Lifashian: Difference between revisions

The Lifashian present formations are categorized as follows:

* class I (athematic verbs): root plus any personal suffix, without the ''-á-'' extension for the first person singular. This includes consonant-final roots (such as ''frál-mi'' "I become", ''dey-mi'' "I nurse", or with an epenthetic vowel ''eˤle-mi'' "I eat"<ref>Synchronically irregular due to consonant assimilation: ''eˤlemi, eˤtsi, eˤti, deˤmas, deˤte, déˤti''.</ref>), but in many cases the Lifashian root ends in a long vowel and reflects an original laryngeal (such as ''mulú-mi'' "I say, speak" (PIE *mléwh₁mi)). The borrowed verbs ''siré-mi'' "I like" and ''guré-mi'' "I write" are also part of this class.

* class III (nasal infix), athematic class with a stressed ''-ne-'' suffix inserted into the root in the singular and a ''-n-'' before the last consonant in the plural. Includes many common verbs, such as e.g. ''pure<ne>s-mi, pure<n>s-mas'' "I/we ask", ''iske<ne>l-mi, iske<n>la-mas'' "I/we have to", ''u<ne>l-mi, u<n>da-mas'' "I/we wash", ''tu<ná>-mi, tu<ná>-mas'' "I/we can" (less regular due to an original root-final laryngeal, still present in the root ''tuh-'', cf. root past ''a-tú-m'').

* class IV (reduplicated athematic), similar to class I but with a reduplicated initial, such as most notably ''le-lú-mi'' "I give", ''ge-wíl-mi'' "I watch, look at, gaze".