Antarctican/Verbs
In the Antarctican language, there are no adjectives. Instead of adjectives meaning "red", "old" or "tall", there are verbs meaning "to be red", "to be old", "to be tall" etc. So instead of saying "the tall tree", you would say "the tree that is tall".
These verbs are clearly marked for transitivity (e.g. a different verb is used in the sentence "The door opened" compared to the sentence "I opened the door", and also inflect for whether they are putting focus on themselves or on nouns in the sentence (done via changing the end of the root). They also take infixes to indicate pronominal objects and voice changes (which is conflated with aspect marking). As well as this, they take prefixes to indicate pronominal subjects (which is conflated with tense marking).
Focus
Verbs have a root form, from which various other base forms are derived. The two most important of these base forms are the verb-focus base and the noun-focus base. Below is a list of verb roots with their corresponding verb-focus and noun-focus bases:
doleegi /doleːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
doleeju /doleːɟu/ - to drag, intransitive, verb-focus
`tùlòoezi /ʱtuʱlɘʱːzi/ – to drag, intransitive, noun-focus
`ròedu /ʱʁɘdu/ - red, root
`ròedla /ʱʁɘʱdɮa/ - red, verb-focus
`ròedù /ʱʁɘʱduʱ/ - red, noun-focus
'kiraeypyi /kiʁɛipʲi/ - to become scraped, root
'kiraeypyu /kiʁɛipʲu/ - to become scraped, verb-focus
'kiraypùe /kiʁa;ipɨʱ/ - to become scraped, noun-focus
Verb-Focus Base
This is used to put focus on the verb ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_(linguistics) ) i.e. when the most important "new" information that is being communicated to the listener is the action being done in the verb, rather than the nouns that are doing it or it is being done to. How it is formed from the root is regular, but the rules are somewhat complex and depend on whether the last syllable of the base begins with a soft or hard consonant:
Final Consonant is Soft
If the final consonant (not including any placeless nasal /ɴ/) is soft, infix -iq-/iʔ/ immediately after it e.g.
hlõ /ɬɔ/ - to perform, root
hli-õ /ɬiʔɔ/ - to perform, verb-focus
However, many vowels shift when this happens e.g.
éypyii /ʔeiˤpʲiː/ - to spit out, root
éypyi-eey /ʔeiˤpʲiʔeːi/ - to spit out, verb-focus
inyelee /ʔiɲeleː/ - to pierce, root
inyeli-aa /ʔiɲeliʔaː/ - to pierce, verb-focus
kiveluun /kiɥeluːɴ/ - to die, root
kiveli-ewn /kiɥeliʔeuɴ/ - to die, verb-focus
These vowel shifts are all in a roughly anti-clockwise directions around the vowel space. The shifts are listed below:
i /i/ -> e /e/
ii /iː/ -> ey /ei/
e /e/ -> a /a/
ee /eː/ -> aa /aː/
a /a/ -> u /u/
aa /aː/ -> uu /uː/
u /u/ -> i /i/
uu /uː/ -> ew /eu/
ey /ei/ -> ay /ai/
eey /eːi/ -> aay /aːi/
ay /ai/ -> uy /ui/
aay /aːi/ -> uuy /uːi/
uy /ui/ -> ii /iː/
ew /eu/ -> aw /au/
eew /eːu/ -> aaw /aːu/
aw /au/ -> ow /ou/
aaw /aːu/ -> oow /oːu/
Final Consonant is Hard
If the final consonant (not including any placeless nasal /ɴ/) is hard, change it to be soft e.g.
yuentorõ /jɨɴtoʁɔ/ - to introduce oneself, root
yuentolõ /jɨɴtolɔ/ - to introduce oneself, verb-focus
However, many vowels shift when this happens e.g.
nangarew /naŋaʁeu/ - to flow, root
nangaluu /naŋaluː/ - to flow, verb-focus
'kirami /ˤkiʁami/ - to swell up, root
'kiramyu /ˤkiʁamʲu/ - to swell up, verb-focus
imuepu /ʔimɨpu/ - to sit down, root
imuepya /ʔimɨpʲa/ - to sit down, verb-focus
These vowel changes are often the reverse of what happens if the final vowel of the stem is a soft consonant. The vowel shifts are all roughly clockwise around the vowel space, and are listed below:
i /i/ -> u /u/
u /u/ -> a /a/
uu /uː/ -> aa /aː/
a /a/ -> e /e/
aa /aː/ -> ee /eː/
e /e/ -> i /i/ * For some words only, see below.
ee /eː/ -> ii /iː/
ii /iː/ -> uy /ui/
uy /ui/ -> ay /ai/
uuy /uːi/ -> aay /aːi/
ay /ai/ -> ey /ei/
aay /aːi/ -> eey /eːi/
ey /ei/ -> ii /iː/
eey /eːi/ -> ii /iː/
ow /ou/ -> aw /au/
oow /oːu/ -> aaw /aːu/
aw /au/ -> ew /eu/
aaw /aːu/ -> eew /eːu/
ew /eu/ -> uu /uː/
eew /eːu/ -> uu /uː/
Vowel Phonation Changes
A few verb stems that end in a hard consonant and e /e/ behave differently. If the consonant is an obstruent and the vowel is short, has modal voice and not followed by -n /ɴ/, then the syllable is deleted and voice put onto the preceding syllable(s). This voice is breathy if the deleted obstruent was voiced, and tense if it was voiceless e.g.
nuetoze /nɨtoze/ - to be fed on, root
nitù /nituʱ/ - to be fed on, verb-focus
siboete /sibɘte/ - to all be present, root
sipáe /sipɛˤ/ - to all be present, verb-focus (remember that Antarctican does not like voiced obstruents before vowels with breathy voice).
The breathy voice “spreads” backwards through the word, changing vowel phonation with it, until it hits a voiceless obstruent or prestopped nasal e.g.
madoze /madoze/ - to give birth, intransitive, root
`màotù /ʱmɜʱtuʱ/ - to give birth, intransitive, verb-focus
nyiibe /ɲiːbe/ - to snow, root
`nyùue /ʱɲɨːʱ/ - to snow, verb-focus
san-gize /saɴgize/ - to bleed, root
sàon-gùe /sɜʱɴgɨʱ/ - to bleed, verb-focus
Tense voice "spreads" backwards in a similar way, except that it passes through voiceless stops and not through voiced stops, fricatives, or prestopped nasals e.g.
daraeke /daʁɛke/ - to cover, root
tárá /taˤʁaˤ/ - to cover, verb-focus
Noun-Focus Base
This is used to put focus on the (non-topicalised) noun(s) in the sentence.
Regular Formation
The default way of forming it is by putting breathy voice on the final vowel of the base, and changing the vowel quality in the same way as normal e.g.
éypyii /ʔeiʔpʲiː/ - to spit out, root
éypyùey /ʔeiˤpʲɨiʱ/ - to spit out, noun-focus
This breathy voice “spreads” to the left until it hits a voiceless obstruent or a prestopped nasal e.g.
gowpeyee /goupejeː/ - to suffer a setback, root
gowpòeyòoe /goupɘʱjɘːʱ/ - to suffer a setback, noun-focus
inyelee /ʔiɲeleː/ - to pierce, root
ùenyòelòoe /ʔɨʱɲɘʱleː/ - to pierce, noun-focus
kiveluun /kiɥeluːɴ/ - to die, root
kùevòelùun /kɨʱɥɘʱluːɴʱ/ - to die, noun-focus
Remember that Antarctican only permits voiced obstruents, prestopped nasals, and fricatives other than /s/, before vowels with modal voice. So if this vowel phonation change would produce such a forbidden sequence, then the consonant changes e.g.
hlõ /ɬɔ/ - to perform, root
lào /lɜʱ/ - to perform, noun-focus
These changes do not affect phonation spreading though, as we can see from:
madoze /madoze/ - to give birth, intransitive, root
`màotùsòe /ʱmɜʱtuʱsɘʱ/ - to give birth, intransitive, noun-focus
nyiibe /ɲiːbe/ - to snow, root
`nyùeypòe /ʱɲɨipɘʱ/ - to snow, noun-focus
san-gize /saɴgize/ - to bleed, root
sàonkùesòe /sɜɴʱkɨʱsɜʱ/ - to bleed, noun-focus
When a consonant such as a voiceless obstruent or prestopped nasal blocks the phonation spreading, if the vowel preceding it is /ɨ/ or /ɘ/ with modal voice (or a diphthong beginning with one), then fronts to /i/ or /e/ respectively e.g.
yuentorõ /jɨɴtoʁɔ/ - to introduce oneself, root
yintùrào /jiɴtuʱʁɜʱ/ - to introduce oneself, noun-focus
imuepu /ʔimɨpu/ - to sit down, root
imipù /ʔimipuʱ/ - to sit down, noun-focus
nuetoze /nitoze/ - to be fed on, root
nitùsòe /nituʱsɘʱ/ - to be fed on, noun-focus
poensaa /pɘɴsaː/ - to be lost in deep thought, root
pensàao /peɴsɜːʱ/ - to be lost in deep thought, noun-focus
If the vowel is /ɛ/, or a diphthong starting with /ɛ/, before the blocking consonant, then it lowers to /a/ e.g.
'kiraeypi /kiʁɛipi/ - to become scraped, root
'kiraypùe /kiʁaipɨʱ/ - to become scraped, noun-focus
Final Syllable Replacement
In addition to this, some verbs lose their final syllable, which is replaced with –zi e.g.
doleegi /doleːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
tùlòoezi /tuʱlɘːʱzi/ – to drag, intransitive, noun-focus (-gùe has been replaced with -zi).
bilidli /bilidɮi/ - to make it across, root
pùelùezi /pɨʱlɨʱzi/ - to make it across, noun-focus
This process happens under well defined conditions. Both of the last two syllables of the verb root must have modal voice. Also the final vowel must be a short /i/ and not followed by a nasal vowel. The consonant immediately before this must be a voiced obstruent. And, in the proto-language, the verb root must have had pitch-accent on any syllable other than the final one.
Restrictive / Non-Restrictive Modifiers
When verbs / adjectives are used as modifiers, the verb-focus form is used when the modifier is non restrictive ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictiveness ), and the noun-focus form is used when the modifier is restrictive e.g. from the work teyláae /teilɛˤː/ - shirt, we can say:
teyláae `ròedla /teilɛːˤ ʱʁɘʱdɮa/ – a red shirt (non-restrictive)
teyláae `ròedù /teilɛːˤ ʱʁɘʱduʱ/ – the red shirt (restrictive)
Verbalisation
Antarctican has a very productive process for to convert a noun N into an intransitive verb root meaning “to become N” / “to be N / to do what N does”. How this is done depends on the voicing of the last vowel of the absolutive form of the noun
Last Vowel of Abs. Form has Modal Voice
In this case, the verb root is identical to the absolutive form e.g.
zive /ziɥe/ - boat, absolutive
zive /ziɥe/ - to be a boat, verb root
buraza /buʁaza/ - brother, absolutive
buraza /buʁaza/ - to be a brother, verb root
yuenpiluy - /jɨɴpilui/ - employee, absolutive
yuenpiluy - /jɨɴpilui/ - employee, verb root
Other Cases
However, if the final vowel of the absolutive form has tense or breathy voice, the verb stem is formed from the ergative form of the noun, minus any final –n e.g.
ùylòen /ʔuiʱlɜɴʱ/ - island, absolutive
oylendun /ʔoileɴdun/ - island, ergative
oylendu /ʔoileɴdu/ - to be an island, verb root
péy /peiˤ/ - book, absolutive
péykin /peiˤkiɴ/ - book, ergative
péyki /peiˤki/ - to be a book, verb root
támá /taˤmaˤ/ - victim of a scam / swindle, absolutive
damaesin /damɛsiɴ/ - victim of a scam / swindle, ergative
damaesi /damɛsi/ - to be a victim of a scam / swindle, verb root
màao /mɜʱː/ - betel nut, absolutive
pmaagin /pmaːgiɴ/ - betel nut, ergative
pmaagi /pmaːgi/ - to be a betel nut, verb stem
`pùelùe /ʱpɨʱlɨʱ/ - bridge, absolutive
bilidlin /bilidɮiɴ/ - bridge, ergative
bilidli /bilidɮi/ - to be bridge / to make it across, verb stem
`pàoy /ʱpɜiʱ/ - baby, absolutive
baybyin /baibʲiɴ/ - baby, ergative
baybyi /baibʲi/ - to be a baby, verb stem
pàoy /pɜiʱ/ - page, absolutive
paydlin /paidɮiɴ/ - page, ergative
paydli /paidɮi/ - to be a page, verb stem
Transitivity
Whether a verb is transitive or intransitive Transitivity[*] is very important in Antarctican syntax. Unlike English, where a verb such as "drag" can either be used transitively (as in the sentence "He was dragging his pants along the ground"), or intransitively (as in the sentence "His pants were dragging along the ground"), Antarctican uses distinct verb roots for each case e.g.
doleeju /doleːɟu/ - to drag, intransitive, verb-focus (as in "his pants were dragging along the ground")
dleeju /dɮeːɟu/ - to drag, transitive, verb-focus (as in "he was dragging his pants along the ground")
`tùlòoezi /ʱtuʱlɘʱːzi/ – to drag, intransitive, noun-focus
`tlòoezi /ʱtɬɘʱːzi/– to drag, transitive, noun-focus
Very commonly, transitive roots are formed from intransitive roots by deletion of the first vowel and the second consonant. And if, out of the first and second consonants, one was soft and the other hard, the first consonant is changed to agree in hardness / softness with the second (deleted) consonant e.g.
doleegi /doleːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
dleegi /dɮeːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
shinari /çinaʁi/ - to twist, intransitive, root
hari /χaʁi/ - to twist, transitive, root
The transitive roots are then inflected for focus e.g.
shinari /çinaʁi/ - to twist, intransitive, root
shinali /çinali/ - to twist, intransitive, verb-focus
yùenàorùe /jɨʱnɜʱʁɨʱ/ - to twist, intransitive, noun-focus
hari /χaʁi/ - to twist, transitive, root
hali /χali/ - to twist, transitive, verb-focus
ràorùe /ʁɜʱʁɨʱ/ - to twist, transitive, noun-focus
Voice and Object Marking
Grammatical voice is very important in Antarctican. It is conflated with pronominal object marking, both only affecting transitive verbs and usually using infixes that come immediately after the first consonant of the verb base. As with elsewhere in the language, these are not differentiated for number, although there is an inclusive and exclusive “us”.
Infixation
This is the default way of marking pronominal objects and grammatical voice. In each case there are two forms of the infix, one that contains a hard consonant that is used with verbs beginning with hard consonants, and another that contains a soft consonant that is used with verbs beginning with soft consonants. Note that there is no infix to mark 3rd person objects. Instead the antipassive voice is used. The infixes are listed below in pairs, with the hard version coming first and then the soft version.
| Hard Form | Soft Form | |
| 1PS Exclusive | em | imy |
| 1PS Inclusive | as | ehl |
| 2PS | õs | õhl |
| who | ar | el |
| what | ab | eby |
| Reflexive | er | il |
| Perfective Antipassive | ut / ów(tq)s (see below) | atl |
| Imperfective Antipassive | am | emy |
| Superordinate | át(q) | áet(q)l |
These come immediately after the first
consonant of the verb base e.g.
damaehlu /damɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle, verb-focus
dõsamaehlu /dɔsamɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle you, verb-focus
damaehlu /damɛɬu/ - to scam, verb-focus
demamaehlu /demɛɬu/ - to scam me / us (not including you), verb-focus
All of the usual rules about phonation
spreading apply e.g.
pyùu /pʲuːʱ/ - to purify, noun-focus
pyùemyùu /pʲɨʱmpʲuːʱ/ - to purify me / us (not including you, noun-focus
pyòelùu /pʲɘʱluːʱ/ - to purify who, noun-focus
The infixes with non-back vowels and
voiceless consonants also undergo vowel mutation if the following vowel has
modal voice. This is the exact same as has been described before for noun and verb prefixes e.g.
damaehlu /damɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle, verb-focus
daesamaehlu /dɛsamɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle us (including you), verb-focus
deramaehlu /deʁamɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle oneself, verb-focus
If the first vowel of the verb base has
breathy or tense voice, and the infix inserted would contain /ɬ/ (which
can only occur before modal voice vowels), then it becomes /l/ and /tɬ/ respectively. However it
still blocks the spread of the voicing e.g.
pyùu /pʲuːʱ/ - to purify,
noun-focus
pyolùu /pʲɔluːʱ/ - to purify you, noun-focus
pyelùu /pʲeluːʱ/ - to purify ourselves (including you), noun-focus
The last example this is distinct
from pyòelùu /pʲɘʱluːʱ/ - to purify who,
noun-focus, which has breathy voice spreading onto the infix.
Note that, for the purposes of the syntax, using any of these infixes turns a transitive verb into an intransitive verb. This means that the subject of such an infixed verb can no longer take ergative case e.g.
- yuenpiluy - /jɨɴpilui/ - employee, absolutive
- yuenpiloy /jɨɴpiloi/ - employee, ergative
- sõwdla - /sɔudɮ/ - soldier, absolutive
- damasùe - /damas#616;ʱ/ - to scam / swindle, noun-focus
| yuenpiloy | damasùe | sõwdla |
| jɨɴpiloi | damas#616;ʱ | sɨudɮ |
An employee scammed a soldier
Above, we can see that the word for "employee" is in the ergative case, and must come before the verb. However, when the object is a pronoun, the word for "employee" must take the absolutive case e.g.
| yuenpiluy | daesamasùe |
| jɨɴpilui | dɛsamas#616;ʱ |
| employee-ABS | <1PS.INC.OBJ>scam-NFCS |
An employee scammed us (including you)
Antarctican also permits the subjects of intransitive verbs to come after the verb, so the following sentence is also grammatical (and perhaps more common):
| daesamasùe | yuenpiluy |
| dɛsamas#616;ʱ | jɨɴpilui |
| <1PS.INC.OBJ>scam-NFCS | employee-ABS |
An employee scammed us (including you)
Antipassive Voice
Antarctican has extremely productive antipassivisation (Antipassive_voice[*]). There are two infixes, which depend on whether the verb has perfective or imperfective aspect.
Perfective Antipassive
This is used for when the action described by the verb is not viewed as having any internal structure (Perfective_aspect[*]). It can be used for past, present or future actions e.g.
| duetamasùe | yuenpiluy |
| dɨtamas#616;ʱ | jɨɴpilui |
| <PFV.AP>scam-NFCS | employee-ABS |
An employee scammed / will scam (someone who does not need to be mentioned here).
However, remember that alveolar stops (e.g. /t/) can never occur before /i/ and /ʎ/ (with any phonation), nor before tense voice /eˤ/ and /ɘˤ/, nor before diphthongs starting with these. If a verb begins with a hard consonant followed by one of these vowels, a different infix is used, normally -óws- e.g.
inyeli-aa /ʔiɲeliʔaː/ - to pierce, verb-focus
ówsinyeli-aa /ʔouˤsiɲeliʔaː/ - to pierce, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
kiveliqewn /kiɥeliʔeuɴ/ - to die, verb-focus
kówsiveli-ewn /kouˤsiɥeliʔeuɴ/ - to die, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
However, if the first vowel of the verb root had tense voice, the ejective -tqs- is used instead e.g.
'kátla /ˤkaˤtɬa/ - to make someone's acquaintance, verb focus
'kówtqsátla /ˤkouˤtsʼaˤtɬa/ - to make someone's acquaintance, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
éypyi-eey /ʔeiˤpʲiʔeːi/ - to spit out, verb-focus
ówtqséypyi-eey /ʔouˤtsʼeiˤpʲiʔeːi/ - to spit out, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
Imperfective Antipassive
This is used for ongoing, habitual and repeated action (Imperfective_aspect[*]).
| damamasùe | yuenpiluy |
| damamas#616;ʱ | jɨɴpilui |
| <IMPV.AP>scam-NFCS | employee-ABS |
An employee is / was / will be scamming (someone who does not need to be mentioned here).
Superordinate Voice
Like the antipassive, this also reduces a transitive verb's valency (the number of arguments it has, see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valency_(linguistics)) by one, and requires that its subject take the absolutive case. However, it requires some other verb to come afterwards to be subordinate to it e.g.
- wonnye /woɴɲe/ - to want (something), verb-focus
- 'wátonnye /ˤwaˤtoɴɲe/ - to want (to do something / something to happen), verb-focus
- chi-iin /ciʔiːɴ/ - to fear (something), verb-focus
- cháetli-iin /cɛˤtɬiʔiːɴ/ - to fear (that something will happen), verb-focus
So using the nouns below:
- yuenpiluy - /jɨɴpilui/ - employee, absolutive
- yuenpiloy /jɨɴpiloi/ - employee, ergative
- sõwdla - /sɔudɮ/ - soldier, absolutive
- sõwdlan - /sɔudɮɴ/ - soldier, ergative
- nayba /naiba/ - neighbour, absolutive
- nayban /naibaɴ/ - neighbour, ergative
- tõn /tɔɴ/ - change (as in coins, money), absolutive
- tãn /tɒɴ/ - change, ergative
We can say:
| yuenpiloy | wonnye | tõn |
| jɨɴpiloi | woɴɲe | tɔɴ |
| employee-ERG | want-VFCS | change-ABS |
An employee wants change.
| yuenpiluy | 'wátonnye | sõwdla | damasùe |
| jɨɴpilui | ˤwaˤtoɴɲe | sɔudɮa | damasɨʱ |
| employee-ABS | <SPR>want-VFCS | soldier-ABS | scam-NFCS |
An employee wants to scam a soldier.
Note that in the second sentence, the case for the word "employee" has changed from ergative to absolutive. And since Antarctican allows nouns in the absolutive case to also come after the verb, the following sentences would also be grammatical, and all mean roughly the same thing:
wátonnye yuenpiloy sowdla damasùe
yuenpiloy wátonnye damasùe sõwdla
wátonnye yuenpiloy damasùe sõwdla
Similarly, using the verb meaning "to fear", we can say:
| yuenpiloy | chi-iin | sõwdla |
| jɨɴpiloi | ciʔiːɴ | sɔudɮa |
| employee-ERG | fear-VFCS | soldier-ABS |
The employee fears the soldier
| yuenpiloy | 'cháetli-iin | sõwdla | damasùe |
| jɨɴpiloi | ˤcɛtɬiʔiːɴ | sɔudɮa | damasɨʱ |
| employee-ERG | <SPR>fear-VFCS | soldier-ABS | scam-NFCS |
The employee fears he will scam / has scammed the soldier.
The words in this sentence can be ordered in the same fashion as before.
| yuenpiloy | 'cháetliqiin | sõwdlan | damasùe |
| jɨɴpiloi | ˤcɛtɬiʔiːɴ | sɔudɮaɴ | damasɨʱ |
| employee-ERG | <SPR>fear-VFCS | soldier-ERG | scam-NFCS |
The employee fears the soldier will scam / has scammed him.
Here, while the word for "employee" can come after the verb meaning "to fear", the word for "soldier", cannot, since it takes the ergative case (as it is the subject of the transitive verb damasù meaning "to scam").
Reciprocal Voice
One other voice that needs to be mentioned here is the reciprocal voice. This carries to meaning of "to do to each other / one another". It is formed by reduplicating the first syllable of the verb base e.g.
wonnye /woɴɲe/ - to want, verb focus
wowonnye /wowoɴɲe/ - to want each other, verb focus
darakòe /daʁakɘʱ/ - to cover, noun-focus
dadarakòe /dadaʁakɘʱ/ - to cover each other, noun-focus
shuetinju /çɨtiɴɟu/ - to count, verb focus
shueshuetinju /çɨçɨtiɴɟu/ - to count each other, verb focus
However, the reduplicated syllable cannot contain a long vowel, a diphthong, or the placeless nasal /ɴ/. If the first syllable of the verb base contains any of these, then it is truncated e.g.
ziitlàoji /ziːtɬɜʱɟi/ - to know (a person), verb-focus
ziziitlàoji /ziziːtɬɜʱɟi/ - to know each other, verb-focus
yinwùumùe /jiɴwuːʱmɨ/ - to turn in, noun-focus
yiyinwùumùe /jijiɴwuːʱmɨ/ - to turn each other in, noun-focus
kaaeykyu /kɛːi&k#690;u/ - to sell, verb-focus
kaekaaeykyu /kɛkɛːikʲu/ - to sell each other, verb-focus
The reduplicated syllable has whatever floating phonation is at the start of the word e.g.
'kátla /ˤkaˤtɬa/ - to make someone's acquaintance, verb focus
'kákátla /ˤkaˤkaˤtɬa/ - to make each other's acquaintance, verb focus
This may not be the same phonation as is on the first syllable of the word e.g.
'kamyu /ˤkamʲu/ - to inflate (someone's ego), verb-focus
'kákamyu /ˤkaˤkamʲu/ - to inflate each other('s ego), verb-focus
'kaypùe /ˤkaipɨʱ/ - to scrape, noun-focus
'kákaypùe /ˤkaˤkaipɨʱ/ - to scrape each other, noun-focus
Any changes to vowel quality that happen because of vowel phonation changes, also happen here e.g.
'puytlù /ˤpuitɬuʱ/ - to pick a fight, noun-focus
'póyputlu /ˤpoiˤpuitɬuʱ/ - to pick a fight with each other, noun-focus
As well as all the other regular vowel quality changes that happen when a noun takes a prefix e.g.
hali /χali/ - to twist, transitive, verb-focus
haehali /χɛχali/ - to twist, transitive, verb-focus
As with reciprocal possession, a few verbs have irregular forms in the reciprocal voice e.g.
ràorùe /ʁɜʱʁɨʱ/ - to twist, transitive, noun-focus
haràorùe /χaʁɜʱʁɨʱ/ - to twist each other, transitive, noun-focus
Generally, if a noun has an irregular reciprocal possessive form, then any verbs derived from it will also have irregular reciprocal voice forms e.g.
wùeròen /wɨʱʀɘɴʱ/ - friend, absolutive
fiwùeròen /fiwɨʱʀɘɴʱ/ - friends (of each other), absolutive
wòenzi /wɘɴʱ/ - to befriend, noun-focus
fiwòenzi /fiwɘɴʱ/ - to befriend each other, noun-focus
These irregularities happen for the same reason in reciprocal verbs as they do in reciprocal nouns, namely because there is an underlying initial consonant that changes form to something else because it is before a vowel with breathy voice or tense voice (which prohibit some consonants from coming before it). However, if there is modal floating phonation, then the underlying forms can resurface in the reduplication.
Pronominal Subject Prefixes
Instead of using pronouns to indicate subject, Antarctican uses prefixes on verbs. Which prefix is used depends on the tense of the verb (normally unmarked). They do not inflect for number. They are listed in the table below:
| Past | Present | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1PS Exclusive | uy | omyi | ow |
| 1PS Inclusive | chi | we | wi |
| 2PS | nyin | ya | yu |
| 3PS | zay | ze | zaw |
| Who / What | wu | hew | ri |
Note that, for habitual actions in the present, the past tense is used. Also the present tense is used for imminent actions in the future (where English might use "about to").
Emphatic Forms
All of the pronomnial affixes have emphatic forms that are generated by lengthening the vowel e.g.
chisàon-gùe /cisɜʱɴgɨʱ/ you bleed, verb-focus
chiisàon-gùe /ciːsɜʱɴgɨʱ/ you (emphatic) bleed, verb-focus
However, the emphatic forms cannot be used with noun-focus forms, so while chisàonkùesòe /cisɜɴʱkɨʱsɜʱ/ - to bleed, noun-focus is grammatical, chiisàonkùesòe /ciːsɜɴʱkɨʱsɜʱ/ would not be.
This lengthening can also be used on infixes marking objects e.g.
pyõhli-uu /pʲɔɬiʔuː/ - purify you, verb focus
pyõohli-uu /pʲɔːɬiʔuː/ - purify you (emphatic), verb focus