Grammar

Sketch of Moore morphology and syntax

In this section, an overview is given to characterize in very few words the basic characteristics of grammatical features.
1. Morphology:

  • Inflection: suffixes are predominant
  • Derivation: suffixes only
  • Compounding: right headed Noun-Noun
  • Nouns: Inflectional classes for number marking: each noun has a pair of suffixes for singular and for plural; no semantic classes.
  • Verbs:
  • Preverbal tense marking
  • Aspect marking by suffixes and tone
  • No subject-verb or other grammatical agreement.
  • Reduplication: complete reduplication; many idiophones and adverbials
  • Juncture feature: When two words or clitics come together within a pause group such that the first ends in a consonant and the second begins with a consonant, a transition vowel of central indeterminate quality [ə] is inserted between the two words or clitics. It takes the tone of the preceding foot and it is non-phonemic.
  • Regular class suffixes:

genre I   : sg. cl. 1 (-a)   pl. cl. 2 (-ba)

genre II  : sg. cl. 3 (-ga)   pl. cl. 4 (-se)

genre III : sg. cl. 5 (-re)   pl. cl. 6 (-a)

genre IV : sg. cl. 7 (-go)   pl. cl. 8 (-do)

genre V  : sg. cl. 9 (-fo)   pl. cl. 10 (-i)

genre VI : sg. cl. 11 (-la)    pl. cl. 12 (-li)

singular plural examples translation
-a -ba sɩda / sɩdba

baga / bagba

 husband / husbands

diviner / diviners
-ga

 

-ka

 -se

 

-se

 tɩɩga / tɩɩse

noaaga / noose

 tree/ trees

chicken / chicken (pl.)
zaka / zagse

toaka / togse

 house / houses

filter/ filters
-re -a katre / kata

tʋbre / tʋba

 hyena/ hyenas

ear/ ears
-go

 

-ko

 

-gu

 -do

 

-do

 

-tu /

-du

 wobgo / wobdo

kõbgo / kõbdo

 elephant/ elephants

hair/ hair (pl.)
boko / bogdo

rʋko / rʋgdo

 hole / holes

pan / pans
fuugu / futu

puugu / puudu

 garment / garments

flower / flowers
-fo -i naafo / niisi

waafo / wiisi

 cow/ cows

snake/ snakes
-la -li luiila / luiili

yubla / yubli

 bird/ birds

neck / necks

2. Syntax:

  • Categories :
  • Nouns, adjectives have nominal character. Most postpositions are nouns.
  • Word order
  • Subject - Verb - Object (unmarked sentence order), though direct objects or location/temporal elements may be fronted for emphasis.
  • Adpositions, determiners, adjectives are all post nominal, i.e. the head noun is always phrase initial with all its modifying elements following it. The determiner wã or -ã “the” or demonstrative bãma “those” is final. The quantifier is the only element that occurs after the determiner or the demonstrative pronoun.
  • Negation is preverbal element ka or pa and a sentence final element ye.
  • TAM:
  • Tense: distinction between future and non-future (non-future is unmarked)
  • Aspect: Perfective versus imperfective (Perfective aspect covers an action which is viewed as a whole or carries the idea of completion; imperfective aspect covers continuous and (usually) habitual actions.
  • Mood: Realis versus irrealis (Realis mode is used in main clauses which are declarative in nature; irrealis mode is used for the future tense, and in imperative and optative clauses, as well as special uses in discourse.) Mood is marked by tone patterns.
  • Other aspects:
  • No overt case marking.
  • Serial verb constructions are very common.
  • Movement of constituents: focus and Wh-questions are fronted
  • Passive: only impersonal passive.
  • Clauses may be joined by the coordinating conjunctions tɩ “and”, la “and”, “but” or bɩ “or”.