Pabappa verbs

Pabappa verb conjugation is much like a simplified version of that of Poswa. Only tense is marked on the verb, and there are only 3 tenses, since aspect is not marked either. There are still separate conjugation classes, but these differ only in which consonant the ending begins with, not in any vowels.

Conjugation tables

The basic Pabappa suffixes are -pi, -pa, and -pu for the past, present, and imperative respectively. They appear to be related to Poswa's monosyllabic intransitive suffixes (-bel, -ba, -bob), perhaps through analogy with the respective subjunctive forms, but are in fact heavily analogized descendants of the disyllabic transitive suffixes. Early on, the "extra" vowel remained, but a later sound change pushed the last vowel of the stem into the suffix. Later, these were analogized in such a way that it appeared the initial vowel had never existed.

Vowel stems

All verbs whose stems end in a vowel take endings beginning with -b. Below is the verb pepu "to bend, fold":

pepu	Past	Present	Imperative
(Indicative)	pepubi	pepuba	pepubu
(Subjunctive)	pepubep	pepubap	pepubop

Since Pabappa verbs are not marked either for person or for transitivity, pronouns must be present for context. However, when two pronouns come together in a word, they can be elided into a single word stressed on the initial syllable. Thus for example:

Pom pubulap pepubi.

I folded the shorts.

Pomap pepubi pasuappububom.

I bent you over my knee.

Note that the subjunctive forms are the same as those of the 3rd person Poswa intransitive subjunctives, but that, as above, they are in fact derived from the transitives.

-p stems

Verbs whose stems end in -p change the p to s and omit the -b-. Below is the conjugation of pupimip "to sit (up)":

pupimip	Past	Present	Imperative
(Indicative)	pupimisi	pupimisa	pupimisu
(Subjunctive)	pupimisep	pupimisap	pupimisop

Pom pupimisa popapimpemibam.

I'm sitting in my chair.

-m stems

Verbs whose stems end in -m keep the -m and add -p- instead of *-b. Below is the conjugation of pudem "to ask (for information)":

	Past	Present	Imperative
(Indicative)	pudempi	pudempa	pudempu
(Subjunctive)	pudempep	pudempap	pudempop

-s stems

Verbs whose stems end in -s keep the s and omit the -b-. Below is the conjugation of wapipas "to wall out, seal from within":

	Past	Present	Imperative
(Indicative)	wapipasi	wapipasa	wapipasu
(Subjunctive)	wapipasep	wapipasap	wapipasop

Note, however, that verbs ending in -s do not always correspond to nouns ending in -s, because historically all final -s was dropped. Nouns lost their -s but verbs often did not because the stem of a verb in Pabappa is never used in its bare form, and thus the -s was never word-final.

-l stems

Verbs whose stems end in -l omit the -l and also omit the -b-. Below is the conjugation of parsappel "to growl in anger, to bare one's teeth":

	Past	Present	Imperative
(Indicative)	parsappei	parsappea	parsappeu
(Subjunctive)	parsappep	parsappeap	parsappeop

Pom parsappea!

I'm angry!

-r stems

Verbs whose stems end in -r change the r to b and thus resemble vowel stems. Below is the conjugation of piner "to drink (alcohol)":

	Past	Present	Imperative
(Indicative)	pinebi	pineba	pinebu
(Subjunctive)	pinebep	pinebap	pinebop

Pom pampomop pineba.

I drank the wine.

Pom papsapomop pineba porlap.

I drank the beer too.

The copula verb

Unlike Poswa, Pabappa has a copula verb, pis. It behaves like a normal verb except that it can contract at the end of another word and lose the -i- vowel, thus becoming a suffix that would in isolation be impossible under the phonological rules of modern Pabappa. (Although words beginning with ps- were common in earlier stages of Pabappa, these were gone before the sound shift that removed the -i- of pis took place, so it did not follow the further sound changes that the ps- words had.)

Pis is conjugated like any other -s verb, meaning its basic indicative forms are pissi, pissa, and pissu, with the subjunctives being pissep, pissap, and pissop. The C₁VC₂C₂ ---> C₁C₂ rule creates the contracted forms, and thus it is not just the -i-, but the -is- in the middle of the verb that drops out when the stress is removed. Normally, this change would not have taken place, because modern Pabappa's -ss- is generally derived from an earlier -sp-, but the copula was analogized from alternate forms in which an extra -i- had been inserted, thus leading to a different proto-form.

Interjections

Interjections can be considered to be either a subset of the nouns or a subset of the verbs. However, going far enough back in the history of the language, the "verb" analysis is shown to be the only correct one, as the nouns that resemble interjections were themselves originally verbs.

Many interjections are used to express pain and unpleasant emotions. Interjections have a lesser role in Pabappa than they do in Poswa, and the Pabaps consider the Poswobs' frequent use of interjections to be a prime example of their cultural impoliteness.

Some interjections have been borrowed from Poswa. For example, young Pabap children can say

Bebo!

I have to go to the bathroom!

This is a recent loanword from Poswa's bevo. However, while Poswobs will keep on interrupting each other's conversations to say "Bevo!" at the most seemingly inappropriate times even as adults, Pabaps learn to break themselves of this habit in early childhood. A Pabap would be more likely to use a softer phrase such as

Pom liplempa.

I'm uncomfortable.