Nankôre: Difference between revisions
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Number is marked on both core arguments: for transitive clauses, singular HA arguments are null-marked, and LA arguments are marked with the suffix ''-ʔ''. For plurality, plural HA arguments are marked with a prefixed or infixed ''-n-'', while the LA argument is marked with the suffix ''-n'' for plurality. Additionally, the vowel of the Inverse marker lengthens when the LA argument is plural; for example, the singular LA argument of the present tense copula is ''ta'ita<nowiki>'</nowiki>'', whereas the plural form of the verb is ''t<u>ā</u>'inta'''. The Hodiernal tense is an exception: the vowel of the Inverse marker neither undergoes vowel lengthening, nor does it receive compensatory stress; the form *''tāhô'intá<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' is ungrammatical, the form ''tahô'intá<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' instead. This is presumably because the vowel of the tense marker, ''-ô-'', suppresses lengthening of a preceding vowel according to Nankôre phonological rules, thus moving the stress rightward. | Number is marked on both core arguments: for transitive clauses, singular HA arguments are null-marked, and LA arguments are marked with the suffix ''-ʔ''. For plurality, plural HA arguments are marked with a prefixed or infixed ''-n-'', while the LA argument is marked with the suffix ''-n'' for plurality. Additionally, the vowel of the Inverse marker lengthens when the LA argument is plural; for example, the singular LA argument of the present tense copula is ''ta'ita<nowiki>'</nowiki>'', whereas the plural form of the verb is ''t<u>ā</u>'inta'''. The Hodiernal tense is an exception: the vowel of the Inverse marker neither undergoes vowel lengthening, nor does it receive compensatory stress; the form *''tāhô'intá<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' is ungrammatical, the form ''tahô'intá<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' instead. This is presumably because the vowel of the tense marker, ''-ô-'', suppresses lengthening of a preceding vowel according to Nankôre phonological rules, thus moving the stress rightward. | ||
The Inchoative consists of a the prefix ''yis-'', which frequently occurs as a circumfix, ''y''- + ''-s-'', for certain conjugations. The affix causes the Inverse affix ''ta(h)-'' to palatize; the ''-s-'' segment of the circumfixal form may occur before or after a pluralizing ''-n-'' affix, or the tense-bearing prefix of a given conjugation. Knowing which form of the Inchoative, and where the ''-s-'' segment occurs is unpredictable and requires memorization. When used in transitive sentences, it serves to mark the Inceptive aspect. | The Inchoative consists of a the prefix ''yis-'', which frequently occurs as a circumfix, ''y''- + ''-s-'', for certain conjugations. The affix causes the Inverse affix ''ta(h)-'' to palatize; the ''-s-'' segment of the circumfixal form may occur before or after a pluralizing ''-n-'' affix, or the tense-bearing prefix of a given conjugation. Knowing which form of the Inchoative, and where the ''-s-'' segment occurs is unpredictable and requires memorization. When used in transitive sentences, it serves to mark the Inceptive aspect. The ''-s-'' component has been shown to be cognate with the Minhast inchoative affix ''-saxt-''. | ||
The Irrealis ''-hi'' is suffixed to the copula. It is obligatory for all Future tenses. It also surfaces in imperatives, yes-no questions which are marked with the ''-yo'' marker cliticizing to the first or second word of a sentence, as in ''Cire-yo tā'itá'-hi?'' "Did he die?", and in WH-questions when the event actually happening has not yet been established as having occurred; for example, ''Enket cire tā'itá'?'', "Where did he die?" implies that the person's death is a fact, and it is only the location that is being inquired, versus ''Enket cire tā'itá'-hi?'' implies that not only is the location unknown, but the person's actual death happening still remains to be established. An interesting structure, called the "double interrogative", is a combination of a WH-word followed by a word bearing the ''-yo'' clitic, which also turns the question into yes-no question: ''Enket cire-yo tā'itá'-hi?'', "Did he die, and if so, where?" The ''-hi'' suffix is believed to be cognate with the Minhast Irrealis clitic ''=š''. | The Irrealis ''-hi'' is suffixed to the copula. It is obligatory for all Future tenses. It also surfaces in imperatives, yes-no questions which are marked with the ''-yo'' marker cliticizing to the first or second word of a sentence, as in ''Cire-yo tā'itá'-hi?'' "Did he die?", and in WH-questions when the event actually happening has not yet been established as having occurred; for example, ''Enket cire tā'itá'?'', "Where did he die?" implies that the person's death is a fact, and it is only the location that is being inquired, versus ''Enket cire tā'itá'-hi?'' implies that not only is the location unknown, but the person's actual death happening still remains to be established. An interesting structure, called the "double interrogative", is a combination of a WH-word followed by a word bearing the ''-yo'' clitic, which also turns the question into yes-no question: ''Enket cire-yo tā'itá'-hi?'', "Did he die, and if so, where?" The ''-hi'' suffix is believed to be cognate with the Minhast Irrealis clitic ''=š''. |
Revision as of 16:25, 26 August 2018
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Nankôre | |
---|---|
Nankôre | |
Pronunciation | [/nan.'ko:re/] |
Created by | – |
Native to | Nanhoshka Kôya |
Native speakers | 3,232,430 (2014) |
Nahenic
| |
Official status | |
Official language in | Koya Island |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | nk |
ISO 639-2 | nnk |
Introduction
Nankôre, from the words nan ("man, human") and kôre ("speech"), is spoken by the Nanhoshka people of Kôya Island. There are two main dialects, the Konishmak, located in the Northeastern Coastal Mountains, and the Sapshira, encompassing the western and southern parts of the country. The dialects differ chiefly in pronunciation and differences in certain lexical items, but are otherwise mutually intelligible.
For a little over a century the origins of the language and its people remain clouded in mystery. Physically, the Nanhoshka people look distinct from the Northwest Pacific Native Americans just 862 kilometers from the eastern shore, but their physical features bear a strikingly close resemblance to the Minhast people of the Republic of Minhay, who live much further away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean close to Japan and Ainushir. Because of these physical resemblances, both anthropologists and linguists started exploring a possible relationship between the two peoples. Recent genetic research uncovered that both the Nanhoshka and Minhast belong to the haplogroup C-M212, indicating a common ancestry. Linguists had a more difficult task in establishing a relationship. Finally Benson et. al. compiled an extensive Swadesh list and internally consistent sound correspondences between the two languages. Most importantly, a set of affixes that were quite conservative were revealed, notably the Causative affix, and a set of fossilized affixes which are prefixed to body parts to derive verbs. In addition, a third language, Nahónda, also previously classified as a language isolate, was discovered to contain common vocabulary and affixes which it shared with both Nankôre and Minhast. Therefore, both Nankôre and Minhast, along with Nahónda, are now recognized as belonging to the same language family, which has been named the Nahenic language family.
Like Minhast and Nahónda, Nankôre is an SOV language. However, unlike its relatives, Nankôre is not a polysynthetic language but is relatively sparse in terms of affixes for determining syntactic relations. Nouns do not receive case or number marking, nor are they marked for gender. Word order within the verb complex is rather strict, but core, patient, and obliques may occur in various orders. The verb complex consists minimally of a main verb, which possesses suffixes for marking evidentiality, and the copula, which contain a rich set of affixes to mark the core arguments for various syntactic features: number, tense, voice, agency, etc.
The language is neither an Ergative-Absolutive language, like Minhast, nor is it a Active-Stative language, like Nahónda. Instead, its morphosyntactic alignment falls under the Direct-Inverse type. The nominal hierarchy is complex; at least ten noun classes based on animacy can be identified, and within those classes sub-hierarchies are observed based on semantic features, although discourse processes (e.g. the introduction of new arguments that are roughly equal in animacy with previously established arguments) may affect how direct-inverse marking is expressed.
Phonology
Orthography
The Nankôre orthography is based on the Allen-Mills system, derived from the Latin alphabet. However, a second system, the American Media system, has started displacing the Allen-Mills system. Although based on the Allen-Mills system, the American Media system uses the the digraphs <ch> and <sh> to make transcription of the language more accessible to American readers.
Allen-Mills | American Media | IPA |
---|---|---|
' | (n/a) | ʔ |
a,ā, â, á | a,ā,â, á | a, a: |
e | e | e |
i | i | ɪ, i |
o, ô | o, ô | o, o: |
u | u | u |
c | ch | tʃ |
s | sh | s, s̺, ʃ |
š | sh | ʃ |
h | h | ɦ |
k | k | k |
r | r | r |
m | m | m |
n | n | n |
p | p | p |
t | t | t |
y | y | j |
Note that the grapeme <s> in the Allen-Mills system is pronounced /ʃ/ or /s̺/ when followed by [i] (e.g. sinkokah /ʃin'kokah/ "orca"), or in coda position (Nanhoska /nan'hoʃka/ "the True People"). A few decades after the Allen-Mills transcription system was developed, a sound shift in the northwestern Hoyampe dialect, whereby /s/ shifted to the voiceless apico-alveolar fricative /s̺/ when followed by /i/ or in coda position. A similar sound shift occurred at around the same time in the northeastern Konishmak dialect (possibly the result of the Hoyampe sound shift), but it was the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/ that appeared. It was this sound shift that spread out through most of the country, although there are some remote regions of the country that have not been affected by either sound shift. As a result in foreign transcriptions <sh> is often used in words where the /s/ >> /ʃ/ has already occurred, e.g. akôsh vs. the original akôs transcription. The grapheme <ô> is used to indicate vowel length for /o:/, and <ā> for /ɑ:/.
Although the American Media orthography system is the most widely used system, the Allen-Mills has long been used in academic publications, and will be used throughout the rest of this article, unless otherwise noted.
Consonants
Nankôre has a small inventory of consonants, only thirteen in number. Noteworthy is the paucity of voiced consonants which contributes to the limited number of consonants in the Nankôre language. The following table contains the entire consonantal inventory:
Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Apical | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ||||||
Stop | p | t | k | ʔ | ||||
Affricate | ͡tʃ | |||||||
Fricative | s | s̻ | ʃ | ɦ | ||||
Approximant | j | |||||||
Flap | ɾ |
Vowels
Front | Near- front | Central | Near- back | Back | ||
Close |
| |||||
Near-close | ||||||
Close-mid | ||||||
Mid | ||||||
Open-mid | ||||||
Near-open | ||||||
Open |
Prosody
Stress
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
Nouns
The Nominal Hierarchy
Nankôre nouns, at first glance, appears very simple. They are not inflected for case, gender, nor do adpositions indicate their directional or positional relationships. Number is distinguished only in pronouns. Nevertheless, the nominal system has a complex hierarchy of animacy, which although unmarked, is a semantic feature of the noun and pronoun. This hierarchy of animacy is used to determine the syntactic roles of the core arguments of a clause, namely that of Agent and Patient. Arguments that are higher in the Animacy Hierarchy are by default considered Agents, whereas lower animacy arguments are considered Patients. If the syntactic roles of two core arguments are reversed, namely a lower animacy argument acts as an Agent on a higher animacy Patient argument, a special construction known as the Inverse Voice, involving the prefix tā-/ta-, is added to both the first verb in the verb phrase and the auxiliary verb itá'. Thus, the Inverse Voice is doubly-marked.
Where a given NP falls within the animacy hierarchy must be memorized in order to use the verbal inverse prefix tā-/ta- correctly (see section on Verbs for additional details regarding inverse marking).
The Nankôre nominal hierarchy has been traditionally classified along two axes, the first marking the noun class, and the second marking levels of hierarchy within a given class. Animacy along classes decrease as one traverses from Supernatural/Phenomonological onwards towards the Ephemeral. Animacy decreases as one goes down the Level axis. The following table illustrates the animacy relations between the noun hierarchies, although in reality, animacy is more complex than the table would suggest, as discourse and other contextual elements may influence a native speaker's expression of the hierarchy in a given utterance.
Noun Class | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level | Supernatural & Phenomonological |
Human | Animals | Weather | Lower Animals | Plants | Geophysical | Material | Ephemeral | |
Mammals | Birds | |||||||||
1 | Gods, the Earth, the Sun, the Sky/Heavens | Adults >> Children | predator >> prey | Clouds | Reptiles (excluding snakes) | Forests | Rushing rivers | Liquid, usually in a container | Magic | |
2 | Demons | Older >> Younger | wild >> domesticated | Rain | Snakes | Large Trees | Slow-moving rivers | Food | Actions | |
3 | Human & Animal Spirits | Male >> Female | Pet (usually carnivorous) >> Non-Pet (usually raised for food) | Snow | Amphibians | Small Trees | Streams, brooks, springs | Fabrics, fibers, skins, clothing | Emotions | |
4 | Destructive Forces of Nature | Large >> Small | Wind | Fish | Fruit/Nut Trees | Lakes | Wood | Thoughts | ||
5 | Lightning | Strong >> Weak | Breeze | Crustaceans | Bushes/Shrubs | Glaciers | Buildings | Disease | ||
6 | Ocean | Quick >> Slow | Moving Water | Insects | Prairie grass | Mountains | Metals | States | ||
7 | Thunderstorms | Intelligent >> Unintelligent | Carnivore >> Herbivore >> Carrion Eater | Air | Worms | Leafy plants | Cliffs, jagged outcroppings, tumuli, boulders | Jewels and gemstones | Abstractions | |
8 | Fire | Fertile >> Infertile | Stud >> Gelded | Flight >> Flightless | Muggy weather | Mollusks | Mushrooms/Fungi/Mosses/Gelatinous sea invertebrates | Flat land or gently rolling landscape | Stones, rocks, pebbles | Death |
If two nouns with equal animacy but different number appear as core arguments, the plural noun is assigned a higher animacy status than the singular noun. However, if animacy and number are equal, the most recently introduced noun, providing it was introduced as a core argument, is assigned the higher animacy status.
In situations were two nouns have equal animacy and equal number, the rules for assigning the position each core argument in the hierarchy is as follows:
- If one of the nouns is newly introduced information, it is considered less animate because the older noun has been presumably been the center of discourse and at least during part of the previous discourse it was agent. SOV order is usually used, particularly if pragmatics and other contextual cues cannot disambiguate the syntactic roles
- HOWEVER, if the new noun is topicalized with the clitic ="=hat", it is considered the agent.
- Another pattern, where a new noun is introduced as a Patient argument, it is regarded as the less animate argument once the older noun is reintroduced back into the discourse in a transitive construction.
- If the animacy level of each argument cannot be resolved, then the unmarked SOV word order is used when context can't disambiguate syntactic roles.
Derivational
- -no: Diminutive suffix, e.g. kuras (woman), kurasno (girl)
- -CV(C) reduplication: Augmentive, e.g. kurasras (big woman); analogous to Minhast augmentation
- -ra-CV(C) infixation + reduplication: Augmentive-Deprecative: nahón -> na-ra-hón-ho (big/fat, ugly man)
Adjectival Suffixes
Nankôre lacks a separate word class for adjectives. They may be expressed as attributive verbs, e.g. Aryak neshkak itá, "Aryak is smart", Kanko shoykar itá, "Kanko (an indigenous vegetable) is good" (for your health), or a suffix may be attached to the noun it modifies. These suffixes are called adjectival suffixes. Some of these suffixes are etymologically derived from an attributive verb, e.g. -kerek > karyak itá "to be red". Others appear to be derived from separate roots, c.f. "Aryak-arku", ("clever Aryak") vs "Aryak neshkak itá" ("Aryak is clever"). Theoretically an unlimited number of suffixes may be appended to the noun, but in practice the number of adjectival suffixes seldom exceeds three. The suffixes may appear in any order, so long as the meaning is comprehensible. Nevertheless it appears that scope determines the ordering of the suffixes: suffixes with wider scope tend to appear towards the end e.g. "Kenenkor-pita-shune-une itá" (bed plush-red-soft-very 3S.COP ) "It is a very soft, red and plush bed."
While the number of adjectival suffixes are considerable, they remain for the most part a closed class. Moreover, with a few exceptions, each adjectival suffix may be expressed by a corresponding stative verb.
There are seven observed categories of adjectival suffixes:
- Quality
- Quantity
- Strength
- Size
- Color
- Tactile
- Other Attributes
Demonstrative Clitics
Type | Spatial | English Translation | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Proximal | =skoro | this one near me; now | nan=iskoro "this man here"; oriyat=hepi "today" |
Medio-Proximal | =hori, =ori | that one by you; just awhile ago | nan=hori "that man next to you"; |
Distal | =nko, =kekori | yonder, that one near him/her/them; yesterday, a few days ago | nan=inko "yonder man"" |
Invisible | =nanak | that one beyond the horizon, or occluded by a distant object | nan=nanak "that man (e.g. on the other side of the mountain)" |
Number
Nouns do not inflect for number, is usually determined by context, but a numeral joined by the Connective si= to its head noun can be used to indicate plurality, eg:
- ôhi si-kurasno.
/'o:ɦi ʃi ku'raʃno/
ôhi si kurasno
two CONN girl
two girls
If the noun is a core argument, then the copula obligatorily marks for number. Number is indicated on the copula by the affix -n-. For plural Agents, it is infixed, and for plural Patients, it is suffixed. Additionally, if the copula is marked with the Inverse prefix, the prefix redundantly encodes number by vowel length, eg ta- for the singular, and tā= for the plural. Some examples are given below:
Example of a HA singular Agent acting on a LA singular Patient:
- kurasno rompóy rayrokor nitá'.
/ku'raʃno rom'poɪ 'raɪrokor nɪ'taʔ/
kurasno rompóy Ø-rayro=kor Ø-ni-Ø-itá-ʔ
girl.HA dog.LA DIR=play=EVID.HEAR DIR-PST-HS-COP-LS
I heard that the girl played with the dog recently.
Example of a HA plural Agent acting on a LA singular Patient:
- kurasno rompóy rayrokor nintá'.
/ku'raʃno rom'poɪ 'raɪrokor nɪn'taʔ/
kurasno rompóy Ø-rayro-kor Ø-ni-n-itá-'
girl.HA dog.LA play-EVID.HEAR DIR-PST-HP-COP-LS
I heard that the girls played with the dog recently.
Example of a LA singular Agent acting on a HA plural Patient:
- rompóy kurasno tarayrokor tānintá'.
/romp'oɪ ku'raʃno ta'raɪrokor 'ta:nɪntáʔ/
rompóy kurasno ta=rayro=kor tā-ni-n-itá-ʔ
dog.LA girl.HA INV=play-HEAR INV.LS-PST-HP-COP-LS
I heard that the dog played with the girls recently.
Example of a LA plural Agent acting on a HA plural Patient:
- rompóy kurasno tarayrokor tānintan.
/romp'oɪ ku'raʃno ta'raɪrokor 'ta:nɪntan/
rompóy kurasno ta=rayro=kor tā-ni-n-itá-n
dog.LA girl.HA INV=play=EVID.HEAR INV.PL-PST-HP-COP-LP
I heard that the dogs played with the girls recently.
Quantifiers
Quantifier | Substantive | Attributive |
---|---|---|
All | kamun | kamun si= |
Most | toman | toman si= |
Some | cene | cisi= cis= |
Many | etco | etcisi= etci= etc= |
Both | hani | hanisi= hansi= has= |
Each | nune | nisi= nis= |
Few | cato | catci= catc= |
Another/Other | hane | hanesi= hanse= |
Interrogatives
Header text | Header text | Notes |
---|---|---|
Who | ra', rā | Possibly cognate with Minhast redad |
What | pôh | c.f. Minhast bak |
When | tu'a | |
Where | nahí' | c.f. Minhast nakki. Also, note dialectal variant enket (Sapshira dialect) |
Why | penóh | |
Which | yôri- | C.f. yôhori, to choose |
The Interrogatives manifest WH-movement, appearing immediately before the auxiliary itá' with rising intonation and a slight pause after the main VP. Neither a quasi-incorporated noun or adjunct may appear between the Interrogative and the copula.
- Okep nari ayrarke, penóh hô'itá'?
'okɛp 'na:ri aɪ'rarke pe'noɦ ɦo:ʔɪ'taʔ
Okep nari ayrarke, penóh Ø-hô-Ø-'itá-ʔ
PN child spank why DIR-HOD-HS-COP-LS
Why did Okep spank (her) child earlier this morning?
- Ka tahone, ra' taspitá'?
ka ta'ɦo:ne raʔ taʃpɪ'taʔ
Ka ta=honé, ra' ta-sp-Ø-itá-ʔ
2S INV.SG=cry who INV-CAUS-HS-COP-LS
Who is making you cry?
All Interrogatives can also serve as conjunctions, eg Hôri ak kosno itá' penóh Okep nari ayrarke-kor ho'itá' (I did not hear/receive the news why Okep spanked (her) nephew early this morning").
Interrogatives can also serves as Conditionals by a =si Topicalization structure:
- Ra'si karámpo taneknek ta'itá', siakos tamáko itá'
'raʔʃi ka'rampo ta'nɛknek 'taʔɪtaʔ 'ʃakoʃ ta'mako ʔɪ'taʔ
Ra'=si karampo ta=neknek ta-Ø-itá-Ø, si=akos tamakó Ø-Ø-itá-ʔ
Who=CONN bear INV=kill INV-HS-COP-LS CONN=1P danger.liability DIR-HS-COP-LS
Whoever slaughtered the bear (in this manner) is a danger to us all.
The Topic marker =si should not be confused with the Connective si= that is linking the embedded clause to the matrix clause. The former is an enclitic, whereas the latter is a proclitic.
Among the Interrogative pronouns, ra' ranks the highest in animacy; nevertheless, Interrogative pronouns are lower than non-Interrogative nouns in the animacy hierarchy.
Yôri- is always prefixed to the noun it modifies and can never appear as an independent word. It can be prefixed to pôh and ra' , i.e. yôripoh and yôra' , where it takes the meaning "which one", yôripoh for Noun Classes II and III, the sentient members of Class I, and yôra' for the rest.
Pronouns
The first group of pronouns are the simple independent pronouns. The animacy of each pronoun is arranged in the following hierarchy:
Pronominal hierarchy |
---|
1st >> 2nd >> 3rd |
Plurality generally does not affect the animacy level across persons. However, if two 3rd person arguments have the same animacy and one of the arguments is plural, then the plural argument is assigned a higher animacy level.
The following table lists the forms of the simple independent pronouns:
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
1S | ak | akôs |
2S | kā, ka | kakôs |
3S | tā, ta | takôs |
If used as a core argument, they often appear just before the clause-final copula itá,e.g. Nitori kā itá! (You are a fool); sometimes the pronoun is cliticized to the main verb, e.g. Nitoriká 'itá!, in which case a final long vowel is shortened and is appended with the glottal stop. They may also be used to emphasize a noun, in which case the pronoun precedes the noun linked with the connective si=, as in tā si=naho (She/Her, the mother).
Singular | Plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1S | 2S | 3S | 1P | 2P | 3P | ||
1S |
-- |
akak | akat |
-- |
akakos | akatos | |
2S | akak |
-- |
kat | akoska |
-- |
katakos | |
3S | akat | kat | tat | akosta | kakosta | takosta | |
Plural x Plural | |||||||
1P |
-- |
akoskos | akostos | ||||
2P | akoskos |
-- |
kakostos | ||||
3P | akostos | kakostos | takostos |
As earlier stated, nouns in Nankôre are not inflected, nor are case clitics attached to them to indicate case relations. Transitive verbs take two NPs as core arguments. The case relations of the two arguments are determined by the position of the noun in the animacy hierarchy; the core argument that is higher in the animacy hierarchy is assigned the Agent role, and the other argument is assigned the Patient role. However, an inverse affix tā=/tāh=/ta=/t= is prefixed to the primary verb, as well as a redundant ta- affix that is added to the auxiliary to alter the argument structure and promote the lower-animacy argument to Agent role.
Unlike the Intransitive forms, the portmanteau Transitive forms come before the main verb, not the auxiliary verb, e.g. Akostos karok tā'itá' , "I ate it". Sometimes the portmanteau is cliticized to the main verb, as in Akostos=karok tā'itá' . If the Inverse marker appears simultaneously with the Transitive portmanteau pronoun, the preverbal Inverse marker tā=/tāh=/ta=/t= cliticizes to the portmanteau pronoun. Since the Inverse voice is double-marked, the Inverse form of the auxiliary itấ' also is used, as in the improbable sentence, Takostos karok tahortā'itá'/Takostoskarok tahortā'itá' , from Tā-akostos-karok tahortā'itá' , "He/she/it ate me".
Oblique arguments on the other hand are treated as adjuncts, and are thus bound to their clause with the connective clitic si=. Context alone determines the semantic role of the oblique. Because obliques are considered adjuncts, they may not come between the core arguments and the verb, and therefore must appear either before or after the clause nucleus. To illustrate, the sentence Maska si=ohipna koykare ekán itá (anthill=CONN twig boy twist COP.PST), i.e. "The boy inserted the twig into the anthill", the noun maska (anthill) is the oblique argument and is marked with the clitic si= to join it to the rest of the sentence, e.g. Ohipna koykare ekán itá si=maska.
Verbs
The verb phrase in Nankôre require at a minimum an initial verb, plus the copula. An initial verb may be the main verb itself, or an auxiliary. A sort of division of labor exists between these components components; a certain set of clitics or affixes may attach to one of the components, and another to another.
The following set of markers cliticize to the first verb of the VP, which may be either the main verb, or a coverb. All preverbal clitics attach to the the initial verb.
- Initial Verb
- Inverse
- Aspect
However, a set of bound morphemes, occurring as suffixes, attach exclusively to the main verb, regardless if it is the initial verb of the VP or not:
- Main Verb
- Evidentials
Finally, the copula hosts the following set of morphemes, which are not clitics but actual affixes:
- Copula
- Inverse
- Tense
- Number
- Voice
- Irrealis
The Verb Complex
The following example demonstrates a complex verb predicate, with the Inverse marker ta= cliticizing to the coverb yam (accompany) in the Imperfect aspect, followed by the main verb yayak (go up a mountain) with the Hearsay Evidential suffix -kor, and finally the copula marked with the redundent Inverse clitic ta'=.
- Rompóy kurasno tayampo yayak hosmakór ta'nitá'.
/rom'poɪ ku'raʃno ta'yampo 'yayak hoʃma'kor taʔnɪt'aʔ/
Rompóy kurasno ta=yam=po yayak hosma-kor ta'-∅-nitá-ʔ.
dog.LA girl.HA INV=accompany=IMPF go.up.mountain-EVID.HEAR INV-HS-PST.COP-LS
The dog was going up the mountain with the girl, I heard.
The verbal elements follow a relatively strict order. The required elements for a VP to be well-formed are the Main Verb and the Copula. Adjuncts are unbound morphemes, and exhibit rather free order; however, they are barred from appearing between the Inverse Marker and any following verb, be it the Coverb or the Main Verb. If a Coverb appears between the Inverse Marker and Main Verb, an adjunct may appear between the Coverb and Main Verb. However, if the Inverse Marker is not followed by a Coverb, then an adjunct may not appear between the Inverse Marker and the Main Verb. Moreover, if Quasi-Noun Incorporation (QNI) takes place, an adjunct may not intervene between the Main Verb and the quasi-incorporated noun (QIN).
Coverbs
Coverbs are auxiliary verbs that serve to provide additional syntactic information to the main verb itself, or to the core arguments. There are two classes of coverbs, Directionals-Positionals coverbs, and Modals. Directional and positional coverbs serve as a way of indicating case relations of the core arguments, somewhat like Applicatives in other languages, such as those of its distant cousin Minhast. In fact the older linguistic literature often refers to these coverbs as "Applicative Verbs". The Directionals-Positionals coverbs always precede the Modals.
Directional-Positional Coverbs
Directional and positional coverbs have both a long and short form. The long form, also called the Independent Form, may serve as a bona fide standalone verb, or it may serve as a coverb provided that no clitics attach to it. Thus the coverb sanha, in its long form, means "to approach" as an independent verb, but its short form, san, always indicates motion towards an entity; this sort of syntactic relation is usually handled by the Allative case in languages which indicate case marking on the noun. Clitics that otherwise attach to the main verb, such as the Inverse marker and and aspect markers, move to and attach to the first occurring coverb of the VP. Clitics attach only to the short form. Additionally, morphophonemic alternations may take place when the Inverse marker ta= cliticizes to the coverb, such as in the Subessive cor-.
Long | Short | Coverb + Inverse | Sample Sentence | Translation | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goal | sanha | san | tasan | Anut America sanha kamuk-kor itá. | Anut supposedly flew to America. | -kor = HEARSAY.EVID, is suffixed to the main verb. |
Benefactive | nasko | nas | tanas | Nanhoska karen tā-nas eynakor itá. | It is said the (sacred) tree gave (life) for the people. | |
Commitative | yampe | yam | tam | Anut yam temenkor itá | Anut walked beside the river with him. | temen = to perform an activity by a river |
Instrumental | makôr | mak | tamak | Ehok mak-nahoyra yurasnanetkor itá. | The adolescent struck (it) repeatedly with a club. | -nahoyra- = Repetitive |
Ablative | risa | ris | tars | Šôni Nan Kamun Koryas ris mankor itá | First Man emerged from (out of) the snow. | Šôni Nan = "the First Man" Kamun Koryas "All Snow" (the birthplace of First Man) |
Locative | neyhi | ne | tan | Yonka asrok ta-n akunkor hô'itá. | I heard that a fly buzzed inside Yonka('s mouth) this morning. | asrok = fly, insect |
Vialis | nahke | nak, nahk | tanak, tanahk | Ka pohak ta-nahke šokor-nui itá' | I saw the river take you through the cave. | pohak = cave šokor = to flow -nui- = VIS.EVID |
Prolative | roskar | ros | taros | Ak piri roskar hô'itá'. | I crossed the street earlier this morning | piri = street, road, path |
Superessive | oros | or | tor | Ayôhe arupenrô or yaunkekor hô'itá. | The airplane flew over Ayôhe township earlier this morning. | arupenrô = airplane yaunke = to fly |
Subessive | yorha | yor | toyor, cor | Ekurki saska yor-ro kahorokor itá. | The turtle swam underneath the ice. | ekurki = turtle saska = ice kahoro = to swim |
Ablative-Superessive | isuk | suk, su | task, tasku | (Example) | (Example) | |
Ablative-Subessive | royna | roy | taroy | (Example) | (Example) | |
Riverine | temen | tem | tatem | No si-kurasno tem rohnaskor itá. | The girls supposedly were playing by the river. | |
Montaigne | yayak | yay | tay | Kahno côri yay cire/ciri itá' | The boy went up the mountain. |
Modals
Modal verbs follow the Directional-Positional coverbs. Modals include a wide range of expressions, such as ability, potentiality, similitude, desire, inclination, etc.
Aspect
The verb, in contrast to the copula, encodes aspect with clitics that attach to the end of the word. If a coverb appears, the aspect marker will cliticize to the coverb, otherwise it will cliticize to the main verb. Nankôre possesses several aspect markers, as illustrated in the following table:
Aspect Marker | Meaning | |
---|---|---|
Perfect | -Ø | |
Semelfective | =no | completed in one single motion/act, e.g. hit |
Simple Imperfect | =ro | |
Durative/Repetitive | =nahoyra, =noyra | several times |
Habitative | =(h)osma, =sma | often |
Factive | =yosir | (general truth statement, e.g. "The sun rises in the east") |
Continuative | =namporo | to continue |
Cessative | =ciri | to stop |
Terminative | =ruykáno | to finish |
Incipient | =kara | about to |
Approximative | =tontoro | almost, nearly |
Frequentative | =nokori, -(o)nkori | often |
Main Verb
The main verb is believed to be descended from a verbal noun and carries the main semantic meaning of the verb phrase. The main verb hosts the Inverse Marker tā-/ta-, aspect, and evidential/modal markers. As mentioned earlier, the Inverse and aspect markers may detach from the main verb and attach to a converb, while the modal/evidential suffixes remain tightly bound to the main verb.
Moods and Evidentials
The Mood and Evidential markers occur as bound suffixes of the main verb. Unlike the Inverse and aspect markers, they do not detach from the main verb but remain bound to the main verb.
Mode | |
---|---|
Neutral | -∅ |
Emphatic-Factual | -mas |
Hearsay | -kor |
Visual | -nui |
Intentive | -neat, -ne |
The Copula
In terms of morphological complexity, the copula hosts more affixes and clitics than the main verb; in addition to redundantly marking the Inverse voice, it also encodes tense, number, irrealis, inchoativity, and causation through a complex series of affixation.
The copula serves two purposes:
- To links noun phrases to their predicates:
- Nan konkekma ka itáhi
/nan 'sak konkekma yo:rika ɪt'ahi/
nan konkekma, yôri-ka ∅-itá-ʔ-hi
human snake which-2S DIR-PRS.COP-S-IRR
Are you man or snake?
- To serve as a host for tense, number, animacy, and voice markers to the verb phrase.
- Kanro kacekak hôsipnitá'.
/kanro kat͡ʃekak ho:sip'nɪtaʔ/
kanro kacek=ak ∅-hô-sip-nitá-ʔ
old.man hide=1S DIR-HOD-HS-PST.COP-LS
I hid the old man yesterday.
- Ea? kacek ka, yôrikani hôsipnitáhi?
/ea kat͡ʃek ka, yo:ri'kani ho:ʃɪpni'tahi/
ea kacek ka yôri-kani ∅-hô-sip-nitá-ʔ-hi
MIR hide 2S which-place DIR-HOD-CAUS-HS-PST.COP-LS-IRR
Really? Where did you hide him?
Copula Affixes
The Inverse marker ta- indicates a lower animate NP is the Agent acting on a higher animate NP whose role is that of Patient. The marker occurs in two locations: as a clitic to the first verb of the VP, and as a bound prefix to the copula itá'.
Number is marked on both core arguments: for transitive clauses, singular HA arguments are null-marked, and LA arguments are marked with the suffix -ʔ. For plurality, plural HA arguments are marked with a prefixed or infixed -n-, while the LA argument is marked with the suffix -n for plurality. Additionally, the vowel of the Inverse marker lengthens when the LA argument is plural; for example, the singular LA argument of the present tense copula is ta'ita', whereas the plural form of the verb is tā'inta'. The Hodiernal tense is an exception: the vowel of the Inverse marker neither undergoes vowel lengthening, nor does it receive compensatory stress; the form *tāhô'intá' is ungrammatical, the form tahô'intá' instead. This is presumably because the vowel of the tense marker, -ô-, suppresses lengthening of a preceding vowel according to Nankôre phonological rules, thus moving the stress rightward.
The Inchoative consists of a the prefix yis-, which frequently occurs as a circumfix, y- + -s-, for certain conjugations. The affix causes the Inverse affix ta(h)- to palatize; the -s- segment of the circumfixal form may occur before or after a pluralizing -n- affix, or the tense-bearing prefix of a given conjugation. Knowing which form of the Inchoative, and where the -s- segment occurs is unpredictable and requires memorization. When used in transitive sentences, it serves to mark the Inceptive aspect. The -s- component has been shown to be cognate with the Minhast inchoative affix -saxt-.
The Irrealis -hi is suffixed to the copula. It is obligatory for all Future tenses. It also surfaces in imperatives, yes-no questions which are marked with the -yo marker cliticizing to the first or second word of a sentence, as in Cire-yo tā'itá'-hi? "Did he die?", and in WH-questions when the event actually happening has not yet been established as having occurred; for example, Enket cire tā'itá'?, "Where did he die?" implies that the person's death is a fact, and it is only the location that is being inquired, versus Enket cire tā'itá'-hi? implies that not only is the location unknown, but the person's actual death happening still remains to be established. An interesting structure, called the "double interrogative", is a combination of a WH-word followed by a word bearing the -yo clitic, which also turns the question into yes-no question: Enket cire-yo tā'itá'-hi?, "Did he die, and if so, where?" The -hi suffix is believed to be cognate with the Minhast Irrealis clitic =š.
The Copula Paradigm
Present | Low Animate Patient | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | itá' | itán | yistá' | yistán | sip'itá' (pis'itá') | sip'itán (pis'itán) | ||
PL | nitá' | nitán | yisnitá' | yisnitán | sipnitá' (pisnitá') | sipnitán (pisnitán) | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
Low Animate Agent | SG | ta’itá' | ta’itán | castá' | castán | taspitá' | taspitán | ||
PL | tānitá' | tānitán | casnitá' | casnitán | tāsipnitá' | tāsipnitán | |||
Hodiernal Past ‡ | |||||||||
Low Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | hô'itá' | hô'itán | yôsitá' | yôsitán | hôsipnitá' | hôsipnitán | ||
PL | hô'intá' | hô'intán | yôsintá' | yôsintán | hôsipnintá' | hôsipnintán | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
Low Animate Agent | SG | tahô'itá' | tahô'itán | costá' | costán | tāhópsintá' | tāhópsintán | ||
PL | tahô'intá' | tahô'intán | cosnitá' | cosnitán | tāhópsintá' | tāhópsintán | |||
Past | |||||||||
Low Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | nitá' | nitán | yisnitá' | yisnitán | sipnitá' | sipnitán | ||
PL | nintá' | nintán | yisnitá' | yisnitán | sipnintá' | sipnintán | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
Low Animate Agent | SG | ta’nitá' | ta’nitán | casnitá' | casnitán | tasipnitá' | tasipnitán | ||
PL | tānintá' | tānintán | casnintá' | casnintán | tāsipnintá' | tāsipnintán | |||
Medio-Distal Past | |||||||||
Low Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | hitá' | hitán | yistá' | yistán | hispitá' | hisiptán | ||
PL | hintá' | hintán | yisintá' | yisintán | hisipnitá' | hisipnitán | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
Low Animate Agent | SG | tahitá' | tahitán | castá' | castán | tasiphitá' | tasiphitán | ||
PL | tāhintá' | tāhintán | casintá' | casintan | tāsiphintá' | tāsiphintán | |||
Distal Past | |||||||||
Low Animate Patient | |||||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | pitá' | pitán | yipsitá' | yipsitán | pisiptá' | pisiptan | ||
PL | pintá' | pintán | yipsintá' | yipsintán | pisipnitá' | pisipnitán | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
Low Animate Agent | SG | ta’pitá' | ta’pitán | caspitá | caspitán | tapsipta' | tapsiptán | ||
PL | tápsintá' | tápsintán | casipnitá | casipnitán | tápsipnitá' | tápsipnitán | |||
Medio-Proximal Future | |||||||||
Low Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | nitáh | nitahán | yisnitáh | yisnitahán | nisiptáh | nisiptahán | ||
PL | nintáh | nintahán | yisnitahá | yisnitahán | nisipnitáh | nisipnitahán | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
Low Animate Agent | SG | ta’nitáh | tantahán | casnitáh | casnitahán | tasipnitáh | tasipnitahán | ||
PL | tānintáh | tānintahán | casnintáh | casnintáhan | tāsipnitáh | tāsipnintahán | |||
Immediate Future | |||||||||
Low Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | hitáh | hitahán | yistáh | yistahán | hisipitáh | hisiptahán | ||
PL | hintáh | hintahán | yisnitáh | yisnitahán | hispintáh | hisipnitahán | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
Low Animate Agent | SG | tahitáh | tahitahán | castáh | castáh | tahisipitáh | tahisiptahán | ||
PL | tāhintáh | tāhintahán | cahsintáh | cahsintahán | tāhispintáh | tāhisipnitahán | |||
Distal Future | |||||||||
Low Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | pitáh | pitahán | yipsitáh | yipsitahán | pisiptáh | pisiptahán | ||
PL | pintáh | pintahán | yipsiptáh | yipsiptahán | pisipnitáh | pisipnitahán | |||
High Animate Patient | |||||||||
Indicative | Inchoative | Causative | |||||||
SG | PL | SG | PL | SG | PL | ||||
High Animate Agent | SG | ta’pitáh | taptahán | capsitáh | capsitaháh | tapsiptáh | tapsiptahán | ||
PL | tāpintáh | tāpintahán | capsintáh | capsintahán | tápsipnitáh | tápsipnitahán |
‡ Note the irregular Indicative Hodiernal tense form; the Inverse marker does not lengthen as it does for the rest of the paradigm.
Derivation
Nankôre has a set of verbalizing prefixes that when attached to nominal roots, often body parts, create verbs. These prefixes are most likely the remnants of Proto-Nahenic noun incorporation, based on comparisons with Nankôre's distant relatives, Minhast and Nahónda; similar or even identical fossilized affixes have been found in these languages that likewise attach to nominal roots for body parts to derive verbs, e.g. Minhast kirim (from k-erum, literally "make sound with the mouth) and Nahónda teloma (from t-loma, note that Minhast /k/ maps to Nahónda /t/); kirim is the Minhast cognate of Nankôre kôre.
Prefix | Sample Noun | Example | Meaning | Nahenic Cognates | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | k- | ore "mouth" | k-ore | to speak | Common Minhast k-irim "to speak" (NB: Nankôre ôre = "mouth" is cognate with Minhast erum = "mouth") |
Striking | ya- | shipa "hand" | ya-shpa | to punch | Minhast, Horse Speaker dialect: wi-šnu "to strike, hit" (Minhast išna "fist", "knuckles") |
Movement | ho- ha- |
nake "foot" | ha-nake | to scoot along the floor with one's foot; to kick around | Nahónda: ho-shishpa "to give" shishp = hand; c.f. Minhast sespir = hand, Nankôre shipa = hand |
Stability | pa- | are "eye" | p-are | to stare | Common Minhast p-uħta "to stand up" (from yuħta = "sole of the foot", cognate with Nankôre yohíhita = "flat surface") |
Removal | ro- | ampe "body" | ro-yampe | to remove one's clothes | Common Minhast ruyyamb "to take off clothing" (but note that Minhast lost the original *yambet (body), replacing it with tarti (body) |
Numbers
The Nankôre number system is dozenal, i.e. base-12. The numbers thirteen through twenty-three are modified compounds consisting of the unit numbers shori (1) through shiktash (11) compounded to shin (12). The number twenty-four hanoshin can be analyzed as han-o-shin, where the affix -o- signifies "multiplied by", so hanoshin literally means "two times twelve". The multiplicative pattern continues until the number 144, which is called nakpa. The number 100 (nenanoshin >> nena ān-o-shin) is literally "four (and) eight times twelve". The ordinals for the numbers 1-7 are the cardinal numbers suffixed by -ak or -ok. Numbers 8-11 are the cardinal numbers suffixed with the ending -u. The ordinal for the number 12 is again suffixed with -ok, and the higher numbers with -nok. If the -nok affix is preceded by a consonant followed by -i-, the -i- may be dropped, provided that this does not form the impermissible consonant cluster -CCC- sequence.
Number | Cardinal | Ordinal |
---|---|---|
one | šôri | šoriak |
two | hani, ôhi | hanyak |
three | tusta, tak | tustak |
four | nena, kayoka | nenak |
five | sišak | catak |
six | sirišo | siiršok |
seven | kerišo | kiršok |
eight | ān | anku |
nine | karu | karku |
ten | kaše | kasku |
eleven | siktas | sistu |
twelve | sin | sinok |
thirteen | šorsin | šorsinok |
fourteen | hansin | hanisnok, hanisnok |
fifteen | tusin | tusnok |
sixteen | ninsin | ninsinok, nisnok |
seventeen | casin | casinok,casnok |
eighteen | sirsin | sirsinok, sirisnok |
nineteen | kirsin | kirisnok |
twenty | ansin | asnok |
twenty-one | karusin | karushnok |
twenty-two | kasmin | kasminok |
twenty-three | siksin | siksinok |
twenty-four | hanosin | hanosnok |
thirty-six | tustosin | tustosnok |
one hundred | nenanosin | nenanosnok |
one hundred forty-four | nakpa | nakpanok |
Clitics and Particles
Temporal Deictic Particles and Clitics
The Temporal Deitic particles usually occur at the head of a sentence, e.g. Antak Anut Amerika san-kamuk hitá' , "A year ago, Anut flew to America". In multiclausal sentences, the clause in which they appear have scope over the all other clauses following it. At least one, yorai, cannot appear after the initial clause. These particles may also attach to the main verb in reduced form as clitics, as in Anut Amerika san-kamuk-entak hitá'.
Clitic | Meaning | Header text |
---|---|---|
=yorai | Once upon a time | Example |
=(i)nkát | Several years ago | Example |
=sheyhori | A few years ago | Example |
=(a)ntak | A year ago | Example |
=(e)kak | Several days ago, last week | Example |
=nate | The day before yesterday | Example |
=kira | Yesterday | Example |
=ho | Earlier this morning | Example |
=tora | Just awhile ago | Example |
=(e)yót | Now | Example |
=(e)nash | Soon | Example |
=k(e)sor | Tomorrow | Example |
=n(i)kos | In the next few days | Example |
=n(a)koy | In the indeterminate future | Example |
Syntax
Word Order
Nankôre's canonical word order SOV, more specifically, SOV1V2, where V2 represents the copula itá. Although the core argument NPs do not take any overt case marking, the animacy hierarchy and direct-inverse system of marking usually provide enough information to identify the Agent from the Patient. Thus, OSV1V2, SVO1 V2, and other orders are found, both in speech and text. When pronouns appear as core arguments, they usually appear after the main verb, resulting in OV1SV2. Very often, the pronoun cliticizes to the verb:
- Minhaste kôryak itá'
/'minɦaʃte 'ko:rjak ɪt'aʔ/
minhast kôre=ak ∅-∅-itá-ʔ
Minhast.language speak=1S DIR-HS-COP-LS
I speak the Minhast language.
Nevertheless, for all word order variants, the only restriction is the copula is restricted to clause-final position.
Fronting a constituent is used for emphasis, as in the following sample, where V1 is fronted to form a V1SOV2 structure. Fronted constituents are typically followed by an audible pause, as in the following example:
- Kakno, rihat makse itá
/'kak=no ɾi'hat 'makʃɛ̯ ɪt'aʔ/
kak=no riɦat makse ∅-∅-itá-ʔ
seize=SEM falcon.HA mouse.LA DIR-HS-COP-LS
The falcon seizes the mouse in one fell swoop.
As in many SOV languages, modifiers precede their heads:
- Sirkos sirohpa
/'ʃirkos ʃiroɦpa/
sirkos si=rohpa
foreigner fine.cloth
This fine foreign cloth
The Noun Phrase
Possession
Possession is indicated by joining the possessor to the possessum with the connective si=, followed either by the verb ras to indicate inalienable possession e.g. Koykare si=naho ras, "The boy's mother", or ocité for alienable possession, e.g. Koykare si=maska ocité. If the possessor is lower in the animacy heirarcy, the inverse marker ta'/tah is prefixed to the verb, as in the improbable Maska si=koykare tah-ocité, "The anthill's boy".
The Verb Phrase
The verb phrase is made up of the verb complex, and its predicate. The verb complex must end with the appropriate form of the auxiliary itá. Itá was originally a copula but later on accreted voice, tense, and the secondary ta- Inverse marker. The main verb precedes the copula and may be separated from it by a de-focused noun or by one or more adjuncts. De-focused nouns appear immediately after the main verb, and adjuncts cannot be inserted between the two (see "Quasi-Incorporation" below). Coverbs appear before the main verb. The primary ta- Inverse marker cliticizes to the first verb of the verb complex, which may be either a coverb, or the main verb.
Quasi-Incorporation
Nankôre canonical word order is SOV1V2, but under certain circumstances, the O-argument may occur between V1 and V2, i.e. SV1OV2. The O-argument becomes backgrounded, thereby assuming a peripheral role; as a result, the clause is effectively detransitivized. As a result, the Inverse marker ta- cannot occur in these derived intransitive clauses; it must be omitted for the clause to remain grammatical. This operation is called quasi-incorporation, and occurs cross-linguistically in unrelated languages, e.g. Dutch and Hungarian. A feature of Nankôre quasi-incorporation is that adjuncts, which typically can occur in most positions of a clause, including clause-finally, cannot occur between V1 and the relocated O-argument.
Quasi-incorporation may eventually evolve into full noun incorporation, as in the case of Nankôre's distant relatives, Minhast and Nahónda. Both exhibit full noun incorporation. Like Nankôre, both languages add the incorporated noun after the verb root, e.g. Minhast Ušnirumpakekaru << ušn-ruppumak-ek-ar-u (hit-face-3S.ABS+1S.ERG-PST.PFCT-TRANS) "I hit him in the face, I face-hit him", Nahónda klomenatsoyetolayo<< kloma-natsoye-Ø-t-ola-yo (speak-wisdom-3S.PT-1S.AGT-PST-AGT) "I gave him counsel, I wisdom-speak to him. Most languages that exhibit noun incorporation attach the incorporated noun before the verb root; placement of the incorporated noun after the root is rare among incorporating languages. The process by which Nankôre performs quasi-incorporation, namely by placing the O-argument between the primary verb and auxiliary verbs, may explain why Minhast and Nahónda place their incorporated nouns after the verb. Proto-Nahenic may have also placed a quasi-incorporated noun after the primary verb but before the auxiliary verb, an order which the descendant languages preserved.
Comparatives and Superlatives
Degrees of comparison are formed by placing the auxiliary verb soyka (to be big, i.e. to be more) or hatka (to be small, i.e. to be less) before a stative verb. Since two arguments are involved, namely the comparer NP and the compared NP, the phrase is structurally equivalent to a transitive clause, requiring an Agent and a Patient, and follows the rules governing the nominal animacy hierarchy. In the sentence Joe Sara soyka inupe itá (Joe is stronger than Sarah; lit. "Joe bigs strongs Sara"), soyka precedes the stative verb inupe (to be strong). Joe, being male, is higher in the animacy scale and so is assigned Agent status. If Sara were stronger, the Inverse affix ta-/tā-/tāh- surfaces, as in Joe Sara ta-soyka inupe ta'itá (Sara is stronger than Joe). Other examples:
1) Joe Sara soyka soyka ta'itá (Joe is taller than Sara; lit. "Joe big bigs Sara").
2) Joe Sara tā-hatka nahamos ta'itá (Sara is less tan than Joe).
3) Joe Sara hatka hatka ta'itá (Joe is smaller than Sara; lit. "Joe small smalls Sara").
4) Natos Suhe soyka makit itá (Natosh [masc.] runs faster than Suhe [fem.]; lit. "Natosh big runs Suhe").
5) Orôyo Paul ta-soyka soyka itá (The volcano is bigger than Paul; note that orôyo is less animate because it is a sessile object, hence the use of the inverse marker ta-).
To express the superlative, the auxiliary verb norhe/norhâ appears before soyka and hatka, e.g. Orôyo norhe soyka soyka itá (This is the largest mountain), or Sikôya orôyo norhe soyka soyka itá (This is the largest mountain in Kôya Island).
Example texts
Table of Abbreviations
Abbreviation | Meaning |
---|---|
C | Single Consonant |
V | Single Vowel |
VV | Long/Geminate Vowel |
(V) | Quiescent Vowel |
PN | Proper Noun |
NP | Noun Phrase |
VP | Verb Phrase |
OBL | Oblique argument |
DEN | Denonym |
AGT | Agent |
PT | Patient |
DIR | Direct Voice |
INV | Inverse Voice |
CONN | Connective |
HA | High Animate |
HS | High Animate Singular |
HP | High Animate Plural |
LA | Low Animate |
LS | Low Animate Singular |
LP | Low Animate Plural |
NEG | Negator |
CAUS | Causative |
INCH | Inchoative |
SEM | Semelfective |
QNI | Quasi-Noun Incorporation |
QIN | Quasi-Incorporated Noun |
SG | Singular |
PL | Plural |
REM.PST | Remote Past Tense |
HOD | Hodiurnal Past Tense |
PST | Past Tense |
PRS | Present Tense |
IMM.FUT | Immediate Future Tense |
FUT | Future Tense |
IMPF | Imperfect Aspect |
PRF | Perfect Aspect |
IRR | Irrealis |