Most of the vocabulary is derived from the combination of a root with a classifier; these are partly fused, but are still inflectional to a degree. Both noun stems and verb stems are constructed this way, even though the classifiers are distinct.
| Format Symbols | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | = prefix consonant, | c | = stem consonant, | s | = suffix consonant. | ||
| a | = stressed vowel, | u | = unstressed vowel, | e | = umlauted a, | y | = umlauted u. |
| º | = prefix vowel, | ¹ | = 1st stem vowel, | ² | = 2nd stem vowel, | ³ | = 3rd stem vowel. |
| | | = long high tone, | / | = long rising tone, | \ | = long falling tone. | ||
| Code | Format | From | Derivation | Type | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64L | ca¹/cu²c | 64S | stress » heavy; heavy and open » long | α | indefinite nouns |
| 62L | cu¹ce²\c | 62S | + -C, - C with compensation | γ | definite nouns |
| 22L | pyºcce²\c | 22S | + -C, - C with compensation | ε | possessed nouns |
| 54S | ce¹ccu³(s) | 64S | + -V, umlaut (v¹, v²), (+ -C) | ζ | univalent primary verbs |
| 62S | cu¹ce²c | 64S | + -V, stress-shift, umlaut (v², v³) | β | univalent secondary |
| 72S | cu¹ce²cu³ | 62S | + -V | univalent adverb | |
| 74S | cu¹ce²cu³s | 72S | + -C | univalent tertiary | |
| 54/8 | puºce¹ccu³(s) | 54S | + CV- | η | bivalent primary verbs |
| 22S | pyºcce²c | 28 | + -V, stress-shift, umlaut (v², v³) | δ | bivalent secondary |
| 32S | pyºcce²cu³ | 22S | + -V | bivalent adverb | |
| 38 | pyºcce²cu³s | 32S | + -C | bivalent tertiary |
Another bit of common morphology involves personal agreement affixes. There are associative person-number prefixes in addition to the basic ones. Only the basic prefixes can be used as mandatory possessors. The associative forms for the 1st person singular are used as 1st person exclusive plural forms. In addition to the normal forms, there are also intensive and limiting suffixes and pronouns (but not prefixes). The limiting forms are constructed by replacing the ' of the intensive with c.
Possibly the intensive and limiting suffixes will be eliminated, leaving only the pronominal forms.
The superscripts used below (and possibly elsewhere) indicate the type of final stem vowel modification:
| ª | = a-mutation, | º | = o-mutation, | ¹ | = i-mutation. |
|---|
| Person | Basic | Associative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Intensive | Normal | Intensive | ||||
| VStem | CStem | VStem | CStem | VStem | CStem | ||
| 1S | -ªv | -ba | -ba' | -bĕr | -ªvry' | -bary' | |
| 2S | -¹z | -dy | -dy' | -dÿr | -¹dry' | -dyry' | |
| 3S | -ºs | -so | -so' | -sÿr | -ºsry' | -sory' | |
| Explicit | -¹j | -jy | -jy' | - | |||
| Unspec. | -ºk | -ko | -ko' | ||||
| 1NP | -xai | -ªxye' | -xaye' | -xayĕr | -xâiry' | ||
| 2P | -di | -¹zye' | -diye' | -diyĕr | -dîry' | ||
| 3P | -soi | -ºsye' | -soye' | -soyĕr | -sôiry' | ||
| Singular | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Basic | Assoc. | Person | Basic | Assoc. |
| 1S | ba- | ber- | 1NP | xai- | xayer- |
| 2S | dy- | dyr- | 2P | dì- | diyer- |
| 3S | so- | syr- | 3P | soi- | soyer- |
| Unspec. | ko- | - | - | ||
| Explicit | jy- | - | |||
| Rflx. | 'e- | - | |||
| Person | Basic | Associative | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Intensive | Normal | Intensive | |||||
| Empty | Full | Empty | Full | Empty | Full | Empty | Full | |
| 1S | av | név | oba' | nîba' | ober | nìber | avry' | névry' |
| 2S | yz | níz | ody' | nîdy' | odyr | nìdyr | ydry' | nídry' |
| 3S | os | nís | oso' | nîso' | osyr | nìsyr | osry' | nísry' |
| Explicit | yj | ? | ojy' | ? | - | |||
| Unspec. | ok | ? | oko' | ? | ||||
| 1NP | oxâi | niyouxâi | axye' | niyáxye' | axyĕr | niyaxyĕr | oxâiry' | niyouxâiry' |
| 2P | odî | niyoudî | yzye' | niyázye' | yzyĕr | niyazyĕr | odîry' | niyoudîry' |
| 3P | osôi | niyousôi | osye' | niyásye' | osyĕr | niyasyĕr | osôiry' | niyousôiry' |
| Person | Basic | Associative | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Intensive | Limiting | Normal | Intensive | Limiting | |
| 1S | ba | ba' | bac | ber | báry' | báryc |
| 2S | dy | dy' | dyc | dyr | dýry' | dýryc |
| 3S | so | so' | soc | syr | sóry' | sóryc |
| Explicit | jy | jy' | jyc | - | ||
| Unspec. | ko | ko' | koc | |||
| 1NP | xai | xáye' | xáyec | xayĕr | xâiry' | xâiryc |
| 2P | di | díye' | díyec | diyĕr | dîry' | dîryc |
| 3P | soi | sóye' | sóyec | soyĕr | sôiry' | sôiryc |
| Person | Basic | Associative | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pres. | Past | Future | Contra. | Pres. | Past | Future | Contra. | |
| 1S | av | áv | óumba | oumăv | obĕr | àbĕr | ombĕr | ambĕr |
| 2S | yz | óuz | óundy | oumĕz | odyr | àdyr | ondyr | andyr |
| 3S | os | ós | óunso | oumŏs | osyr | àsyr | onsyr | ansyr |
| Explicit | yj | óuj | óunjy | oumĕj | - | |||
| Unspec. | ok | ók | óunko | oumŏk | ||||
| Corefer. | ôu' | âhe' | ôume' | óumai' | ||||
| 1NP | oxâi | àxâi | omxâi | amxâi | axyĕr | àxayĕr | omxayĕr | oumaxyĕr |
| 2P | odî | àdî | ondî | andî | yzyĕr | àdiyĕr | ondiyĕr | oumezyĕr |
| 3P | osôi | àsôi | onsôi | ansôi | osyĕr | àsoyĕr | onsoyĕr | oumosyĕr |
Each noun classifier denotes a class, fusing gender with number. Certain classes of nouns are mandatorily possessed; these always have a prefix indicating the person and number of the possessor. Other nouns may be marked as definite or indefinite.
There are 28 noun-classes listed here.
| Key | |
|---|---|
| S | = Singular |
| P | = Plural |
| M | = Mass |
| R | = Relational |
| Description | Singular | Plural | Mass | Gender and Valence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| human | - | - | - | Animate, Simple |
| animal, tame | - | - | - | |
| animal, wild | - | - | - | |
| male | - | - | - | |
| female | - | - | - | |
| moving fluid etc. | - | - | - | |
| kinship | - | - | - | Animate, Possessed |
| edible plant | - | - | - | Inanimate, Simple |
| artifact | - | - | - | |
| measurement unit | - | - | - | |
| edible substance | - | - | - | |
| poisonous substance | - | - | - | |
| non-solid substance | - | - | - | |
| mineral | - | - | - | |
| body part | - | - | - | Inanimate, Possessed |
| body fluid | - | - | - |
Each verb classifier denotes a fusion of actiontype and argument structure. The actiontype is either static or dynamic and the argument structure specifies the whether or not the verb is monovalent or not, whether each argument is animate or inanimate (the noun classes tend to align with one or the other), and if the verb is monovalent, whether the single argument is an agent or a patient.
Monovalent static verbs usually denote qualities, while divalent static verbs usually denote spatial and other relations.
Verb forms are classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary. The tertiary forms are attributive (usually restrictive) and used as nouns or noun modifiers. The secondary forms are used, depending on the inflection, as adverbs, resultative secondary predicates, or depictive secondary predicates. The primary forms are finite and used as syntactical verbs in main clauses, adverbial clauses, complement clauses, and relative clauses.
There are 32 verb-types listed here.
The 1st Key letter in a description represents the T-argument (Topic) and the 2nd Key, if any, represents the C-argument (Complement). The classes with ° on the right lack C-argument prefixes (person and number) in all forms, while those with O on the right can have only 3rd person C-prefixes, as do those with I on the right.
| Key | |
|---|---|
| A | = Animate Agent or Perceiver or Donor (or 2nd P) |
| P | = Animate Patient or Image or Recipient |
| O | = Inanimate Patient or Image or Theme |
| I | = Inanimate Instrument (or 2nd O) |
| ° | = indefinite |
| # | Original | Derived | Valence | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamic 1 | Static 1 | Dynamic 2 | Static 2 | ||||||
| 1. | A > ° | — | — | A > ° | Univalent | ||||
| 2. | P < ° | -eC? | P | P | P < ° | ||||
| 3. | O < ° | -eC? | O | O | O < ° | ||||
| 4. | A > P | A > P | A > P | A > P | Bivalent | ||||
| 5. | A > O | A > O | A > O | -an | A > O | ||||
| 6. | P < I | -eC? | I > P | I > P | P < I | ||||
| 7. | O < I | -eC? | I > O | I > O | O < I | ||||
| 8. | A > P, O (I) | — | — | A > P, O (I) | Trivalent | ||||
| 9. | Impersonal? | Impersonal? | Impersonal? | Impersonal? | ? | ||||
| Aorist | Stative | Inchoative Aor | Perfect | Uses | |||||
| Progressive | Inchoative Prg | ||||||||
| some Habitual | some Habitual | some Habitual | some Habitual | ||||||
Dynamic 2 are "derived" from Static 1 and Static 2 from Dynamic 1. Additional derivations (Future, Terminative, etc.) require affixes.
Possibly, row 8 should either be 2 rows or identical to rows 4 and 5.
Mood and tense are properties of only primary verb forms. The basic verb stem is realis mood; the irrealis mood stem is formed by adding -en (-Irr) to the basic stem. There are 2 tenses: past and present (or non-past). The present tense stem is formed by adding -y (-Prs) to the realis stem and the past tense stem is formed by adding -a (-Pst) instead. These 2 tense suffixes can also be added to the irrealis stem, in which case they form the future tense (-Fut) and the contrafactual mood -Con); the combined suffixes become -yn and -an, respectively.
Note that all of these tenses/moods refer to some definite or specific time (usually).
| Form | Tag | Description | - | Derivation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -y | -Prs | present tense | - | + *i |
| -a | -Pst | past tense | - | + *a |
| -yn | -Fut | future tense | - | + *em + *i |
| -an | -Con | contrafactual mood | - | + *em + *a |
page started: 2010.Jun.08 Tue
current date: 2010.Jul.05 Mon
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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