Kipin Verbs

Kipin verbs are polypersonal, marking the person, number and (for third person) gender of up to three arguments - the subject, primary object and secondary object. While noun marking is split subject by gender, verbal marking is accusative and decticetiative. The verb may also be marked for tense, negation or interrogativity, and voice (including several applicatives).

Paradigm

{Future tense}+Subject+Root+{Negative/Interrogative}+{Past tense}+{Applicative}+{Primary object/voice}+{Secondary object/Voice}

Future Tense

Kipin has two future tenses, inferred which expresses a prediction about future events, and intentional, which expresses the intent of either the speaker or the subject to do something in the future. In the second person, the intentional future also expresses the imperative.

ce: /t͡ʃe/; IA weak; tea, twifo; /tea/, /twiɸo/; (prefix) Inferred future tense; * tiha
ral: /ral/; A strong; rel, rol; /rel/, /rol/; (prefix) Intentional future tense; * ral

ce and ral are cognate with verbs meaning see and chase respectively.

Subject

Third person human singular subjects are unmarked. Other subject markers are as follows.

lu: /lu/; U weak; lwi, lo; /ɫi/, /lo/; (prefix) 1st person singular subject; * lu
lhe: /ʎe/; IA weak; lea, lwifo; /lea/, /ɫiɸo/; (prefix) 1st person plural subject; * liha
ar: /ar/; A strong; er, for; /er/, /ɸir/; (prefix) 2nd person singular subject; *har
alho: /aʎo/; A strong; eliwi, folhu; /eliwi/, /ɸoʎu/; (prefix) 2nd person plural subject; * halju
ir: /ir/; I strong; er, fir; /er/, /ɸir/; (prefix) 3rd person Human plural subject; * hir
si: /si/; I weak; se, swi; /se/, /swi/; (prefix) 3rd person Animal singular subject; * si
pa: /pa/; A weak; pe, po; /pe/, /po/; (prefix) 3rd person Animal plural subject
yi: /ji/; I weak; ye, iwi; /je/, /iwi/; (prefix) 3rd person Inanimate singular subject; Note iwi does not trigger r-z mutation or z insertion. It is pronounced /jwi/ after vowels, although the spelling does not change if the preceding vowel is e.; * ji
yimpi: /jimpi/; IU strong; iwinku, yenko; /iwiŋku/, /jeŋko/; (prefix) 3rd person Inanimate plural subject; Note iwinku does not trigger r-z mutation or z insertion. It is pronounced /jwiŋku/ after vowels, although the spelling does not change if the preceding vowel is e.; * jinku

Negation and Interrogative

bu: /bu/; U weak; bwi, bo; /bwi/, /bo/; (suffix) Not; * bu
ambo: /ambo/; A strong; embwi, fombu; /embwi/, /ɸombu/; (suffix) Interrogative; * han bu

Etymologically, the interrogative suffix may be related to the conjunction an, meaning or, hence the meaning of * han bu is thought to be or not?

Past tense

Kipin has two past tenses, recent, which refers to events within the speaker's own lifetime, and distant, which refers to events before the speaker's lifetime.

gur: /gur/; U strong; bir, gor; /bir/, /gor/; (suffix) recent past tense; * gur
xi: /ʃi/; I weak:; see, swifi; /seː/, /swiɸi/; (suffix) distant past tense; * sihi

The past tenses appear to have originated earlier than the future tenses, and their markers had both been semantically bleached by the time they attached to the verb.

The distant past is rarely used in the first person, but when it is, it refers to events from which the speaker wishes to dissociate himself.

Applicatives

Applicatives add an additional argument to a verb. The added argument is treated as the primary object, while an existing primary object may be demoted to a secondary object or omitted. With ditransitive verbs, demotion of a primary object to a secondary object displaces the original secondary object, causing it to be omitted, so the exact role of the secondary object in a ditransitive verb with an applicative may be ambiguous.

yi: /ji/; I weak; ee, fifi; /eː/, /ɸiɸi/; (suffix) locative applicative. The added argument indicates the place at which the action happens.; Note when the preceding component ends with a consonant, yi becomes ji /ʒi/. This replaces r. When ee follows a form ending in e, an epenthetic /ɸ/ is inserted.; * hihi
tufi: /tuɸi/; UI weak; tuyi, toe; /tuji/, /toe/; (suffix) instrumental applicative. The added argument indicates the means by which something is done, or the route of motion.; * tuhi
par: /par/; A strong; per, por; /per/,/por/; (suffix) source applicative. The added argument is the place of origin or the cause of the action; * par
gni: /ŋi/; I weak; gne, mi; /ŋe/, /mi/; (suffix) malefactive applicative. The added argument is adversely affected by the action.; * ŋi
dje: /d͡ʒe/; IA, weak; dea, dwifo; /dea/, /dwiɸo/; (suffix) circumstantial applicative; *diha

If an additional argument is added to a normally monotransitive verb without an explicit applicative, it is understood as a benefactive

Primary object

The primary object is the patient of monotransitive verbs, the recipient of ditransitive verbs, the destination of verbs of motion, or an argument added by an applicative.

fu: /ɸu/; U weak; fi, fo; /ɸi/, /ɸo/; (suffix) 1st person singular primary object; * hu
fufo: /ɸuɸo/; * huho; UA weak; foa, fye; /ɸoa/, /ɸje/; (suffix) 1st person plural primary object
ear: /ear/; A strong; yer, fifor; /jer/, /ɸiɸor/; (suffix) 2nd person singular primary object; Note yer becomes jer /ʒer/ after consonants. This replaces r.; * hihar
sasar: /sazar/; A strong; seser, sorfor; /sezer/, /sorɸor/; (suffix) 2nd person plural primary object; Note the initial /s/ is spelt ‹ss› after vowels; *sarhar
i: /i/; I weak; e, fi; /e/, /ɸi/; (suffix) 3rd person singular Human primary object; * hi
sar: /sar/; A strong; ser, sor; /ser/, /sor/; (suffix) 3rd person plural Human primary object; Spelt ssar, sser, ssor after vowels; * sar
gnu: /ŋu/; U, weak; mi, gno; /mi/, /ŋo/; (suffix) 3rd person singular Animal primary object; * ŋu
gin: /gin/; I strong; gen, bin; /gen/, /bin/; (suffix) 3rd person plural Animal primary object; * gin
in: /in/; I strong; en, fin; /en/, /ɸin/; (suffix) 3rd Person singular Inanimate primary object; *hin
kulon: /kulon/; UA strong; kolan, pilen; /kolan/, /pilen/; (suffix) 3rd Person plural Inanimate primary object; *kulan

Secondary object

The secondary object is the patient of ditransitive verbs or an object demoted by an applicative.

gu: /gu/; U weak; bi , go; /bi/, /go/; 1st person singular secondary object; * gu
gufo: /guɸo/; UA weak; goa, bye; /goa/, /bje/; 1st person plural secondary object; * guha
ar: /ar/; A strong; er, for; /er/, /ɸor/; 2nd person singular secondary object; * har
asa: /aza/; A strong; ese, forfo; /eze/, /ɸorɸo/; 2nd person plural secondary object; * harha
sur: /sur/; U strong; swir, sor; /swir/, /sor/; spelt ssur and ssor after vowels; 3rd person singular human secondary object; * sur
li: /li/; I weak; le, lwi; /le/, /ɫi/; 3rd person singular animal secondary object; * li
lhe: /ʎe/; IA weak; lea, lwifo; /lea/, /ɫiɸo/; 3rd person plural animal secondary object; * liha
pan: /pan/; A strong; pen, pon; /pen/, /pon/; 3rd person singular inanimate secondary object; *pan
pagno: /paŋo/; AU weak; pognu, pemi; /poŋu/, /pemi/; 3rd person plural inanimate secondary object; * paŋu

Note that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person human plural markers are the same as the proximal, medial and distal deixis markers on nouns. It appears that in Kikun these were pronouns that were undergoing a semantic drift from deictic to personal pronouns, and that they may have agglutinated onto nouns before they agglutinated onto verbs. Why the plural form was incorporated into nouns rather than the singular is unclear. Hypotheses include that the singular forms drifted towards personal use before the plural forms, that the plural forms were more distinctive, or that the use of plural forms or deictic markers was associated with a prestigious dialect.

Voice

Either of the objects may be replaced with one of the following voice markers.

sufo: /suɸo/; UA, weak; soa, suye; /soa/, /suje/; Passive - object (either primary or secondary) is promoted to subject and the agent is omitted; * suha
yal: /jal/; A strong; yel, yol; /jel/,/jol/; Reflexive - object (either primary or secondary) is the same as the subject, which acts upon itself; * jal
yalhal: /jaʎal/; A strong; yelhel, yolhol; /jeʎel/ /joʎol/; Reciprocal - can be used only when the subject is plural. The subjects act upon each other.; * jaljal - probably a reduplication of the reflexive marker
ma: /ma/; A weak; me, mo; /me/, /mo/; Antipassive - Corresponding object is omitted, and considered to be unspecified or "Things in general".; * ma

The first three of these can be combined with an applicative. This assigns the applicative role to the argument marked as subject.

Kipin/Morphology/Verbs

Contents

Kipin Verbs

Paradigm

Future Tense

Subject

Negation and Interrogative

Past tense

Applicatives

Primary object

Secondary object

Voice

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