibly to 1 or more others, excluding addressees.
• 2nd person refers to the addressees and excludes the speaker.
• K person refers to the addressee in questions and the speaker in statements.
• Inclusive person refers to the union of the 1st and 2nd persons.
• 3rd person refers to all others (i.e. excluding both the speaker and addressee).

Word Classification

The morphological word classes are verbs, quantity words, nouns, and uninflected particles. Verbs are conjugated and nouns are declined while quantity words can be either, depending on the syntactical context. The distinction between a noun and a verb is made by the final morpheme of the word stem; this may be a classifer or, in the case of some nouns, a content morpheme.

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

• A scalar verb is one that denotes a scale of comparison.
• A relational verb has a locatee subject and an oblique location.

An important morphosyntactical distinction is animacy: each noun is either animate or inanimate. A noun is also either common or proper and either count or mass.

Noun Morphology

Root Noun Morphology

Slot Name	Contents
(Possessor)	2, Incl, 1#, 3C, 3T, 3O
(Prefinal Content)*	noun or verb root
Final Content	noun root
(Classifier)	AS, IS, AP, IP

Deverbal Noun Morphology

Slot Name	Contents
(Possessor)	2, Incl, 1#, 3C, 3T, 3O
(Prefinal Content)*	noun or verb root
Final Content	verb root
Classifier	AS, IS, AP, IP, A, I

Demonstrative Pronouns

Slot Name	Contents
Final Content	locational verb root
Classifier	AS, IS, AP, IP

Nouns are inflected for referentiality and number and may take personal prefixes marking a possessor. Referential nouns are marked for either singular or plural number using suffixes which also mark animacy. Non-referential nouns are unmarked, except that some nouns are marked for animacy. The noun suffixes are shown in the following table:

Noun Suffixes

Suffix	Tag	Animacy	Number
-	-AS	Animate	Singular
-	-IS	Inanimate	Singular
-	-AP	Animate	Plural
-	-IP	Inanimate	Plural
-	-A	Animate
-	-I	Inanimate

Personal Prefixes

If no personal prefix appears, the noun has no specified possessor. The personal prefixes, which have additional uses besides noun possession, are shown in the following table:

Personal Noun Prefixes

Prefix	Tag	Description
-	1S-	1st person singular
-	1P-	1st person plural
-	Incl-	Inclusive person
-	2-	2nd person
-	3C-	3rd person Coreferential
-	3T-	3rd person Topic
-	3O-	3rd person Other

Verb Morphology

Verb Morphology

Slot Name	Contents
(Agreement)	2, Incl, 1#, Rfx, 3C, 3T, 3O
(Applicative)	Loc, Ins, Ben, Mal
(Prefinal Content)*	noun or verb root
Final Content	verb root
Classifier	[S, H, D, T] x [UI, VI, UA, VA]
(Mode)	Fut, Ctf, EN
(Agreement)	2, Incl, 1#, Imp, 3C, 3T, 3O

Copula Morphology

Slot Name	Contents
Final Content	Cop
(Mode)	Fut, Ctf, EN
(Agreement)	2, Incl, 1#, Imp, 3C, 3T, 3O

Some Determiners

Slot Name	Contents
Final Content	locational verb root
Classifier	SUI, SUA

The verb classifier, originally the final morpheme of the stem, is replaced in order to change any of the verb's effective action type, direction, and animacy and thus acts as an inflection. The action types are static (S), habitual (H), telic (T), and other dynamic (D). The directions are direct (V) and inverse (U). Animacy is animate (A) and inanimate (I), as for nouns.

If the verb is finite, a mode suffix may immediately follow the classifier. The verb's ending is used for agreement and also determines whether the verb form's order is imperative, finite, or participial. The imperative suffix -Imp marks imperative order while participial order is unmarked; any other suffix indicates that the order is finite.

The initial personal prefix, if it appears, is also used for agreement. It may be followed by an applicative prefix.

The following summarizes the order of verb form morphemes:

(2nd Argument)-	(Applicative)-	Content Morphemes	-Classifier	-(Mode)	-(1st Argument)

Classifiers

The classifier suffixes are shown in the following table:

Classifiers

Suffix	Tag	Description
-	-SVA	Static Direct Animate
-	-SVI	Static Direct Inanimate
-	-SUA	Static Inverse Animate
-	-SUI	Static Inverse Inanimate
-	-HVA	Habitual Direct Animate
-	-HVI	Habitual Direct Inanimate
-	-HUA	Habitual Inverse Animate
-	-HUI	Habitual Inverse Inanimate
-	-DVA	Dynamic Direct Animate
-	-DVI	Dynamic Direct Inanimate
-	-DUA	Dynamic Inverse Animate
-	-DUI	Dynamic Inverse Inanimate
-	-TVA	Telic Direct Animate
-	-TVI	Telic Direct Inanimate
-	-TUA	Telic Inverse Animate
-	-TUI	Telic Inverse Inanimate

Action Type and Mode

The effective action type interacts with the action type implied by the pre-final content morpheme, determining the aspect. A static verb has stative or perfect aspect. A habitual verb has habitual aspect. A dynamic verb has progressive or prospective aspect. A telic verb has aoristic aspect.

The mode suffixes are shown in the following table; realis mode is 0 is the stem ends in a vowel:

Mode Suffixes

Suffix	Tag	Mode
-(e)	-R	Realis
-	-Fut	Future
-	-Ctf	Contrafactual
-	-EN	Epistemic Necessity

Agreement Morphology

Agreement involves the direction and animacy specified by the classifier along with the verb's ending and the initial personal prefix.

Valid Combinations

UI	VI	UA	VA	Prefixes	Suffixes	Group	Order
+	-	+	+	1#, Incl, 2		unilocal	Participial
-	-	-	+	Rfx		non-local
+	+	+	+
+	+	+	+	3T
-	-	+	+	1#	2	bilocal	Finite
-	-	-	+	Rfx	2, Incl, 1#	unilocal
-	+	+	+
-	+	+	+	3O, 3T, 3C
-	-	-	+	Rfx	3C, 3T, 3O	non-local
+	+	+	+
+	+	+	+	3O, 3T	3C
+	+	+	+	3O	3T
-	-	-	+	1#	Imp	bilocal	Imperative
-	-	-	+	Rfx	Imp	unilocal
-	+	+	+
-	+	-	+	3O, 3T

The personal prefixes for verbs are the same as those for nouns, with the addition of the reflexive prefix.

Personal Verb Prefixes

Prefix	Tag	Description
-	1S-	1st person singular
-	1P-	1st person plural
-	Incl-	Inclusive person
-	2-	2nd person
-	3C-	3rd person Coreferential
-	3T-	3rd person Topic
-	3O-	3rd person Other
-	Rfx-	Reflexive

The verb endings are shown in the following table:

Verb Endings

Prefix	Tag	Description
-	-1S	1st person singular
-	-1P	1st person plural
-	-Incl	Inclusive person
-	-2	2nd person
-	-3C	3rd person Coreferential
-	-3T	3rd person Topic
-	-3O	3rd person Other
-	-Imp	Imperative

Applicatives

An applicative respecifies the semantic role of the transitive patient, as determined by the agreement morphology. The applicative prefixes are shown in the following table:

Applicative Prefixes

Prefix	Tag	Role
-	ALoc-	locative/allative/ablative
-	AIns-	instrumental
-	ABen-	benefactive
-	AMal-	malefactive

page started: 2017.Mar.06 Mon
current date: 2017.Mar.12 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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