Levels of Inflection

In most contexts, Hikóómayíi verbs must be fully inflected, meaning they include a person/number/TAM suffix in suffix slot 1 (see below), and can optionally include a following aspectual suffix (slot 2) or evidential suffix (slot 3). By contrast, partially-inflected verbs have restrictions on suffixes. These include:

• Conditional/Temporal verbs (which take the switch-reference (SR) enclitics =drá ss or =čí ds) cannot take aspect suffixes in suffix slot 2.
  • Same subject verbs, with =drá, when used with a conditional meaning, also cannot take a person/number/TAM suffix in slot 1.
  • Temporal verbs, when used to give background information (backgrounded temporal elaboration), cannot take any inflectional suffixes or person-marking prefixes.
• Subordinate verbs (which take the SR enclitics =ok ss or =ko ds) cannot take aspectual (slot 2) or evidential (slot 3) suffixes.
  • Same subject verbs, with =ok also cannot take person/number/TAM (slot 1) marking.
  • However, Subordinate verbs mark negation with the inflectional suffix -woy in slot 4, whereas other verbs are negated with a separate particle, ki.
  
  

Inflectional Template

Hikóómayíi verbs are very complex, with up to 21 inflectional prefix slots and 4 inflectional suffix slots. These are listed below, counting from the slot closest to the stem and moving outward (i.e., starting with the rightmost slot for prefixes and moving left, and starting left for suffixes and moving right).

Prefixes

Prefix Slot (P)1 : Reduplication. Reduplication essentially has two primary uses: (a) to indicate a distributive (distribution over space, time, or patients), and (b) to indicate atelic actions (i.e., not oriented toward a goal/end-point). These two senses frequently overlap, and are clearly related. Both senses (distribution over space/time and non-goal-oriented action) can be seen in (40):

(40) oᴴkííθ_P18 - ha_P1 + |háačí| - `yóo_S1 - oᴴkoᴴ_S2 > hokíiθhaháačiyóoko
dur-rdp+walk(sg)-3sprox.real.impfv-prog
"he was wandering about for a long time" (line 2)

Reduplication is used in forming participles (deverbals) as well, but this is a derivational rather than inflectional process. It is also required when the antipassive suffix is used as a true antipassive (in its valence-adjusting use); it is optional but not required when the antipassive suffix is used to form complement clauses.

P2 : Incorporated Noun Root. Most verbs can incorporate an uninflected noun root into P2, which serves to narrow the scope of the verb by referencing the class of patients it applies to. The incorporated noun is generic, non-specific, and non-referential. Incorporation requires that the verb be overtly detransitivized. The discourse uses of incorporation include to form new, more specific verbs (out of N-V compounds), and to background unimportant or generic referents in the discourse. (As alluded to above, incorporated body part roots are treated differently from other incorporated nouns, and they appear as medials, rather than in P2.)

(41)(=11) hkóó_P2 - |fáá|-`b - íin_S1 > hkóófáabíin
person-wait.for-detr-1sg.real.impfv
"I wait for people / I people-wait" (line 13; compare the following clause, "to see if any people might come", expressed with a separate nominal)

P3 : Inverse θIᴴ-. Used when the primary object outranks the subject, or the secondary object outranks the primary object, on the topicality hierarchy. (See above.)

P4 - P11 : "Adjectival Classifiers". (The misuse of the term "classifier" to describe something else has been borrowed from Athabaskan, though not the referent.) These are used in concert with a classificatory medial, and provide a description of the object or notion identified by the medial. Such constructions lack an overt verb root, and their structure is: classifier(s)-medial-be(derivational suffix). For an example of several classifiers, see (37) above. There are 8 prefix slots for classifiers; members of a given slot can't cooccur in the same verb, but members of multiple individual slots can. In order, the slots are:

• P4: Evaluation. aᴴnaᴴčiᴴ- "good"
• P5: Consistency. pIᴴθ- "mushy"; swííθo- "hard"; kitíí- "bumpy/rough"; etc.
• P6: Shape. kaᴴθaᴴ- "round"; po- "broad/flat"; etc.
• P7: Color. hiᴴxaᴴš- "black"; kšoᴴy- "white"; wóóh- "blue"; etc.
• P8: Composition. iᴴθoᴴ- "rocky"; kóohsí- "wet"; mííka- "cloudy/opaque/turbid".
• P9: Temperature. hoθšó- "cold"; ačíí- "hot"; etc.
• P10: Depth. šaᴴwaᴴ- "shallow"; píídríí- "deep [of water]"; kθíin-^+l "deep [of containers, etc.]".
• P11: Size. hiní- "small"; míí- "large."

P12 : Volition. P12 contains the prefixes pxáá- abilitative (abilv), ʔIᴴ`čIᴴ- "try to", and očhó deontive mood (deont), examples of each of which can be found above.

P13: Motion Type. P13 contains the prefixes hčíwo- reversative, ʔoᴴ- venitive (venit, "come and"), and šmoᴴ- andative (andat, "go and"), e.g.:

(42) ʔo_P13 - |kiᴴn|-(x)áá - yóóna_S1 - oč_S2 - θak_S3 > ʔokínááyóónačθak
venit-lie.down-loc.applic:an-3inan.real.pfv-complv-rep
"(he(obv)) came and lay down on it (his mat)" (line 19)

(43) šmoᴴ_P13 - |nóóθ| - yóó_S1 > šmonóoθyóó
andat-find-3inan.real.impfv
"(he) went and found it (a cottonwood tree)" (line 56)

P14 : Misc. Adverbial Notions, including `foᴴ- "slow(ly)"; naᴴwóó- "stop"; skík- "expand, extend"; soᴴfoᴴθ- "jerky motion"; etc.

(44) skík_P14 - |na| - yóó_S1 - nyó_S2 > skinayóonyó
extend-stand-3inan.real.impfv-stat
"they (rocks and dirt) were spread all around" (line 75)

P15 : Restriction, containing čiᴴθIᴴ- "forced to (by external pressure)"; ʔIᴴfoᴴ- "need to, have an internal need to"; and nitóó- "undo."

(45) ʔááxi_P21 - čiᴴθIᴴ_P15 - |kpááni| - íin_S1 - poᴴ_S2 > ʔááxičiθpáániʔíinpo
3.thm-forced.to-sleep-1sg.real.impfv-habit
"I have to sleep with (the scorpions)" (line 24)

P16 : Strength/Emphasis, containing kíífo- "weak(ly)" and sáá- "strong(ly), powerfully; very" often used as a general intensifier, as frequently in the story. An example with both P15 and P16 is (34) above, reproduced as (46):

(46) sáá_P16 - ʔIᴴfoᴴ_P15 - |kičaᴴ|-aᴴx-yiᴴ-`f-maᴴ -`yóo_S1 > sáaʔfókičaxyifmayóo
strong-need.to-eat-indef-tr-detr-by.mouth-3sprox.real.impfv
"he was desperate for something to eat" (line 30)

P17 : "Increasing" ʔóóna-. The sense includes "increasingly, more and more."

(47) ʔóóna_P17 - |wóohpí|-(x)áá - `yóo_S1 > ʔóónawóohpíxáayóo
increasing-angry-become:an-3sprox.real.impfv
"he got angrier and angrier" (line 49)

P18 : Aspectual. The prefixes in P18 also provide aspectual meanings: oᴴkííθ- "for a long time"/durative (dur); póóʔ- habitual (habit); and soʔ- "often, repeatedly, many times, over and over"/iterative/frequentative.

P19 : Quantification. This slot contains háám- "every/each time, each instance, whenever"; íín- "once, one X worth of"; and míín- "twice, two X worth of". An example of both P18 and P19:

(48) háám_P19 - soʔ_P18 - |miᴴxiᴴyaᴴ| - yóó_S1 > háamsoʔmíxiyáyóó
each.time-iter-day.pass-3inan.real.impfv
"every day (lit. every time day passes)" (line 13)

P20 : Reciprocal/Cooperative ʔ-. No examples in the story.

P21 : Theme Prefix and Transitivizer. Two morpheme types occupy this slot: (1) the Theme (Secondary Object) prefixes (see discussion under Alignment above) sná- 1sg, soʔá- 2sg, k- 1pl, čo- 2pl, and ʔááxi- 3rd person; and (2) the all-purpose transitivizing prefix sóó-. The transitivizing prefix derives historically from the third person singular secondary object prefix. The general third person secondary object prefix ʔááxi- in Hikóómayíi is the historical third person plural form. Example (16) (reproduced as (49) below) illustrates the 3rd person secondary object prefix, while (50) illustrates the transitivizing prefix. Example (51) shows the transitivizer as well as a number of other prefixes.

(49)=(16) ʔááxi_P21 - očhó_P12 - θIᴴ_P3 - |nóóθ|-sóó - sisa_S1 > ʔááxičhoθnóoθsóósisa
3.thm-deont-inv-find-ditr(ben)-1sg.irreal.pfv
"(he) should have shown it to me" (line 50)

(50) sóó_P21 - soʔ_P18 - |θííł|-maᴴ - yóó_S1 > sóósoʔθíišmayóó
tr-iter-crumble-by.mouth-3inan.real.impfv
"(he didn't) chew them (lit. crumble them by mouth)" (line 55)

(51) sóó_P21 - soʔ_P18 - ʔáá_P14 - θIᴴ_P3 - šoᴴ_P1 + |šóónaxí|-maᴴ - `yóo_S1 - oᴴkoᴴ_S2 > sóósoʔáaθšóšóónaxímayóoko
tr-iter-twisting-inv-rdp+hit-by.mouth-3sprox.real.impfv-prog
"(it) was twisting around gnawing on him (lit. hitting him by mouth)" (line 61)

Suffixes

In contrast to the wealth of prefixes, there are only four inflectional suffix slots in Hikóómayíi verbs, as well as the switch-reference enclitics which immediately follow all non-matrix verbs. These are:

• S1) Person/Number/TAM suffixes (discussed in various places above). One of these is required on every fully inflected verb, and marks the person (1st, 2nd, third proximate, third obviative/inanimate) and number (singular or plural) of the absolutive participant (S of intransitive, P of transitive, R of ditransitive); the mood (realis, irrealis, or imperative, or future tense); and aspect (perfective or imperfective).
• S2) Aspectual suffixes (discussed under "Further Aspectual Suffixes" above).
• S3) Evidentiality suffixes (discussed under "Evidentiality" above).
• S4) Negative subordinate suffix -woy, used when negating subordinated verbs:
  
  (52) |sxí| - woy_S4 = ok > sxíwoy-ok
  see-neg.subord=ss:subord
  "(he remembered) that (he) hadn't seen (a garden)" (line 30)