Anthologica Universe Atlas / Universes / Turib / Lorošae-Menzuokit / Lo / Lorošae / Lorošae verbal morphology
Here's the affix ordering for a Lorošae verb:
Let's unpack these:
The interrogative marker is za- for verbs in continuous (c), perfect (p), habitual (h), future (f)stems , zu- for the imperative (i) stem, and zen- for verbs in the resultative (r) stem. It is used only for yes-no questions - alternative and wh-questions
The negative marker is ke- for c-, p-, h-, f-, and i-stems, and ken- for verbs in the r-stem. If both the interrogative and negative markers co-occur with the r-stem, only the negative agrees with the r-stem - thus, zaken-, never zenken-.
The preverb is an element of a verb that frequently conveys motion or direction, as in examples like di-za "(of the sun) to rise" and gu-za "(of the sun) to set" - di- and gu- in fact have associated motion verbs -di- and -gu-. Many preverbs have associated motion verbs, and every motion verb has an associated preverb - however, some of the more common preverbs, like "a-", have no associated motion verbs. Preverbs distinguish different lexical meanings, as in the above example, and so often must be learned as part of a word, especially in cases where the meaning of a preverb may not be clear. Some words may have multiple preverbs - these verbs frequently describe more complex motions, or verbs with many objects.
The indirect object markers mark the indirect objects in c-, p-, h-, future and tr-series of f-, and i-stems, and mark the direct objects in the secondary mood series of f- and the r-stems -secondarymood and resultative series share the property that they are unable to assign ergative case. Many of these can occur in a single verb. The endings for this are given in the following table:
Next come the object markers - these mark the direct object of a transitive verb, or the subject of an unaccusative verb or the agent of a verb in the secondary mood series and resultative stem, which as mentioned earlier cannot assign ergative case. These endings are given in the following table:
The pluractionality morpheme, -l-, represents that the transitive agent is of the greater plural number.
The aspect markers mark certain aspects, and work in conjunction with the stems.
Here are the aspect markers in the language:
la- marks the inchoative series, and takes a c-stem.
nak- marks the nak-iterative series, and takes an h-stem.
tr- marks the tr-iterative series, and takes an f-stem.
There are seven voices in Lorošae:
active, marked by null
antipassive, marked by r-
mediopassive, marked by n-
passive, marked by x-
circumstantial antipassive, marked by b-
circumstantial middle, marked by k-
circumstantial passive, marked by z-
Circumstantial voices are used when the verb has absolutive-dative agreement, which some verbs have in all series and some verbs only have in some series (namely, the aforementioned secondary mood and r-stem series), and act on indirect objects similarly to how normal voices act on direct objects.
This slot allows for any verb stem to modify a main verb – an instrumental prefix attached to a verb like Y-X means ”to X by Ying”. Most forms use the same form for their own stem as in their prefix forms, although some verbs have different ones, especially sensory/perception verbs, as in ok, "to see", vs. č-, "by seeing".
Certain nouns, especially body parts and other inalienably possessed nouns, are usually found when in object position prefixed to the verb as a lexical prefix, with the possessor of such a body part as an object of the verb, as in tug "to stab (someone)" vs. (i)d-tug "to stab (someone's eye)". Unlike instrumental prefixes, the lexical prefix slot cannot just accept any noun, and there are a limited set of lexical prefixes.
The root is the most central element in the Lorošae verb. Most verbs have six stems, and these are outlined below:
The continuous stem (c-stem) denotes action that is happening currently, or was once happening. This is the default stem, represented by null in all classes of verbs.
From the continuous stem is formed the progressive series, denoting ongoing activity, which is conjugable in past, recent past, and present tense × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, personal knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
The inchoative series is formed from the c-stem by the aspect marker -la- and is conjugable in the past, recent past, and present tense × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, personal knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
As well, the immediate future tense marker, -š, which ignores aspect, is also attached to the c-stem, and is conjugable in the aformentioned evidentialities as well.
The perfect stem (p-stem) denotes action that happened. This is represented in consonantal roots by a suffix -s, in single-syllable verbs by an infix -i- between the nucleus and the coda, and in multisyllable verbs by a suffix -i-.
This stem has just one series, the perfect series, conjugable in the recent past, past, and distant past tenses × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, narrative, personal knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeeves.
The habitual stem (h-stem) denotes actions that normally or regularly happen. This is represented in consonant roots by repeating the root twice, with an -a- in between, and in mono-/polysyllabic roots by reduplicating the first syllable.
From the habitual stem is formed the habitual series, conjugable in the distant past, past, and present tenses × first-hand, hearsay-inferential-knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
Also from this stem is the nak-iterative series, named so because it is formed by the aspect marker nak- This series is conjugable in the distant past, past, present, and future × first-hand, hearsay-inferential-knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
The future stem (f-stem) denotes a few fairly disparate series, and is formed by suffixing -r- to a consonantal root, infixing -u- between the nucleus and coda of a monosyllabic root, and suffixing -u to a polysyllabic root.
From the future stem is formed the future series, conjugable in the non-dubitative and dubitative evidentialities.
The tr-iterative series is formed with the aspect marker tr-, and is conjugable in the past, present, and future × first-hand, hearsay-evdential-knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
The future comes from an earlier subjunctive-irrealis mood, as seen in related languages, and this is evident in that from the future stem come the secondary mood series, derived from earlier independent modal verbs. The distinction between secondary mood and primary mood is notthing cross-linguistically sound - rather, it comes from the fact that in Lorošae there are two spots on the verb where mood is expressed, and these two groups of moods behave differently - namely, secondary mood inflections derive from the future stem, and cannot assign ergative case, unlike primary mood inflections which can assign ergative case and are derived from the imperative stem. These only conjugate in present and past screeves, and don't take evidentiality.
The imperative stem is used in its bare form to form commands, and with suffixes forms a few other moods known collectively as primary mood. Nothing in this stem takes evidentiality.This stem is notable for having different and often defective agent marking.
The imperative takes the bare imperative stem, and is conjugable in the past, present, and future tenses. The agent marking for the imperative series looks like this:
The conditional is used in the if-clause of a conditional, and is conjugable in the present and past tenses. The suffix for this series is -z, and the agent marking looks like this:
The optative is used for wishes as well as being used as a polite imperative, and is only conjugable in the present tense. The execratve is used only for curses. The suffix for the optative is -ng, and the suffix for the execrative is -dr - to those, the following is added as agent marking:
The potential mood is used for events that may happen, and is conjugable in the present, past, and future tenses. The agent marking for the potential mood is like this:
The resultative stem is used for distant actions that have some bearing on the present, where the action is not necessarily the main focus. This serious is conjugable in present and past × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, narrative, personal knowledge, experiential, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
This stem, like the secondary mood series, cannot assign ergative case, and has a different set of agent endings:
This slot contains the affixes for primary mood, that set of moods which as described above is derived from the imperative stem - namely, the imperative, conditional, optative, execrative, and potential. In this slot go the endings which are described in the text, not the endings in the tables, which go into the regular agentive marking spot.
This slot contains the tense suffixes:
-xp- for the recent past
-ǧ for the past (null in the perfeci)
-sk- for the distant past
-is- for the future (null in the future)
In this slot goes a single suffix, the momentane/semelfactive -rn. This is notably a derivational suffix, and is compatible with all six stems - an example of its use is ren "to cut something vs. ren-rn "to notch, to make a single cut on something".
In this slot go the secondary mood affixes, mentioned above, that take the future stem. They are:
-aav, the abilitative mood - this marks ability of the speaker to do something, not probability that something may happen, which is marked by the potential mood.
-ny, the necessitative mood
-ša, the desiderative mood
-neri, the conative mood
-sum, the final mood
This slot is where subject marking goes. Here are the endings for subject marking:
interrogative-negative-preverb-indirect object-direct object-pluractionality-aspect-voice-instrumental prefix-lexical prefix-root<stem formant>-primary mood-tense-momentane-secondary mood-subject
Let's unpack these:
Pre-stem elements
Interrogative
The interrogative marker is za- for verbs in continuous (c), perfect (p), habitual (h), future (f)stems , zu- for the imperative (i) stem, and zen- for verbs in the resultative (r) stem. It is used only for yes-no questions - alternative and wh-questions
Negative
The negative marker is ke- for c-, p-, h-, f-, and i-stems, and ken- for verbs in the r-stem. If both the interrogative and negative markers co-occur with the r-stem, only the negative agrees with the r-stem - thus, zaken-, never zenken-.
Preverb
The preverb is an element of a verb that frequently conveys motion or direction, as in examples like di-za "(of the sun) to rise" and gu-za "(of the sun) to set" - di- and gu- in fact have associated motion verbs -di- and -gu-. Many preverbs have associated motion verbs, and every motion verb has an associated preverb - however, some of the more common preverbs, like "a-", have no associated motion verbs. Preverbs distinguish different lexical meanings, as in the above example, and so often must be learned as part of a word, especially in cases where the meaning of a preverb may not be clear. Some words may have multiple preverbs - these verbs frequently describe more complex motions, or verbs with many objects.
Indirect object
The indirect object markers mark the indirect objects in c-, p-, h-, future and tr-series of f-, and i-stems, and mark the direct objects in the secondary mood series of f- and the r-stems -secondarymood and resultative series share the property that they are unable to assign ergative case. Many of these can occur in a single verb. The endings for this are given in the following table:
| singular | paucal | plural | greater plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | nti- | mmu- | nnö- | snö- | |
| 2nd | nja | nru- | ntö- | ntsö- | |
| 3nd human | nu- | ny- | nnu- | snu- | |
| 3rd animal | mbe- | mbe- | mbe- | ndze- | |
| 3rd x-class | n- | n- | n- | sn- | |
| 3rd y-class | ns- | ns- | ns- | sns- | |
| reflexive | nda- | ||||
| reciprocal | neb- | ||||
Object
Next come the object markers - these mark the direct object of a transitive verb, or the subject of an unaccusative verb or the agent of a verb in the secondary mood series and resultative stem, which as mentioned earlier cannot assign ergative case. These endings are given in the following table:
| singular | paucal | plural | greater plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | či- | du- | mö- | smö- | |
| 2nd | ka- | ǧu- | sö- | nsö- | |
| 3nd human | o- | ho- | ma- | sma- | |
| 3rd animal | de- | de- | de- | nde- | |
| 3rd x-class | ss- | ||||
| 3rd y-class | xi- | xi- | xi- | sxi- | |
| reflexive | da- | ||||
| reciprocal | eb- | ||||
Pluractionality
The pluractionality morpheme, -l-, represents that the transitive agent is of the greater plural number.
Aspect marker
The aspect markers mark certain aspects, and work in conjunction with the stems.
Here are the aspect markers in the language:
la- marks the inchoative series, and takes a c-stem.
nak- marks the nak-iterative series, and takes an h-stem.
tr- marks the tr-iterative series, and takes an f-stem.
Voice
There are seven voices in Lorošae:
active, marked by null
antipassive, marked by r-
mediopassive, marked by n-
passive, marked by x-
circumstantial antipassive, marked by b-
circumstantial middle, marked by k-
circumstantial passive, marked by z-
Circumstantial voices are used when the verb has absolutive-dative agreement, which some verbs have in all series and some verbs only have in some series (namely, the aforementioned secondary mood and r-stem series), and act on indirect objects similarly to how normal voices act on direct objects.
Stem elements
Instrumental prefix
.This slot allows for any verb stem to modify a main verb – an instrumental prefix attached to a verb like Y-X means ”to X by Ying”. Most forms use the same form for their own stem as in their prefix forms, although some verbs have different ones, especially sensory/perception verbs, as in ok, "to see", vs. č-, "by seeing".
Lexical prefix
Certain nouns, especially body parts and other inalienably possessed nouns, are usually found when in object position prefixed to the verb as a lexical prefix, with the possessor of such a body part as an object of the verb, as in tug "to stab (someone)" vs. (i)d-tug "to stab (someone's eye)". Unlike instrumental prefixes, the lexical prefix slot cannot just accept any noun, and there are a limited set of lexical prefixes.
Root and stem formant
The root is the most central element in the Lorošae verb. Most verbs have six stems, and these are outlined below:
Continuousstem
The continuous stem (c-stem) denotes action that is happening currently, or was once happening. This is the default stem, represented by null in all classes of verbs.
From the continuous stem is formed the progressive series, denoting ongoing activity, which is conjugable in past, recent past, and present tense × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, personal knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
The inchoative series is formed from the c-stem by the aspect marker -la- and is conjugable in the past, recent past, and present tense × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, personal knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
As well, the immediate future tense marker, -š, which ignores aspect, is also attached to the c-stem, and is conjugable in the aformentioned evidentialities as well.
Perfect stem
The perfect stem (p-stem) denotes action that happened. This is represented in consonantal roots by a suffix -s, in single-syllable verbs by an infix -i- between the nucleus and the coda, and in multisyllable verbs by a suffix -i-.
This stem has just one series, the perfect series, conjugable in the recent past, past, and distant past tenses × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, narrative, personal knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeeves.
Habitual stem
The habitual stem (h-stem) denotes actions that normally or regularly happen. This is represented in consonant roots by repeating the root twice, with an -a- in between, and in mono-/polysyllabic roots by reduplicating the first syllable.
From the habitual stem is formed the habitual series, conjugable in the distant past, past, and present tenses × first-hand, hearsay-inferential-knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
Also from this stem is the nak-iterative series, named so because it is formed by the aspect marker nak- This series is conjugable in the distant past, past, present, and future × first-hand, hearsay-inferential-knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
Future stem
The future stem (f-stem) denotes a few fairly disparate series, and is formed by suffixing -r- to a consonantal root, infixing -u- between the nucleus and coda of a monosyllabic root, and suffixing -u to a polysyllabic root.
From the future stem is formed the future series, conjugable in the non-dubitative and dubitative evidentialities.
The tr-iterative series is formed with the aspect marker tr-, and is conjugable in the past, present, and future × first-hand, hearsay-evdential-knowledge, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
The future comes from an earlier subjunctive-irrealis mood, as seen in related languages, and this is evident in that from the future stem come the secondary mood series, derived from earlier independent modal verbs. The distinction between secondary mood and primary mood is notthing cross-linguistically sound - rather, it comes from the fact that in Lorošae there are two spots on the verb where mood is expressed, and these two groups of moods behave differently - namely, secondary mood inflections derive from the future stem, and cannot assign ergative case, unlike primary mood inflections which can assign ergative case and are derived from the imperative stem. These only conjugate in present and past screeves, and don't take evidentiality.
Imperative stem
The imperative stem is used in its bare form to form commands, and with suffixes forms a few other moods known collectively as primary mood. Nothing in this stem takes evidentiality.This stem is notable for having different and often defective agent marking.
The imperative takes the bare imperative stem, and is conjugable in the past, present, and future tenses. The agent marking for the imperative series looks like this:
| singular | paucal | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -tö | -tön | -to | |
| 2nd | -tin | -taw | ||
| 3nd human | -tu | tun | tuu | |
| 3rd non-human | -te | |||
The conditional is used in the if-clause of a conditional, and is conjugable in the present and past tenses. The suffix for this series is -z, and the agent marking looks like this:
| All numbers | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ||
| 2nd/3rd | -a | |
The optative is used for wishes as well as being used as a polite imperative, and is only conjugable in the present tense. The execratve is used only for curses. The suffix for the optative is -ng, and the suffix for the execrative is -dr - to those, the following is added as agent marking:
| singular | paucal | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -ö | -ön | -o | |
| 2nd | -i | -in | -aw | |
| 3nd human | -u | un | uu | |
| 3rd non-human | -e | |||
The potential mood is used for events that may happen, and is conjugable in the present, past, and future tenses. The agent marking for the potential mood is like this:
| singular | paucal | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -ys | -nys | -yys | |
| 2nd | -i | -in | -ii | |
| 3nd human | -a | -ana | -aa | |
| 3rd non-human | -o | -ono | -oo | |
Resultative stem
The resultative stem is used for distant actions that have some bearing on the present, where the action is not necessarily the main focus. This serious is conjugable in present and past × first-hand knowledge, hearsay-inferential, narrative, personal knowledge, experiential, and dubitative evidentiality screeves.
This stem, like the secondary mood series, cannot assign ergative case, and has a different set of agent endings:
| singular | paucal | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -miin | -mön | -ny | |
| 2nd | -möl | -myr | -gö | |
| 3nd human | -miis | -moong | -nca | |
| 3rd animal | -neb | |||
| 3rd x-class | -mee | -da | ||
| 3rd y-class | -möö | -myk | -myy | |
Post-stem elements
Primary mood
This slot contains the affixes for primary mood, that set of moods which as described above is derived from the imperative stem - namely, the imperative, conditional, optative, execrative, and potential. In this slot go the endings which are described in the text, not the endings in the tables, which go into the regular agentive marking spot.
Tense
This slot contains the tense suffixes:
-xp- for the recent past
-ǧ for the past (null in the perfeci)
-sk- for the distant past
-is- for the future (null in the future)
Momentane suffix
In this slot goes a single suffix, the momentane/semelfactive -rn. This is notably a derivational suffix, and is compatible with all six stems - an example of its use is ren "to cut something vs. ren-rn "to notch, to make a single cut on something".
Secondary mood
In this slot go the secondary mood affixes, mentioned above, that take the future stem. They are:
-aav, the abilitative mood - this marks ability of the speaker to do something, not probability that something may happen, which is marked by the potential mood.
-ny, the necessitative mood
-ša, the desiderative mood
-neri, the conative mood
-sum, the final mood
Subject marking
This slot is where subject marking goes. Here are the endings for subject marking:
| singular | paucal | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -ti | -mu | -nö | |
| 2nd | -hal | -ru | -tö | |
| 3nd human | -u | -y | -nu | |
| 3rd animal | -be | |||
| 3rd x-class | ||||
| 3rd y-class | -s | |||