Poswa/scratchpad

U verbs: a blind path in Poswa

Poswa could use verb affixes such as -mpiebabo "I use my arm", and give them widely divergent semantic definitions. For example the /mp/ comes from a word meaning thorn, which followed the semantic path

thorn ---> pointed object ---> elbow ---> arm

And then stayed with the meaning "arm" because that was the most useful.

All U verbs use bisyllabic forms for the intransitives, and therefore trisyllabic forms for the transitives. These morphemes are -ibo -ube -oba for the ordinary verbs' -o -e -a. Thus it is not a simple infix; it is conjugated, and with a vowel pattern used nowhere else. Historically they are derived from instrumentals, but the instrumentals' bare forms evolved different vowels and therefore the knowledge of the etymology is preserved for scholars and not for every individual speaker.

NOTE: I came up with this idea after 4 months of not working on Poswa, however, so I may be overlooking a reason why I didnt try this before. It may even be better to simply say that this category does not exist. EVEN SO, the fact that these verbs use a unique set of suffixes means that they can exist alongside the ordinary verbs without coalescence, and therefore forever remain theoretical.

THESE VERBS LACK PASSIVE FORMS. THEY ALSO CANNOT BE TURNED INTO NOUNS.

These are called U-stem verbs or U verbs because in Play the stems typically ended with /u/ or /ū/. They are bipersonal verbs, but both person markers must be the same. Thus, forms like *-ubo -obe -iba do not occur even though diachronically they would be just as legitimate as the forms that do occur.

Many U verbs imply privilege on the part of the agent, particularly that the agent is performing an action that other parties would not be able to do.

If they exist, they would be theoretically an open class, since the derivation of each U affix from a given content word is formulaic and cannot produce an ungrammatical form. However, many forms would collide, and it is likely that only a small number of such forms would be used outside of poetry and perhaps some specialized fields. (For example, the same morpheme that for humans could mean "by arm" could for some animals mean "by claw" since the original morpheme is in fact a word for thorn.)

U VERBS PROBABLY DO NOT STACK. INSTEAD, ELLIPSIS IS USED AND ONLY THE OUTERMOST MORPHEME IS EXPRESSED.

Most U morphemes would be short ones, such as -š- "by key", which could take either a literal use (e.g. opening a door) or a metaphorical one (performing an action that others cannot do). A possible polysemic affix would be -p-, which could mean "by finger/hand", "by water", "by womb", "by eye", and up to 32 other lesser used meanings (that is, anything whose C-stem is a bare /p/). Even more /p/ would occur when other stems such as /š/ occur after a stem ending in a labial consonant.

Some further potential examples, with generous translations:

INTRANSITIVES

Tampišibi.

I drank wine (because I can).

Lappotavibi.

I fell down. (By accident; this derives from tane "rump, tail" and thus means literally "i fell down with my bottom")

Tipopožibi.

I traveled by animal. (/re/ "animal for riding" ---> /rož/ > /ož/) If this verb came into common use it could theoretically contract to /tipʷp-/ through regular syncope, but note that there are no other examples^{that i can remember} of this contraction in the language.

If the affix "by animal" gets grammaticalized, it could shift its meaning widely as have the others, and come to mean "with help". Though again, note that there is already a convenient way of expressing this in Poswa without using a U-verb: the D-stem affix _____ (not at home now so cant list it)

These are all etymologically repetitious, and could be replaced by "normal" forms with the shorter verb suffix, since the U form occupies one extra syllable while adding no new meaning. Thus the entire category of U verbs survives through idiomatic use only.

Other potential U verbs

Most of these use zero-syllable U morphemes, and therefore appear as though they were ordinary atomic word roots. Even with a one-syllable U morpheme, though, this could be achieved if the preceding root were also one syllable or was of a type that offers syncope when compounded.

/p/

1. Ø-p-U to give birth (A zero stem verb. Only if prioritizing the meaning "womb" over other body parts such as the eyes, hands, etc is valid; note that there already exists an ordinary verb /v-/ "to see", so the primary competitor at least for human agents is the "hand" meaning.)

   The two meanings could nonetheless coexist side by side since there would be very little opportunity for confusion in a running conversation: people rarely give birth to objects that they also hold in their hands, unless they are doing both together. The womb/hand dual use would survive for thousands of years not only because of the small overlap, but because they were phonetically different until a few hundred years before the classical Poswa stage.

2. pa-p-U or pap-p-U to menstruate (same as "give birth" but with "blood" as the stem; note that many words for menstruation already exist such as /paepi-/)

   As /papp-/ means "to predict rain", this could be a rare example of a double entendre.

3. pwum-p-U to teach (contraction of /pušum-ba-š-U/)

   On the surface, this looks like it could be reanalyzed as either "using the baby in one's womb" or "using one's military alliance", both of which have C-stems of /pwump-/.

4. la-p-U to teach (contraction of /labi-š-U/)

   Some Moonshine speakers would analyze the /p/ here as certainly meaning "womb" and then say that these are feminine verbs that prove that only women should be allowed to teach.

5. sae-p-U to masturbate (/sala-p-U/; here, /p/ really does mean hand instead of womb)
6. pipu-p-U or pipʷ-p-U to masturbate (same as above but uses /pipi/ "sun; to be happy"; note the shift of /i/ > /u/ before a wet syllable)
7. pim-p-U to use what one is holding up. This is likely to be one of the most concrete U-stems, though it is homophonous with "to use one's bubble" and "to use one's cloud", which could suggest metaphorical meanings and might spread to non-U-stems. Note that the words for bubble and cloud are not homophonous as nouns, only merging when used in their C- and D- stem forms.
8. wu-p-U to stand very close to a person in order to block their path and intimidate them. From /wep/ "hips".

/b/

1. Ø-b-U unlikely to see much use; massively polysemous, second only to /p/. Possible meanings include (to use (one's)): handheld object; social play, cooperative work; bottled object; beach life; crime; different, stand-out, out of place; cooperative plural; palm of the hand; artificial light, star; protector, giant; lake; coastal plain. However, the fact that /b/ is the cooperative plural's C-stem may kill off the opportunity to use /b/ with U-stems just by itself.
2. tam-b-U drunk on wine. A literal use. Homophony with plural of /tam/ "grape" not a problem, but note the ordinary verb tamb- "to whip", which might restrict this to intransitive use or to final position in a serial verb construction or a compound.

/š/

1. Ø-š-U to use a key. Likely not used often in bare form. Based on /š/ meaning "voice", this could be used in place of /pyp/ to mean "cellphone", essentially calling cellphones keys.

Note that some verbs listed above under /p/ are in fact derived from /š/ but the meanings have shifted to the point that they were reanalyzed.

1. šae-š-U to stand very close to a person in order to block their path and intimidate them
2. wir-š-U to inspect, investigate someone; to come uninvited. From wiwi- "to visit, be a guest".

/ž/

1. Ø-ž-U mouse; flower; birth; touch, whole body; marriage, wedding; arm, hand; bubble, foam, buoy; hill; filth, pollution, dirt.

   The sense of "touch" probably overwhelms all others; it would add to any verb the meaning of "by direct skin contact". Could be used with verbs that already indicate the act of touching something to clarify a literal meaning or as an intensifier. But note that this will have a reflex of /b/ after stems ending in labials, sometimes shifting to /Ø/. This would create homophones with the original word, and thus make the alternation meaningless. For example, bebb- "pinch, grope" would simply shift to itself, unless the thematic vowel were kept intact for emphasis; this is not normally done, so it would need to have another padding morpheme such as /pa/, which would then shift this to /b/, producing stems like /bebbab-/ which would still be homophonous with other words because that /b/ also exists.

/dž/

1. Ø-dž-U to use money. Likely literal uses predominate when used with the zero stem. In fact, it could simply mean "to buy".

Outside of the zero stem, this morpheme may trigger too many mutations to be viable; it would almost always appear as /i/, and more often than not would delete the final vowel of the root it follows. However, note that it *does* appear as a true /dž/ after a stem that is plain CV. Thus hypothetical šudž- "to buy and eat ice cream".

If it is used at all, it is likely in fossilized words where its presence is no longer detectable. For example, piššež- "buy" could be padded with this and turn into pišši-U, actually losing a letter with the addition of the new affix.

Compare, for example,

Poppapi piššelebi.

Poppapi piššiebebi.

I bought a book.

Both sentences are equally valid and would likely have identical meanings, even metaphorically, since the /dž/ completely disappears and the only clue that it was once there is that this verb is a U-stem. The second verb could also have just one /š/, if it were constructed from the otherwise obsolete root /piša/ at a time when the modern construction would have been unwieldy.

Nevertheless, potential uses of /dž/ could be such as

1. sab-i-U, to solicit sex from a prostitute. A literal use, since the etymology is nothing more than "have sex by using money".
2. sal-i-U, same as above, but with /sala/ "enjoy", the same root used up above for masturbation.
3. pal-i-U, same as above but with /paly/ "vagina". With other words for vagina, one could also form pap-i-U, wab-i-U, and wov-i-U. These four words would be essentially equivalent, but /papi-/ would imply a female speaker.

Other verbs could use the /dž/ in a manner similar to /š/, implying that the agent was only able to do something because they had wealth to spend. Thus the piššiebebi sentence above might imply, without saying so, that the book was expensive and that the speaker was flaunting their wealth by deliberately purchasing something the listener would not have been able to afford, whereas the sentence with piššelebi would not. (But note that /džibebi/, with no root, could stand in for one of these.)

1. fob-i-U, to eat a paid-for meal. Compare the bare stem fob- "to eat".

Use of the /dž/ to create words such as "buy a boat", "buy a candle", etc by simply compounding it with the nouns is discouraged. Instead, /dž/ implies completed action, so a word like puffiebi would imply something like "I (bought and) took a trip on a boat" and babbiebi would mean "I (bought and) lit up a candle". Thus, even though the verbs are technically A-stems, they behave as if they were D-stems. Likewise, the verb sense of the word poppa "book" actually means to write a book, so poppiebi means "I wrote a book" and implies that it cost money to do so, whether for research or for raw materials.

/t/

1. Ø-t-U To fly; said of insects. Likely not used in bare form for human agents, but is homophonous with "to turn around, face away", "nettle", "salmon, trout", "gag, order of silence", "girl", and "what is invented, created, composed". /t/ is also a verb affix indicating cessative aspect (witi "Shut up!") but this would not cause any confusion.

Note the syntax. The /t/ morpheme stands on its own, and thus, for example, from pupub- "draw" one can form pupubatibi "I drew, using what I created". This does not mean "I drew what I created" which would be expressed in an entirely different manner and with the morphemes in the opposite order. Neither does it mean "I used the drawing I created", which would require two words and begin with pupubibi "I used my drawing" (possession inherited by default).

Thus, the /t/ morpheme is unlikely to be used much, and when it is, the most prominent meaning would probably be "gag, order of silence", which is unrelated to the /t/ in /witi/ "shut up" but would be associated with it by the speakers even so.

/bi/

1. Ø-bi-U by means of a computer or electronic device, originally from a word meaning "intelligent slave". See Modern terminology in Poswa and Pabappa; obviously not part of the classical language.
2. tab-bi-U to send a message on the Internet.

/f/

1. Ø-f-U by use of a slave. From regular contraction of /taba/ "boy; soldier; obedient slave" into /f/. Similar to Icecap Moonshine constructions, grammatically correct but not common in traditional Poswa.

This is yet another affix that could be requisitioned to signify the use of a cellphone, through /f/ "buttocks". However, this is unlikely because that morpheme did not survive with that meaning in bare form and would have to be recreated by scholars. Note that this was not /f/ in Play, and cannot make use of the /sf pf/ > /f p/ contractions that appear in words coined in early stages of the language; instead, they would both appear in Poswa as /ff/.

/mp/

1. Ø-mp-U by use of a slave. From regular contraction of /mifa/ "slave; young boy" into /mp/. Similar to Icecap Moonshine constructions, grammatically correct but not common in traditional Poswa. This morpheme *does not* trigger wet syllable mutations or any other mutations because it was not a primordial cluster. Thus one can say wapimpibebi "I captured him", where the implication is that the person speaking was in control but sent somebody else to do the job.
2. Ø-mp-U by use of one's hips. May be used metonymically in modernized speech for a cellphone if /š/ and /ntš/ are not convenient. Note that the /wep/ root for hips would become /-fi-/ in this position, with possible shifts of the consonant to /p/ or /Ø/ in certain environments. Play /sf/ reflexes to /ff/ in newer compounds and to /f/ in older ones.
3. bo-mp-U to tag someone on a post online (particularly on a cellphone)
4. bu-mp-U to successfully find something online (particularly on a cellphone)

/mpi/

1. Ø-mpi-U by using one's arm, or a sharp object such as a thorn. Original morpheme was /naba/ "thorn" which is no longer used in bare form. This could coexist with the "slave" definition so long as the slave sense were used with indirect and abstract actions and the arm sense were used with direct physical movements such as lifting and pushing objects.

/ntš/

1. Ø-ntš-U by use of one's pocket; could be used in modernized speech for a cellphone if /š/ is not sufficient. Note that the form /Ø-ntš-U/ cannot actually exist because it begins with a nasal+plosive cluster, but it is usable as a suffix. Note also /naša/ "hole handle" which could be used metaphorically for touch sensors on a screen.

/pi/

1. Ø-pi-U, with a variant /-p-/. From /pu/ "button, wheel". Possibly used in modernized speech to indicate transportation by vehicle, but note preexisting /-(r)ož-) for travel by animal, which rhymes with a hypothetical alternative /-pož-/, which was already in use in classical Poswa as a proper verb denoting vehicles, and is cognate to the animal riding verb.

U verbs typically used with no root

When these verbs are semantically transitive, they will also be grammatically transitive. This means they will have the object as a separate word, with the accusative case marker on.

1. šuf-U to conceive a baby
2. tab-U to send a message
3. tap-U to send a series of messages
4. šif-U to fasten something to one's hair

Nominalization

There is no true nominalization of these verbs because they always end in a verb person/tense marker. The only possibility to make a noun would be to use a formula like the "depossessive" affix -(n)na, though this is only for inanimates, and implies a change in person, as in šabiona "what I pray(ed)" from šabie "I prayed (to)".

If nominalization is possible at all, it will be uncommonly clumsy for the language, and this may be exploited to help keep the verbal forms' meanings fluid. One possible method would be to use the third person form and say, for example, poppiuta "one who spends money to write books". But this embeds a person marker (/u/, a gradation of the 3rd person marker /a/) into a noun, which is otherwise unknown in the language except when the depossessive affix "covers for it".

POSSIBLE SOLUTION!

Since this is an old word form, it could have been in use already at a time when the impersonal forms still existed. Thus the old archaic suffix /-a/ (distinct from the 3rd person /-ʲa/ that triggers mutation) would have existed, and /-ata/ could be used to form agent nouns from what later became the U-stem verbs. This could later be analogized to /-ʲata/, as though the linking morpheme was primordially /aa/, which is used as a pseudo-suffix to turn D-stems into A-stems.

This might still take the instrumental inflection, turning it into /u/ or /ʲu/, and thus a word like pwumputa "teacher" could be created, without the need to determine where the boundary between the root and the "U" morpheme is. The new, backwardly-derived A-stem would always end in /-u/, plus /-ta/ for the agent marker. Thus fobiuta "one who eats out a lot", distinct from fobata "eater", which would see little use.

CAUTION: it is also possible, though, that even the original Play forms already had /aa/, not /a/, because these are not ordinary verbs. thus it would have been merged with 3rd person very early on.

soiund changes

Play currently is listed as having /k/ as the reflex of intervocalic /ḳd/ inherited from Gold, though the correspondence is just one single word. The trigger seems to have been rule 12:

A voiced consonant in a cluster after a voiceless consonant (nearly always /p/ or /s/) disappeared. (This shift is responsible for important consequences in verb morphology in Poswa more than 5000 years later.) It was briefly /ʕ/.

If so, it would be optional to have it reflex as /p/ instead of /k/, because the shift of /k/ > /kʷ/ > /p/ occurred in newly coined compounds but not in old ones.

Play could thus have a word fūpip or fūkip meaning "one hip", and this could be used metonymically as yet another word for cellphone alongside the words meaning pocket, hips (dual), and voice. The alternate root /mis/ "hip" would go through mis diḳ > midhiḳʷ > miðip > miip and then into Poswa as /blep/.

Also these might BOTH be wrong, because the /ḳ/ would have shifted to /g/ after a long vowel, though I've said previously that this change was often reversed by analogy except in intervocalic position. Nevertheless, if it did happen in this case, the shift would be /ḳd/ > /gd/ > /ʕd/ > /d/ > /ð/ > /Ø/ and the Play word for "one hip" would just be fūip, whose reflex in both Poswa and Pabappa would be wup (but Poswa C-stem witš-, a homonym of the dual form).

other new words

1. šuž- "to lick ice cream" (general) ~ šudž-U- (paid for)
2. parf- "stomach; to lick, eat slowly" (general; said of candy) ~ parbi-U- (paid for; to dine, eat out)
3. paf- (general) ~ pabi-U- (paid for) <--- a variant of the above, used only in unstressed position in compounds