Nankôre: Difference between revisions

Nankôre is classified as a SOV language.  The auxiliary verbs, such as the copula ''itá'', obligatorily appear in clause-final position.  Although the core argument NPs do not take any overt case marking, the animacy hierarchy and inverse system usually provide enough information to identify the Agent from the Patient, so OSV orders are also found in speech and text.  Although auxiliary verbs are obligatorily clause-final, their head may appear at the beginning of the clause, as in ''Kakno, rihat makshe no itá'' >> seize.3, falcon.AGT mouse.PT SEMBLATIVE COP, lit. "It seizes it, the falcon the mouse in.one.act it.does", i.e. "The falcon seizes the mouse in one fell swoop."  

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".

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 tā 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 ''tā-/tāh-'' surfaces, as in ''Joe Sara '''tā'''-soyka inupe  tā itá'' (Sara is stronger than Joe).  Other examples: