Compounds have Modifier-Head order.
Nouns are inflected for singular and plural number. Their referents are either animate or inanimate, as recognized by 3rd person pronoun agreement.
Verbs are inflected for grammatical voice and for relative tense.
The grammatical voices are active (which is unmarked), passive (marked by the prefix ji-, Pas-), and reflexive (marked by the prefix ca-, Rfx-).
The relative tenses are current (which is unmarked, -Cur), anterior (marked by the suffix +w, -Ret), and posterior (marked by the suffix -me, -Pro).
In addition to roots and inflections, words may also include various clitic pronouns and particles. For verbs, these include proclitic object pronouns, enclitic subject pronouns, enclitic absolute tense particles, polarity particles, and modality particles (in the order polarity - modality - tense - subject).
The determiners te (Def), ki (Spc), and qa (Rel) are also proclitic.
The generic nouns are enclitic; these are la (AniS), re (AniP), xi (InaS), and no (InaP).
The personal pronouns can be independent or used as enclitic subjects, proclitic objects, or proclitic possessors. The short form of the subject pronouns appear when the host stem ends in a short vowel; otherwise the long form appears.
| Tag | Independent | Possessor | Object | Subject | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1S | kā | ke | ke | k(e) | - |
| 1XP | kōha | kō | kō | kō | - |
| 1NP | bōha | bō | bō | bō | +ybō |
| 2S | sā | se | se | s(e) | +y, +ys(e) |
| 2P | sōha | sō | sō | sō | +y, +ysō |
| 3AS | lā | la | la | l(a) | - |
| 3AP | rōha | re | re | r(e) | - |
| 3IS | xē | xi | xi | x(i) | - |
| 3IP | nūha | no | no | n(o) | - |
| Rfx | - | ca | - | - | - |
| Ind | * | do | - | - | - |
The negative polarity particle is pa (Neg) and the polar question particle is qe (PQ). Although positive polarity is unmarked, there's also an affirmative particle.
The modality (and evidentiality) particles are contrafactual (pon, Ctf), possible (qef, ???), deductive (Ded), witnessed (Wit), and hearsay (Hrs).
The absolute tenses are present (marked by the particle ni, Prs), past (marked by the particle to, Pst), and future (marked by the particle fa, Fut). They may attach to the verb, appear independently (the forms then being nī, tū, and fā), or combine with do (Exi), nan (Uni), ??? (Nul), or qai (CQ), e.g. qaifa "when" (future) and nanni "always" (present).
Note that the forms with nan and do also indicate pluractionality.
There are a number of 2-particle combinations. The 1st part is either the satisfactive particle xar (Sat), the content question particle qai (CQ), the relativizer qa (Rel), a demonstrative, or a quantifier. The 2nd part is either the locational verb ba (Loc), the manner particle men (Man), the degree particle kal (Deg), an absolute tense particle, or a generic noun. Not all combinations can occur; for example, demonstratives don't combine with absolute tense particles.
page started: 2012.Apr.18 Wed
current date: 2012.Apr.19 Thu
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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