Grammar

 

The basic grammatical information for verbs has been included following the part of speech. (For a detailed description of verb affixation see Yakan Grammar 3.2 Verbs, 7 Verb classes, and 8 Verbal morphology.) Verbs function as predicates of verbal clauses and frequently (but not always) take affixes that cross-reference the absolutive NP of a clause. S stands for subject and O for object.

Whenever a particular verb takes the mag-, N-, or pa- affix to signal agreement with the subject (S) of a clause the occurring affixes are listed. If, for example, for a certain root the mag- affix requires a plural subject or object, (pl.) is written following the affix. If the action is repetitive, (repet.) is written, etc.

Affixes that signal aspect (such as ta-, maka-, -um-, etc.) and can occur on every root in the appropriate verb category have only been included when they are the most frequently occurring ones with a certain root.

Those verbs that normally occur unaffixed have no affixes listed. Also affixes that can occur with all verbs in the appropriate type of sentence as e.g. -in- (in transitive constructions) and -un (imperative) have not been listed.

If verbs require the suffix -an in transitive sentences, -an is listed following the capital O (for object).

Affixes Cew- and kum‘-/kumeN-

Two other affixes need a brief explanation. They are relatively infrequent and occur with restricted sets of verbs, especially - but not exclusively - with those describing various ways of falling and those expressing sounds.

Both affixes convey a sense of frequency of the action and/or many items being affected in the same way. They are listed with the roots with which they occur.

Cew- stands for <Consonant plus ew->, that is, the first consonant of the root equals the consonant of the affix.

Example:

hebba­        topple        hewhebba­         often toppling

labo­           fall            lewlabo­             often falling

saget        mix             sewsaget          many items mixed

 

Kum‘-/kum¦-/kumeN- are variations of each other. The kumeN- form occurs only with a few verbs.

Example:

kanat      scatter       kumengkanat    many things scattered

powang    have holes kumempowang  have many holes

 

 

 

5.