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Roots may be extended with derivational affixes to create longer stems, such as the diminutive ''-ap'' (e.g. ''putap'' "little man" < PUT) or the noun ending ''-t'' (e.g. ''kelt'' "language" < KEL "speak"). | Roots may be extended with derivational affixes to create longer stems, such as the diminutive ''-ap'' (e.g. ''putap'' "little man" < PUT) or the noun ending ''-t'' (e.g. ''kelt'' "language" < KEL "speak"). | ||
=== | ===Personal Prefixes=== | ||
Prefixes denoting person and number were widely used in Kelt and form an important part of the morphology. | |||
====Subject Prefixes==== | ====Subject Prefixes==== | ||
Subject prefixes exist for each of the persons in singular and plural with separate masculine and other prefixes in the 3rd singular only. There is also an indefinite subject meaning "someone, something" when the actual subject is unknown or not relevant, and an impersonal subject, which effectively acts as a placeholder when there is no apparent agent. | Subject prefixes exist for each of the persons in singular and plural with separate 'masculine' and 'other' prefixes in the 3rd singular only. There is also an indefinite subject meaning "someone, something" when the actual subject is unknown or not relevant, and an impersonal subject, which effectively acts as a placeholder when there is no apparent agent. | ||
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Subject prefixes are | Subject prefixes are used in the following ways: | ||
* added to transitive or intransitive verbs to mark the subject. All verbs require a mandatory subject even prefix even where the subject is otherwise specified. An epenthetic ''-h-'' may be inserted between the prefix and a following vowel-initial stem. | |||
:: '''''ki'''laani'' "I am breathing" | |||
:: ''qeput '''si'''hineena nuukah'' "the man saw a dog" | |||
* added to construct nouns to form a copula construction. Here, the vowel of the prefix is lost before the gender/number prefix of the noun: | |||
:: '''''w'''iikayatitti'' "they are fishermen" | |||
:: '''''h'''aqral'' "it is a house" | |||
* added to adjectives to form a predicate. Here, an epethetic ''-h-'' may be inserted between the prefix and a vowel-initial stem. | |||
:: '''''hih'''ets'' "it is salty" | |||
:: '''''si'''suup'' "he is big" | |||
The impersonal subject places focus on the verb and/or its object. It may be used with transitive verbs to create a passive sense, e | The impersonal subject prefix places focus on the verb and/or its object. It may be used: | ||
* with transitive verbs to create a passive sense, | |||
:: '''''e'''suneenamen'' "he was seen" (i.e. "X saw him") | |||
* with intransitives verb it can be translated with the dummy subject "there" (or "it" with weather etc.) | |||
:: '''''e'''tipa'' "there was runnning" | |||
:: '''''e'''sili'' "it is raining" | |||
====Object Prefixes==== | ====Object Prefixes==== | ||
Object pronouns are similar to subject forms, but have an additional reflexive form | Object pronouns are similar to subject forms, but have an additional reflexive form. The indefinite form is used when the object is either unknown or unspecified. | ||
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When the prefixes precede a vowel-initial stem, an epenthetic ''n'' is inserted | Object prefixes are used in the following ways: | ||
* with a transitive verb to show the direct object, inserted between the subject prefix and the verb stem. All transitive verbs require an object prefix, even where the object is otherwise stated. When the prefixes precede a vowel-initial stem, an epenthetic ''n'' is inserted. | |||
:: ''ki'''sun'''eenamen'' "I saw him" | |||
:: ''ni'''tśu'''kali'' "we are eating (something)". | |||
* with a postposition or adverb to create an adverbial | |||
:: '''''tu'''fal'' "to you (pl.)" | |||
:: '''''ku'''ken'' "behind me" | |||
The reflexive is used with all persons, e.g. '' | The reflexive is used with all persons but only with verb stems, e.g. ''li'''keru'''neenamen'' "you saw yourself", ''si'''keru'''tanya'' "he will kill himself". | ||
===Verbs=== | |||
Verbal morphology is agglutinative, based on an immutable stem to which affixes are added. The verb is composed of the following elements: | |||
:: [SUBJECT PREFIX] + ([OBJECT PREFIX]) + [STEM] + ([DERIVATIVE]) + [ASPECT SUFFIX] + ([TENSE SUFFIX]) | |||
====Aspect and Tense Suffixes==== | ====Aspect and Tense Suffixes==== | ||
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====Causative==== | ====Causative==== | ||
A suffix ''-tsa'' may be added to the end of the verb to create a causative. Here, the subject prefix marks the agent of causation and the object prefix marks the agent of the verb itself, e.g. ''kisuneenitsa'' "I make him see". Causatives usually take an indirect object (see below). | A suffix ''-tsa'' may be added to the end of the verb to create a causative. Here, the subject prefix marks the agent of causation and the object prefix marks the agent of the verb itself, e.g. ''kisuneenitsa'' "I make him see". Causatives usually take an indirect object (see below). | ||
===Nominals=== | ===Nominals=== |
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