Poswa irregular verbs

NOTE, I currently no longer consider Poswa to have irregular verbs. Rather, a verb consists of four principal parts, which must be learned for each verb. Thus, either all the verbs are irregular or none of them are.

Syncopating verbs

Many verbs with bisyllabic stems and a stem-final consonant undergo syncope when the verbal inflection suffixes are attached. Verbs with other stem shapes are not affected; however, in some cases a longer verb may be historically derived from a compound of two words, and the verb as a whole may follow a syncopating pattern derived from its second element.

Reflexive syncopating verbs

Many syncopating verbs are reflexives ending in a -p sound. The non-reflexive versions of these verbs generally do not undergo syncope since they almost always have a syllable shape of CVCV. Note that transitive reflexives are in common use and often encode meanings similar to English constructions such as "I flashed my eyes at you." Transitives of verbs that resemble English adjectives often encode meanings such as "I am smaller than you."

Bare stem	meaning	1st person past intransitive		1st person past transitive	Notes
pronap	to stand with the hands on the hips	prompi		prompebi
rimap	to be mild, avoid extremes	rimpi		rimpebi
patemop	to hold fast, stand firm; to remain, stay in place	patempi		patempebi
pwabap	to hide oneself	pwapfi		pwappebi
pabap	to blush; to be visibly embarrassed	papfi		pappebi
palop	to take off one's clothes; to strip	palfi		palpebi

Other syncopating verbs

Bare stem	meaning	1st person past intransitive		1st person past transitive	Notes
wopas	to be kind, nice, to please	wopši		wopsebi
šuvapa	to hug	šuffi		šuffebi

Verbs with irregular suppletive stems

For example, the verb šane "to dance" is most commonly seen in its suppletive reciprocal form, šwes, "to dance with a partner". The sound change that led to this suppletion was very common, but in most verbs, one form or the other was restored by analogy. In this verb, it did not happen because the bare form of the verb was not often used.

Other irregular verbs

Poswa has many irregular verbs. Many are commonly used verbs such as pys "to find", but some are merely the result of peculiar sound changes or lexical suppletion.

B

bana

The verb bana "to create pleasure" is a syncopating verb usually found as the second or third element of a compound. It is often used to describe sexual pleasure, but is not limited to this sense.

	Agent	Patient	Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	—	bvi	bvo	bvub
	2nd person	—	bve	bvae	bvi
	3rd person	—	bvel	bva	bvob
Transitive	1st person	2nd person	bvebi	bvabo	bvybub
		3rd person
	2nd person	1st person	bvebe	bvabae	bvybi
		3rd person
	3rd person	1st person	bvebel	bvaba	bvybob
		2nd person

Since this verb mostly occurs in contexts in which one would expect the sound rule bv ---> b to kick in, it seems unusual that the forms of the verb begin with bv- rather than b-. This is because the hypothetical b- forms would be identical with the verb endings themselves, and thus the entire stem of the verb would have been syncopated away. Thus, the -v- is retained.

P

pampap

The verb pampap is the reflexive form of pampa "to comb". Because it is reflexive, it is generally understood to mean to comb one's hair. It is a hyper-regular syncopating verb:

	Agent	Patient	Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	—	pampi	pampo	pampub
	2nd person	—	pampe	pampae	pampi
	3rd person	—	pampel	pampa	pampob
Transitive	1st person	2nd person	pampebi	pampabo	pampypub
		3rd person
	2nd person	1st person	pampebe	pampabae	pampypi
		3rd person
	3rd person	1st person	pampebel	pampaba	pampypob
		2nd person

Pampo.

I'm combing my hair.

The transitive forms of this verb are rarely used, and when they are, the understood meaning is not "I comb your hair" and so on (which would use the simple verb pampa) but rather

Pampebi.

I made you comb your hair.

peppla

Below is the conjugation of peppla "to lack; to have none":

NOTE TO SELF. THIS COULD EASILY CHANGE TO PEPI, PEPO, PEPUB ETC SINCE IT IS MOSTLY USED TRANSITIVELY AND THEREFORE ALWAYS FOLLOWS A WORD ENDING IN -P. THIS MEANS THAT TWO /PP/ OCCUR IN A ROW, WHICH TRIGGERS A SOUND RULE CHANGING THE SECOND TO /P/. BUT ONLY IF THE WORD IS UNSTRESSED.

THIS WOULD MAKE IT HOMOPHONOUS WITH THE VERB 'PEPEBI' ETC MEANING "I DIDNT (DO IT)" BUT THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM BECAUSE THIS ONLY OCCURS DIRECTLY AFTER A NOUN.

peppla

	Agent	Patient	Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	—	peppi	peppo	peppub
	2nd person	—	peppe	peppae	peppi
	3rd person	—	peppel	peppa	peppob
Transitive	1st person	2nd person	peppebi	peppabo	peppypub
		3rd person
	2nd person	1st person	peppebe	peppabae	peppypi
		3rd person
	3rd person	1st person	peppebel	peppaba	peppypob
		2nd person

Thus one can say

Plwop peppabo.

I don't have a choice.

Bipimpwembwap peppabo.

I don't have a gun.

Peppo.

I don't have anything.

plomip

The verb plomip "to pray, to request for" is a syncopating verb:

plomip		Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	plompwi	plompwo	plompwub
	2nd person	plompwe	plompwae	plompwi
	3rd person	plompwel	plompwa	plompwob
Transitive	1st person	plompwebi	plompwabo	plompwubub
	2nd person	plompwebe	plompwabae	plompwubi
	3rd person	plompwebel	plompwaba	plompwubob

Note that this verb is a doublet of plommip, which has no significant difference in meaning. Plommip is regular because there are no sound changes which could have created an -mmp- cluster in the middle of a word. Thus

Pawiapop plompwabo.

and

Pawiapop plommipwabo.

both mean

"I'm praying for a boat."

pys

The verb pys "to find" is an irregular stem-changing verb:

pys		Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	pwi	pwo	pwub
	2nd person	pwe	pwae	pwi
	3rd person	pwel	pwa	pwob
Transitive	1st person	pwebi	pwabo	pwubub
	2nd person	pwebe	pwabae	pwubi
	3rd person	pwebel	pwaba	pwubob

Pwebi bwafwap temwašem.

I found a worm on the ground.

Pwufi* pammiap!

Seek out a bottle of wine!

⁎Note, this uses an experimental "third conjugation" which is used for transitive verbs that have a "distal" object instead of the more common proximal one. Normally, since the bottle is mentioned in the sentence, I would think the proximal conjugation would be appropriate, but I may change my mind.

Oblique

This verb has an oblique form used when inserting infixes into the stem of the verb: pip. This is not actually irregular, but because verbs ending in -ys can belong to any of several different conjugations, it must be learned with the verb.

Homophony with forms of pwos

This verb collides with an alternate conjugation of the normally regular verb pwos "to give, to donate". The collision happened fairly recently. What this means is that Poswobs sometimes use pys where one would expect pwos.

S

Below is the conjugation of sopa "to answer, respond appropriately":

sopa		Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	soffi	soffo	soffub
	2nd person	soffe	soffae	soffi
	3rd person	soffel	soffa	soffob
Transitive	1st person	soffebi	soffabo	soffypub
	2nd person	soffebe	soffabae	soffypi
	3rd person	soffebel	soffaba	soffypob

swavop

The verb swavop "to dream" is a syncopating verb showing regressive voicing assimilation in some forms and progressive voicing assimilation in others. The transitive form expresses meanings such as "I dreamt about you". Despite its appearance, this verb is not etymologically related to the word for sleep:

	Agent	Patient	Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	—	swaffi	swaffo	swaffub
	2nd person	—	swaffe	swaffae	swaffi
	3rd person	—	swaffel	swaffa	swaffob
Transitive	1st person	2nd person
		3rd person
	2nd person	1st person
		3rd person
	3rd person	1st person
		2nd person

sys

The verb sys "to sleep" is an irregular stem-changing verb. All of its non-oblique forms rhyme perfectly with those of pys "to find", and thus, to know one is to know the other:

	Agent	Patient	Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	—	swi	swo	swub
	2nd person	—	swe	swae	swi
	3rd person	—	swel	swa	swob
Transitive	1st person	2nd person	swebi	swabo	swubub
		3rd person	swefi	swafo	swufub
	2nd person	1st person	swebe	swabae	swubi
		3rd person	swefe	swafae	swufi
	3rd person	1st person	swebel	swaba	swubob
		2nd person	swefel	swafa	swufob

Tus, swebi?

Did I put you to sleep?

For the most part, the multitude of verbs ending in -sis such as besis "to sleep like a baby (fitfully)" and pipsis "to sleep in a tree" behave regularly and thus do not rhyme with the simple standalone verb for sleep. However, ad hoc coinages do exist, particularly for words in which the first morpheme in the compound has not been affected by sound changes. Poswobs thus can choose between

Beswi!

I slept like a baby!

Using the normal verb for sleep, or

Besiši!

I slept like a baby!

Treating it like a normal -s verb.

bottom

	Agent	Patient	Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	—
	2nd person	—
	3rd person	—
Transitive	1st person	2nd person
		3rd person
	2nd person	1st person
		3rd person
	3rd person	1st person
		2nd person

Verbs with suppletive negatives

Some verbs have suppletive negative forms. These take negative verb agreement, which means that, for example,

Bripfa!

He's not breathing!

can also be emphasized as

Puba bripfa!

He's not breathing!

Here, one sentence has the negative auxiliary verb puba and the other does not, but both sentences have the same meaning because the verb is considered to be negative regardless of the presence of the auxiliary.

Verb stem	meaning	Negative stem		Notes
two	to translate Womb Magic words	kitšy		regular development from a shared common stem
žebis	to breathe	bribap		parent verb no longer in use
fip	to touch	blaba		used after a verb to indicate "without touching (it)"

Other irregular verbs

pappo

The verb pappo "to bite" is a suppletive verb that is otherwise regular:

	Agent	Patient	Past	Present	Imperative
Intransitive	1st person	—	pappwi	pappwo	pappwub
	2nd person	—	pappwe	pappwae	pappwi
	3rd person	—	pappwel	pappwa	pappwob
Transitive	1st person	2nd person	pappwebi	pappwabo	pappwubub
		3rd person
	2nd person	1st person	pappwebe	pappwabae	pappwubi
		3rd person
	3rd person	1st person	pappwebel	pappwaba	pappwubob
		2nd person

This verb was formed from the merger of the two stems pappo "to bite, as with fangs; to hold with the teeth" and the rare verb pappop "to chew", a derivative of pappop "cheeks". Even though pappop was longer, its conjugated forms were shorter than those of pappo. The new verb thus shares the meaning of both original verbs:

Pappwebi beffap.

I bit on the stick.

Pappwebi popfop.

I carried my pen (in my teeth).

The iterative form of the verb, which takes the infix -at-, is most often used when the sense of a repeated action is intended:

Tašepi pappwatwebi.

I was chewing on an apple.

However, when the sense of a single pointed thrust is meant, as in the case of a sharp-toothed animal that bites into someone but does not intend to bite anything off, the simple aspect is used after all:

Bibubbum pypiop pappwaba.

Spiders are biting my hands.

Deixis

Note to self: consider replacing the patient "1st/2nd/3rd person" with "proximal" and "distal" instead, as that's really what they are. This could be called a deictic person system.