Ỹhɛ morphology
- Main article: Ỹhɛ
This page gives an extensive description of Ỹhɛ morphological features.
As already mentioned, Ỹhɛ is a morphologically isolating language. Each lexeme does not undergo any morphological mutation. Syntactical roles are thus entirely expressed by syntax and word order. Lexemes can, however, combine in many derivative processes.
Nouns
Nouns in Ỹhɛ usually have a multisyllabic form; they very rarely have a monosyllabic form.
On the morphological level nouns display no number, case or definiteness, exhibiting always the same unaltered form:
müɟa wolf - a wolf - the wolf - wolves - the wolves
Adjectives and pronouns
Adjectives and pronouns have their own form, but, like the nouns, they do not display any morphological change for either number, case or definiteness.
Adjectives
Both attributive and predicative adjectives are always placed after the nouns they specify.
osmɔç čü̃ a young man
osmɔç çɛɕa čü̃ the man is young
Personal pronouns
The personal pronouns are:
Unlike any other elements of the sentence, the personal pronouns compulsorily distinguish the number singular from the plural.
In the 3rd person, a double distinction is made. There are, actually, two forms, referring respectively to either animated beings or inanimate entities.
In the 1st, 2nd and 3rd animate persons an additional distinction is made between formal and informal forms. Formal pronouns are used in formal contexts, out of politeness, and are derived from former so-called royal pronouns, reserved for people with a higher social status in the earlier middle period. Over time, their usage have changed in a distinction of politeness / familiarity.
(Throughout this grammar in examples the informal forms are primarily used, since they are regarded as the most familiar in the spoken language.)
All forms, if adjoined by the preposition gü, play the role of an indeclinable possessive pronoun, being placed after a demonstrative pronominal form.
osã gö̃ vuɣner nuvɔ uc gü eʂeʂ my father saw yours
Numerals
The numeral system relies on a decimal base.
Cardinal numerals
The first ten cardinal numbers are forms on their own:
| bö̃ | |
| lar | |
| ču | |
| ɟä | |
| ɕu | |
| dü̃ | |
| ɟi | |
| žy | |
| hɔp | |
| ɕüw |
Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction ɕüw + nɔ + NUM:
| ɕüwnɔbö̃ | |
| ɕüwnɔlar | |
| ɕüwnɔču | |
| ɕüwnɔɟä | |
| ɕüwnɔɕu | |
| ɕüwnɔdü̃ | |
| ɕüwnɔɟi | |
| ɕüwnɔžy | |
| ɕüwnɔhɔp |
The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are forms on their own:
| čĩ | |
| nɔčĩ |
The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + -arɕüw / -arčĩ / -arnɔčĩ. As these suffixes has often merged with the cardinal form, most forms are irregularly built:
| lararɕüw | lararčĩ | lararnɔčĩ | |
| čɔrɕüw | čɔrčĩ | čɔrnɔčĩ | |
| ɟärɕüw | ɟärčĩ | ɟärnɔčĩ | |
| ɕɔrɕüw | ɕɔrčĩ | ɕɔrnɔčĩ | |
| dɑ̃rɕüw | dɑ̃rčĩ | dɑ̃rnɔčĩ | |
| ɟɛrɕüw | ɟɛrčĩ | ɟɛrnɔčĩ | |
| žörɕüw | žörčĩ | žörnɔčĩ | |
| hɔbarɕüw | hɔbarčĩ | hɔbarnɔčĩ |
Numerals for “million” and “billion” are loanwords from Iðâɣ language:
| šurentu (from I. šúrěntu ) | |
| mešurentu (from I. mêšúrěntu ) |
These forms are treated as noun-like forms and can be used with other numerals:
| ču šurentu | |
| dü̃ mešurentu |
They are however treated as normal numerals when used with nouns. Nouns adjoining such numerals are not introduced by any preposition:
lar šurentu hɛ two millions people
Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:
- 2985: lararnɔčĩ hɔbarčĩ žɛrɕüw ɕu
As for other parts of the language, all cardinal numerals are meant as invariable forms.
Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the suffix -da to the cardinal numeral form, with some irregularities:
| bö̃da | |
| larda | |
| čuɟa | |
| ɟäda | |
| ɕuda | |
| dü̃da | |
| ɟida | |
| žyda | |
| hɔvda | |
| ɕüwda | |
| ɕüwnɔbö̃da | |
| ɕüwnɔlarda | |
| ɕüwnɔčuɟa | |
| lararɕüwda | |
| čɔrɕüwda | |
| dɑ̃rčĩda | |
| hɔbarnɔčĩda |
Ordinal numerals for “millionth” and “billionth” are regularly formed from their corresponding cardinal forms, while their multiples are formed by unifying the separated forms in an only adjectival word:
| šurentuda | |
| mešurentuda | |
| čumešurentuda |
If the numeral form is composite, the suffix is added to every form:
- 325th: čɔrčĩda lararɕüwda ɕuda
Verbs
Verbs in Ỹhɛ language usually have a multisyllabic form. Each verbal form carries only the semantical information, while other features are conveyed by other grammatic particles.
On the morphological level the verb display no person, or number, exhibiting always the same unaltered form:
godner (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) hear
The verbal person is conveyed by nouns and personal pronouns, which can convey also the number, unlike nouns:
ɔ̃ godner I hear
eɕeɕ godner you (pl.) hear
The verb, however, can be adjoined by particles, which convey both the aspectual and the temporal value of an action or a state. The set of the verb form, carrying the meaning, together with the aspectual particles is called verb cluster.
godner nuvɔ hear - past+perfective
The aspectual particles make a distinction between a present form, a past form, and a future form:
| progressive | |||
| perfective | |||
| resultative | |||
| habitual | |||
| repetitive | |||
| experiential | |||
| prospective |
The absence of an aspectual particle is understood as a gnomic aspect, namely pointing to an always extant and true action or state. The aspectual particle are always place after the verb, and are not usually left out. Examples:
ɔ̃ godner I hear (always)
ɔ̃ godner moce I am hearing
ɔ̃ godner nuvɔ I heard
ɔ̃ godner ɔpsä I will (repeteadly) hear
Two additional particles can be placed before the verb, dji, which conveys a meaning of command, being thus an imperative particle, and ňi, which conveys a meaning of negative command or prohibition, being thus a prohibitive particle. Each particle has a formal and a informal counterpart.
| imperative | ||
| prohibitive |
These particles are mandatorily used when orders and prohibitions are to be conveyed. When used, personal pronouns, aspectual particles, and temporal particles are usually not required, but they can be optionally used.
ği ɣoreɟ go!
ği ɣoreɟ no go! (up to destination)
eɕ ği ɣoreɟ mu uc ği gõvå you go, but he stay!
Negation
The verbal negation is conveyed by the negative adverb ne. This adverb is placed before the verb cluster, namely before the verb.
hüɟa čĩcɑ moce → hüɟa ne čĩcɑ moce the dog is sleeping → the dog isn't sleeping
hüɟa öhner nuvɔ osmɔç → hüɟa ne öhner nuvɔ osmɔç the dog had bitten the man → the dog hadn't bitten the man
A negative imperative, conveyed by the prohibitive particles šɑ or ni, does not need any additional negative particles.
ni čĩcɑ don't sleep!
Double negatives are generally not allowed; the presence of another negative element in the sentence inhibits the negative adverb.
