Nankôre: Difference between revisions

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The verb phrase may contain up to three independent verb stems or roots. All verb phrases 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 auxiliary 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). Positional or motion verbs appear before the main verb. The primary ''ta-'' Inverse marker cliticizes to the first verb of the verb phrase.

=====Quasi-Incorporation=====

Nankôre canonical word order is SOV1V2, but OSV1V2 order also occurs. Under certain circumstances, the O-argument may occur between V1 and V2. The O-argument becomes backgrounded, thereby assuming a peripheral role; as a result, the clause is effectively detransitivized. The Inverse marker ''ta-'' does not occur in intransitive clauses; it must be omitted for the clause to remain grammatical. Moreover, adjuncts, which typically can occur in most positions of the clause, including clause-finally, cannot occur between V1 and the relocated O-argument. This operation is called ''quasi-incorporation'', and occurs cross-linguistically in unrelated languages, e.g. Dutch and Hungarian.

Interestingly, Nankôre's distant relatives, Minhast and Nahónda, both of which exhibit full noun incorporation, also add the incorporated noun after the verb root, e.g. Minhast ''Ušnirupmakekaru'' << ''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 ''tsokeklomenatsoyola''<< ''tso-ak-kloma-natsoye-ola'' (3S.PT-1S.AGT-speak-wisdom-PST) "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 immediately after the primary verb, may explain why Minhast and Nahónda place their incorporated nouns after the verb. Proto-Nahenic may have had quasi-incorporation where the noun was placed after the primary verb but before the auxiliary verb, an order which the descendant languages preserved.

====Position of Adjuncts====

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 The verb phrase may contain up to three independent verb stems or roots.  All verb phrases 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 auxiliary 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).  Positional or motion verbs appear before the main verb.  The primary ''ta-'' Inverse marker cliticizes to the first verb of the verb phrase.
+=====Quasi-Incorporation=====
+Nankôre canonical word order is SOV<sub>1</sub>V<sub>2</sub>, but OSV<sub><small>1</small></sub>V<sub>2</sub> order also occurs.  Under certain circumstances, the O-argument may occur between V<sub>1</sub> and V<sub>2</sub>.  The O-argument becomes backgrounded, thereby assuming a peripheral role; as a result, the clause is effectively detransitivized.  The Inverse marker ''ta-'' does not occur in intransitive clauses; it must be omitted for the clause to remain grammatical.  Moreover, adjuncts, which typically can occur in most positions of the clause, including clause-finally, cannot occur between V<sup>1</sup> and the relocated O-argument.  This operation is called ''quasi-incorporation'', and occurs cross-linguistically in unrelated languages, e.g. Dutch and Hungarian.
+Interestingly, Nankôre's distant relatives, Minhast and Nahónda, both of which exhibit full noun incorporation, also add the incorporated noun after the verb root, e.g. Minhast ''Ušnirupmakekaru'' << ''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 ''tsokeklomenatsoyola''<< ''tso-ak-kloma-natsoye-ola'' (3S.PT-1S.AGT-speak-wisdom-PST) "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 immediately after the primary verb, may explain why Minhast and Nahónda place their incorporated nouns after the verb.  Proto-Nahenic may have had quasi-incorporation where the noun was placed after the primary verb but before the auxiliary verb, an order which the descendant languages preserved.
 ====Position of Adjuncts====