Last Edited: 2006.Aug.02 Wed
All the actants use prefixes. Some actants distinguish singular (S in tags) and plural (P) number. The tables show the prefixes and the corresponding tags. "NA" might stand for either "Noun/Adjective" or "Nullified Argument".
Monovalent Words
The grade of the initial stem consonant is (3) except with NAS.
1st Person | 2nd Person | 3rd Person | Phrasal |
Exclusive | Inclusive | Definite | Indefinite |
1S- | tu- | 2S- | pu- | | | 3D- | o- | 3U- | so- | NAS. | (1) |
1P- | ci- | 2P- | pi- | 2N- | mi- | NAP- | i- |
Divalent Words
The "proximate" or more "animate" actant is first, fused with a direct/inverse marker, followed by the "obviative" or less "animate" actant. The grade of the initial stem consonant is determined by the latter.
Obviative Prefixes
The number in parentheses indicates the grade of the initial stem consonant. A colon indicates that the preceding vowel is lengthened. The 1st person marking is used only when the proximate prefix is 2nd person exclusive.
1st Person | Phrasal | Definite | Indefinite | Reflexive |
1OS- | l(1) | NAS- | :(2) | 3D- | :(1) | 3U. | (3) | Rfx- | re(3) |
1OP- | li(3) | NAP- | ji(3) |
Proximate Prefixes
In the tags, .D is direct and .I is inverse. Inverse means that the roles of the arguments are swapped.
1st Person | 2nd Person | 3rd Person |
Exclusive | Inclusive | Definite | Indefinite |
1S.D- | tu- | 2S.D- | pu- | | | 3D.D- | o- | 3U.D- | so- |
1P.D- | ci- | 2P.D- | pi- | 2N.D- | mi- |
1S.I- | twa- | 2S.I- | kwa- | | | 3D.I- | a- | 3U.I- | sa- |
1P.I- | ca- | 2P.I- | pya- | 2N.I- | mya- |
Trivalent Words
Obviative Prefixes
This table show the combinations of "indirect object" + "direct object". The column labels show the tags for the "direct objects" (usually Inanimate) and the rows labels show the tags for the "indirect objects" (usually Animate). As before, forms with 1st person marking are used only when the proximate prefix is 2nd person exclusive. Note that when the "direct object" is indefinite, the forms act like divalent forms.
| NAIS- | NAIP- | 3ID- | 3IU- |
1OS | -lô(2) | -lji(3) | -lô(1) | -l(1) |
1OP | -lê(2) | -liji(3) | -lê(1) | -li(3) |
NAAS | | | -dô(1) | -:(2) |
NAAP | | | -jê(1) | -ji(3) |
3AD | -gô(2) | -guji(3) | -gô(1) | -:(1) |
3AU | -ho(2) | -hoji(3) | -ho(1) | -(3) |
Rfx | -re(2) | -reji(3) | -re(1) | -re(3) |
These are the most likely to change.
Proximate Prefixes
These are the same as for divalent words.