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Nahónda: Difference between revisions
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===== Tense and Aspect ===== | ===== Tense and Aspect ===== | ||
Nahónda distinguishes two basic aspects, an imperfect and perfect, and different tenses, remote past, simple past, present, immediate future, simple future, and remote future. | |||
===== Conjugation Class ===== | ===== Conjugation Class ===== | ||
The Conjugation Class slot is occupied by one of three suffixes or their allomorphs, ''-no'', ''-né'', and ''-na''. These suffixes are descended from Proto-Nahenic auxiliaries, ''*ne'nok'' "do", and ''*ya'na:ʔ'' "be". In Classical Minhast and many of the modern northern dialects, these became the transitive ''-un'' and intransitive ''-an'' affixes, and ''-u'' and ''-an'' in all other dialects. In Nankôre, only the intransitive affix survives as the stative auxiliary ''iná'''. While both Minhast and Nankôre preserve a distinction of transitive-intransitive or active-stative meanings from the protolanguage's auxiliaries, a considerable amount of syncretism has occurred in Nahónda. So while a slightly higher number of active verbs end with ''-no'' and stative verbs with ''-né'' or ''-na'' in their basic forms, many active verbs have ''-né'' or ''-na'' endings, and ''-no'' for stative verbs. Interestingly, when a third person singular agent acts on a third person singular patient, the verb obligatorily takes the ''-no'' ending, as third person singular agents and third person singular patients both take null marking.<ref>Its Minhast relative shares this null-marking feature</ref> This so-called "''no''-flipping" of ''-né/-na'' endings is the primary way of cross-indexing the agent when it experiences pro-drop. <ref>The Siouan languages also null-mark third person singular agents and patients, but there is no reason to conclude that they contributed to ''no''-flipping.</ref> | The Conjugation Class slot is occupied by one of three suffixes or their allomorphs, ''-no'', ''-né'', and ''-na''. These suffixes are descended from Proto-Nahenic auxiliaries, ''*ne'nok'' "do", and ''*ya'na:ʔ'' "be". In Classical Minhast and many of the modern northern dialects, these became the transitive ''-un'' and intransitive ''-an'' affixes, and ''-u'' and ''-an'' in all other dialects. In Nankôre, only the intransitive affix survives as the stative auxiliary ''iná'''. While both Minhast and Nankôre preserve a distinction of transitive-intransitive or active-stative meanings from the protolanguage's auxiliaries, a considerable amount of syncretism has occurred in Nahónda. So while a slightly higher number of active verbs end with ''-no'' and stative verbs with ''-né'' or ''-na'' in their basic forms, many active verbs have ''-né'' or ''-na'' endings, and ''-no'' for stative verbs. Interestingly, when a third person singular agent acts on a third person singular patient, the verb obligatorily takes the ''-no'' ending, as third person singular agents and third person singular patients both take null marking.<ref>Its Minhast relative shares this null-marking feature</ref> This so-called "''no''-flipping" of ''-né/-na'' endings is the primary way of cross-indexing the agent when it experiences pro-drop. <ref>The Siouan languages also null-mark third person singular agents and patients, but there is no reason to conclude that they contributed to ''no''-flipping.</ref> | ||