Wistanian: Difference between revisions

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===Verbs===
===Verbs===


Verbs only conjugate four lexical aspects. There is no tense, but it is rather expressed through context and other modifier phrases. Only the irrealis mood is conjugated to the verb, while other moods are expressed through modifiers and context. Verbs do not compound with any other part of speech.
''coming soon''


====Aspect====
(I've deleted this entire section, hopefully to motivate me to rewrite it because it needs rewritten. Hold tight.)
''needs polishing''
 
The Wistanian understanding of aspect is different than what one will find in most natural languages. Rather than conjugating for grammatical aspect, Wistanian conjugates for ''lexical aspect''. In other words, the very definition of a verb may change based on its conjugation.
 
The four lexical aspects are: ''stative'', ''durative'', ''telic'', and ''atelic''.
 
* '''Stative verbs''' (<code>STA</code>) describe a situation or action that is unchanging over a long period of time. Stative verbs do not describe temporary actions, but rather the result of a temporary action or a series of temporary actions that identify the subject.
* '''Durative verbs''' (<code>DUR</code>) are dynamic and indicate that an action is in progress from one state to another.
* '''Telic verbs''' (<code>TEL</code>) are dynamic and punctual, describing an action with an endpoint. More specifically, it refers to any action that has been completed as intended. In most situations, it strongly implies the past or future tense and the perfective grammatical aspect.
* '''Atelic verbs''' (<code>ATEL</code>) are dynamic and punctual, describing an action that does not have an intended endpoint. Like the telic, this aspect strongly implies the past or future tense, but is often grammatically imperfective.
 
      ASPECT
      /    \
'''STATIVE''' DYNAMIC
        /    \
  '''DURATIVE'''    PUNCTUAL
              /      \
          '''TELIC'''      '''ATELIC'''
 
For example, the verb '''bima''' means to "fall" in the telic, "precipitate" in the atelic, "descend" in the durative, and "to be fallen (i.e., lying on the ground after a fall)" in the stative. '''bima''' still expresses the same basic meaning — "the subject goes downward" — but its implications change based on its conjugations. This is also true of the verb '''ja''', which means "like" in the stative, "fall in love" in the durative, "achieve or accomplish" in the telic, and "want" in the atelic. Again, the basic meaning remains — "the subject has a desire" — but the differing conjugations further explain what ''kind'' of desire is being had: an unchanging desire (stative), a growing desire (durative), a satisfied desire (telic), or an unsatisfied desire (atelic).
 
These aspects also imply certain grammatical features. Indeed, these aspects originally did refer to grammatical aspects a thousand years within Wistanian's history. The stative was once the [[w: Gnomic_aspect|gnomic aspect]], the durative was once the [[w: Continuous_and_progressive_aspects|continuous aspect]], and the telic and atelic were once the [[w: Perfective_aspect|perfective]] and [[w: Imperfective_aspect|imperfective aspects]], respectively. This shift was slow, however, but it picked up mightily during the pidginization with the Nati, since lexical aspect could allow them to communicate using fewer verb roots, so words such to "to put on" were replaced with the durative conjugation for the stative "to wear".
 
=====Stative=====
 
Stative verbs (<code>STA</code>) describe a situation or action that is unchanging over a long period of time. Stative verbs do not describe temporary actions, but rather the result of a temporary action or a series of temporary actions that identify the subject. For example, consider the following sentence:
 
'''yigiya yau anigalilaun.'''
yiga '''-iya''' yau    ani    -galilaun
speak'''-STA''' 1S.NOM language-peace.
"I speak Wistanian." / "I am a speaker of Wistanian"
 
The verb in the above sentence informs the listener (or reader) that the subject, the speaker, speaks Wistanian, and does so homogenously and for a long period of time. It is a series of temporary action that identifies the subject; i.e., it can easily be translated into "''I am a speaker'' of Wistanian." A more dynamic conjugation would likely infer that the speaker is only speaking temporarily.
 
This can also refer to something called the ''resultative'', which applies to verbs that do not inherently express a stative act. For example, '''bima''' (discussed in the section above) describes the motion from a high place to a low place. This involves movement and change, which the stative conjugation does not mess with. Instead, '''bima''' in the stative means "to be fallen (i.e., lying on the ground after a fall)". Lying on the ground is a stative action, which is also a result of a previous non-stative action. Another example for this is the verb '''dula''', "to put on, clothe", which, in the stative, translates as "to wear" (or in a more roundabout way: "to have put on").
 
Stative verbs are conjugated as such (apostophes indicate stress):
 
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | REGULAR
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | STATIVE
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | DEFINITION
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'viga
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | vi'giya
| to be eaten, destroyed completely
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'zani
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | za'niya
| to be loud, rude
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'hadu
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | ha'diya
| to know
|}
 
=====Durative=====
 
The durative aspect (<code>DUR</code>) is a dynamic aspect which indicates that an action is in progress from one state to another. Consider the following sentence:
 
'''yiga yau anigalilaun.'''
yiga '''-a'''  yau    ani    -galilaun.
speak'''-DUR''' 1S.NOM language-peace.
"I am speaking Wistanian."
 
This sentence informs the listener that the speaker is in the process of speaking Wistanian. Unlike in the stative example, which simply indicated that the speaker knows and has the ability to speak Wistanian, the durative is indicating that the speaker is actually speaking it at the present moment. This aspect strongly implies the verb is present and imperfect, grammatically, although context could give more precise details.
 
Durative verbs specifically describe the process of going from one state to the other, usually opposite, state. For example, '''yiga''' in the durative describe the process from the beginning of a statement to the end of a statement. The word '''ja''', which means "falling in love" in the durative, describes the process from a state of apathy to a state of obsession. This is especially notable in the following example of '''hadu'''. In the stative, it means "to know", but in the durative, it describes the process from being ignorant to being informed: "to learn."
 
Durative verbs are conjugated as such (apostophes indicate stress):
 
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | REGULAR
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | DURATIVE
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | DEFINITION
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'viga
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'viga
| to be eating
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'zani
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'zana
| to be shouting, rude
|-
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'hadu
| style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;" | 'hada
| to be learning
|}
 
====Mood====
 
Verbs are conjugated for the [[w: Irrealis_mood|irrealis mood]], which is used in polite requests, questions, and in conjunction with epistemic or deontic particles. This is done with the suffix ⟨-j⟩. Indicative negative verbs are not conjugated as irrealis.  
 
''THE FOLLOWING TABLE IS (most likely) OUT OF DATE''
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | NOMINAL
! colspan="8" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | VERBAL
|-
! rowspan="4" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" |
! rowspan="3" colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | STATIVE
! colspan="6" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | DYNAMIC
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | DURATIVE
! colspan="4" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | PUNCTUAL
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | TELIC
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | ATELIC
|-
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | realis
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | irrealis
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | realis
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | irrealis
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | realis
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | irrealis
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | realis
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold;" | irrealis
|-
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;" | viga
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | vigiya
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | vigiyaj
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | viga
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | vigaj
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | vigai
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | vigaij
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | viga
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | vigaj
|-
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;" | zani
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zaniya
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zaniyaj
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zana
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zanaj
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zanyi
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zanyij
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zanya
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | zanyaj
|-
! style="text-align: center; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;" | hadu
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hadiya
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hadiyaj
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hada
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hadaj
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hadwi
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hadwij
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hadwa
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | hadwaj
|}


===Modifiers===
===Modifiers===
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