K'tle – A Constructed Language

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gqe/ Agreement Morphology

Note: Some of the things covered here should probably be elsewhere.

1. Some Inflectional Categories
   1. Personal Inflections
   2. Role Inversion
   3. Imperative Mood
2. Argument Affixes
   1. Argument-2 Person Prefixes
   2. Other Personal Affixes
   3. Syntactical Category Suffixes
   4. Non-Primary Agreement Suffixes
3. Pronouns
   1. Personal Pronouns and Their Partitives
   2. Other Pronouns
4. The Copula
   1. Primary Forms of the Copula
   2. Negative and Interrogative Primary Forms
   3. Secondary Forms of the Copula
5. Noun Agreement

Most inflected words in K'tle  mark agreement in some fashion with one, two, or three arguments (depending on the word's argument structure). The arguments are labeled Argument-1, Argument-2, and Argument-3, which will be covered in the Argument Affixes section below.

Personal Inflections

Arguments (whether of verbs or nouns) distinguish person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) and number (singular and plural). The 1st person plural distinguishes between inclusive (i.e. at least one addressee is referred to in addition to the speaker and any others) and exclusive (no addressees are referred to). The 3rd person distinguishes indefinite from definite (usually pragmatically, but sometimes logically); only the definite forms distinguish number.

There's also a coreferential person, which also doesn't distinguish number; for most purposes, it can be considered an additional kind of 3rd person.

Personal Inflection Tags

Tag	Person and Number	Group
1S	1st person Singular	Local
1XP	1st person eXclusive Plural
1NP	1st person iNclusive Plural
2S	2nd person Singular
2P	2nd person Plural
3S	3rd person definite Singular	Non-Local
3P	3rd person definite Plural
Ind	3rd person Indefinite (number not distinguished)
Cor	Coreferential person (number not distinguished except when theme)

Finally, it's useful to classify 1NP as 2nd person most of the time instead of as 1st person.

Role Inversion

K'tle  uses a hierarchical alignment: specifically 2nd > 1st > 3rd. This means that the 2nd person (including 1NP) appears only as Argument-2 on words which have both Argument-1 and Argument-2, and that the 1st person appears as Argument-1 on the same words only if Argument-2 is 2nd person.

Each argument has a specific role, the assignment being based on the most likely usage: except for nouns and relational verbs, Argument-2 is used for agent-like roles (more often than not) and Argument-1 for patient-like roles. Words with this kind of role assignment are said to have direct forms.

The roles for relational verbs are called "subject" and "object"; those for possessed nouns are "possessum" and "possessor". Non-possessed nouns have only a "subject" role.

Combined with the hierarchy, this means that 2nd persons are expected to act like agents and 1st persons are as well except with 2nd persons. When this isn't the case, inverse forms, which swap the roles used for Argument-1 and Argument-2 must be used.

Without going into details, inverse can be used as well as direct when both the arguments are 3rd person.

There are also reciprocal forms for those cases where the predicate is simultaneously direct and inverse.

Role Inversion Tags

Tag	Role Inversion
Dir	Direct (always zero-marked)
Inv	Inverse
Rec	Reciprocal

I should mention at some point that 2nd person and 1st person can each be marked only once on a word (1NP also not occurring with 1st person either) and multiple 3rd persons arguments must have different referents. If Argument-1 and Argument-2 are to have the same referent, a reflexive form must be used.

Imperative Mood

There is also an imperative versus non-imperative mood distinction, relevent here only due to the interaction between person, inversion, and mood prefixes.

Mood Tags

Tag	Mood
NIM	Non-Imperative Mood (always zero-marked)
Imp	Imperative mood

Except for special cases, Argument-1 is marked using suffixes, while Argument-2 and Argument-3 are marked using prefixes, with Argument-2 first.

Argument-2 Person Prefixes

The table below shows the personal agreement prefixes for Argument-2, excluding the partitive prefixes, which are given in the next section (despite technically being Argument-2 prefixes). Besides person and number, these prefixes also specify inversion (where relevent) and whether the mood is imperative or not. Under Non-Imperative Inverse, the second column is used for relational verbs and possessed nouns, while the first column is used for transitive and trivalent verbs. The rare imperative inverse forms of relational verbs aren't shown, as they consist of the direct imperative prefixes plus {ma-} |ma-|.

Argument-2 Prefixes

	Non-Imperative				Imperative
	Direct	Inverse		Reciprocal	Direct	Inverse	Reciprocal
1S-	k'-, ko-	kia-	k'ma-	k'nok(o)-	koz-, k'zo-	kiaz(o)-	konkoz-, k'nokzo-
1XP-	ko̅-	ko̅ca-	ko̅ma-	ko̅nk(o)-	ko̅z(o)-	ko̅caz(o)-	ko̅nkoz(o)-
1NP-	ta̅-	ta̅ca-	ta̅ma-	ta̅nk(o)-	ta̅z(o)-	ta̅caz(o)-	ta̅nkoz(o)-
2S-	c(e)-	cea-	cma-	cnok(o)-	z(o)-	caz(o)-	nokoz-, nokzo-
2P-	ca̅-	ca̅ca-	ca̅ma-	ca̅nk(o)-	az(o)-	eaz(o)-	ankoz(o)-
3S-	0-; h(e)-	ca-	ma-	nok(o)-	hez(o)-	heaz(o)-	henkoz(o)-
3P-	a-; ha̅-	ea-	ama-	ank(o)-	ha̅z(o)-	ha̅caz(o)-	ha̅nkoz(o)-
Cor-	me-	mea-	mema-	menk(o)-	mez(o)-	meaz(o)-	menkoz(o)-
Ind-	ni-	nia-	nima-	nink(o)-	niz(o)-	?	ninkoz(o)-

For this section and the next, suffixes with vowels in parentheses are used with stems with final consonants while those without are used on stems with final vowels.

Other Personal Affixes

Tag	Partitive	Argument-3	Argument-1	Tag	Partitive	Argument-3	Argument-1
1S	•	•	-k(o)	1XP	ki̅-	•	-ki̅
				1NP	te̅-	•	-te̅
2S	•	•	-c(e)	2P	ce̅-	•	-ce̅
3S	ha-; 0-	p'-, pe-	w-a (1)	3P	he̅-; i-	pa̅-	w-e̅ (1)
Ind	•	0-	-a, -n, -ni	(1) see W-Grade in Stem Grades
Cor	me̅-	(2)	•	(2) same as 3S- or 3P-, depending on number
Rfx	•	•	-ci'

The significance of these suffixes is purely syntactical. They're appended to finite forms immediately after the Argument-1 suffix (or to the stem if the word lacks Argument-1).

Syntactical Category Suffixes

Tag	Suffix		Description	Syntactical Category
-Con	-q, -qi	-£(i)	Adjunctivizer	Secondary
-Nom	-z, -zo	-z(o)	Nominalizer	Nominal

These suffixes mark agreement (or the lack of it) in addition to marking the syntactical category. All of them preempt Argument-1 marking (or Argument-2 where Argument-1 can't occur). Most of them can also have referents, however indirectly, and so can be thought of as 3rd person argument suffixes (besides having syntactical significance). The adverb suffix (-Adv) can be thought of as being either impersonal or coreferential, whichever makes more sense.

Non-Primary Agreement Suffixes

Tag	Suffix	Description	Syntactical	Notes
-PCD	-0, -£(i) (1)	Patient-Coreferent Depictive	Secondary	(1) -PCD is -0 except on nouns and agentive verbs
-ACD	-m(e)	Agent-Coreferent Depictive
-Rsl	-pa	Resultative
-AMA	-to̅m (2)	Active Manner Adverb		(2) -- changed --
-PMA	-to̅ (2)	Passive Manner Adverb
-Inf	-mez	Infinitive	Nominal
-AniS	-la, l-a (3)	Animate Singular	Participial	(3) see below
-AniP	-ka	Animate Plural
-InaS	-za	Inanimate Singular
-InaP	-na, -ma (4)	Inanimate Plural		(4) see below
-ThmS	-p(e)za	Thematic (inanimate) Singular		(5) -ThmP might be -p'na, -pena instead
-ThmP	-pa̅na (5)	Thematic (inanimate) Plural

Possibly, there's also a thematic depictive, whose theme coreferences the host's patient? It (-TDP) would probably be marked |-p(e)|.

Personal pronouns are essentially verbal, being participial forms of the copula. As with noun phrases, there are no case distinctions. Personal pronouns are used only when topical, conjoined, intensive, or contrastively focused. The partitive personal pronouns are formed similarly, but use the partitive prefixes.

The personal pronouns and the corresponding partitive pronouns are shown in the table below, along with the partitive determiner forms:

Personal Pronouns

Group	Singular Pronouns				Plural Pronouns				Gender
	Tag	Personal	Partitive		Tag	Personal	Partitive
Local	1S	k'la	•	•	1XP	ko̅ka	ki̅la	ki̅ka
					1NP	ta̅ka	te̅la	te̅ka
	2S	cla	•	•	2P	ca̅ka	ce̅la	ce̅ka
Non-Local	3S	hla	•	•	3P	ha̅ka	he̅la	he̅ka	animate
						determiner=	ila	ika
		heza	heza	hna		ha̅na	he̅za	he̅na	inanimate
		determiner=	za	na		determiner=	iza	ina

The personal pronouns take the expected agreement, except when contrastively focused, in which case the agreement is either 3S or 3P, depending on context.

Negative Personal Pronouns

Negative Personal Pronouns

Group	Singular Pronouns			Plural Pronouns		Gender
	Tag	Personal		Tag	Personal
Local	1S	kianla	kianka	1XP	ko̅canka
				1NP	ta̅canka
	2S	ceanla	ceanka	2P	ca̅canka
Non-Local	3S	heanla	heanka	3P	ha̅canka	animate
		canla	canka		eanka
		heanza	heanna		ha̅canna	inanimate
		canza	canna		eanna

Unlike elsewhere in K'tle , where referents are divided into animate or inanimate or not classified at all, certain pronouns distinguish human and non-human instead; these are the content question pronouns (Que), used for "who(m)", "what", etc., the coreferential pronouns (Cor), the indefinite pronoun (Ind), and the universal quantifier (Uni), which acts like a pronoun.

The content question and coreferential pronouns have partitive forms as well, which are divided into animate and inanimate. The content question pronouns and universal quantifier also have participial forms used as determiners; the latter is divided into animate and inanimate, but the former makes the human and non-human distinction as well.

• Coreferential pronouns never appear in a primary clause and most often appear as early as possible in a clause.
• Content question pronouns appear mainly in primary clauses and in embedded questions. Except in the latter case and when another part of the clause is focused, they appear last.
• Indefinite pronouns appear after phrase conjunctions and when contrastively focused.

All of these pronominal and participial forms are shown in the table below:

Other Pronouns

Content Question						Coreferential				Division
Tag	Pron	Participial		Partitive		Tag	Pron	Partitive
Que	xo̅	xo̅la	xo̅ka	xe̅la	xe̅ka	Cor	mo̅	me̅la	me̅ka	human
	xa̅	xa̅la	xa̅ka				ma̅			non-human animate
		xa̅za	xa̅na	xe̅za	xe̅na			me̅za	me̅na	inanimate
Universal Quantifier						Indefinite				Division
Tag	Pron	Participial				Tag	Pron
Uni	te̅n	•	tenka			Ind	ni̅			human
	te̅na						ne̅			non-human animate
		tenza	ten̅a							inanimate

The copula in K'tle  is used for identity, definition, and existence. It's somewhat peculiar in that its root is phonetically null and its finite forms consist entirely of polarity, agreement marking, and syntactical function marking. The participial forms have already been given above in Pronouns; what remains are the primary and secondary forms.

Primary Forms of the Copula

The copula is a defective relational verb. It has two sets of primary forms: one for the copula of identity and the other for the copula of definition and existence.

The copula of identity is inherently reciprocal and consists of the Argument-2 personal prefixes added to the definite 3rd person Argument-1 suffixes; forms which identify the 2nd person with the 1st person don't exist. In addition, only forms where the prefix agrees in number with the suffix exist.

The copula of definition and existence consists of the Argument-2 personal prefixes added to an indefinite 3rd person Argument-1 suffix. If there's a phrase elaborating Argument-1 (usually appearing after the copula), the referent for Argument-2 is defined as a subset of the referent of Argument-1. If there's no such elaborating phrase, the copula is one of existence. The copula of definition is used only when the defining phrase contains at least one attributive qualifier if a noun is present and at least two attributive qualifiers otherwise.

Copula

Identity				Definition & Existence				Group
Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
1S	koa	1XP	ko̅he̅	1S	kon	1XP	ko̅n	Local
		1NP	ta̅he̅			1NP	ta̅n
2S	coa	2P	ca̅he̅	2S	cen	2P	ca̅n
3S	ha	3P	oe̅	3S	ni	3P	an	Non-Local
				Ind	nin
Cor-	moa- (*)			Cor-	men- (*)

Theoretically, there are also partitive forms, where a definite 3rd person referent (Argument-1) is defined as a part or subset of some other referent (Argument-2, using the partitive prefixes). Since I'm not sure they're actually in use, I've left them out. In any event, the copula of definition can be used with a partitive phrase.

Negative and Interrogative Primary Forms

As with the corresponding basic (positive) forms, a Cor- (coreferential) form here must take one of the syntactical category suffixes.

Negative Copula

Identity				Definition & Existence				Group
Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
1S	kio̅na	1XP	ko̅co̅ne̅	1S	kianni	1XP	ko̅canni	Local
		1NP	ta̅co̅ne̅			1NP	ta̅canni
2S	ceo̅na	2P	ca̅co̅ne̅	2S	ceanni	2P	ca̅canni
3S	co̅na	3P	eo̅ne̅	3S	canni	3P	eanni	Non-Local
				Ind	nianni
Cor-	meo̅na- (*)			Cor-	meanni- (*)

Interrogative Copula

Identity				Definition & Existence				Group
Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
1S	koo̅xa	1XP	ko̅ho̅xe̅	1S	koaxni	1XP	ko̅haxni	Local
		1NP	ta̅ho̅xe̅			1NP	ta̅haxni
2S	coo̅xa	2P	ca̅ho̅xe̅	2S	coaxni	2P	ca̅haxni
3S	ho̅xa	3P	oo̅xe̅	3S	haxni	3P	oaxni	Non-Local
				Ind	noaxni
Cor	moo̅xa- (*)			Cor	moaxni- (*)

The copula may also have negative participial forms. Also, I'm not sure if the interrogative coreferential forms are actually used.

Secondary Forms of the Copula

The copula has no regular infinitive (-Inf), but nominalized coreferential forms can be used as infinitives. Likewise, there's no regular patient-depictive (-PCD) form, but adjunctivized coreferential forms can be used as such. The agent-depictive (-ACD) form is {mem} |mem| and the resultative (-Rsl) form is {mepa} |mepa|. Like the copula of definition and existence, these all have limited use.

Are there any non-3rd person secondary forms?

Besides the possessors of obligatorily possessed nouns, the only nominal inflection category is number. Number is either singular or plural and is distinguished only for count nouns, not mass nouns. The singular (.S) is the basic form. The choice of suffix for -P depends on the stem:

• The singular endings |-a|, |-e|, and |(-e)| are replaced by |-e̅n|.
• The singular endings |-i|, |-o|, |(-i)|, and |(-o)| are replaced by |-i̅n|.
• Either |-in| or |-a| is appended to a singular ending in a consonant (with other stem changes possible), the choice being lexically determined, as are the following choices.
• The singular ending |-i̅| is replaced by either |-ia|, |-oa|, or |-oin|.
• The singular ending |-o̅| is replaced by either |-oa| or |-oin|.
• The singular ending |-e̅| is replaced by |-ea|.

page started: 2009.Mar.10 Tue
prior version: 2009.Apr.15 Wed
prior version: 2009.Oct.20 Tue
last modified: 2010.Mar.21 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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