Βaβar morphology
- Main article: Βaβar
This page gives an extensive description of Βaβar morphological features.
Nouns
Nouns in Βaβar language can end either in a vowel or in a consonant in their basic form.
Nouns are grouped into two declension classes: vocalic and consonantal class. As a rule, we can sketch out the following scheme:
- vocalic class: includes every noun ending in a vowel
- consonantal class: includes every noun ending in a consonant
Nouns display no gender distinction. There are two morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular and plural, and a modest case system.
Cases
Βaβar nouns do decline, according to a nominative-accusative system with 5 cases:
| Nominative | This case marks the subject of a verb. It is regarded as the base form of the noun, and it is used as the vocative form. |
| Accusative | This case marks the direct object of a verb. It is also used with many postpositions. |
| Genitive-Dative | This case marks possession and belonging, either intentional, unintentional, or indirect, and the indirect object. These meanings are distinguished by the context of the sentence or by using specific postpositions. It is also used with many postpositions. |
| Instrumental | This case marks the tool or the instrument which are used to perform an action or to be in a certain state. |
| Locative | This case marks the place where an action is performed, or a certain state exist (stative location). It can also have a temporal value. |
The cases are usually classified in 2 groups:
- Main cases: nominative, accusative
- Oblique cases: genitive-dative, instrumental, locative
Other types of clause complements are conveyed using various postpositions, which can select one or more cases.
Noun pluralization
Nouns are declined for number with different models, depending on the class to which they belong:
- Consonantal class: The last vowel is reduplicated and placed at the end of the word. If this vowel is long, its reduplicated form is shortened.
- Vocalic class: If the noun ends in a short vowel, this vowel is lenghtened. If the last vowel is long, this vowel undergoes breaking or diphthongization. The vowel ə does not undergo any change.
Examples:
sing. tɬʼīx → plur. tɬʼīxi
sing. gāβra → plur. gāβrā
sing. βā → plur. βwa
There is, however, a certain amount of irregularities and exceptions to these rules. For example:
sing. βūβ → plur. βujβ
Noun declension
Nouns are also declined in case by adding the following endings to the base form of the noun:
class |
class | |
| - | - | |
| -ɴ / əɴ1 | -ɴ | |
| -uɟ | -ɟ | |
| -iq | -q | |
| -aʈ | -ʈ |
1 This ending display two possible forms. The latter is used after a nasal consonant, the former is used in every other case.
Due to the pluralization process, nouns can shift from a class to the other one. In this case the proper endings to the new last phoneme are used.
Some examples are shown below: a consonantal class (in the singular) noun, tɬūβ, house, and a vocalic class (in the singular) noun, mū, cow.
| tɬūβ | tɬūβu | mū | muj | |
| tɬūβɴ | tɬūβuɴ | mūɴ | mujɴ | |
| tɬūβuɟ | tɬūβuɟ | mūɟ | mujuɟ | |
| tɬūβiq | tɬūβuq | mūq | mujiq | |
| tɬūβaʈ | tɬūβuʈ | mūʈ | mujaʈ | |
As it can be noticed, some endings in the oblique cases of the consonantal class can display the same vowel of the plural form of the noun. In these cases the nouns do not distinguish any different plural forms.
Adjectives
Attributive adjectives are always placed before the nouns they specify, while predicative adjectives are always placed after them.
muk tɬʼīx (the) young man
tɬʼīx muk sūɣ (the) man is young
All adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they specify, being declined with endings, which are only partially similar to the nominal declension endings.
mukət tɬʼīxuɟ žur tɬʼūβəg βəʂðət tɬʼūβuriʈ ʈīɣ the young man’s new house is located in the nearby village
Declension of qualifying adjectives
Adjectives are declined in case according to a declension system which is only partially similar to the nominal one, display a smaller set of endings in the oblique cases.
Both attributive and predicative adjectives are declined by adding the following endings to the base form of the noun:
class |
class | |
| - | - | |
| -ɴ / əɴ | -ɴ | |
| -t / ət | -t | |
| -t / ət | -t | |
| -t / ət | -t |
Adjectives are declined in number by following the same rules as the nouns. As it can be noticed, the endings in the oblique case are always the same, displaying the only ending -t. Distinction among oblique case is made by the noun alone.
Example: attributive adjective xrām, big, and the noun tɬūβ, house.
| xrām tɬūβ | xrāma tɬūβu | |
| xrāmɴ tɬūβɴ | xrāmaɴ tɬūβuɴ | |
| xrāmt tɬūβuɟ | xrāmat tɬūβuɟ | |
| xrāmt tɬūβiq | xrāmat tɬūβuq | |
| xrāmt tɬūβaʈ | xrāmat tɬūβuʈ | |
Pronouns
Pronouns in Βaβar language can end either in a vowel or in a consonant in their basic form, and they usually display a monosyllabic base form.
The pronominal declension noticeably diverges from the nominal one, both in case endings and in the number of distinguished cases. Moreover, pronouns alone make a distinction between animate and inanimate referents. However, like nouns, they morphologically convey two grammatical numbers, singular and plural, but displaying entirely different roots in both numbers.
Declension of pronouns
Pronouns are declined by adding the following endings to the base form of the noun:
class |
class | |
| - | - | |
| -m / əm1 or - |
-m or - | |
| -iç | -ç | |
| -at | -t | |
| -at | -t |
1 This ending display two possible forms. The latter is used after a nasal consonant, the former is used in every other case.
The pronominal declension noticeably diverges from the nominal one. The endings are completely different and display a different allocation. The endings of the instrumental and the locative case are always the same. The accusative case, moreover, displays a syllabic nasal ending ending only when referring to semantically animate entities. If the pronouns refer to inanimate entities, the accusative ending is the same as the nominative case, namely a zero ending.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns feature a distinction between the roots in the singular number and the roots in the plural number. These pronouns are also regarded as referents to animated entities only, in all persons.
| si | ma | ɣu | žī | kā | çi | |
| sim | mam | ɣum | žīm | kām | çim | |
| siç | maç | ɣuç | žīç | kāç | çiç | |
| sit | mat | ɣut | žīt | kāt | çit | |
Since they intrinsically refer to animated entities, third person pronouns cannot be used as referents to inanimated entities. There are no personal pronouns used this way, being used the demonstrative pronouns for this purpose.
In the accusative case, the personal pronouns forms are regarded as marked forms, and they are used only to highlight the accusative pronoun. In an unmarked role special enclitic accusative suffixes are used.
These forms are added as enclitic suffixes to a word in the sentence, chiefly to the subject pronouns, when present. If the subject pronouns are absent, these suffixes are added to the verb (thus moving the direct object after the verb and causing the word order to shift to VSO).
Examples:
si mam riʈʂʼiš As for me, I love you (and no one else)
six riʈʂʼiš As for me, I love you
riʈʂʼišəx I love you
With compound verbal forms, these suffixes are added to the auxiliary verb or to the modal verb. However, they may be also be added to the participles.
Examples:
ɸaqurā sūšəx I see you
ɸāqurā ðuzəx I want to you
Numerals
The numeral system relies on a mixed system of decimal base and a vigesimal base.
Cardinal numerals
The first ten cardinal numbers are noun-like forms on their own:
| īɴ | |
| gaɸ | |
| zgū | |
| dāk | |
| atsʼ | |
| trikxʼ | |
| rməq | |
| dākr | |
| īɴɸə | |
| ɸək |
Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + i + ɸək. If the numeral ends in a vowel, the -i turns into -j:
| īɴiɸək | |
| gaɸiɸək | |
| zgūjɸək | |
| dākiɸək | |
| atsʼiɸək | |
| trikxʼiɸək | |
| rməqiɸək | |
| dākriɸək | |
| īɴɸəjɸək |
The numeral for tens is built with the construction NUM + ī:
| ɸəkī |
The numerals for 20 is a noun-like form on their own:
| gāɸī |
Numerals for 30, 50, 70 and 90 are built with the construction NUM + ɸəkī:
| zgūɸəkī | |
| atsʼɸəkī | |
| rməqɸəkī | |
| īɴɸəɸəkī |
Numerals for 40, 60 and 80 are built with the construction 2 / 3 / 4 + gāɸī:
| gaɸgāɸī | |
| zgūgāɸī | |
| dākgāɸī |
The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are noun-like forms on their own:
| žaβ | |
| kx‘ruç |
The numerals for the multiples of hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + (i) + žaβī / kx‘ruçī:
| gaɸžaβī | gaɸkx‘ruçī | |
| zgūžaβī | zgūkx‘ruçī | |
| dākžaβī | dākikx‘ruçī | |
| atsʼižaβī | atsʼkx‘ruçī | |
| trikxiʼžaβī | trikxʼikx‘ruçī | |
| rməqižaβī | rməqikx‘ruçī | |
| dākrižaβī | dākrikx‘ruçī | |
| īɴɸəžaβī | īɴɸəkx‘ruçī |
Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:
- 1985: kx‘ruç īɴɸəžaβī dākgāɸī atsʼ
All cardinal numerals up to these forms are treated as adjective-like forms. They decline according to their adjoining nouns in case, but they do not agree in number. Numerals do decline only in singular number.
The numerals for “million” and “billion” are nominal forms on their own (the latter is an adapted loanword from modern Figo language):
| ʈʂʼamʈʂʼam (reduplicated from ʈʂʼam, great amount) | |
| mišurintu (from m. F. mešurentur) |
These forms are treated as regularly declinable nouns. If these numerals are used as simple count forms, they are declined in the nominative case. Inside of a structured sentence, they are declined according the case required by their syntactical role. Nouns adjoining such numerals are declined in the genitive-dative case and are followed by the postposition ɣm:
βaraɟ ɣm īɴ ʈʂʼamʈʂʼam one million people
βaraɟ ɣm gaɸ mišurintūɟ ɟn to two billions people
In the latest texts, however, nouns adjoining these numerals arenot followed by any postposition:
βaraɟ gaɸ mišurintūɟ ɟn to two billions people
In the earlier modern period the idea of “zero” is introduced from Iðâɣ language. This numeral is however usually limited to mathematics:
| xisū (from I. xesú) |
Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the ordinal ending -ð, sometimes preceded by -i-, to the cardinal numeral form, with an irregular suppletive form:
| rārm | |
| gaɸið | |
| zgūð | |
| dākið | |
| atsʼið | |
| trikxʼið | |
| rməqið | |
| dākrið | |
| īɴɸəð | |
| ɸəkið | |
| īɴiɸəkið | |
| gaɸiɸəkið | |
| gāɸīð | |
| zgūgāɸīð |
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:
| ʈʂʼamʈʂʼamð | |
| mišurintuð | |
| zgūmišurintuð |
If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:
- 25th: gāɸī atsʼið
Verbs
The verbal system of Βaβar language is based on the fundamental dichotomy between imperfective aspect and perfective aspect. This distinction is conveyed by two different verbal roots for every verbal meaning, the imperfective root (Rimp) and the perfective root (Rprf). The perfective root is usually derived from the imperfective one through an introflexive process of vowel change:
CCV1CC → CCV2CC
The root vowel change follows well-defined patterns:
Rimp = short vowel → Rprf = long vowel
Rimp = long vowel → Rprf = diphthong
Rimp = semivowel → Rprf = [ə] + semivowel
Examples:
Rimp = ɸaq- → Rprf = ɸāq-
Rimp = çīr- → Rprf = çwir-
Rimp = qmš- → Rprf = qəmš-
However, multisyllabic verbal roots can be formed through morphological derivation by adding prefixes or suffixes or both of them. These morphological affixes are usually not involved in the change process. The vowel involved is that belonging to the original verbal root:
Examples:
Rimp = çāɸaq- → Rprf = çāɸāq-
Rimp = ɣārɸi- → Rprf = ɣārɸī-
Irregular perfective roots can be found, however rarely. Some verbs may entirely lack their perfective root.
No distinction is made on a temporal level. Time is conveyed exclusively through temporal adverbs and particles.
There are three verbal moods and three non-finite forms:
- Moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative
- Non-finite: active participle, passive participle
The citation form of verbs is the imperfective imperative, which coincides exactly with the imperfective root. From such form the imperfective root can be inferred and can be changed in its perfective equivalent.
All verbs are divided in three groups, called conjugations. Each conjugation is distinguished by a different conjugating pattern in aspect, person and mood, and a different thematic vowel, which is added to the root before the personal endings. The 1st conjugation has a null ending, with the personal endings being directly added to the root. The 2nd conjugation and the 3rd conjugation add -i- and -u-, respectively, as thematic vowels. The general scheme is:
| 1st conjugation | |
| 2nd conjugation | |
| 3rd conjugation |
The following personal endings are then added to the various aspectual forms. In this way, verbs show their agreement with the clause subject in person and number:
| 1st sing. | |
| 2nd sing. | |
| 3rd sing. | |
| 1st plur. | |
| 2nd plur. | |
| 3rd plur. |
The subjunctive mood is usually derived from the indicative forms, with different patterns according to the conjugation. 1st conjugation verbs add a suffix, while 2nd and 3rd conjugation verbs change the thematic vowel. The imperative mood has an only form, not varying in person and number, which coincides with the pure verbal roots, both imperfective and perfective.
The non-finite verbal forms are meant as nominal/adjectival forms of the same verbs. They do not add the personal endings, but they are declined as nouns or adjectives with the nominal declension endings. As verbal forms can, however, be formed on both roots.
The non-finite endings are:
- active participle: -rā
- passive participle: -žu
These forms are used, with the verb sū, to be as an auxiliary verb, to construct further aspectual forms, a progressive form and a resultative form. Thus the distinct aspectual forms amount to four:
- Aspects: imperfective, perfective, progressive, resultative
A distinction between an active diathesis and a passive diathesis is made. However, the passive diathesis distinguishes a reduced amount of aspectual forms.
Conjugation of regular verbs
Sample verbs:
- 1st conjugation: ði, to give
- 2nd conjugation: ɟux, to bring
- 3rd conjugation: ɸaq, to see
Active diathesis
Indicative mood
Imperfective aspect
The imperfective is a simple form. In the 1st conjugation the personal endings are added directly to the imperfective verbal root. In the 2nd and in the 2rd conjugation the thematic vowels (which are lenghtened in their plural forms) and the personal endings are added to the imperfective verbal root:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
Perfective aspect
The perfective is a simple form. In the 1st conjugation the personal endings are added directly to the perfective verbal root. In the 2nd and in the 2rd conjugation the thematic vowels (which are lenghtened in their plural forms) and the personal endings are added to the perfective verbal root:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
Progressive aspect
The progressive is a compound form. In all conjugations it is built with the undeclined active imperfective participle of the conjugated verb, and the indicative imperfective forms of the verb sū, to be, as an auxiliary verb:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
This form is regarded as essentially regular, being the only irregularities in the participial formation.
Resultative aspect
The resultative is a compound form. In all conjugations it is built with the undeclined active perfective participle of the conjugated verb, and the indicative imperfective forms of the verb sū, to be, as an auxiliary verb:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
This form is regarded as essentially regular, being the only irregularities in the participial formation.
Subjunctive mood
The subjunctive mood displays the same aspectual forms of the indicative mood, being usually derived from the same indicative forms in different ways, according to the verbal conjugation:
- 1st conjugation: the infixes -ja (singular form) and -jā (plural form) are added between the root and the personal ending.
- 2nd conjugation: the thematic vowel is lenghtened in the singular forms and diphthongized in the plural forms.
- 3rd conjugation: the thematic vowel is lenghtened in the singular forms and diphthongized in the plural forms.
Some verbs have irregular subjunctive forms.
Example:
mām, to eat (3rd conjug.) → subj. māmja-/māmjā-
Imperfective aspect
The imperfective is a simple form. In the 1st conjugation the infix -ja/-jā and the personal endings are added to the imperfective verbal root. In the 2nd and in the 2rd conjugation the subjunctive thematic vowels (which are diphthongized in their plural forms) and the personal endings are added to the imperfective verbal root:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
Some verbs may have irregular subjunctive forms. These forms can either be completely irregular, with an entirely different subjunctive root, or display only partial irregularities, like using the 1st conjugation infix, despite belonging to the 2nd or the 3rd conjugation.
Examples:
sū, to be (1st conjug.) → subj. sjaš, sjam, sjaɣ, sjāža, sjāku, sjāç mām, to eat (3rd conjug.) → subj. māmjaš, māmjam, māmjaɣ, māmjāža, māmjāku, māmjāç
Perfective aspect
The perfective is a simple form. In the 1st conjugation the infix -ja/-jā and the personal endings are added to the perfective verbal root. In the 2nd and in the 2rd conjugation the subjunctive thematic vowels (which are diphthongized in their plural forms) and the personal endings are added to the perfective verbal root:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
Some verbs may have irregular subjunctive forms. These forms can either be completely irregular, with an entirely different subjunctive root, or display only partial irregularities, like using the 1st conjugation infix, despite belonging to the 2nd or the 3rd conjugation.
Examples:
mām, to eat (3rd conjug.) → subj. mwamjaš, mwamjam, mwamjaɣ, mwamjāža, mwamjāku, mwamjāç
Progressive aspect
The progressive is a compound form. In all conjugations it is built with the undeclined active imperfective participle of the conjugated verb, and the subjunctive imperfective forms of the verb sū, to be, as an auxiliary verb:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
This form is regarded as essentially regular, being the only irregularities in the participial formation.
Resultative aspect
The resultative is a compound form. In all conjugations it is built with the undeclined active perfective participle of the conjugated verb, and the subjunctive imperfective forms of the verb sū, to be, as an auxiliary verb:
| 1st sing. | |||
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 3rd sing. | |||
| 1st plur. | |||
| 2nd plur. | |||
| 3rd plur. |
This form is regarded as essentially regular, being the only irregularities in the participial formation.
Imperative mood
The imperative mood features only a single form, which conveys both singular and plural number, and coincides with the pure verbal root. This mood, conversely, displays an imperfective and a perfective form, built on both verbal roots.
Imperfective aspect
The imperfective is a simple form. It is the same as the pure imperfective verbal root, without any personal ending:
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 2nd plur. |
It is regarded as the citation form of the verb, as it represent the base underived form of every verb.
Perfective aspect
The perfective is a simple form. It is the same as the pure perfective verbal root, without any personal ending:
| 2nd sing. | |||
| 2nd plur. |
Non-finite forms
The non-finite verbal forms are:
Participle
The participles are adjectival forms of a verb. They are used primarily in verbal conjugation, but they can also have an adjectival role, adjoining a noun and pointing to an active or passive role of such noun in the action. There are two participial forms, the active participle, and the passive participle.
The active participle is formed through the ending -rā, while the passive participle through the ending -žu. They both have an imperfective and a perfective form, respectively built on the imperfective root and on the perfective root.
Examples from the verb ɸaq, to see:
| active | ||
| passive |
The active participle is an adjectival form of a verb. It is linked to nouns which actively perform an action. The passive participle is an adjectival form of a verb. It is linked to nouns which undergo an action, or inactively are in a certain state.
When used in the verbal conjugation, both participles are deemed as indeclinable forms. In their adjectival role, both participles display a complete adjectival declension. They are also used with the modal verbs.
Passive diathesis
The passive diathesis displays only compound forms, in a lesser amount than the active diathesis. These forms are always built through the undeclined forms of the passive participle, with the conjugated form of the auxiliary verb sū, to be which always agrees with the clause subject in number.
The usage of the different moods is exactly the same as the active diathesis, while the usage of the different aspect is essentially different. The passive diathesis displays only the imperfective and the perfective forms, which also play the role respectively of the progressive and resultative aspect.
Indicative mood
| imperfective | imperfective passive participle + indicative imperfective forms of sū |
| perfective | perfective passive participle + indicative imperfective forms of sū |
Examples (for each tense only the 1st person singular form is shown):
| imperfective | ɟuxižu sūš, ... |
| perfective | ɟūxižu sūš, ... |
Subjunctive mood
| imperfective | imperfective passive participle + subjunctive imperfective forms of sū |
| perfective | perfective passive participle + subjunctive imperfective forms of sū |
Examples (for each tense only the 1st person singular form is shown):
| imperfective | ɟuxižu sjaš, ... |
| perfective | ɟūxižu sjaš, ... |
Imperative mood
| imperfective | imperfective passive participle + imperative imperfective forms of sū |
| perfective | perfective passive participle + imperative imperfective forms of sū |
Examples (for each tense only the 2nd person form is shown):
| imperfective | ɟuxižu sū, ... |
| perfective | ɟūxižu sū, ... |
Negation
The verbal negation is conveyed by a distinct negative particle:
- n
This particle, being an only semivocalic consonant, cannot be clearly classified either as an adverb or as a prefix. Phonologically it blends with the following word, becoming a new unstressed syllable of the word.
If the following word already begins with a nasal consonant, an euphonic vowel [ə] is added to the negative particle, which gains a full syllabic value:
- nə
Given its relevant syntactical and phonological value, the negative particle is usually written with a dash (-), to be clearly distinguished from the followin word.
The verbal form is thus negated by placing the negative particle before it.
tɬīx xūɸɴ ɸāquɣ → tɬīx xūɸɴ n-ɸāquɣ the man saw the dog → the man didn't see the dog
With a compound verbal form, the particle is usually added to the auxiliary verb.
tɬīx xūɸɴ ɸaqurā sūɣ → tɬīx xūɸɴ ɸaqurā n-sūɣ the man is watching the dog → the man isn't watching the dog
The negative particle, however, can be added to any other element in the sentence, to specifically negate such element.
xūɸ tɬīxɴ xərɟuɣ → n-xūɸ tɬīxɴ xərɟuɣ the dog bit the man → it wasn't the dog the one who bit the man
Double negatives are generally not allowed; the presence of another negative element in the sentence inhibits the negative adverb.
