Fifth Linguifex Relay/Siyayu Ürüküs

Introduction

Siyayu Ürüküs merges the object and the patient of low-volition intransitive verbs (Ø), but distinguishes the subject of a high-agency intransitive verb (S) and the agent of a transitive verb (A). Nouns follow their modifiers but precede any genitive relation. Pronominal affixes are an exception, they attach to the left. Phonetically reduced forms of pronouns and verbs must come in the second position in a sentence. Word order is relatively free with new information tending towards the front of the utterance.

There are two primary sets of pronoun morphs: the enclitics (su, qar, du, …) and the bound ones (nu, uyus, Ø). The distinctions are not equal, the enclitics distinguish singular and plural in addition to person, whereas the bound forms are the same for any number. Additionally, the third person is zero-marked in the bound form. A mild amount of suffixaufnahme is permitted.

Transfixes of vowels will be indicated in the gloss after a colon :, e.g. qizi ‘happiness’ glossed as happy:nmlz.II for the vowel transfix i-i.

Siyayu Ürüküs Text

guyudu

Mirindi qar sume ge uyusdümür ge nuzunud

uyusdimidi subu buyunu qiduzum kurum kurum

eʒek subu dimisme ćüggüsdü

kurum sume ge ürgündi gayan zinisme müüzürüqüm ge nuzunud

utusdi duzume guunuqum kurum kurum

– Duguril Guyurus

Interlinear Gloss

Guyudu
gu~yudu
inf~enjoy:inf
mirin-di	qar-Ø	su=me	ge	uyus=dümür	ge	nu=zunud
end:nmlz.II.-loc	2sg-obj	1sg=S	this	2.anim=die:pres.II	this	1.anim=know:pres.I
uyus=dimi-di	su-bu	bu~yunu=me	Ø=qi<du>zum	kurum kurum
2.anim.gen=fire-loc	1sg-dat	inf~remain:	3p=<dat.appl>make_use	again (and) again
eʒek	su-bu	dimi-s-me	Ø=ćü<g>güs-dü
for_this	1sg-dat	fire-gen-S	3p=<pfv>desire:pres.II-dat.appl
kurum	su=me	ge	ürgün-di	ga~yan	zini-s	=me	Ø=müüzürü-qüm	ge	nu=zunud
again	1sg=S	this	world-loc	pl~leaf	know:nlmz.II-gen	=S	3p=bloom:irr.IV-fut	this	1.anim=know:pres.I
utus-di	duzu=me	Ø=buunu-qum	kurum kurum
time-loc	3pl=s	3p=remain:irr.II-fut	again (and) again

Key to abbreviations

abbreviation	gloss
1p	First person
2p	Second person
3p	Third person
sg	Singular
s	Subject of intransitive verb
pl	Plural
nmlz	Nominalizer
I-V	A certain noun or verb class (II is oft used to form abstract nouns)
anim	Animate
irr	Irrealis
fut	Future tense
pres	Present tense
obj	Object of a transitive verb or low-volition subject of intransitive verb
loc	Locative
inf	Infinitive, a nominalized verb form with no finite inflections.
pfv	Perfective aspect
dat	Dative
dat.appl	A dative applicative, transforms a verb's agent into a dative, while promoting the object to S
gen	Genitive

Notes

• DU

  The du-affix promotes the object to S and the agent to dative, deemphasising the agency of the original agent. Often carries a semantic benefactive tone.

• ge-headed topical clause

  Pushes a phrase into a topic-comment structure.

• kurum kurum

  Again and again, still, always, yet

• The markers for A and S are enclitic and will attach to a whole NP.