Note: the letter ɪ represents an i that gets deleted under certain phonological circumstances.
The structure of a verb form is as follows, where Base includes the Root and any derivational suffixes.
Agreement-Base-Polarity-Aspect-Agreement
Positive polarity is unmarked.
| Suffix | Tag | Name |
|---|---|---|
| -an | -Neg | negative |
| -ix | -Aff | affirmative |
The aspects have both traditional and descriptive names. Durative aspect is unmarked for static verbs while aoristic aspect is unmarked for dynamic verbs.
| Suffix | Tag | Names |
|---|---|---|
| -nɪ | -Dur | present or durative |
| -ho | -Aor | aoristic |
| -te | -Prf | perfect or retrospective |
| -po | -Fut | future or prospective |
| -uk | -Hab | habitual |
A verb form may be a participle, an infinitive, or finite, as determined by the agreement affixes. There may be 1 agreement suffix, specifying the subject, agent, or donor, and up to 2 agreement prefixes: the 1st specifies location, patient, or recipient while the 2nd (which is always inanimate) specifies location or theme. Any class of verb may take the agreement suffix.
There are 2 varieties of the overall agreement scheme: one is used for passive participles and passive infinitives while the other is used for passive finite forms and all active forms. In the 1st variety, the only suffixes permitted are the personal ones, with passive (or impersonal) being 0-marked. In the 2nd variety, all agreement suffixes are possible, with the active infinitive being 0-marked.
| Suffix | Tag | Description | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| -xɪ | -1S | 1st person singular | personal |
| -me | -1P | 1st person plural | |
| -kɪ | -2 | 2nd person | |
| -lɪ | -3S | 3rd person singular | |
| -lo | -3P | 3rd person plural | |
| -aq | -Imp | Imperative (2nd person) | special |
| -so | -Ani | animate active participle | |
| -to | -Ina | inanimate active participle | |
| -i | -U | passive (or impersonal) |
In all cases, unspecified argument is 0-marked.
| Prefix | Tag | Description | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| zi- | 1S- | 1st person singular | animate |
| mi- | 1P- | 1st person plural | |
| go- | 2- | 2nd person | |
| dox- | Rfx- | reflexive (all persons) | |
| ne- | 3AS- | 3rd person animate singular | |
| fo- | 3AP- | 3rd person animate plural | |
| si- | Ani- | animate passive participle | |
| ben- | Inf- | passive infinitive | |
| a- | 3IS- | 3rd person inanimate singular | inanimate |
| u- | 3IP- | 3rd person inanimate plural | |
| tɪ- | Ina- | inanimate passive participle |
The genitives of pronouns have special forms used as possessive determiners:
| Pronoun | Tag | Genitive | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xim | 1S | xii | 1SGen | 1st person singular |
| mem | 1P | mai | 1PGen | 1st person plural |
| kim | 2 | kii | 2Gen | 2nd person |
| doxmi | Rfx | doxi | RfxGen | reflexive |
| dom | 3AS | lii | 3SGen | 3rd person animate singular |
| daa | 3IS | 3rd person inanimate singular | ||
| dos | 3AP | lee | 3PGen | 3rd person animate plural |
| doo | 3IP | 3rd person inanimate plural |
| Pronoun | Tag | Genitive | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cem | CQ? | cai | CQGen | content question, personal |
| caa | CQ? | content question, general | ||
| paarom | Uni? | paaree | UniGen | universal quantifier, personal |
| paaraa | Uni? | universal quantifier, general |
Nouns are inflected for number (singular and plural and/or mass) in various ways.
Nouns may also be inflected for polarity. The suffixes are the same as for verbs and appear between the noun stem and any number suffix.
Noun cases are marked by postpositions, of which the animate noun vocative is an enclitic kɪ (Voc). E.g. tinkok singular and tinkorik plural.
Each demonstrative pronoun consists of a demonstrative determiner (mii Prox, duu Medi, and laa Dist) followed by an indefinite pronoun.
| Pronoun | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ne | AS | indefinite animate singular |
| le | IS | indefinite inanimate singular |
| se | AP | indefinite animate plural |
| te | IP | indefinite inanimate plural |
Superlatives are regularly derived from adjectival verbs using the suffix -ko (-Sup). They have both participial and noun forms Ordinal numbers are regularly derived from the corresponding cardinal numbers using the suffix -he (-Ord) except that "first" and "last" are superlatives of "early" and "late", respectively. These all have both participial and noun forms.
| Superlative | Tag | Ordinal # | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ko | -Sup | -he | -Ord | participial |
| -kom | -SupAS | -hem | -OrdAS | animate singular |
| -kaa | -SupIS | -haa | -OrdIS | inanimate singular |
| -kos | -SupAP | -hes | -OrdAP | animate plural |
| -koo | -SupIP | -hau | -OrdIP | inanimate plural |
page started: 2014.Jul.15 Tue
current date: 2014.Jul.18 Fri
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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