Classical Arithide conjugation: Difference between revisions

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{{seealso|Classical Arithide grammar}}
{{seealso|Classical Arithide grammar}}


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Verbs are the only group of words in Classical Arithide that exhibit a significant degree of non-inflectionary morphology, namely, agglutination, which occurs in affixing aspects, moods and tenses onto individual verbs.
Verbs are the only group of words in Classical Arithide that exhibit a significant degree of non-inflectionary morphology, namely, agglutination, which occurs in affixing aspects, moods and tenses onto individual verbs.


===Voice and transitivity===
==Voice and transitivity==


Classical Arithide verbs can also be classified, in grammatical literature, according to whether the root is active or passive. Because of the conflation of voice with transitivity, "active" and "middle" voice may in fact correspond to "transitive" and "intransitive" in certain cases, though to the Areth of the [[Ilethes in the Classical Age|Classical Age]], the difference was scarcely material.
Classical Arithide verbs can also be classified, in grammatical literature, according to whether the root is active or passive. Because of the conflation of voice with transitivity, "active" and "middle" voice may in fact correspond to "transitive" and "intransitive" in certain cases, though to the Areth of the [[Ilethes in the Classical Age|Classical Age]], the difference was scarcely material.


The flexible verb system of the language means that it is possible for individual verbs to cross categories, i.e. for active verbs to take on the middle voice and vice versa. By scholastic agreement, verbs can fall into either of two groups by this criterion: Group 1 (''numatheros'', lit. "down group") contains verbs analogous to the Germanic "weak verbs", i.e. they change voice with suffixes; Group 2 (''bisatheros'', lit. "up group") are the "strong verbs", which undergo [[Classical Arithide vowel gradation|ablaut]] to convey the same meaning. Each group is divided into two subgroups (a) and (b), the former of which consists of verbs whose roots are active, and take suffixes to middlise/intransitivise, and vice versa.
The flexible verb system of the language means that it is possible for individual verbs to cross categories, i.e. for active verbs to take on the middle voice and vice versa. By scholastic agreement, verbs can fall into either of two groups by this criterion: the "weak verbs" (''numatheros'', lit. "down group") contains verbs that change voice with suffixes, analogously to the Germanic "weak verbs"; the "strong verbs" (''bisatheros'', lit. "up group") undergo [[Classical Arithide vowel gradation|ablaut]] to convey the same change. Within both groups are verbs whose roots are active, and inflect to middlise/intransitivise; as well as verbs whose roots are middle-voice, and inflect to activise.
 
===Weak verb voice changes===
 
When changing voice, weak verbs take various endings, which are not governed by systematic rules and have to be learnt by memory. However, analogical levelling has meant the preponderance of one or two endings productively, with the rest surviving mostly in fossilised form, albeit usually in the most commonly used verbs.
 
Active-root weak verbs can take the following endings to become middle-voice:
*Verbs with stems ending in ''-r'', or ''-r'' and a vowel, generally take '''''-erai'''''
*Certain rare verbs use '''''-atai''''', '''''-ōsai''''', '''''-ēsai''''' or '''''-ēmai'''''
*All other situations employ the suffix '''''-(o)nai'''''


Whereas Group 1b verbs uniformly activise by taking the suffix ''-eidēn'', Group 1a verbs take various endings depending on the phonological environment:
Middle-voice weak verbs can take the following endings to become active-voice:
*Where [r] occurs in the stem (particularly in the first syllable) after the vowels [e], [i] and [y], the suffix '''''-erai''''' is used
*Where the verb takes the infix ''-on-'' (which occurs frequently with some monosyllabic roots), use '''''-erēn'''''
*Where it occurs with any other vowel, or with diphthongs, the suffix '''''-arai''''' is used
*The following endings are rarer: '''''-airēn''''', '''''-ourēn''''' (whose ''-r-'' disappears in every other inflection), '''''-eirēn'''''
*Where either [r] or [m] is the final consonant in the stem, the suffix used is '''''-anai'''''
*All other situations employ '''''-(o)idēn'''''
*All other situations employ the suffix '''''-onai'''''
 
===Passive===
 
The biggest morphological difference between the "active" and "middle" verbs, naturally, is the fact that the former category can take on the '''passive voice''', while the latter cannot. The passive in Classical Arithide is formed with the prefix (unusually for a generally suffixing language) ''h(e)(n)-''. The curiously complicated citation form of this prefix is due to the fact that while the usual form used is ''he-'', as with verbs beginning with a consonant, those that begin with a vowel take either the simple ''h-'' or the longer ''hen-''. There appears to be no fast rule governing which prefix each verb takes, and the passive form of each verb beginning with a vowel must learnt by heart.
 
===Causative===
 
In addition to the '''active''', '''middle''' and '''passive''' voices, there is also the '''causative''' voice, which denotes agent A ''causing'' agent B to commit a particular action, and can be applied to verbs in any of the other three voices previously mentioned, e.g. :
 
*''Mādou saī lydārēn.'' "Mother made sister eat."<br>Here ''lydai'' "to eat" is a middle-voice/intransitive verb causativised by the suffix ''-ārēn''. N.B. ''saī'' "sister" is always in the dative case as she is the target (i.e. indirect object) of the causative.
*''Mādou saī mele lydārēn.'' "Mother made sister eat the apple."<br>Here ''lydēn'' is an active-voice/transitive verb causativised by the same suffix, resulting in the same causative form for both verbs.
*''Mādou meli helydārēn.'' "Mother made the apple be eaten."<br>Here ''helydai'' is a passive verb, causativised by exactly the same suffix as before.
 
The causative can be applied to verbs in their original aspect only, e.g. one can only causativise ''lydēn'' "to eat" in this original perfective aspect and not the imperfective ''luīdēn'' that can be derived from it; likewise causativisation happens to ''vagonai'' "to go, impf." and not ''vaktai'' "to go, prfv." or ''vaksa'' "to have gone, perf.". The reason is that only the semantic value of the root verb is carried over to the causative, and all further conjugation, aspectual, modal or otherwise, is carried out on the causative suffix ''-ārēn''.
 
===Potentive===
 
A fifth voice, the '''potentive''' voice with suffix ''-ētai'', is used to express the physical ability (as opposed to permission) of an agent to commit the action in question. This voice can be appended to verbs in any of the other four voices, e.g. the following sentences:
 
*''Mādou lydētai.'' "Mother can eat."
*''Mādou mele lydētai.'' "Mother can eat an apple."<br>N.B. the potentive forms of the transitive and intransitive forms of verbs that do not take an extra infix when changing voice are identical.
*''Meleu helydētai.'' "The apple can (has a physical ability to) be eaten."
*''Mādou saī mele lydārētai.'' "Mother can make sister eat the apple."
*''Mādou meli helydārētai.'' "Mother can make the apple be eaten."


==Conjugations of an Arithide verb==
==Conjugations of an Arithide verb==
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===Imperative & cohortative===
===Imperative & cohortative===


At the top-right of the table, listed with the stem and the gerund, are the imperative ("walk!") and the cohortative ("let's walk") moods respectively. These are the only two forms of the verb that are progressively invariable (see [[Progressive inflection]]), i.e. they do not inflect further for the next level of time-flow distinction, in this case tense. The imperative is formed with V-verbs by lengthening their inherent vowel and adding ''-ra'', and with consonant-stem verbs by adding ''-ēra'' to the stem (i.e. ''napsēn'' > ''napsēra'', ''kalau'' > ''kalāra'', ''sebiou'' > ''sebīra''). In colloquial speech or for purposes of scansion, the final ''-ra'' may be omitted. The cohortative is constructed in consonant-stem verbs by appending ''-ō'' to the stem; vowel-stem verbs add ''-ō'' to their stem, and the thematic vowel is elided with stems ending in ''-a'', ''-o'' and ''-u''.
At the top-right of the table, listed with the stem and the gerund, are the imperative ("walk!") and the cohortative ("let's walk") moods respectively. These are the only two forms of the verb that are progressively invariable (see [[Progressive inflection]]), i.e. they do not inflect further for the next level of time-flow distinction, in this case tense. The imperative is formed with V-verbs by lengthening their inherent vowel and adding ''-ra'', and with consonant-stem verbs by adding ''-ēra'' to the stem (i.e. ''napsēn'' > ''napsēra'', ''kalān'' > ''kalāra'', ''sebīn'' > ''sebīra''). In colloquial speech or for purposes of scansion, the final ''-ra'' may be omitted. The cohortative is constructed in consonant-stem verbs by appending ''-ō'' to the stem; vowel-stem verbs add ''-ō'' to their stem, and the thematic vowel is elided with stems ending in ''-a'', ''-o'', ''-u'' and ''-y''.


===Free derivatives===
===Free derivatives===
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===Limited derivatives===
===Limited derivatives===


The "limited derivative" verbs are, as opposed to the free derivatives, independent derivative verbs that may not take the full range of conjugations. Most derivatives in this category are modal: the '''inceptive''' mood (''-izai'' "to begin to"), the '''frequentative''' (''-eusai'' "to do repeatedly"), the '''protractive''' (''-ndai'' "to go on and on"), the '''volitive''' (''-oumai'' "to be willing to"), the '''desiderative''' (''-ssai' "to want to"), the '''jussive''' (''-spai "to want the listener to") and the '''[[Subjunctive mood (Classical Arithide)|subjunctive]]''' (''-ōnai''). The first three moods take the imperfective stem; the latter three take the gerundive stem with C-verbs and the basic stem with V-verbs. None of these verbs may take a subordinate voice (as they are moods), nor recur outside literature (i.e. ''napsizizai'', for example, is not normally permissible); all may take the inceptive and the subjunctive subordinately, and the inceptive may take the frequentative in subordination, to give the meaning of "repeatedly began (but never finished)".
The "limited derivative" verbs are, as opposed to the free derivatives, independent derivative verbs that may not take the full range of conjugations. Most derivatives in this category are modal and infixed between the verb stem and its voice endings: the '''inceptive''' mood (''-iz-'' "to begin to"), the '''frequentative''' (''-eus-'' "to do repeatedly"), the '''protractive''' (''-nd-'' "to go on and on"), the '''volitive''' (''-oum-'' "to be willing to"), the '''desiderative''' (''-ss-' "to want to"), the '''jussive''' (''-sp- "to want the listener to") and the '''[[Subjunctive mood (Classical Arithide)|subjunctive]]''' (''-ōn-''). The first three moods take the imperfective stem; the latter three take the gerundive stem with C-verbs and the basic stem with V-verbs. None of these verbs may take a subordinate voice (as they are moods), nor recur outside literature (i.e. ''napsizizai'', for example, is not normally permissible); all may take the inceptive and the subjunctive subordinately, and the inceptive may take the frequentative in subordination, to give the meaning of "repeatedly began (but never finished)".


Also part of the limited derivatives are the progressively invariable '''habitual''' and '''perfective habitual''' aspects, which are conjugated like tenses, by taking the imperfective stem, affixing ''-mnēn/-mnai'', and conjugating it for the perfect or perfective aspect, e.g. ''hoirimnai'' "used to turn (intr.)". The simple habitual (with the perfect-aspect ending) also doubles as the generic mood, to express universals, e.g. ''lēreu dialimnai'', "the sun rises (every day as a matter of certainty/fact)". These aspects are considered unique, in that they are the only ones that may follow a mood in affixation, to give, e.g. ''agnizimnai'' "he habitually begins to do things (and leave them hanging afterwards)".
Also part of the limited derivatives are the progressively invariable '''habitual''' and '''perfective habitual''' aspects, which are conjugated like tenses, by taking the imperfective stem, infixing ''-mn-'', and conjugating it for the perfect or perfective aspect, e.g. ''hoirimnai'' "used to turn (intr.)". The simple habitual (with the perfect-aspect ending) also doubles as the generic mood, to express universals, e.g. ''lēreu dialimnai'', "the sun rises (every day as a matter of certainty/fact)". These aspects are considered unique, in that they are the only ones that may follow a mood in affixation, to give, e.g. ''agnizimnai'' "he habitually begins to do things (and leave them hanging afterwards)".


===Verbal nouns===
===Verbal nouns===
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! style="width: 200px" | Voiceless plosives/fricatives || style="width: 200px" | Voiced plosives/fricatives
! style="width: 200px" | Voiceless plosives/fricatives || style="width: 200px" | Voiced plosives/fricatives
|-
|-
| to'''p'''ēn, top-, to'''ps'''os{{footnote|1}} || ste'''b'''ēn, steb-, ste'''ps'''os  
| to'''p'''ēn, top-, to'''pth'''os{{footnote|1}} || ste'''b'''ēn, steb-, ste'''pth'''os  
|-
|-
| i'''k'''ēn, ik-, i'''ks'''os{{footnote|1}} || va'''g'''ai, vag-, va'''ks'''os  
| i'''k'''ēn, ik-, i'''kth'''os{{footnote|1}} || va'''g'''ai, vag-, va'''kth'''os  
|-
|-
| ga'''t'''ēn, gat-, ga'''ss'''os{{footnote|1}} || fi'''d'''ēn, fid-, fi'''ss'''os  
| ga'''t'''ēn, gat-, ga'''tth'''os{{footnote|1}} || fi'''d'''ēn, fid-, fi'''tth'''os  
|-
|-
| pa'''th'''ēn, path-, pa'''ss'''os || fo'''dh'''ēn, fodh-, fo'''ss'''os  
| pa'''th'''ēn, path-, pa'''tth'''os || fo'''dh'''ēn, fodh-, fo'''tth'''os  
|-
|-
| bē'''s'''ēn, bēs-, bē'''ss'''os || fi'''z'''ēn, fiz-, fi'''ss'''os  
| bē'''s'''ēn, bēs-, bē'''sth'''os || fi'''z'''ēn, fiz-, fi'''sth'''os  
|-
|-
|
|
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! colspan="2" | Sonorants
! colspan="2" | Sonorants
|-
|-
| da'''m'''ēn, dam-, da'''nt'''os{{footnote|1}} || the'''n'''ēn, then-, the'''nt'''os{{footnote|1}}
| da'''m'''ēn, dam-, da'''nth'''os || the'''n'''ēn, then-, the'''nth'''os
|-
|-
| su'''l'''ēn, sul-, su'''lt'''os || le'''r'''ēn, ler-, le'''ss'''os  
| su'''l'''ēn, sul-, su'''lth'''os || le'''r'''ēn, ler-, le'''sth'''os  
|-
|-
|
|
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! colspan="2" | Clusters, Geminates
! colspan="2" | Clusters, Geminates
|-
|-
| ko'''mp'''ēn, komp-, ko'''mpr'''os || ka'''mb'''ēn, kamb-, ka'''mbr'''os
| ko'''mp'''ēn, komp-, ko'''mpth'''os || ka'''mb'''ēn, kamb-, ka'''mpth'''os
|-
|-
| e'''pt'''ēn, ept-, e'''ptr'''os || da'''nd'''ēn, dand-, da'''ndr'''os
| e'''pt'''ēn, ept-, e'''pth'''os || da'''nd'''ēn, dand-, da'''nth'''os
|-
|-
| a'''rk'''ēn, ark-, a'''rks'''os || ka'''rg'''ēn, karg-, ka'''rks'''os
| a'''rk'''ēn, ark-, a'''rkth'''os || ka'''rg'''ēn, karg-, ka'''rkth'''os
|-
|-
| a'''lm'''ēn, alm-, a'''lmbr'''os || se'''ln'''ēn, seln-, se'''lndr'''os
| a'''lm'''ēn, alm-, a'''lmpth'''os || se'''ln'''ēn, seln-, se'''lnth'''os
|-
|-
| i'''ll'''ēn, ill-, i'''ltr'''os ||  
| i'''ll'''ēn, ill-, i'''lth'''os{{footnote|1}} ||  
|-
|-
| fi'''rr'''ēn, firr-, fi'''rst'''os || ē'''br'''ēn, ēbr-, ē'''ber'''os  
| fi'''rr'''ēn, firr-, fi'''rreth'''os{{footnote|1}} || ē'''br'''ēn, ēbr-, ē'''breth'''os  
|-
|-
| he'''ss'''ēn, hess-, he'''st'''os ||  
| he'''ss'''ēn, hess-, he'''sseth'''os{{footnote|1}} ||  
|}
|}


{{footnote|1}} Geminates for these consonants form their verbal nouns identically to the single-consonant stems, i.e. ''stammēn'' &gt; ''stantos'' (homonymous with the word for "importance") etc.
{{footnote|1}} Geminates for all consonants form their verbal nouns by adding an epenthetic ''-e-'', i.e. ''stammēn'' &gt; ''stammethos'' etc. The only exception is with ''-ll-'', which nominalises identically to verbs in a single ''-l-''.


Middle verbs go through the same process when they take the perfect-aspect ending ''-sei'' and its derivatives, and the tables above are repeated below with actual middle verbs as examples:
Middle verbs go through the same process when they take the perfect-aspect ending ''-sei'' and its derivatives, and the tables above are repeated below with actual middle verbs as examples:
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! colspan="2" | Sonorants
! colspan="2" | Sonorants
|-
|-
| he'''m'''ai, hem-, he'''ns'''ei || fig'''n'''ai, fign-, fig'''ns'''ei
| he'''m'''ai, hem-, he'''ns'''ei || fi'''n'''ai, fin-, fi'''ns'''ei
|-
|-
| idi'''l'''ēn, idil-, idi'''ls'''ei || ka'''r'''ai, kar-, ka'''ss'''ei
| idi'''l'''ēn, idil-, idi'''ls'''ei || ka'''r'''ai, kar-, ka'''ss'''ei
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| ha'''ll'''ai, hall-, ha'''ls'''ei || sy'''pl'''ai, sypl-, sy'''ples'''ei
| ha'''ll'''ai, hall-, ha'''ls'''ei || sy'''pl'''ai, sypl-, sy'''ples'''ei
|-
|-
| ka'''rr'''ai, karr-, ka'''ss'''ei, ka'''rres'''ei || sū'''br'''ai, sūbr-, su'''ps'''ei, sū'''bres'''ei
| ka'''rr'''ai, karr-, ka'''rres'''ei || sū'''br'''ai, sūbr-, sū'''bres'''ei
|-
|-
| ko'''ss'''ai, koss-, ko'''ss'''ei ||  
| ko'''ss'''ai, koss-, ko'''ss'''ei || fi''gn''ai, fign-, fi''gnes''ei
|}
|}


====Applicative infixing====


There is an applicative infix, ''-it-'', that is appended only to first conjugation (consonant-stem) verbs, to derive nouns one degree removed semantically from the verb. Examples are:
*''segrēn'' "to write" > ''segros'' "the act of writing", ''segr'''it'''os'' "writing (i.e. words that have been written)"
*''damēn'' "to carry" > ''damos'' "the act of carrying", ''dam'''it'''os'' "transport, conveyance"


===Aspects & tenses===
===Aspects & tenses===
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The participles of the various aspects and the conditional mood serve two main purposes. First, due to the SOV syntax of Classical Arithide, verbs were used prenominally as modifiers. Initially these modifier verbs used the same forms as final verbs, but gradually evolved distinct forms with lengthened vowels and, in the case of the imperfective, lost the accompanying consonant. Adjectives of the verbal class, however, did not undergo this change (see [[Classical Arithide adjectives]]). Second, analogously to the Latin ablative absolute construction, the participles could indicate the context of a main sentence, e.g.
The participles of the various aspects and the conditional mood serve two main purposes. First, due to the SOV syntax of Classical Arithide, verbs were used prenominally as modifiers. Initially these modifier verbs used the same forms as final verbs, but gradually evolved distinct forms with lengthened vowels and, in the case of the imperfective, lost the accompanying consonant. Adjectives of the verbal class, however, did not undergo this change (see [[Classical Arithide adjectives]]). Second, analogously to the Latin ablative absolute construction, the participles could indicate the context of a main sentence, e.g.


*''Kodhē '''roimeūm''', sōpedōi tholtae vermairēn.'' '''Having weakened''' the enemy, the soldiers went in for the kill.
*''Kodhē '''roisāī''', sōpedāī tholthae vermairēn.'' '''Having weakened''' the enemy, the soldiers went in for the kill.<br>
''roimēn'', stem ''roim-'', perfect aspect ''roisa'', perf. participle ''rois-'', perf. ptcp. class-V pl. ''roisāī''


These participle forms were largely developed already by the [[Lazeian_Empire#Aphoiros_dynasty_.28281_CIE.E2.80.94443_CIE.29|Aphoiros dynasty]], and codified into the language of the respectable classes upon the rise of the Equora.
These participle forms were largely developed already by the [[Lazeian_Empire#Aphoiros_dynasty_.28281_CIE.E2.80.94443_CIE.29|Aphoiros dynasty]], and codified into the language of the respectable classes upon the rise of the Equora.
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===Participial verbal nouns===
===Participial verbal nouns===


Participles can also derive verbal nouns, such as ''sthorāsthos'' "the fact that you have held (him) back" or ''sthorāsthon'' "the person who held (him) back", from ''sthorāsos'' "having held back, who has held back", from ''sthorā'' "has held back, to hold back". These are quoted in the tables below in the abstract ''-os'' form which corresponds to "the fact that...", but can also take declension VI endings by replacing the ending ''-os'', changing their meaning to become "the person who...".
Participles can also derive verbal nouns, such as ''sthorasthos'' "the fact that you have held (him) back" or ''sthorasthon'' "the person who has held (him) back", from ''sthorasos'' "having held back", from ''sthorasa'' "has held back, to hold back", in turn from ''sthorān'' "to hold back". These are quoted in the tables below in the abstract ''-os'' form which corresponds to "the fact that...", but can also take declension V endings by replacing the ending ''-os'' with ''-on'', changing their meaning to become "the person who...".


==Deriving other parts of speech==
==Deriving other parts of speech==


Like many other SOV languages, most notably Japanese, early Classical Arithide could turn its verbs into modifiers simply by putting them directly before the noun they modify, e.g. ''ores soli'' "the river flows (lit. ''is flowing'')" vs. ''soli ores'' "the flowing river" "the river that flows (lit. ''is flowing'')". However, due to the language's extensive and growing inflection, and consequently considerably free word order, the practice declined rather early on in the [[Lazeian Empire]]'s existence in favour of the participle forms, which had already begun to differentiate from the finite forms before the [[conquest of Galaria]] (see [[Classical Arithide verb differentiation]]); it only experienced a sort of recovery after the fall of the Equora dynasty, and the consequent accelerated decay of the intricate inflection system it had built up over the years.
Like many other SOV languages, most notably Japanese, early Classical Arithide could turn its verbs into modifiers simply by putting them directly before the noun they modify, e.g. ''ores solai'' "the river flows (lit. ''is flowing'')" vs. ''solai ores'' "the flowing river" "the river that flows (lit. ''is flowing'')". However, due to the language's extensive and growing inflection, and consequently considerably free word order, the practice declined rather early on in the [[Lazeian Empire]]'s existence in favour of the participle forms, which had already begun to differentiate from the finite forms before the [[conquest of Galaria]] (see [[Classical Arithide verb differentiation]]); it only experienced a sort of recovery after the fall of the Equora dynasty, and the consequent accelerated decay of the intricate inflection system it had built up over the years.


In the conjugation tables below, the participles for each verb are listed with an additional letter each appended in parentheses to the end. In the "standard" Classical Arithide, the correct participle forms do not include the letters in brackets, nor as modifiers include them but simply conjugate in their base form according to the declension class of their referent. In earlier periods, however, up to the decades before the [[Three Hundred Golden Years]], the correct forms for the perfective and imperfective participles ended in ''-a'', subsequently dropped, and as modifiers of the nominal class declined as per the [[Classical Arithide declension|fifth declension]].
In the conjugation tables below, the participles for each verb are listed with an additional letter each appended in parentheses to the end. In the "standard" Classical Arithide, the correct participle forms do not include the letters in brackets, nor as modifiers include them but simply conjugate in their base form according to the declension class of their referent. In earlier periods, however, up to the decades before the [[Three Hundred Golden Years]], the correct forms for the perfective and imperfective participles ended in ''-a'', subsequently dropped, and as modifiers of the nominal class declined as per the [[Classical Arithide declension|fifth declension]].


At the same time, in the active and middle voices verbs can form various adjectives and nouns using their different aspectual participle forms (such as ''fragai'' "to rebel, to mutiny" > ''fragīēs sōpedēs'' "rebelling/mutinying soldiers", ''fragaiēs sōpedēs'' "soldiers who have rebelled/mutinied&mdash;''implied'' and by consequence are now no longer part of the force", ''frageinēs sōpedēs'' "soldiers who rebelled/mutinied&mdash;before/once, and that is over and done with in their histories"). This is also true for the passive voice, hence ''hezuraier Ganymēder'' "stolen Ganymede" is still missing while ''hezureiner Ganymēder'' has been returned, and Zeus can stil be seen taking away ''hezurīer Ganymēder''.
At the same time, in the active and middle voices verbs can form various adjectives and nouns using their different aspectual participle forms (such as ''fragai'' "to rebel, to mutiny" > ''fraignāī sōpedāī'' (with impf. aspect) "rebelling/mutinying soldiers", ''fraksāī sōpedāī'' (with perf. aspect) "soldiers who have rebelled/mutinied&mdash;''implied'' and by consequence are now no longer part of the force", ''fragnāī sōpedāī'' (with prfv. aspect) "soldiers who rebelled/mutinied&mdash;before/once, and that is over and done with in their histories"). This is also true for the passive voice, hence ''hezusser Ganymēder'' (perf.) "stolen Ganymede" is still missing while ''hezunner Ganymēder'' (prfv.) has been returned, and Zeus can stil be seen taking away ''hezyrer Ganymēder'' (impf.).


==Voice, aspect, mood and tense==
==Voice, aspect, mood and tense==
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{{footnote|1}}There are technically two types of the negative mood in Classical Arithide, but traditionally have been conflated into one by the [[Dethrians]], who were not generally able to effectively distinguish between the two (see next section for more information).
{{footnote|1}}There are technically two types of the negative mood in Classical Arithide, but traditionally have been conflated into one by the [[Dethrians]], who were not generally able to effectively distinguish between the two (see next section for more information).
===Future tense===
Classical Arithide has an odd, anomalous tense in its morphological system, namely the future tense, with ending ''-ma/-mai''. The use of this tense is very limited, being restricted to only the literal meaning of "ahead of time", and is used like a relative tense. I.e. even when speaking about the past, this future tense can still be used as long as the action in question took place ''after'' the point of time reference, e.g. ''Mena labi'''mai'''tho derēisa.'' "I had hoped that she would call for me." As may be observed, here where Classical Arithide uses the simple future, English with its absolute tense system uses the future perfect.


==Negation==
==Negation==
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Compare the following two sentences and the nuanced difference in their meaning:
Compare the following two sentences and the nuanced difference in their meaning:
*''Vaksae raenētai'''va'''.'' You can'''not''' choose to go. (lit. "going choose-can-not")
*''Vaktho raenētai'''va'''.'' You can'''not''' choose to go. (lit. "going choose-can-not")
*''Vaksae '''au'''raenētai.'' You can '''not''' choose to go. ''or'' You can choose '''not''' to go. (lit. "going not-choose-can")
*''Vaktho '''au'''raenētai.'' You can '''not''' choose to go. ''or'' You can choose '''not''' to go. (lit. "going not-choose-can")
*'''''Au'''vaksae raenētai.'' You can choose '''not''' to go. (lit. "not-going choose-can")
*'''''Au'''vaktho raenētai.'' You can choose '''not''' to go. (lit. "not-going choose-can")


The former sentence is an example of narrow negation, because the negative suffix applies only to the conjugated verb, i.e. it refers to the narrow act of not choosing; the latter of broad, because the prefix inverts the lexical meaning of the verb, and subsequent conjugations modify the prefixed verb as a single unit of negative meaning&mdash;the new word is technically considered grammatically affirmative.
The former sentence is an example of narrow negation, because the negative suffix applies only to the conjugated verb, i.e. it refers to the narrow act of not choosing; the latter of broad, because the prefix inverts the lexical meaning of the verb, and subsequent conjugations modify the prefixed verb as a single unit of negative meaning&mdash;the new word is technically considered grammatically affirmative.
Line 279: Line 310:
=== Active-voice consonant-stem verbs ===
=== Active-voice consonant-stem verbs ===


The first conjugation, containing all consonant-stem verbs, is the most common conjugation to which verbs in Classical Arithide belong, encompassing approximately three-quarters of all verbs. The regular conjugation is illustrated by the example verbs ''valā'' "to settle (active), to site" and ''aurai'' "to meet" below. ''Sernā'' "to order, to command", is also listed  below.
Active voice verb ''valēn'' "to site, to settle (tr.)":
 
Active voice verb ''valēn'' "to site":


{| style="width: 500px; background: #efefef; border: 1pt solid #cccccc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
{| style="width: 500px; background: #efefef; border: 1pt solid #cccccc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
! style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" | VAL-
! style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" | VAL-
| style="width: 375px; border-bottom: 1pt solid #cccccc" colspan="4" | valimnēn, valīzai, valeusai, valindai, valoumai<br>valossai, valospai, valōnai
| style="width: 375px; border-bottom: 1pt solid #cccccc" colspan="4" | valimnēn, valīzēn, valeusēn, valindēn, valoumēn<br>valossēn, valospēn, valōnēn
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | ''imp.'' valē(ra)<br>''coh.'' valō<br><br>''sup.'' valtos<br>''loc.'' valtas<br>''ins.'' valeta<br>''agt.'' valter, valon<br>''pat.'' valsis, valsion
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | ''imp.'' valē(ra)<br>''coh.'' valō<br><br>''sup.'' valthos<br>''loc.'' valthas<br>''ins.'' valeta<br>''agt.'' valthera, valon<br>''pat.'' valthis, valthion
| style="width: 125px" | val'''ā'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''ēn'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''āsos'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''nos'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''āsthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''nethos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | val'''ēn'''
| style="width: 125px" | vail'''a'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''einos'''
| style="width: 125px" | vail'''nos'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''einthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | vail'''nthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | val'''i'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''sa'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''īos'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''sos'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''īthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | val'''sthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | val'''ma'''<br>
| style="width: 125px" | val'''ma'''<br>
Line 304: Line 333:
| style="width: 125px" | val'''onthos'''<br>&lt; *valumthos &lt; *valmthos
| style="width: 125px" | val'''onthos'''<br>&lt; *valumthos &lt; *valmthos
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | val'''ētai''', val'''airā''', '''he'''val'''ai''', (val'''onai''')
| colspan="3" | val'''ētai''', val'''ārēn''', '''he'''val'''ai''', (val'''onai''')
|}
|}


Verbs whose stems end in ''-n'' take a slightly different ending in the perfective aspect, which has arisen due to historical phonetic dissimulation.
Verbs whose stems end in ''-n'' take a slightly different ending in the perfective aspect, which has arisen due to historical phonetic dissimulation: ''sennēn'' "to order, to command".


{| style="width: 500px; background: #efefef; border: 1pt solid #cccccc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
{| style="width: 500px; background: #efefef; border: 1pt solid #cccccc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
! style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" | SENN-
! style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" | SENN-
| style="width: 375px; border-bottom: 1pt solid #cccccc" colspan="4" | sennimnēn, sennīzai, senneusai, sennindai, sennoumai<br>sennossai, sennospai, sennōnai
| style="width: 375px; border-bottom: 1pt solid #cccccc" colspan="4" | sennimnēn, sennīzēn, senneusēn, sennindēn, sennoumēn<br>sennossēn, sennospēn, sennōnēn
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | ''imp.'' sennē(ra)<br>''coh.'' sennō<br><br>''sup.'' sendros<br>''loc.'' sendras<br>''ins.'' senneta<br>''agt.'' sendrer, sennon<br>''pat.'' sennosis, sennosion
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | ''imp.'' sennē(ra)<br>''coh.'' sennō<br><br>''sup.'' sennethos<br>''loc.'' sennethas<br>''ins.'' senneta<br>''agt.'' sennethera, sennon<br>''pat.'' sennosis, sennosion
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''ā'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''ēn'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''āsos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''emos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''āsthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''enthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''ēn'''
| style="width: 125px" | seinn'''a'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''eimos'''
| style="width: 125px" | seinn'''emos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''einthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | seinn'''enthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''i'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''esa'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''īos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''esos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''īthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''esthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | se'''mma'''<br>&lt;*sennma
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''ema''', seinn'''ema'''
| style="width: 125px" | se'''mmos'''<br>&lt;*sennmos
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''emos''', seinn'''emos'''
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''onthos'''<br>&lt;*sennumthos &lt;*sennmthos
| style="width: 125px" | senn'''enthos''', seinn'''enthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | senn'''ētai''', senn'''airā''', '''hez'''enn'''ai''', (senn'''erai''')
| colspan="3" | senn'''ētai''', senn'''ārēn''', '''hez'''enn'''ai''', (senn'''erai''')
|}
|}
{{WIP}}


===Active-voice vowel-stem verbs===
===Active-voice vowel-stem verbs===
Line 339: Line 370:
{| style="width: 500px; background: #efefef; border: 1pt solid #cccccc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
{| style="width: 500px; background: #efefef; border: 1pt solid #cccccc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
! style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" | KALA-
! style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" | KALA-
| style="width: 375px; border-bottom: 1pt solid #cccccc" colspan="4" | kalamnēn, kalazai, kalausai, kalandai, kalōumai<br>kalassai, kalaspai, kalōnai
| style="width: 375px; border-bottom: 1pt solid #cccccc" colspan="4" | kalamnēn, kalazai, kalēusai, kalandai, kalōumai<br>kalassai, kalaspai, kalōnai
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | kalā(ra)<br>kalō<br><br>''sup.'' kalatos<br>''loc.'' kalatas<br>''ins.'' kalateta<br>''agt.'' kalater, kalaton<br>''pat.'' kalasis, kalasion
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | kalā(ra)<br>kalō<br><br>''sup.'' kalatos<br>''loc.'' kalatas<br>''ins.'' kalateta<br>''agt.'' kalater, kalaton<br>''pat.'' kalasis, kalasion
Line 358: Line 389:
| style="width: 125px" | kala'''nthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | kala'''nthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | kalaetai, kalatārēn, hegalān, (kalanai)
| colspan="3" | kalētai, kalatārēn, hegalanai, (kalanai)
|}
|}


Line 384: Line 415:
| style="width: 125px" | vere'''nthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | vere'''nthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | verētai, veretārēn, heverēn, (veremai)
| colspan="3" | veriētai, veretārēn, heverenai, (veremai)
|}
|}


Line 410: Line 441:
| style="width: 125px" | sebi'''nthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | sebi'''nthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | sebiētai, sebiārēn, (sebierai)
| colspan="3" | sebiētai, sebitārēn, hezebinai (sebierai)
|}
|}


Line 425: Line 456:
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''ēn'''
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''ēn'''
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''oikos'''
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''oumos'''
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''oithos'''
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''ōnthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''i'''
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''i'''
Line 436: Line 467:
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''onthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | nir'''onthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | nirētai, nirārēn, henirēn, (nironai)
| colspan="3" | nirētai, nirārēn, henironai, (nironai)
|}
|}


Line 464: Line 495:
| style="width: 125px" | aur'''onthos'''<br>&lt;*aurumthos &lt;*aurmthos
| style="width: 125px" | aur'''onthos'''<br>&lt;*aurumthos &lt;*aurmthos
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | aur'''ētai''', aur'''airēn''', (aur'''eidēn''')
| colspan="3" | aur'''ētai''', aur'''ārēn''', (aur'''eirēn''')
|}
|}


Line 476: Line 507:
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | thōrē(ra)<br>thōrō<br><br>''sup.'' thōratos<br>''loc.'' thōratas <br>''ins.'' thōrateta<br>''agt.'' thōrater, thōraton<br>''pat.'' thōrasis, thōrasion
| style="width: 125px; background: #dfdfdf; border-right: 1pt dashed #cccccc" rowspan="5" | thōrē(ra)<br>thōrō<br><br>''sup.'' thōratos<br>''loc.'' thōratas <br>''ins.'' thōrateta<br>''agt.'' thōrater, thōraton<br>''pat.'' thōrasis, thōrasion
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''āsei'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''asei'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''asēnios'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''asēnios'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''esinthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''esinthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''ānai'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''anai'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''aikos'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''aikos'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''aithos'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōr'''aithos'''
Line 492: Line 523:
| style="width: 125px" | thōra'''nthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | thōra'''nthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | thōrētai, thōrārēn, (thōraidēn)
| colspan="3" | thōrētai, thōrārēn, (thōrairēn)
|}
|}


Line 506: Line 537:
| style="width: 125px" | par'''esinthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | par'''esinthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | par'''ēnai'''
| style="width: 125px" | par'''enai'''
| style="width: 125px" | par'''eikos'''
| style="width: 125px" | par'''eikos'''
| style="width: 125px" | par'''eithos'''
| style="width: 125px" | par'''eithos'''
Line 518: Line 549:
| style="width: 125px" | pare'''nthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | pare'''nthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | parētai, pariārēn, (pareidēn)
| colspan="3" | pariētai, pariārēn, (pareirēn)
|}
|}


Line 534: Line 565:
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''esinthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''esinthos'''
|-
|-
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''īnai'''
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''inai'''
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''īkos'''
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''īkos'''
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''īthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | ank'''īthos'''
Line 546: Line 577:
| style="width: 125px" | anki'''nthos'''
| style="width: 125px" | anki'''nthos'''
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | ankiētai, ankiairēn, (ankieidēn)
| colspan="3" | ankiētai, ankiārēn, (ankieirēn)
|}
|}



Latest revision as of 15:46, 27 December 2009

See also Classical Arithide grammar for more information


Classical Arithide verbs are divided into two classes: active-voice and middle-voice; each is divided into two conjugations based on their stems: whether they end in a vowel or a consonant. There is no infinitive, and verbs are quoted in dictionaries in their perfect finite form. The two conjugations differ in their basic finite forms, whereas additional affixes for the various aspects and moods are common; a small group of verbs are mixed-conjugation: though consonant-stem, they take vowel-stem conjugations.

Within consonant-stem verbs, nasal-stems (-m- and -n-) conjugate slightly differently from the non-nasal-stem verbs; also, vowel-stem verbs possess a second stem, with which are formed their derivatives, such as the protractive aspect and the agentive noun.

Verbs in each class are conjugated for four or five voices, three basic aspects, five derivative aspects, seven moods and one tense, on a cascading hierarchy as above. I.e., to the root form of the verb would first be appended affixes indicating voice, followed by aspect, then mood and subsequently tense. Certain aspects and moods in Classical Arithide constitute separate verbs eo ipso, but, as semi-independent verbs, are not always able to take the full range of verb conjugations.

There is a small class of antideponent verbs in Classical Arithide, i.e. verbs with an active form but a passive meaning.

Verbs are the only group of words in Classical Arithide that exhibit a significant degree of non-inflectionary morphology, namely, agglutination, which occurs in affixing aspects, moods and tenses onto individual verbs.

Voice and transitivity

Classical Arithide verbs can also be classified, in grammatical literature, according to whether the root is active or passive. Because of the conflation of voice with transitivity, "active" and "middle" voice may in fact correspond to "transitive" and "intransitive" in certain cases, though to the Areth of the Classical Age, the difference was scarcely material.

The flexible verb system of the language means that it is possible for individual verbs to cross categories, i.e. for active verbs to take on the middle voice and vice versa. By scholastic agreement, verbs can fall into either of two groups by this criterion: the "weak verbs" (numatheros, lit. "down group") contains verbs that change voice with suffixes, analogously to the Germanic "weak verbs"; the "strong verbs" (bisatheros, lit. "up group") undergo ablaut to convey the same change. Within both groups are verbs whose roots are active, and inflect to middlise/intransitivise; as well as verbs whose roots are middle-voice, and inflect to activise.

Weak verb voice changes

When changing voice, weak verbs take various endings, which are not governed by systematic rules and have to be learnt by memory. However, analogical levelling has meant the preponderance of one or two endings productively, with the rest surviving mostly in fossilised form, albeit usually in the most commonly used verbs.

Active-root weak verbs can take the following endings to become middle-voice:

  • Verbs with stems ending in -r, or -r and a vowel, generally take -erai
  • Certain rare verbs use -atai, -ōsai, -ēsai or -ēmai
  • All other situations employ the suffix -(o)nai

Middle-voice weak verbs can take the following endings to become active-voice:

  • Where the verb takes the infix -on- (which occurs frequently with some monosyllabic roots), use -erēn
  • The following endings are rarer: -airēn, -ourēn (whose -r- disappears in every other inflection), -eirēn
  • All other situations employ -(o)idēn

Passive

The biggest morphological difference between the "active" and "middle" verbs, naturally, is the fact that the former category can take on the passive voice, while the latter cannot. The passive in Classical Arithide is formed with the prefix (unusually for a generally suffixing language) h(e)(n)-. The curiously complicated citation form of this prefix is due to the fact that while the usual form used is he-, as with verbs beginning with a consonant, those that begin with a vowel take either the simple h- or the longer hen-. There appears to be no fast rule governing which prefix each verb takes, and the passive form of each verb beginning with a vowel must learnt by heart.

Causative

In addition to the active, middle and passive voices, there is also the causative voice, which denotes agent A causing agent B to commit a particular action, and can be applied to verbs in any of the other three voices previously mentioned, e.g. :

  • Mādou saī lydārēn. "Mother made sister eat."
    Here lydai "to eat" is a middle-voice/intransitive verb causativised by the suffix -ārēn. N.B. saī "sister" is always in the dative case as she is the target (i.e. indirect object) of the causative.
  • Mādou saī mele lydārēn. "Mother made sister eat the apple."
    Here lydēn is an active-voice/transitive verb causativised by the same suffix, resulting in the same causative form for both verbs.
  • Mādou meli helydārēn. "Mother made the apple be eaten."
    Here helydai is a passive verb, causativised by exactly the same suffix as before.

The causative can be applied to verbs in their original aspect only, e.g. one can only causativise lydēn "to eat" in this original perfective aspect and not the imperfective luīdēn that can be derived from it; likewise causativisation happens to vagonai "to go, impf." and not vaktai "to go, prfv." or vaksa "to have gone, perf.". The reason is that only the semantic value of the root verb is carried over to the causative, and all further conjugation, aspectual, modal or otherwise, is carried out on the causative suffix -ārēn.

Potentive

A fifth voice, the potentive voice with suffix -ētai, is used to express the physical ability (as opposed to permission) of an agent to commit the action in question. This voice can be appended to verbs in any of the other four voices, e.g. the following sentences:

  • Mādou lydētai. "Mother can eat."
  • Mādou mele lydētai. "Mother can eat an apple."
    N.B. the potentive forms of the transitive and intransitive forms of verbs that do not take an extra infix when changing voice are identical.
  • Meleu helydētai. "The apple can (has a physical ability to) be eaten."
  • Mādou saī mele lydārētai. "Mother can make sister eat the apple."
  • Mādou meli helydārētai. "Mother can make the apple be eaten."

Conjugations of an Arithide verb

The basic conjugations of an Arithide verb are given in table format as laid out in the following template.

verb habitual, inceptive, frequentative, protractive, volitive
desiderative, jussive, subjunctive
imperative, cohortative

supine (I)
location (II)
instrument (V)
agent (VI)
patient (VII, VI)
perfect aspect perfect participle perfect supine
perfective aspect perfective participle perfective supine
imperfective aspect imperfective participle imperfective supine
future tense future participle future supine
potentive, causative, passive1

, (middlisation/activisation)

1

Note: for why the passive voice exists for both active/transitive and middle/intransitive verbs, see below.

Stem & gerund

The conjugation of a verb is conducted with its stem as the basis. To find the stem of a verb, simply remove the perfective ending. For active verbs this is -ēn for consonant-stems and i-, u-, y-stems, and -n for all other vowel stems; for middle voice verbs it is -ai for consonant-stems and -nai for all vowel stems.

From the stem is formed the second major part of a verb's conjugation, the gerund. The gerunds of vowel-stem verbs are identical to the stems; consonant-stem verbs affix an -o, hence napsēn "to hide" > napso. Most complex conjugations are formed using the gerund, as are a number of common verbal phrases and periphrastic constructions; frequently, when those conjugations require an affix beginning with a vowel, the -o of the gerund in consonant-stem verbs is elided.

The gerund for specific aspects of a verb can also be formed from any participial stem, simply by adding -to (occasionally -te). I.e. the imperfective participle pariānos "kept running" has the imperfective gerund pariānto or pariānte, meaning literally "keep running, and...". This is normally used when the verb in the gerund (being connected) and the final verb in the sentence are of different aspects, e.g.:

Mena paretei pāthīto artēnai.
she.NOM reason.PL.ACC listen.IMPF.GER agree.PRFV
She listened continuously to the reasons (i.e. "heard us out") and agreed.

Imperative & cohortative

At the top-right of the table, listed with the stem and the gerund, are the imperative ("walk!") and the cohortative ("let's walk") moods respectively. These are the only two forms of the verb that are progressively invariable (see Progressive inflection), i.e. they do not inflect further for the next level of time-flow distinction, in this case tense. The imperative is formed with V-verbs by lengthening their inherent vowel and adding -ra, and with consonant-stem verbs by adding -ēra to the stem (i.e. napsēn > napsēra, kalān > kalāra, sebīn > sebīra). In colloquial speech or for purposes of scansion, the final -ra may be omitted. The cohortative is constructed in consonant-stem verbs by appending to the stem; vowel-stem verbs add to their stem, and the thematic vowel is elided with stems ending in -a, -o, -u and -y.

Free derivatives

The only derivative verbs that can conjugate nearly as fully as the active verb itself, with only minimal restrictions (the "free derivatives"), number three, and are the three other verb voices in Classical Arithide: the potentive (-ētai, "able to"), causative (-ārā/-ārai, "make/cause to") and passive (he-, "be done something to").

To illustrate, napsētai (naps- + -ētai potentive) can take any ending that the main verb can, except the passive, because potentive verbs are intransitive by nature and thus do not have a passive; nor can henapsai (naps- + prefix he- passive), for the same reason that passive verbs are also intransitive by definition; in addition, the causative is the only derivative of the three that allows recursion: napsārārēn "make to cause to hide" is semantically permissible, whereas napsētētai is illogical and hegenapsai (doubled he-; the second he- is mutated due to historical phonological sound changes) is forbidden for transitivity reasons as already discussed.

There is a third-person imperative ("let him hide") ending in -(e)sit—i.e. henapsesit

Records of earlier Arithide show the passive form as originally having been constructed -sita, which casts some light on the origins of the seemingly irregular third-person imperative, and the patientive verbal noun. The latter is attested as once regular (napsesitis, which phonetic attrition reduced), and the former of which is unattested but postulated by scholars to have been napsesitu, paralleling the imperative and cohortative. For those moods, however, no material is available to explain their distinct construction from the active.

Passive voice on middle-voice verbs

Despite the limited applicability of the passive voice outlined above, however, the passive does in fact exist for middle/intransitive verbs, except with different meanings: the passive as used with active verbs is the regular passive as speakers of Indo-European languages may be used to; when used with middle verbs, however, the voice takes on a malefactive character. A sentence like Kēkou fātis henōssēn. (lit. "Cecus was died by his father") means that Cecus' father died, which caused him much pain, grief, agony and/or trouble.

Such a construction may only take animate subjects, because objects cannot logically be "harmed" by an action. However, this rule is frequently broken by the classical poets, particularly in extended metaphors. Certain transitive verbs also took on a "malefactive passive", made possible by the existence of a topical case in later periods, viz.:

Fregādou konāt sīn gybeōn hezilfēn. Fregados.TOP wallet.NOM with thief.ABL PASS.steal.PRFV Fregādos' wallet was stolen by a thief

Limited derivatives

The "limited derivative" verbs are, as opposed to the free derivatives, independent derivative verbs that may not take the full range of conjugations. Most derivatives in this category are modal and infixed between the verb stem and its voice endings: the inceptive mood (-iz- "to begin to"), the frequentative (-eus- "to do repeatedly"), the protractive (-nd- "to go on and on"), the volitive (-oum- "to be willing to"), the desiderative (-ss-' "to want to"), the jussive (-sp- "to want the listener to") and the subjunctive (-ōn-). The first three moods take the imperfective stem; the latter three take the gerundive stem with C-verbs and the basic stem with V-verbs. None of these verbs may take a subordinate voice (as they are moods), nor recur outside literature (i.e. napsizizai, for example, is not normally permissible); all may take the inceptive and the subjunctive subordinately, and the inceptive may take the frequentative in subordination, to give the meaning of "repeatedly began (but never finished)".

Also part of the limited derivatives are the progressively invariable habitual and perfective habitual aspects, which are conjugated like tenses, by taking the imperfective stem, infixing -mn-, and conjugating it for the perfect or perfective aspect, e.g. hoirimnai "used to turn (intr.)". The simple habitual (with the perfect-aspect ending) also doubles as the generic mood, to express universals, e.g. lēreu dialimnai, "the sun rises (every day as a matter of certainty/fact)". These aspects are considered unique, in that they are the only ones that may follow a mood in affixation, to give, e.g. agnizimnai "he habitually begins to do things (and leave them hanging afterwards)".

Verbal nouns

The left side of the table, shaded slightly darker, lists the main verbal nouns, of agency (doer), of patiency (done to), of instrument (tool), of location (place done at), as well as the supine (act of). The supine is a declension I noun, locative nouns are declension II, agentive nouns are of declension VI and instrumentive nouns are declension Vb, the patientive is declension VII (see Classical Arithide declension for the respective inflection patterns).

Different consonant stems take different epenthetic consonants in forming their supines and locatives, illustrated by the table below:

Voiceless plosives/fricatives Voiced plosives/fricatives
topēn, top-, topthos1 stebēn, steb-, stepthos
ikēn, ik-, ikthos1 vagai, vag-, vakthos
gatēn, gat-, gatthos1 fidēn, fid-, fitthos
pathēn, path-, patthos fodhēn, fodh-, fotthos
sēn, bēs-, bēsthos fizēn, fiz-, fisthos
Sonorants
damēn, dam-, danthos thenēn, then-, thenthos
sulēn, sul-, sulthos lerēn, ler-, lesthos
Clusters, Geminates
kompēn, komp-, kompthos kambēn, kamb-, kampthos
eptēn, ept-, epthos dandēn, dand-, danthos
arkēn, ark-, arkthos kargēn, karg-, karkthos
almēn, alm-, almpthos selnēn, seln-, selnthos
illēn, ill-, ilthos1
firrēn, firr-, firrethos1 ēbrēn, ēbr-, ēbrethos
hessēn, hess-, hessethos1

1

Geminates for all consonants form their verbal nouns by adding an epenthetic -e-, i.e. stammēn > stammethos etc. The only exception is with -ll-, which nominalises identically to verbs in a single -l-.

Middle verbs go through the same process when they take the perfect-aspect ending -sei and its derivatives, and the tables above are repeated below with actual middle verbs as examples:

Voiceless plosives/fricatives Voiced plosives/fricatives
depai, dep-, depsei robai, rob-, ropsei
kai, dīk-, diksei vagai, vag-, vaksei
tai, dūt-, dūssei leidai, leid-, leissei
thai, hīth-, hīssei fodhai, fodh-, fossei
klasai, klas-, klassei auzai, auz-, aussei
Sonorants
hemai, hem-, hensei finai, fin-, finsei
idilēn, idil-, idilsei karai, kar-, kassei
Clusters, Geminates
thempai, themp-, thempsei flembai, flemb-, flempsei
reptai, rept-, repsei bandai, band-, banzei
kirkai, kirk-, kirksei, kirkesei orgai, org-, orksei, orgesei
hallai, hall-, halsei syplai, sypl-, syplesei
karrai, karr-, karresei brai, sūbr-, sūbresei
kossai, koss-, kossei fignai, fign-, fignesei


Aspects & tenses

Classical Arithide was an aspect-salient language; distinctions as "he eats" and "he ate" mattered far less to an Arithide-speaker then than did ones such as "he ate" and "he was eating". In this respect it bears much resemblance to the Chinese languages. The proclivity towards aspect-differentiation rather than tense persisted well into the koine era, and it was only with the rise of Modern Arithide did tenses begin to play a greater role.

The verb conjugation table is ordered with the aspects preceding tenses, for reasons of origin: the tenses ultimately derive from reduced versions of the aspects; the perfect aspect gave rise to the present tense, the perfective to the past tense, and the once-common irrealis/conditional mood decayed into the future tense, in a logical process of mapping, in the final decades of the Equora dynasty. Written records exhibit tenses only from the late 9th century CIE, and even then only in informal documents.

See also Development of Classical Arithide tenses for more information


With the stronger role of the tenses in the koine, finer temporal distinctions became possible, and the aspects evolved from finite verb forms to dually functioning affixes: they could stand alone without tense-marking, or they could act as aspectual stems and take tenses. This overlapping feature of the aspect was often utilised in literature, as well as politics, for reasons of style, emphasis, or deliberate ambiguity.

Participles

The participles of the various aspects and the conditional mood serve two main purposes. First, due to the SOV syntax of Classical Arithide, verbs were used prenominally as modifiers. Initially these modifier verbs used the same forms as final verbs, but gradually evolved distinct forms with lengthened vowels and, in the case of the imperfective, lost the accompanying consonant. Adjectives of the verbal class, however, did not undergo this change (see Classical Arithide adjectives). Second, analogously to the Latin ablative absolute construction, the participles could indicate the context of a main sentence, e.g.

  • Kodhē roisāī, sōpedāī tholthae vermairēn. Having weakened the enemy, the soldiers went in for the kill.

roimēn, stem roim-, perfect aspect roisa, perf. participle rois-, perf. ptcp. class-V pl. roisāī

These participle forms were largely developed already by the Aphoiros dynasty, and codified into the language of the respectable classes upon the rise of the Equora.

Participial verbal nouns

Participles can also derive verbal nouns, such as sthorasthos "the fact that you have held (him) back" or sthorasthon "the person who has held (him) back", from sthorasos "having held back", from sthorasa "has held back, to hold back", in turn from sthorān "to hold back". These are quoted in the tables below in the abstract -os form which corresponds to "the fact that...", but can also take declension V endings by replacing the ending -os with -on, changing their meaning to become "the person who...".

Deriving other parts of speech

Like many other SOV languages, most notably Japanese, early Classical Arithide could turn its verbs into modifiers simply by putting them directly before the noun they modify, e.g. ores solai "the river flows (lit. is flowing)" vs. solai ores "the flowing river" "the river that flows (lit. is flowing)". However, due to the language's extensive and growing inflection, and consequently considerably free word order, the practice declined rather early on in the Lazeian Empire's existence in favour of the participle forms, which had already begun to differentiate from the finite forms before the conquest of Galaria (see Classical Arithide verb differentiation); it only experienced a sort of recovery after the fall of the Equora dynasty, and the consequent accelerated decay of the intricate inflection system it had built up over the years.

In the conjugation tables below, the participles for each verb are listed with an additional letter each appended in parentheses to the end. In the "standard" Classical Arithide, the correct participle forms do not include the letters in brackets, nor as modifiers include them but simply conjugate in their base form according to the declension class of their referent. In earlier periods, however, up to the decades before the Three Hundred Golden Years, the correct forms for the perfective and imperfective participles ended in -a, subsequently dropped, and as modifiers of the nominal class declined as per the fifth declension.

At the same time, in the active and middle voices verbs can form various adjectives and nouns using their different aspectual participle forms (such as fragai "to rebel, to mutiny" > fraignāī sōpedāī (with impf. aspect) "rebelling/mutinying soldiers", fraksāī sōpedāī (with perf. aspect) "soldiers who have rebelled/mutinied—implied and by consequence are now no longer part of the force", fragnāī sōpedāī (with prfv. aspect) "soldiers who rebelled/mutinied—before/once, and that is over and done with in their histories"). This is also true for the passive voice, hence hezusser Ganymēder (perf.) "stolen Ganymede" is still missing while hezunner Ganymēder (prfv.) has been returned, and Zeus can stil be seen taking away hezyrer Ganymēder (impf.).

Voice, aspect, mood and tense

Verbs in each class are conjugated for four or five voices, three basic aspects, five derivative aspects and seven moods. Of the following list, those marked with an asterisk form separate verbs (i.e. take their own infinitives), which usually do not hold the full conjugation range. Additionally, the interrogative mood is (commonly, and obligatorily in writing but not speech) marked with the auxiliary particle da. Verbs are conjugated on a cascading hierarchy as above, i.e. to the root form of the verb would first be appended affixes indicating voice, followed by aspect, then mood and subsequently tense.

Voices

  • Active John hits the ball.
  • Middle John makes a hit.
  • Passive The ball is hit by John.
  • Causative Jack makes John hit the ball.
  • Potentive Jack can hit the ball.

Aspects

  • Imperfective, indicating the progression of an action
    • Habitual/Generic & Perfective Habitual I walk/used to walk to work every day. Mangoes (used to) grow on trees.
    • Protractive* I walk on and on; I go on walking.
    • Inceptive* I begin to walk.
    • Frequentative* I walk around.
  • Perfective, indicating the completion of an action
  • Perfect I have walked to the cinema (and am now there).

Moods

  • Indicative, stating facts, strong beliefs
  • Subjunctive*, used with wishes, hopes, doubts, conditions
  • Desiderative* I want to walk.
  • Jussive* I want you to walk.
  • Volitive, I am willing to walk
  • Imperative Walk!
  • Cohortative Let's walk.
  • Negative1
I do not walk.

1 There are technically two types of the negative mood in Classical Arithide, but traditionally have been conflated into one by the Dethrians, who were not generally able to effectively distinguish between the two (see next section for more information).

Future tense

Classical Arithide has an odd, anomalous tense in its morphological system, namely the future tense, with ending -ma/-mai. The use of this tense is very limited, being restricted to only the literal meaning of "ahead of time", and is used like a relative tense. I.e. even when speaking about the past, this future tense can still be used as long as the action in question took place after the point of time reference, e.g. Mena labimaitho derēisa. "I had hoped that she would call for me." As may be observed, here where Classical Arithide uses the simple future, English with its absolute tense system uses the future perfect.

Negation

In Classical Arithide, as with its modern descendant, there are two possible ways of constructing negation—broad and narrow—using the affix av-, -va respectively. Broad negation negates the semantic meaning of an entire word, phrase, or even sentence; the narrow variant negates only the specific conjugated meaning of the verb.

Compare the following two sentences and the nuanced difference in their meaning:

  • Vaktho raenētaiva. You cannot choose to go. (lit. "going choose-can-not")
  • Vaktho auraenētai. You can not choose to go. or You can choose not to go. (lit. "going not-choose-can")
  • Auvaktho raenētai. You can choose not to go. (lit. "not-going choose-can")

The former sentence is an example of narrow negation, because the negative suffix applies only to the conjugated verb, i.e. it refers to the narrow act of not choosing; the latter of broad, because the prefix inverts the lexical meaning of the verb, and subsequent conjugations modify the prefixed verb as a single unit of negative meaning—the new word is technically considered grammatically affirmative.

Certain constructions require the use of either of the negatives over the other due to grammatical constraints, e.g. in the case of the following two sentences:

  1. Sit iter auvagōn do, vagmai. If that person is not going, I will go.
  2. Sit iter vagōn do, vagmaiva. If that person is going, I will not go.
  3. Sit iter auvagespai. He does not want that person to go. (Lit. "he desires the person to not-go")
  4. Sit iter vagespaiva. He does not want that person to go. (Lit. "he desires not the person to go")

In the first sentence the broad negative has to be employed due to the overlap in the various functions of the subjunctive mood, which here is used as a "subjunctive of condition": if it were said Sit iter vagōnaiva..., it would imply a separate grammatical topic (e.g. dās "I", nās "he" etc.) and that the subjunctive is being used as a "subjunctive of desire", i.e. the clause would mean, instead, the equivalent of sentence (4).

Conjugation paradigms

Active-voice consonant-stem verbs

Active voice verb valēn "to site, to settle (tr.)":

VAL- valimnēn, valīzēn, valeusēn, valindēn, valoumēn
valossēn, valospēn, valōnēn
imp. valē(ra)
coh. valō

sup. valthos
loc. valthas
ins. valeta
agt. valthera, valon
pat. valthis, valthion
valēn valnos valnethos
vaila vailnos vailnthos
valsa valsos valsthos
valma
valmos
valonthos
< *valumthos < *valmthos
valētai, valārēn, hevalai, (valonai)

Verbs whose stems end in -n take a slightly different ending in the perfective aspect, which has arisen due to historical phonetic dissimulation: sennēn "to order, to command".

SENN- sennimnēn, sennīzēn, senneusēn, sennindēn, sennoumēn
sennossēn, sennospēn, sennōnēn
imp. sennē(ra)
coh. sennō

sup. sennethos
loc. sennethas
ins. senneta
agt. sennethera, sennon
pat. sennosis, sennosion
sennēn sennemos sennenthos
seinna seinnemos seinnenthos
sennesa sennesos sennesthos
sennema, seinnema sennemos, seinnemos sennenthos, seinnenthos
sennētai, sennārēn, hezennai, (sennerai)


Active-voice vowel-stem verbs

A-stem verbs

KALA- kalamnēn, kalazai, kalēusai, kalandai, kalōumai
kalassai, kalaspai, kalōnai
kalā(ra)
kalō

sup. kalatos
loc. kalatas
ins. kalateta
agt. kalater, kalaton
pat. kalasis, kalasion
kalas kalantos kalathos
kalān kalaumos kalōnthos
kalāi kalāios kalaithos
kalama kalamos kalanthos
kalētai, kalatārēn, hegalanai, (kalanai)

E-stem verbs

VERE- veremnēn, verezai, vereusai, verendai, verioumai
veressai, verespai, veriōnai
verē(ra)
vereō

sup. veretos
loc. veretas
ins. veriteta
agt. veriter, veriton
pat. veresis, veresion
veres verentos verethos
verēn vereumos veriōnthos
verēi verēios vereithos
verema veremos verenthos
veriētai, veretārēn, heverenai, (veremai)

I-, U-, Y-stem verbs

SEBI- sebimnēn, sebizai, sebiousai, sebindai, sebioumai
sebissai, sebispai, sebiōnai
sebī(ra)
sebiō

sup. sebitos
loc. sebitas
ins. sebiteta
agt. sebiter, sebiton
pat. sebisis, sebision
sebis sebitos sebithos
sebiēn sebeumos sebionthos
sebiēi sebiēios sebieithos
sebima sebimos sebinthos
sebiētai, sebitārēn, hezebinai (sebierai)

O-stem verbs

NIRO- niromnēn, nirozai, nirousai, nirondai, nirōumai
nirossai, nirospai, nirōnai
nirē(ra)
nirō

sup. nissos
loc. nissas
ins. nisseta
agt. nisser, nisson
pat. nissis, nission
nirās nirāsos nirāsthos
nirēn niroumos nirōnthos
niri nirīos nirīthos
nimma nimmos nironthos
nirētai, nirārēn, henironai, (nironai)

Middle-voice consonant-stem verbs

'The following table uses the example verb 'aurai "to meet":

AUR- aurimnai, aurīzai, aureusai, aurindai, auroumai
aurossai, aurospai, aurōnai
imp. aurē(ra)
coh. aurō

sup. aussos
loc. aussas
ins. aureta
agt. ausser, auron
pat. aussis, aussion
aussei aussēnios aussinthos
aurai auraikos auraithos
aurā aurānos aurānthos
aummai
<*aurmai
aummos
<*aurmos
auronthos
<*aurumthos <*aurmthos
aurētai, aurārēn, (aureirēn)

Middle-voice vowel-stem verbs

A-stem verbs

THŌRA- thōramnai, thōrazai, thōrōusai, thōrandai, thōrōumai
thōrassai, thōraspai, thōrōnai
thōrē(ra)
thōrō

sup. thōratos
loc. thōratas
ins. thōrateta
agt. thōrater, thōraton
pat. thōrasis, thōrasion
thōrasei thōrasēnios thōresinthos
thōranai thōraikos thōraithos
thōrā thōrānos thōrānthos
thōrama thōramos thōranthos
thōrētai, thōrārēn, (thōrairēn)

E-stem verbs

PARE- paremnai, parezai, pareusai, parendai, parioumai
paressai, parespai, pariōnai
parē(ra)
pariō

sup. paretos
loc. paretas
ins. pariteta
agt. pariter, pariton
pat. paresis, paresion
parisei parisēnios paresinthos
parenai pareikos pareithos
par pariānos pariānthos
parema paremos parenthos
pariētai, pariārēn, (pareirēn)

Note the raising of -e- to -i- if the following vowel is non-high.

I-, U-, Y-stem verbs

ANKI- ankimnai, ankizai, ankiousai, ankindai, ankioumai
ankissai, ankispai, ankiōnai
ankī(ra)
ankiō

sup. ankitos
loc. ankitas
ins. ankiteta
agt. ankiter, ankiton
pat. ankisis, ankision
ankisei ankisēnios ankesinthos
ankinai ankīkos ankīthos
ankiā ankiānos ankiānthos
ankima ankimos ankinthos
ankiētai, ankiārēn, (ankieirēn)

O-stem verbs

GIGO- gigimnai, gigizai, gigeusai, gigondai, gigoumai
gigossai, gigospai, gigōnai
gigē(ra)
gigō

sup. gigsos
loc. gigsas
ins. gigeta
agt. gigeter, gigon
pat. gigosis, gigosion
gigesei gigosēnios gigesinthos
gigonai gigeikos gigeithos
gigā gigānos gigānthos
gigoma gigomos gigonthos
gigētai, gigārēn, (geigēn*)
  • irregular

Mixed conjugation verbs


The mixed conjugation verbs are all consonant-stem verbs that conjugate as per vowel-stems. Due to the consequent coincidence of the consonants from the stem and the ending, phonetic assimilation or dissimilation may occur as demonstrated below. In certain cases where the syllable structure of the verb changes (e.g. from open to closed), vowel alterations may also take place with the high vowels i and u, lowering them to e and o respectively.

Certain mixed-conjugation verbs also act as if they were e-stem verbs, and can conjugate accordingly, leading to two different conjugal matrices for the same verb; all the example verbs given below belong to this category: ludēn "to gamble", dagēn "to contain", simēn "to host" and levēn "big".

LUDĒN lud-, ludo, ludē(ra), ludō(ra)
ludabēn, ludārēn, losstēn
sup. luttos
loc. luttas
ins. ludeta
agt. ludon (lutter)
pat. ludosis
ludes, luder-
s, lōr-
ludent ludes
s
ludet, luded-
lutt, lodd-
ludēth
th
ludeth
lutth
ludian, ludiam- ludian
(ludiōn, ludium-) (ludiōn) ludiōn
ludimnēn, ludizēn, ludivasēn, ludindēn
ludossēn, ludospēn, ludōnēn


DAGĒN dag-, dago, dagē(ra), dagō(ra)
dagabēn, dagārēn, dakstēn
sup. daktos
loc. daktas
ins. dageta
agt. dagon (dakter)
pat. dagosis
dages, dager-
daks, dagr-
dagent dages
daks
daget, daged-
dakt, dagd-/dangd-
dagēth
dākth
dageth
dakth
dagian, dagiam- dagian
(dagiōn, dagium-) (dagiōn) dagiōn
dagimnēn, dagizēn, dagivasēn, dagindēn
dagossēn, dagospēn, dagōnēn


SIMĒN sim-, simo, simē(ra), simō(ra)
simabēn, simārēn, simostēn
sup. semptos
loc. semptas
ins. simeta
agt. simon (sempter)
pat. simosis
simes, simer-
semps, sempr-
siment simes
semps
simet, simed-
sempt, sembd-
simēth
sēmpth
simeth
sempth
simian, simiam- simian
(simiōn, simium-) (simiōn) simiōn
simimnēn, simizēn, simivasēn, simindēn
simossēn, simospēn, simōnēn


LEVĒN lev-, levo, levē(ra), levō(ra)
levabēn, levārēn, lepstēn
sup. leptos
loc. leptas
ins. leveta
agt. levon (lepter)
pat. levosis
leves, lever-
leps, lepr-
levent leves
leps
levet, leved-
lept, lebd-
levēth
lēpth
leveth
lepth
levian, leviam- levian
(leviōn, levium-) (leviōn) leviōn
levimnēn, levizēn, levvasēn, levindēn
levossēn, levospēn, levōnēn

See also