project Epsilon: Morphology
2006-Mar-02, Thursday 19:25![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qiihoskehLast Edited: 2006.Mar.19 Sun
Noun declensions will probably go in this entry. In preparation, I've started on a table showing different consonant stems combined with some sample suffixes. This will apply to verb suffixing too. More sample suffixes, and rows for vowel stems, will be added eventually.
There will probably be some analogy applied.
j: indicates palatalized stem
w: indicates labialized stem
Aspect and Tense inflections may be tacked onto the end:
The interrogative appears last if it appears. In an assertion (i.e. not an imperative, not a WH-question, and not interrogative (a yes/no question)), a final verb must have an evidential at the end, unless there is a 1st person exclusive or 2nd person inclusive participant, or there is a modal (which implies 1st person in an assertion).
MEA's to which the Stem is Relatively Present
These include the evidentials, which include verbs of perception, such as "see", "hear".
MEA's to which the Stem is Relatively Future
Some of these are "desire", "expect", etc.
Transparent MEA's
These include contrafactual and potential as well as interrogative.
Additional Aspects:
(1) The |h| mya be replaced by |f| after |u| and by |ç| after |i|.
(2) After some double consonants, an |e| is inserted before the endings, which makes the stem act like a short vowel stem.
Identity and definition aren't cases; they may have clitic forms, however. The former follows either a singular or a plural form (whichever is appropriate), while the latter follows the stem.
The inverse voice case marker and identity may be used with pronouns, which otherwise are marked only for number (-i in the singular, -a in the plural).
There's also:
-Foc isn't strictly a case, since it can e.g. be used following -AO, but it's convenient to group it with the case endings.
The subject pronouns can also take the inverse voice suffix.
1S- or 1P- can also be used as animate object pronoun if subject is 2S- or 2P- and
2S- or 2P- can also be used as animate object pronoun if subject is 1S- or 1P-.
The case endings for the independent forms follow:
A non-manifest argument is either the relative subject (in an adjective clause) or the previous subject (which it self may be a non-manifest argument referring further back).
There also needs to be distal demonstrative; possibly sa(?), sei, see, sao, seo.
General Morphological Notes
Noun declensions will probably go in this entry. In preparation, I've started on a table showing different consonant stems combined with some sample suffixes. This will apply to verb suffixing too. More sample suffixes, and rows for vowel stems, will be added eventually.
| - | -u | -i | -a | -ta | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -p | - | -p | -bi | -ba | -tta |
| -t | -ts | -tx | -da | ||
| -k | -k | -gi | -ga | ||
| -m | -n | -mu | -mi | -ma | -nta |
| -n | -nu | -ñi | -na | ||
| -s | -s | -x | -sa | -sta | |
| -h | -h | -f | -ç | -ha | -hta |
| -z | -z | -zu | -ji | -za | -zda |
| -l | -l | -lu | -li | -la | -lta |
There will probably be some analogy applied.
Verb Inflections
Conjugation
Verbs take an inflection indicating what kind of clause the verb is head of, shown in the following table. The table now shows the endings for the four conjugations.| -e | -j/w(u) | -a | -o | Final Verb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -j(i) | -j/wii | -ei | -oi | Relative Clause Verb |
| -a | -j/wee | -ee | -ae | Non-final Verb |
| -o | -j/waa | -ao | Complement Clause Verb | |
| -w(u) | -j/woo | -eo | Adverbial | |
j: indicates palatalized stem
w: indicates labialized stem
Aspect and Tense inflections may be tacked onto the end:
| Present Imperfective | ||
| -n | -Ind | Indefinite Perfective |
| -? | -Def | Definite Perfective |
| -?? | -Ipf | Definite Imperfective |
| -??? | -Ret | Retrospective Aspect |
| -??? | -Pro | Prospective Aspect |
| -??? | -Con | Continuing Aspect (from past to present) |
| -??? | -Prs | Absolute Present |
Actants
Verb actants are not affixes, but clitic pronouns. They're always proclitic, except in the Imperative Mood, when they're enclitic.Verb Stem Formation
A verb stem is formed from a verb root plus a number of MEA's (Modals, Evidentials, and Auxiliaries). Most MEA's have specific time relationships with the verb-stem to which they're applied; the others are "transparent", with the time which for the others would be applied to the MEA is applied directly to the stem. The negative and interrogative markers are included with the MEA's.The interrogative appears last if it appears. In an assertion (i.e. not an imperative, not a WH-question, and not interrogative (a yes/no question)), a final verb must have an evidential at the end, unless there is a 1st person exclusive or 2nd person inclusive participant, or there is a modal (which implies 1st person in an assertion).
MEA's to which the Stem is Relatively Present
These include the evidentials, which include verbs of perception, such as "see", "hear".
MEA's to which the Stem is Relatively Future
Some of these are "desire", "expect", etc.
Transparent MEA's
These include contrafactual and potential as well as interrogative.
Additional Aspects:
* Process Phases:
* begin
* interrupt
* resume
* complete
* Iterative
* Habitual (may be modal)Noun Inflections
Nouns are marked for number, then case. For most nouns, the plural is unmarked, while the singular takes the suffix -i. The cases are shown in the following table. Protoforms are given since the actual form depends on the stem, but the most common forms are also given.| Consonant | Short Vowel | Long Vowel | Protoform | Tag | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *** | - | - | *- | -Obj | single or inanimate object |
| -ma (2) | -ma | -ma | *-ma | -AO | animate object |
| -he (2) | -h (1) | -he (1) | *-he | -DR | direct voice subject |
| -txi (2) | -tx | -dji | *-ti | -IR | inverse voice subject |
(1) The |h| mya be replaced by |f| after |u| and by |ç| after |i|.
(2) After some double consonants, an |e| is inserted before the endings, which makes the stem act like a short vowel stem.
Identity and definition aren't cases; they may have clitic forms, however. The former follows either a singular or a plural form (whichever is appropriate), while the latter follows the stem.
The inverse voice case marker and identity may be used with pronouns, which otherwise are marked only for number (-i in the singular, -a in the plural).
There's also:
| Consonant | Short Vowel | Long Vowel | Protoform | Tag | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -lu | -l | -lu | *-lu | -Foc | focused object |
| -mal (2) | -mal | -mal | *-ma-lu | -FAO | focused animate object |
-Foc isn't strictly a case, since it can e.g. be used following -AO, but it's convenient to group it with the case endings.
Possibly, -Foc and the combination with -AO could both be "cases".
Pronouns and Determiners
Personal Pronouns
The stems are used by themselves as proclitic forms.| 1S- | ni- | 1P- | na- | 1st person, exclusive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2S- | ki- | 2P- | ka- | 2nd person, exclusive |
| 1+2P- | wa- | 1st and 2nd person, inclusive | ||
| 3S- | i- | 3P- | a- | anaphoric |
| Uns- | la- | unspecified | ||
| Rel- | ta- | relative |
The subject pronouns can also take the inverse voice suffix.
| AS- | pi- | AP- | pa- | anaphoric, animate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IS- | ji- | IP- | za- | anaphoric, inanimate |
| PO- | ha- | = previous object | ||
| Rfx- | a- | = current subject | ||
| Uns- | la- | unspecified | ||
| Rel- | ta- | relative |
1S- or 1P- can also be used as animate object pronoun if subject is 2S- or 2P- and
2S- or 2P- can also be used as animate object pronoun if subject is 1S- or 1P-.
The case endings for the independent forms follow:
| Short Vowel | Protoform | Tag | Usage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -h or -ç | *-h | -Dir | direct voice subject | delete? |
| -tx | *-ti | -Inv | inverse voice subject | |
| -l | *-l | -Foc | focused object |
A non-manifest argument is either the relative subject (in an adjective clause) or the previous subject (which it self may be a non-manifest argument referring further back).
Pronominal Verbs
These include the demonstratives and the possessives. The stative demonstratives shown in the table are derived from a morpheme specifying location. There are also demonstrative verbs derived from morphemes of origin, destination, and path.| Personal | Possessive | Demonstrative | Place | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | Plur. | Sing. | Plur. | ||||
| 1X | ni- | no- | nida | noda | neme | u- | 1st person, exclusive |
| 2X | ki- | ko- | kida | koda | keme | 2nd person, exclusive | |
| 1+2 | wâ- | wâda | umi/wî | 1st and 2nd person, inclusive | |||
| 3X | i- | o- | pida | poda | peme | sa- | anaphoric |
| 3A | pi- | po- | anaphoric, animate | ||||
| 3I | ji- | zo- | zeme | anaphoric, inanimate | |||
There also needs to be distal demonstrative; possibly sa(?), sei, see, sao, seo.
Special Nouns
The generic nouns aren't really pronouns, but it's convenient to place them here. A generic noun is used as the noun of a phrase that otherwise doesn't have one. One usage is with the adjectival form of the identity verb used to make a phrase definite. The query pronoun is used in WH-questions and acts like a phrase.| Animate | Inanimate | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | Plur. | Query | Sing. | Plur. | Query | |
| - | 'wî- | pu- | fîbu | zî- | zu- | fîzu |
| -DR | 'wîhe | puf | fîbuf | zîhe | zuf | fîzuf |
| -IR | 'wîdji | putx | fîbutx | zîdji | zutx | fîzutx |
| -AO | 'wîma | puma | fîbuma | |||
| -Foc | 'wîlu | pul | fîbul | zîlu | zul | fîzul |
| -FAO | 'wîmal | pumal | fîbumal | |||
