K'tlê – A Constructed Language

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gqe/ Valence-Changing Operations

1. Suffixes
2. Valence-Increasing Operations
   1. Benefactive Applicative
   2. Causative
   3. Mantenential
3. Valence-Decreasing Operations
   1. Reflexive
   2. Suffix Combinations
4. Other Operations
   1. Autocausative
   2. Perlative Applicative

The suffixes relevent to this chapter are:

Tag	Form	Form	Description
-Ben	w-ez	w-ez	Benefactive Applicative
-Cau	y-em	y-em	Causative
-Man	-ha	-ha	Mantenential
-Rfx	-ci'	-ci'	Reflexive
-Aut	-ci'	-ci'	Autocausative
-Per	y-ak	y-ak	Perlative Applicative

Each of these adds one argument to the verb's argument structure, increasing its valence by one. Since a verb's valence is limited to three, the original verb can't be ditransitive. For each of these, the suffix (-Ben, -Cau, or -Man) is appended to the stem before any aspect marking.

Benefactive Applicative

This applicative is either benefactive or malefactive, depending on the word to which it's applied and on pragmatic factors. Hence the new argument, which must be animate, can refer to a beneficiary or to a maleficiary. The benefit (or its opposite) may be interpreted as occurring after the action in some cases.

• The benefactive can be applied to agentive and transitive verbs, producing transitive and trivalent verbs, respectively. In both cases, the new argument is Argument-1.
• If the base verb is transitive, its original Argument-1, which must be inanimate here, becomes Argument-3.
• It can also be applied to relational verbs provided that the subject is animate and the object is inanimate. In this case, Argument-2 becomes Argument-3, Argument-1 becomes Argument-2, and the new argument is Argument-1, as with the others.

• .ctati/pezko	.ctatip
  ctati̅pezko.	ctatip.
  "You came here for my benefit."	"You came here."
  c-ta-ti̅p-ez-ko	c-ta-tip
  2S.Dir-here-go/come-Ben.Prf-1S	2S.Dir-here-go/come.Prf

• .k'pa/clo/po/za	.koclo/pe/
  k'pa̅clo̅po̅za.	koclo̅pe̅.
  "I carried them for her."	"I carried them."
  k'-pa̅-clo̅p-o̅z-a	ko-clo̅p-e̅
  1S.Dir-3P-carry-Ben.Prf-3S	1S.Dir-carry.Prf-3P

Causative

The causative adds an animate argument whose referent functions as the cause of a situation. The act of causation may be interpreted as occurring prior to the situation.

It also makes a stative situation dynamic, so that the unmarked aspect is now treated as perfective and the imperfective suffix is now possible.

The causative can be applied to monovalent and relational verbs, producing transitive and trivalent verbs, respectively. It can also be applied to some static transitive verbs as well (also with trivalent verbs resulting). In all cases, the new argument is Argument-2.

• If the base verb is agentive, it's first converted to patientive (moving Argument-2 to Argument-1).
• If the base verb is relational, the original Argument-2, which should be inanimate here, becomes Argument-3 (so that {D-} |0-| and {a-} |a-| become {p<e>-} |p(e)-| and {pa/-} |pa̅-|, respectively).
• If the base verb is transitive, the original Argument-1, which should be inanimate here, moves to Argument-3 while the original Argument-2 moves to Argument-1.

• .cpalcenko	.palok/o
  cpalcenko.	palokko.
  "You made me sick."	"I was sick."
  c-palc-en-ko	palok-ko
  2S.Dir-sick-Cau.Prf-1S	sick.Ipf-1S

• .ctati/penko	.k'tatip
  ctati̅penko.	k'tatip.
  "You made me come here."	"I came here."
  c-ta-ti̅p-en-ko	k'-ta-tip
  2S.Dir-here-go/come-Cau.Prf-1S	1S-here-go/come.Prf

• .ap'toco/ma	.t'ka
  ap'toco̅ma.	t'ka.
  "They got it inside."	"It was inside."
  a-p'-toc-o̅m-a	0-t'k-a
  3P.Dir-3S-inside-Cau.Prf-3S	3S-inside.Ipf-3S

• .cexhi/enko	.koxho'ni
  cexhi̅enko	koxho'ni
  "You made me afraid."	"I was afraid."
  ce-xhi̅-en-ko	ko-xho'-ni
  2S.Dir-afraid-Cau.Prf-1S	1S.Dir-afraid.Ipf-IND

Mantenential

The mantenential adds an animate argument whose referent functions to maintain a situation, the maintenance being concurrent with the situation.

It also makes a dynamic situation stative, so that the unmarked aspect is now treated as imperfective and the imperfective suffix is no longer possible.

With regard to application and argument structure, the mantenential acts like the causative.

• .kiapalokhoe/	.palok/o
  kiapalokhoe̅.	palokko.
  "They're keeping me sick."	"I'm sick."
  kia-palok-ho-e̅	palok-ko
  1S.Inv-sick-Man.Ipf-3P	sick.Ipf-1S

• .cehoztiphak	.k'hoztipe/
  cehoztiphak.	k'hoztipe̅.
  "You kept me walking."	"I was walking."
  ce-hoz-tip-ha-k	k'-hoz-tip-e̅
  2S.Dir-feet-go/come-Man.Ipf-1S	1S-feet-go/come-Prg

• .ko/p'tokhoa	.t'ka
  ko̅p'tokhoa.	t'ka.
  "We keep it inside."	"It's inside."
  ko̅-p'-tok-ho-a	0-t'k-a
  1XP.Dir-3S-inside-Man.Ipf-3S	3S-inside.Ipf-3S

Since K'tlê  can effectively eliminate arguments by marking them as indefinite, there aren't any of the usual passives and antipassives. However, reflexive marking may be considered a valence-changing operation, in that the argument-structure is changed. Core argument incorporation also decreases the valence (see Deriving Verbs from Nouns).

The reflexive indicates that Argument-1 has the same referent as Argument-2, and is therefore limited to direct forms, which take the reflexive suffix {-ci'} |-ci'| (-Rfx) in place of Argument-1. All non-monovalent words can be marked as reflexive, although this is not very common for trivalent verbs and rare for relational verbs and possessed nouns. The argument-structure changes are:

• Transitive verbs act like Agentive verbs.
• Trivalent verbs change in a fashion analogous to that of transitive verbs
.
• Relational verbs normally don't take the reflexive.
• Possessed nouns normally don't take the reflexive.

• .ta/loxteci'

  ta̅loxteci'.

  "We've seen ourselves."

  ta̅-lox-te-ci'

  1NP-see-Ret-Rfx

Note that reflexives and intensives aren't identical: the latter use the normal non-reflexive forms with a personal pronoun.

• .ta/loxtoa ta/ka
  ta̅loxtoa ta̅ka.
  "We've seen it ourselves."
  ta̅-lox-to-a	ta̅-0-ka
  1NP-see-Ret-3S	1NP-Cop-AniP

Suffix Combinations

The reflexive can be used along with a valence-increasing operation, in some cases.

• .k'tiphaci'

  k'tiphaci'.

  "I kept myself going."

  k'-tip-ha-ci'

  1S-go/come-Man.Ipf-Rfx

• .zpetokhaci'

  zpetokhaci'.

  "Stay inside."

  z-pe-tok-ha-ci'

  2S.Imp-3S-inside-Man.Ipf-Rfx

• .pecle/penci'

  pecle̅penci'.

  "He carried it for his own benefit."

  0-pe-cle̅p-en-ci'

  3S.Dir-3S-carry-Ben.Prf-Rfx

• .tammi/ tati/pezci'
  tammi̅ tati̅pezci'.
  "Tom came here for his own benefit."
  tammi̅	0-ta-ti̅p-ez-ci'
  Tom	3S-here-go/come-Ben.Prf-Rfx

These neither increase nor decrease the number of arguments of a verb, but do affect the argument structure in some way.

Autocausative

Although it doesn't add any arguments, the autocausative does add a semantic role to an existing argument and in some cases, change the positions of the arguments. The autocausative can be used with patientive verbs, making them agentive, with relational verbs, making them transitive, and with transitive verbs denoting perception or mental states, which stay transitive.

The autocausative is marked with the suffix {-ci'} |-ci'| (-Aut); this is identical to the reflexive suffix (-Rfx) but occurs in a different position.

• Argument-1 of a monovalent verb becomes Argument-2.
• For an originally relational verb, Argument-1 and Argument-2 are swapped, with the inverse now marked differently.
• There's no change to an originally transitive verb, other than the addition of the autocausative suffix.

The autocausative also makes a stative situation dynamic, so that the unmarked aspect is now treated as perfective and the imperfective suffix following the autocausative suffix is now possible.

• .c'oizci'	.oizce
  c'oizci'.	oizce.
  "You got (yourself) drunk."	"You're drunk."
  c-'oiz-ci'	oiz-ce
  2S.Dir-drunk-Aut.Prf	drunk.Ipf-2S

• .ko/loxci/e/ p'nit/i/n		.ko/li/xe/ p'nit/i/n
  ko̅loxci̅e̅ p'nitti̅n.		ko̅-li̅x-e̅ p'nitti̅n.
  "We looked at the knives."		"We saw the knives."
  ko̅-lox-ci̅-e̅	p'nitti̅-n	ko̅-li̅x-e̅	p'nitti̅-n
  1XP.Dir-see-Aut.Prf-3P	knife-P	1XP.Dir-see.Prf-3P	knife-P

• .atokci/a heazto		.t'ke/ heazto
  atokci̅a heazto.		t'ke̅ heazto.
  "They got (themselves) into the house."		"They're inside the house."
  a-tok-ci̅-a	heazto	0-t'k-e̅	heazto
  3P.Dir-inside-Aut.Prf-3S	house.S	3S.Dir-inside.Ipf-3P	house.S

• .ta/halzici/a	.ta/mahalzoa
  ta̅halzici̅a.	ta̅mahalzoa.
  "We'd gotten (ourselves) far away."	"We were far away."
  ta̅-halzi-ci̅-a	ta̅-ma-halzo-a
  1NP.Dir-far/away-Aut.Prf-3S	1NP.Dir-far/away.Ipf-3S

The only effect this applicative has on the verb's argument structure is to replace an argument having a locative role with one having a perlative role (that is, the object now specifies a route instead of a location).

It derives a dynamic verb specifying a route from a stative verbs denoting a spatial relation or position by appending the perlative suffix {y-ak} |y-ak| (-Per) to the stem.

• .k'hoztip le/mak'me talze
  k'hoztip le̅mak'me talze.
  "I walked along the path."
  k'-hoz-tip	0-le̅m-ak'-me	talze
  1S-feet-go/come.Prf	3S.Dir-along-Per.Prf-ACD	path.S

• .ta/ztip pi/zak'me heazto
  ta̅ztip pi̅zak'me heazto.
  "Let's go around the house."
  ta̅z-tip	0-pi̅z-ak'-me	heazto
  1NP.Imp-go/come	3S.Dir-around-Per.Prf-ACD	house.S

The perlative applicative and the benefactive applicative can both occur within the same word; the former suffix must appear first.

• .heazto k'petcako/ze/
  heazto k'petcako̅ze̅.
  "I went through the house for their benefit."
  heazto	k'-pe-tc-ak-o̅z-e̅
  house	1S.Dir-3S-inside-Per.Prf-Ben-3P

page started: 2009.Mar.10 Tue
prior version: 2009.Apr.10 Fri
prior version: 2009.Oct.21 Wed
last modified: 2010.Mar.18 Thu
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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