User:Bukkia/sandboxVIII
Verbs
The verbal system of Xowʂiko 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 switching:
CV1CV2C → CV2CV1C
Example:
Rimp = wawok- → Rprf = wowak-
In addition to vowels, diphthongs can also be switched:
Rimp = hjeqak- → Rprf = haqjek-
Rising diphthongs -je- and -jy- can trigger the palatalization of some consonants. Thus, irregular root forms may often appear:
Rimp = žemon- → Rprf = ŕomjen-
In disyllabic verbal root, all vowels are involved in the switching process.
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 switching process. The vowel involved are those belonging to the original disyllabic root:
Rimp = wäqimjeŕ- → Rprf = wäqjemiŕ-
Rimp = ʈäwehowr- → Rprf = ʈewähowr-
Rimp = ŕäʈäwehek- → Rprf = ŕäʈewähek-
Monosyllabic roots, like qäɳ-, are usually not involved in the vowel switching process, being thus deemed as invariable roots without a perfective form (or without an imperfective form, in the very rare case when the base meaning is intrisically perfective). This rule may apply to some loanwords.
Another distinction is made, on a temporal level, between a non-past tense, generally called “present”, and a past tense, by means of the prefix qa-, known as augment, which conveys the past tense, while non-past actions are marked by its absence.
Rimp = wawok- → Rimp-past = qawawok-
There are three verbal moods and three non-finite forms:
- Moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional
- Non-finite: infinitive, active participle, passive participle
The citation form of verbs is the present imperfective infinitive, marked by the ending -ika, added to the imperfective root in its present form. From such form the imperfective root can be inferred and can be changed in its perfective equivalent.
The following personal endings are then added to the various aspectual and temporal 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 different moods are formed by adding the following infixes to the verbal root, before the personal endings:
- indicative: Ø
- subjunctive: -iɳ-
- conditional: -oç-
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 and add the past prefix. They can also add the modal infixes before their typical endings.
The non-finite endings are:
- infinitive: -ika
- agentive participle: -jyto
- passive participle: -uki
The infinitival form is meant as a 2nd class noun.
There is, moreover, a passive diathesis with an analytic-type construction, formed by the ver qäɳika, to be, as an auxiliary verb, and the passive participle. It conveys the same modal, aspectual and temporal forms as the active diathesis.
Conjugation of a regular verb
Example: śośirika, to take
Active diathesis
Indicative mood
| 1st sing. | ||||
| 2nd sing. | ||||
| 3rd sing. | ||||
| 1st plur. | ||||
| 2nd plur. | ||||
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The indicative mood conveys mainly true and certain actions or state, or at least regarded as such. It is the most used verbal mood in main clauses.
Subjunctive mood
The subjunctive widely features the infix -iɳ-, which is placed between the roots and the personal endings.
| 1st sing. | ||||
| 2nd sing. | ||||
| 3rd sing. | ||||
| 1st plur. | ||||
| 2nd plur. | ||||
| 3rd plur. | ||||
The subjunctive is mainly used as a dependent mood, with or without any subordinative conjunctions. In main clauses it may convey wish or exhortation, being thus used also as an imperative form.
Conditional mood
The conditional widely features the infix -oç-, which is placed between the roots and the personal endings.
| 1st sing. | ||||
| 2nd sing. | ||||
| 3rd sing. | ||||
| 1st plur. | ||||
| 2nd plur. | ||||
| 3rd plur. | ||||
The conditional mood conveys mainly the intrinsic potentiality of an action or a state, both in main and in dependent clauses. It may also convey wish or hope.
For this reason the present tense usually refer to future actions, while the past tenses are used to refer to future actions in the past (the past perfective is routinely used as future in the past tense).
Non-finite forms
The non-finite verbal forms are:
Infinitive
| imp. pres. | |||
| imp. past | |||
| imp. pres. | |||
| imp. past |
The infinitive is a nominal form of a verb. It is used as a verbal noun in sentences, and it can be declined. It is regarded as a 2nd class noun.
In its subjunctive form it is often used in dependent clauses in their infinitival type.
Direct objects of the infinitival forms are declined in the ablative case.
Active participle
| imp. pres. | |||
| imp. past | |||
| imp. pres. | |||
| imp. past |
The active participle is an adjectival form of a verb. It is used as a verbal adjective in sentences, and it can be declined. It is linked to nouns which actively perform an action.
All modal infixes merge with the active participle ending:
- -iɳ- + -jyto = -iňyto
- -oç- + -jyto = -očyto
It is usually used to build relative clauses, in which the subject is the linked noun, and the direct object is declined in the ablative case:
qownaʂu qaloljyçočytoli hjyroli the man which might have seen the woman
As an adjectival form, it displays a complete declension, to agree with the class of the referred noun.
Passive participle
| imp. pres. | |||
| imp. past | |||
| imp. pres. | |||
| imp. past |
The passive participle is an adjectival form of a verb. It is used as a verbal adjective in sentences, and it can be declined. It is linked to nouns which undergo an action, or inactively are in a certain state.
It is often used as an adjective and to build relative clauses:
xäl qownaʂu qaloljyçukili hjyroli the man seen by the woman
As an adjectival form, it displays a complete declension, to agree with the class of the referred noun.
Passive diathesis
Negation
The verbal negation is conveyed by the negative verb qjysika. As it has a monosyllabic root, it does not display a perfective root.
Within the sentence this verb is conjugated according to the person and the number of its subject and according to the required tense. It has the indicative infinitival form of the negated verb as direct object. The aspectual information is conveyed by the infinitival form. The object of the infinitive, is, as a rule, declined in the ablative case.
sopali hjyro qaňymac → sopali hjyroʂu ňymacika qaqjys the dog bit the man → the dog didn’t bite the man
sopali ʎehon → sopali ʎehonika qjys the dog is sleeping → the dog isn’t sleeping
Double negatives are generally not allowed; the presence of another negative element in the sentence inhibits the negative verb.
