Grammar

 

Topic,  Focus, and Case Marking

Nouns and noun phrases are marked in Ikema with the following case markers:

Case Marker Grammatical Term
 -ga Nominative/Genitive
 -u Accusative
-n Dative
-nkai Allative
-nki Allative
 -taahii Limitative
 -lara Ablative
-hii Instrumental
 -tu Commitative
-ncɨkyaa Comparitive

Topic markers are usually indicated by the '-a' suffix, focus markers by '-du', and each can co-occur with the above case markers. 

Verbal Suffixes

There are two main verb types in Ikema, one that undergoes little change when adding an affix, and one which undergoes suppletion with some change to the stem.

 

Suffix idi-I "go outside" kuz-ɨ "to row"
Volitional  -di idi-di
Negative Volitional  -zyaan idi-zyaan kug-a-zyaan
Negative  -n idi-n kug-a-n
Negative Past  -ddan idi-ddan kug-a-ddan
Imperative  -ru  idi-ru/Ø kug-i-Ø
Non-past  -i idi-ru/Ø kuz-ɨ-Ø
Past  -tai idi-tai kuz-ɨ-tai

 

More information is available in:

Hayashi, Yuka. "Ikema (Miyako Ryukyuan)." An Introduction to Ryukyuan Languages (2010): 167-188.