Jaspax: Updated from markdown source

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Updated from markdown source

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Updated from markdown source

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[[Category:Yivrian]] [[Category:Languages]] [[Category:Yivrian language]]


= Aspect =

Nearly all verbs in Yivrian are formed from noun stems by the addition of one of several aspectual suffixes. The aspectual suffixes, with brief descriptions of their use, are listed here. Not all nouns or verbs can form all aspects. A much more detailed discussion of the meanings and uses of the verbal aspects is found in the Syntax section.

{|
! Form
! Name
! Description
|-
| ''-ya''
| Immediate direct
| A specific instance of an action where the subject acts directly on the object
|-
| ''-nya''
| Immediate causative
| A specific instance of an action where the subject causes the object to act on something else
|-
| ''-vva''
| Habitual direct
| Repeated action or general action where the subject acts directly on the object
|-
| ''-kya''
| Habitual causative
| Repeated action or general action where the subject causes the object to act on something else
|-
| ''-(i)nya''
| Copular direct
| Indicates that the subject is equivalent to or similar to the noun incorporated into the verb
|-
| ''-hya''
| Copular causative
| Indicates that the subject causes the object to assume the qualities of the noun incorporated into the verb
|}

All of these are simple suffixes except for the copular direct suffix, which includes a vowel-lengthening infix like the pronominal suffixes. The ending ''-nya'' must be added to a form of the root that contains a long (diphthongized) vowel and a possible epenthetic vowel.

The rules for the formation of the immediate direct verb form are different from those for the other verb forms, and are as follows:

* The ending ''-ya'' is added directly to the end of the nominative form of words ending in a consonant. This includes both C-class and U-class words. If the final consonant is /l/, then the /l/ and /j/ of the ending coalesce into [ʎ] spelled {yy}, as indicated in the Phonology section. If the final consonant is /r/, then the ending ''-atya'' is used instead. Ex: ''míth ~ míthya, thol ~ thoyya, per ~ peratya''
* If the word ends in ''-a'', then the ''-a'' is dropped and the ending ''-ya'' is added after the last consonant. If the word ends in ''-ra'', then the ''-a'' is preserved. Ex: ''kenda ~ kendya, hara ~ haraya''
* If the stem ends in any other vowel, the ending ''-ya'' is merely added following the final vowel. Ex: ''essu ~ essuya''

The other five verb-forming suffixes that occur in Yivrian (''-nya, -vva, -kya, -(i)nya'', and ''-hya'') follow simpler rules:

* After words ending in a consonant, an epenthetic ''-a-'' is added between the stem and the verbal suffix. With the ending ''-(i)nya'', the vowel ''-e-'' is used, as with the pronominal suffixes. Ex: ''lav ~ lavanya, laivenya.''
* After words ending in a vowel (including ''a''), the verbal suffixes simply are added following the vowel. Ex: ''essu ~ essunya''.


= Voice, Tense, Negation, Phase =

The Yivrian verb is generally agglutinative, which is to say that affixes indicating the various verbal properties are added one after another in a series. There are three morphological slots for affixes following the aspectual suffixes, which occur in the order ''Voice > Tense/Negation > Phase''. Each of these categories will be discussed in turn below.


== Voice ==

The category of voice indicates the relationship between the subject and the object and the nature of their thematic roles. See the syntax section for a discussion of the use of the voices. Yivrian distinguishes three voices:

* '''Active''' – Indicates that the semantic role of the subject is higher than that of the object, if there is one. This is the unmarked voice for all classes of verbs.
* '''Passive''' – Reverses the thematic roles of subject and object, and makes the active subject argument of an active sentence optional. This is semantically the same as the passive in familiar European languages, although the syntax is rather different.
* '''Reflexive''' – Indicates that the subject acts upon itself. Does not occur for intransitive verbs. This is ''not'' the same as the middle voice found in ancient Greek and Sanskrit, but rather is a true reflexive.

Voice is indicated by a gradation of the vowel that is part of the aspectual suffix. The reference form (and the form given above in the list of aspectual suffixes) is Active. The full set of forms is:

{|
! Name
! Ending
! Example
|-
| Active
| ''-a''
| ''kendya'', to rule
|-
| Passive
| ''-o''
| ''kendyo'', to be ruled
|-
| Reflexive
| ''-u''
| ''kendyu'', to rule oneself
|}


== Tense and Negation ==

Tense and negation are always indicated together in Yivrian. Yivrian has three tenses, ''past, present'', and ''future'' (which should not need to be explained). There are also three degrees of negation, ''affirmative, negative'' and ''dubitive''. The affirmative and negative indicate strong belief on the part of the speaker about the truth or falsehood of the statement, while the dubitive indicates hesitation, uncertainty, or unreliability with respect to the statement.

The suffixes for tense and negation follow those for voice, and are as follows:

{|
!
! Affirmative
! Negative
! Dubitive
|-
| '''Present'''
| –
| ''-t''
| ''-th''
|-
| '''Past'''
| ''-l''
| ''-r''
| ''-v''
|-
| '''Future'''
| ''-n''
| ''-nt''
| ''-nth''
|}

The present affirmative, as this table shows, is the unmarked form and does not have any overt morphological exponent. These affixes are illustrated below:

{|
!
! Affirmative
! Negative
! Dubitive
|-
| '''Present'''
| ''kendya''
| ''kendyat''
| ''kendyath''
|-
|
| rules
| does not rule
| might rule
|-
| '''Past'''
| ''kendyal''
| ''kendyar''
| ''kendyav''
|-
|
| ruled
| did not rule
| might have ruled
|-
| '''Future'''
| ''kendyan''
| ''kendyant''
| ''kendyanth''
|-
|
| will rule
| will not rule
| perhaps will rule
|}


== Phase ==

“Phase” in Yivrian represents a category morphologically distinct from aspect (which is indicated by the aspectual suffixes), which indicates the degree of completeness of an action. The phase suffixes come last in the verb’s morphology, following the tense/negation suffixes. Not all verbs take all phases. There are four phases in Yivrian:

{|
! Phase
! Suffix
! Description
|-
| Inchoative
| –
| Indicates the beginning or start of an action, or the action’s simple occurrence. This is the unmarked form and is used as the reference form.
|-
| Continuous
| ''-a''
| Indicates an action in progress or an action that has already been started.
|-
| Cessative
| ''-am''
| Indicates an action at its termination, an action which is ceasing to take place.
|-
| Perfect
| ''-as''
| Indicates an action after it has completed, viewed from a later point.
|}

The following table shows the verb ''kendya'' in the present active, illustrating all three negation grades with all of the phases:

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''kendya''
| ''kendyaa''
| ''kendyaam''
| ''kendyaas''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''kendyat''
| ''kendyata''
| ''kendyatam''
| ''kendyatas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''kendyath''
| ''kendyatha''
| ''kendyatham''
| ''kendyathas''
|}


= Mood =

Mood in Yivrian is indicated by a set of modal prefixes. These prefixes are not exclusive of each other – more than one of them may be used at a time, although their order is fixed. The following chart shows the modal prefixes with their meanings in the order in which they must occur:

{|
! Mood
! Prefix
! Description
|-
| Interrogative
| ''ko-''
| Indicates yes/no questions
|-
| Imperative
| ''to-''
| Indicates a command, order, or logical necessity for the action to occur
|-
| Debitive
| ''so-''
| Indicates a suggestion, a moral obligation or strong tendency for the action to occur
|-
| Conditional
| ''ro-''
| Indicates a contrafactual or suppositional quality about the action
|-
| Volitive
| ''do-''
| Indicates desire on the part of the subject to do the action
|-
| Potential
| ''mo-''
| Indicates ability on the part of the subject to perform the action
|-
| Intensive
| ''vo-''
| Strengthens the quality of the action, indicates that the action occurs ''often'' or ''to a great degree''
|}

The forms given above all contain the vowel ''-o-'', which is the vowel that all of the modal prefixes use when they are the first or the only prefix. However, the vowel used in the prefixes changes when more than one prefix is used, according to the following rules:

* The first prefix or the only prefix takes the vowel ''o''. Ex: ''to + anya > toanya; to + kendya > tokendya.''
* The prefix nearest to the root takes the vowel ''e'' if the root begins with a consonant, or no vowel at all if the root begins with a vowel. Ex: ''to + vo + anya > tovanya; to + vo + kendya > tovekendya.''
* Any prefixes between the first and the last take the vowel ''e''. Ex: ''to + ro + vo + anya > torevanya; to + ro + vo + kendya > torevekendya.''

Although there are no theoretical restrictions on the number of modal prefixes that may be used at one time, in practice series of more than three prefixes are extremely rare.


= Infinitives =

The Yivrian infinitive, in contrast with the infinitive in most Indo-European languages, is a rather specialized form that is never used as a reference form. The infinitive is generally used as another way to form clauses behaving as nouns, and as a way to form purpose clauses. These uses of the infinitive are discussed in the syntax section. Morphologically, the infinitive shows aspect, voice, and negation, but not tense, phase, or mood. The endings are as follows, illustrated with the immediate direct aspect of the verb, though the infinitive can freely occur with any other form of the verb. Some of the categories have alternate forms:

{|
!
! Affirmative
! Negative
! Dubitive
|-
| '''Active'''
| ''-yé''
| ''-yélat'' / ''-yét''
| ''-yélath'' / ''-yéth''
|-
| '''Passive'''
| ''-yélo''
| ''-yélot''
| ''-yéloth''
|-
| '''Reflexive'''
| ''-yélu''
| ''-yélut''
| ''-yéluth''
|}


= Irregular Verbs =

The vast majority of verbs in Yivrian are regular in every way. However, there are a small number of verbs that are irregular in the formation of their aspects. These verbs either have no noun stem or do not follow the rules given above for the aspectual suffixes.

Most of these follow the pattern of ''peyya'' “to say,” which forms its immediate direct form as if from the stem ''pel-'', but which truncates the final consonant of its stem to ''pe-'' in the other aspects:

{|
! Aspect
! Form
|-
| Immediate direct
| ''peyya''
|-
| Immediate causative
| ''penya''
|-
| Habitual direct
| ''pevva''
|-
| Habitual causative
| ''pekya''
|-
| Copular direct
| ''pénya''
|-
| Copular causative
| ''pehya''
|}

Verbs following this pattern are ''ditya, keyya, kuyya, peyya, seyya, tayya'', meaning “to carry, to hear, to do what?, to say, to put, to have”, respectively.

There is one verb ''sudya'' “to take” which follows this pattern except in the copular forms, which are regular with respect to the root ''sud-'': ''sudya, sunya, suvva, sukya, suidenya, sudahya''. Note that even the copular forms are not perfectly regular, since ''sudya'' is considered to be formed from ''suda'' (not ''sud'').

There are four verbs which form their aspects by truncating a final consonant, as ''peyya'', except in the immediate causative. These verbs all have unique immediate causative forms:

{|
! Immediate direct
! Immediate causative
|-
| ''manya''
| ''maya''
|-
| ''nayya''
| ''naya''
|-
| ''onya''
| ''oanya''
|-
| ''renya''
| ''reya''
|}

The other forms of these verbs follow ''peyya''. For example, all of the aspects of ''manya'' “to want” are ''manya, maya, mavva, makya, mainya, mahya.''

There is one verb, ''fayya'' “to go” which is suppleted by ''fasya'' “to leave” in all of its aspects except the immediate direct and the copular direct. Thus, the aspects of ''fayya'' are:

{|
! Aspect
! Form
|-
| Immediate direct
| ''fayya''
|-
| Immediate causative
| ''fasanya''
|-
| Habitual direct
| ''fasavva''
|-
| Habitual causative
| ''fasakya''
|-
| Copular direct
| ''failenya''
|-
| Copular causative
| ''fasahya''
|}

Note that ''fasya'' is a regular verb that has its own forms in those aspects where it does not supplete ''fayya''.


== The verbs ''eya'' and ''atya'' ==

''Eya'' means “to be,” and ''atya'' means “to do,” and they are both known as pro-verbs because of their unique syntactic properties. They are the only verbs in Yivrian that are entirely irregular, although their conjugations are somewhat similar.


=== ''eya'' “to be” ===

''Eya'' only occurs in the active and passive voices, and it only has two aspects: the immediate direct ''eya'', and the immediate causative ''enya''. (However, ''eya'' is a stative verb, and so terming these forms as immediate direct/causative may be somewhat misleading.) The direct forms are listed here in full:


==== Present Active ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''eya''
| ''eyi''
| ''eyim''
| ''eyis''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''ét''
| ''éta''
| ''étam''
| ''étas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''éth''
| ''étha''
| ''étham''
| ''éthas''
|}


==== Past Active ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''eal''
| ''eala''
| ''ealam''
| ''ealas''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''ér''
| ''éra''
| ''éram''
| ''éras''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''év''
| ''éva''
| ''évam''
| ''évas''
|}


==== Future Active ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''ean''
| ''eana''
| ''eanam''
| ''eanas''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''ént''
| ''énta''
| ''éntam''
| ''éntas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''énth''
| ''éntha''
| ''éntham''
| ''énthas''
|}


==== Present Passive ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''eo''
| ''eo''
| ''eom''
| ''eos''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''eot''
| ''eota''
| ''eotam''
| ''eotas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''eoth''
| ''eotha''
| ''eotham''
| ''eothas''
|}


==== Past Passive ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''eol''
| ''eola''
| ''eolam''
| ''eolas''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''eor''
| ''eora''
| ''eoram''
| ''eoras''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''eov''
| ''eova''
| ''eovam''
| ''eovas''
|}


==== Future Passive ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''eon''
| ''eona''
| ''eonam''
| ''eonas''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''eont''
| ''eonta''
| ''eontam''
| ''eontas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''eonth''
| ''eontha''
| ''eontham''
| ''eonthas''
|}


==== Infinitives ====

{|
!
! Affirmative
! Negative
! Dubitive
|-
| '''Active'''
| ''yé''
| ''yélat''
| ''yélath''
|-
| '''Passive'''
| ''yélo''
| ''yélot''
| ''yéloth''
|}

The moods of ''eya'' are also formed differently from other verbs. Whatever the nearest prefix is to the stem, it has no vowel even if it is the only one present. The other prefixes are formed regularly. Thus:

<blockquote>''to + eya > teya'' ''to + ro + eya > toreya'' ''to + ro + vo + eya > toreveya''
</blockquote>

=== ''atya'' “to do” ===

''Atya'' exists in active, passive, and reflexive forms and in all aspects except the copular direct and copular causative. The stems for the aspects are respectively ''atya, anya, avva, akya''. In the conjugation of ''atya'', the initial ''a-'' irregularly drops out in certain forms; however, the forms which lose the initial ''a-'' are consistent across all of the aspects. Therefore, the conjugation of the direct immediate will serve to illustrate for all of the aspects:


==== Present Active ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''atya''
| ''atyi''
| ''atyim''
| ''atyis''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''atyat''
| ''tyata''
| ''tyatam''
| ''tyatas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''atyath''
| ''tyatha''
| ''tyatham''
| ''tyathas''
|}


==== Past Active ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''atyal''
| ''tyala''
| ''tyalam''
| ''tyalas''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''atyar''
| ''tyara''
| ''tyaram''
| ''tyaras''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''atyav''
| ''tyava''
| ''tyavam''
| ''tyavas''
|}


==== Future Active ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''atyan''
| ''tyana''
| ''tyanam''
| ''tyanas''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''atyant''
| ''tyanta''
| ''tyantam''
| ''tyantas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''atyanth''
| ''tyantha''
| ''tyantham''
| ''tyanthas''
|}

The passive and reflexive are formed regularly by replacing ''-ya'' with ''-yo'' or ''-yu''. In the present passive/reflexive, the sequences ''-oa-'' and ''-ua-'' are reduced to ''-o-'' and ''-u-'' (just as the sequence ''-aa-'' reduces to ''-i-'' in the active). Thus, the present passive of ''atya'' is:


==== Present Passive ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''atyo''
| ''atyo''
| ''atyom''
| ''atyos''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''atyot''
| ''tyota''
| ''tyotam''
| ''tyotas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''atyoth''
| ''tyotha''
| ''tyotham''
| ''tyothas''
|}

The reflexive is the same, with ''-u-'' in the place of ''-o-''.

The other aspects are also the same, but with a different consonant or cluster in place of ''-ty-''. The only complication is in the habitual, because medial ''-vv-'' alternates with initial ''w-''. Thus the present active habitual of ''atya'' is:


==== Present Active Habitual ====

{|
!
! Inchoative
! Continuous
! Cessative
! Perfect
|-
| '''Affirmative'''
| ''avva''
| ''avvi''
| ''avvim''
| ''avvis''
|-
| '''Negative'''
| ''avvat''
| ''wata''
| ''watam''
| ''watas''
|-
| '''Dubitive'''
| ''avvath''
| ''watha''
| ''watham''
| ''wathas''
|}

Likewise in the other voices and tenses.

The moods of ''atya'' are formed similar to those of ''eya''. Whatever the nearest prefix is to the stem, it has no vowel even if it is the only one present. If the form that the modal prefix is attached to would not normally have an initial ''a-'', that ''a-'' is restored in the presence of the modal prefix. The other prefixes are formed regularly. Thus:

<blockquote>''ro + atya > ratya'' ''ro + tyata > ratyata'' ''to + ro + tyata > toratyata'' ''to + ro + vo + tyata > torevatyata''
</blockquote>

Yivrian verbs - Revision history

Jaspax: Updated from markdown source

Jaspax: Updated from markdown source