Poswa verbs: Difference between revisions
Line 480: | Line 480: | ||
The purpose of subject incorporation is to make new verbs that can be used with other subjects. While ''taempos'' does mean "children playing with each other", it can be used for adults in a metaphorical sense to indicate that they are behaving like children (in this case, it is nearly always a compliment, not an insult). These compound verbs are no different than simple noun+verb compounds except for the fact that sound changes which do not normally apply across word boundaries are allowed to take place, and some coinages which were made far back in history retain sound changes that have accumulated over time. This is why the part of the word that means "play with each other" is simply ''-mpos'', which would not be pronouncible in isolation. | The purpose of subject incorporation is to make new verbs that can be used with other subjects. While ''taempos'' does mean "children playing with each other", it can be used for adults in a metaphorical sense to indicate that they are behaving like children (in this case, it is nearly always a compliment, not an insult). These compound verbs are no different than simple noun+verb compounds except for the fact that sound changes which do not normally apply across word boundaries are allowed to take place, and some coinages which were made far back in history retain sound changes that have accumulated over time. This is why the part of the word that means "play with each other" is simply ''-mpos'', which would not be pronouncible in isolation. | ||
====Incorporation of inanimate nouns==== | |||
'''Pipsis''' is another subject-incorporating verb, but ''pipi'' "tree" is inanimate, so the meaning is passive with respect to the tree, and the sentence needs an animate subject to make sense. The word ''pipi'' for tree is rarely used in modern Poswa, as it is homophonous with several other words, but it still is used in the narrower sense of a fruit tree (a meaning shared with the longer ''pispum''). Thus, although ''pipsis'' is widely understood, the first part of the compound is sometimes replaced with a different morpheme, resulting in words such as ''pispumpis'', ''fampis'', ''ipisis'', ''povvasis'', ''publofsis'', ''pobbasis'', ''popesis'', and so on. Note that the verb for "sleep" is normally ''sys'', but the sound-mutated version from ''pipsis'' has carried over to the other words and is effectively now a second verb for sleeping. | '''Pipsis''' is another subject-incorporating verb, but ''pipi'' "tree" is inanimate, so the meaning is passive with respect to the tree, and the sentence needs an animate subject to make sense. The word ''pipi'' for tree is rarely used in modern Poswa, as it is homophonous with several other words, but it still is used in the narrower sense of a fruit tree (a meaning shared with the longer ''pispum''). Thus, although ''pipsis'' is widely understood, the first part of the compound is sometimes replaced with a different morpheme, resulting in words such as ''pispumpis'', ''fampis'', ''ipisis'', ''povvasis'', ''publofsis'', ''pobbasis'', ''popesis'', and so on. Note that the verb for "sleep" is normally ''sys'', but the sound-mutated version from ''pipsis'' has carried over to the other words and is effectively now a second verb for sleeping. | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== |
Revision as of 20:36, 8 March 2016
Poswa verbs have 8 conjugation classes corresponding to the final letter of the stem of the verb. The commonest final vowel is /a/, so -a is considered the first conjugation class. Each verb also conjugates for three persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and three tenses: past, present, and imperative. The "plain" future tense is derived from the imperative. Verbal moods are handled by inflecting the conjugated verb (which always ends in a vowel) with consonants that resemble noun inflections. It could thus be said that verbs in Poswa are merely a subset of nouns. Lastly, each verb can be inflected for transitivity, so from each verb stem can be formed 54 forms. [1]
Interaction with animacy
All Poswa nouns are either animate or inanimate. Poswa verbs can be conjugated as either transitive or intransitive. Inanimate nouns can only take the intransitive verbs; if an inanimate subject gets a transitive verb, it implies an understood subject, corresponding to the person marking on the verb.
For example, the sentence
- Blaba žuftatiep rufaba
means not "Paper covers the floor" but "His paper covers the floor", which to many Poswobs would actually imply something like "He covers the floor with his paper". Pronouns are rarely used in Poswa except for explicit emphasis, as the person markings on the verb, and to a lesser extent the nouns, take care of the functions that in Pabappa and other languages are given to pronouns.
Adjectives and the habitual tense
Not shown in the conjugation tables below is the habitual tense, which is historically the "original" tense of all verbs. In very early Bābākiam, infixes came to be placed within the habitual tense forms of the verb to derive the other tenses. These were redundant, since tense was already marked by a suffix, but the redundancy became frozen into the grammar and later sound changes made it less redundant.
The habitual tense is the same in appearance as the present tense except that the vowels -o -ae -a are replaced by -y -e -a. Thus, to be used in the third person, an additional affix is needed.
Adjectives
Poswa does not have a distinct part of speech corresponding to adjectives. Concepts expressed with adjectives in many other languages are expressed in Poswa partly by verbs and partly by nouns. The verbs are often in the habitual tense, since there is no copula verb. For example:
- Pabo¹ pabbubuffy.²
means "I¹ am tall²". Pabbubup is the stem of the word meaning "tall", and if used with no affix, is a noun denoting any tall object. (It means literally "causing shadows".) With the 1st person habitual suffix on, it is a verb meaning "I am tall (as a stable property)". The use of the pronoun pabo is for emphasis only, as even a habitual verb can be used as a sentence by itself.
Conjugation tables
-a
The verb luba "to change color, repaint" is used here as an example of an -a verb.
luba | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | lubi | lubo | lubub |
2nd person | lube | lubae | lubi | |
3rd person | lubel | luba | lubob | |
Transitive | 1st person | lubebi | lubabo | lubbub |
2nd person | lubebe | lubabae | lubbi | |
3rd person | lubebel | lubaba | lubbob |
Thus one can say Blebblobop lippipa lubebi, "I painted the wall green", but Lusafampi lubi žužum "I turned pink from embarrassment" after discovering you've painted over the windows as well.
-e/-i
As Poswa inherited the "a e i o u" vowel order from Pabappa, and places its vowels before its consonants, the second conjugation is the one representing verb stems ending in -e or -i. The verb wape "to help, provide for" is used here as an example of an -e verb. The endings would be the same if the verb ended in -i instead. Unlike the -a conjugation, the -e/-i conjugation always adds a syllable to the intransitive form and two syllables to the transitive form. This is because the final vowel of the verb stem does not collapse the way it does in the -a words.
wape | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | wapebi | wapebo | wapebub |
2nd person | wapebe | wapebae | wapebi | |
3rd person | wapebel | wapeba | wapebob | |
Transitive | 1st person | wapebebi | wapebabo | wapebbub |
2nd person | wapebebe | wapebabae | wapebbi | |
3rd person | wapebebel | wapebaba | wapebbob |
-o/-u/-y
A more complicated setup is the third conjugation, that which reflects words ending in the rounded vowels /o/, /u/, and /y/ (a rounded schwa-like sound).
The verb subu "to conquer, take over" is used here as an example of an -u verb. The endings would be the same if the verb ended in -o or -y instead, but note that most verb stems ending in -o do not belong to this conjugation.
subu | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | subwi | subwo | subwub |
2nd person | subwe | subwae | subwi | |
3rd person | subwel | subwa | subwob | |
Transitive | 1st person | subwebi | subwabo | subwubub |
2nd person | subwebe | subwabae | subwubi | |
3rd person | subwebel | subwaba | subwubob |
The first person imperative is used in the sense of "let me X!", so the one-word sentence Subwubub! would mean "Let me take you over!" (If no object is given, it is understood to be a 2nd person object.) Whereas the third person imperative is also used with a similar sense: Pupipup subwubob! translates as "Let him take over the world!"
-p
The first consonant-stem conjugation is the -p conjugation, because /p/ is the first consonant in the Poswa alphabet. Since all reflexive verbs end in /p/, this conjugation is more common than the other consonant conujgations. However, many verb stems that end in /p/ are normal verbs, not reflexives. The verb blop "to see, focus" is used below as an example of a non-reflexive /p/ verb. Note that, unlike the vowel conjugations above, the transitive form is not merely derived by inserting the infix "-ab-" into the intransitive form.
blop | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | blofi | blofo | blofub |
2nd person | blofe | blofae | blofi | |
3rd person | blofel | blofa | blofob | |
Transitive | 1st person | blobbi | blobbo | blobbub |
2nd person | blobbe | blobbae | blobbi | |
3rd person | blobbel | blobba | blobbob |
-m
The -m conjugation is very simple. The verb pessam "to cuddle, hug, squeeze someone" is used here as an example of an -m verb.
pessam | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | pessambi | pessambo | pessambub |
2nd person | pessambe | pessambae | pessambi | |
3rd person | pessambel | pessamba | pessambob | |
Transitive | 1st person | pessambebi | pessambabo | pessambybub |
2nd person | pessambebe | pessambabae | pessambybi | |
3rd person | pessambebel | pessambaba | pessambybob |
-s
The -s conjugation has a few slipups. The verb pipsis "to sleep in a tree, camp out" is used here as an example of an -s verb.
pipsis | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | pipsiši | pipsišo | pipsišub |
2nd person | pipsiše | pipsišae | pipsiši | |
3rd person | pipsišel | pipsiša | pipsišob | |
Transitive | 1st person | pipsispi | pipsispo | pipsispub |
2nd person | pipsispe | pipsispae | pipsispi | |
3rd person | pipsispel | pipsispa | pipsispob |
Note that the transitive sense of verbs like pipsis is not "to sleep in a tree" (with the tree as the object of the verb) but "to sleep (someone) in a tree; to put someone to sleep in a tree" and thus one would not normally find a word for tree in the accusative in this sentence. If the tree is mentioned, it would be in the locative case. Thus, with both pronouns understood, Pipsispi fadžam can mean "I put you to sleep in a palm tree". (It can also mean "(You) put me to sleep in a palm tree!" (imperative), but this would be distinguished by tone of voice and context.
Some verbs ending in -s have a reflexive meaning, even though the reflexive ending in Poswa is -p. This refers to an old sense related to the genitive, in which verbs for things like "to comb one's hair" (pampapes) were used with the genitive instead of the accusative. These verbs are generally used only intransitively, because the transitive meaning of, for example, pampapes is not "to comb someone else's hair" but "to make someone comb their hair".
Distance verbs
/-s/ can also indicate "distance verbs". e.g. tura = "bomb"; turas = "there are bombs here". wap = "to be happy"; wakas = "for you to be happy". Hence Wakašo "I make you happy" etc
-l
The -l conjugation appears to have arisen as a combination of two divergent ones. The verb pumpel "to drill, cut deeply" is used here as an example of an -l verb.
pumpel | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | pumpeži | pumpežo | pumpežub |
2nd person | pumpeže | pumpežae | pumpeži | |
3rd person | pumpežel | pumpeža | pumpežob | |
Transitive | 1st person | pumpellwi | pumpellwo | pumpellwub |
2nd person | pumpellwe | pumpellwae | pumpellwi | |
3rd person | pumpellwel | pumpellwa | pumpellwob |
-o
The -o conjugation is considered a consonantal one, because it reflects a lost final /r/ that changed to /b/ in some words but coalesced with the preceding vowel in others. This is why most verb stems with final -o are not in the -o/-u/-y conjugation above, but rather in this one. The verb poto "to chase down, run and catch, as in war" is used here as an example of an -o verb.
poto | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | potabi | potabo | potabub |
2nd person | potabe | potabae | potabi | |
3rd person | potabel | potaba | potabob | |
Transitive | 1st person | potolwi | potolwo | potolwub |
2nd person | potolwe | potolwae | potolwi | |
3rd person | potolwel | potolwa | potolwob |
Since the 2nd person imperative and the 1st person past are the same, Potolwi can either mean "I caught you!" or "Catch me!" (The 2nd person transitive imperative defaults to using the speaker as the object, just as the 1st person transitives default to using the listener as the object.) Context and tone of voice pull apart the two meanings here, although an added pronoun can be used to clarify the distinction.
Subjunctive mood
The subjunctive mood is formed, in every case, by adding -p to the inflected form of the verb. For those forms that end in consonants, the same regular sound changes that apply to nouns also apply here. Effectively the verbs are considered as nouns and the subjunctive mood marker is the same as the accusative case marker -p.
Since the vowels are the same on all of the tables above, it is only necessary to produce one table showing the subjunctive mood, as the endings here can be applied equally to all of the verbs in the tables above. The verb pwembwi "to shoot, to throw an object forcefully at a target" is used because there was no example of a verb ending in -i in the -e/-i table above.
|
|
Note that many forms merge in the subjunctive mood, and the use of pronouns or other words is sometimes necessary to keep the distinction. Whereas the merger between the 2nd person imperative and the 1st person past generally causes no trouble in indicative verbs, the three way merger between the various -bup forms can cause confusion in the subjunctive.
Infinitive
There is no true infinitive, but what functions as one can be formed by changing "bo" to "va" in those words that end in bo.
Subject incorporation
Poswa verbs can incorporate indefinite subjects. For example, taempos means "children playing with each other". This is a compound of tae "children" + mušos "playing with each other". It is conjugated the same as any other verb, so the one-word sentence "Taempoša" means "Some children are playing with each other."
Toddlers on the treadmill
The incorporated subject is tae, which means "young children", but is not the most common word for children as it has been mostly replaced by pwopwa. Verbs with incorporated subjects often preserve fossilized meanings of nouns. For example, tae meant toddler originally, and is the same word as Khulls lē which generally refers to children who can walk ("toddle") but still need diapers (lé). As above, tae is rarely used as a subject in modern Poswa, but survives in various other uses, such as a child equivalent to the agent suffix -ta, which has come to be restricted to adults. For example, pwampta means a cashier or shopkeeper, but a pwamptae can mean a young child helping out in her mother's carpet store or a preschooler running a lemonade stand. Like many words, it can be used metaphorically, and has even come to be used for adults as a form of familiar address. Meanwhile, an old word for baby, bul, has moved up and pushed out tae in many of its original uses for children. For example, the commonest word for "to guess" is besse, originally meaning "baby's answer, baby's solution" because a baby can only guess at anything it wants to know. But it came to be seen as "child's answer" before its meaning became fixed. Then a word originally meaning fetus or embryo, bamba, came to be the commonest word for a human baby, and the new coinages pammo and wabvi took over for fetus.
Nevertheless, one would not simply say *Tae taempoša to indicate that a specific group of children are playing with each other. It would be grammatically correct, but tae is rarely used as a subject. Any word could do, but the most common word for children in modern Poswa is pwopwa, from a word originally meaning an apprentice. This word, like other words, is unmarked for number, but takes the plural suffixes -bum and -by to indicate that that being plural is significant to the meaning of the sentence. Thus, the sentence Pwopwabum taempoša has the same meaning as just Taempoša alone, but has a definite subject (i.e. "the children" rather than "some children") and is more emphatic. It could be used to mean "the children are playing with each other like children often do." (If the noun were singular, but the verb retained the -s ending, the meaning would be taken as "the child is playing with himself".)
The purpose of subject incorporation is to make new verbs that can be used with other subjects. While taempos does mean "children playing with each other", it can be used for adults in a metaphorical sense to indicate that they are behaving like children (in this case, it is nearly always a compliment, not an insult). These compound verbs are no different than simple noun+verb compounds except for the fact that sound changes which do not normally apply across word boundaries are allowed to take place, and some coinages which were made far back in history retain sound changes that have accumulated over time. This is why the part of the word that means "play with each other" is simply -mpos, which would not be pronouncible in isolation.
Incorporation of inanimate nouns
Pipsis is another subject-incorporating verb, but pipi "tree" is inanimate, so the meaning is passive with respect to the tree, and the sentence needs an animate subject to make sense. The word pipi for tree is rarely used in modern Poswa, as it is homophonous with several other words, but it still is used in the narrower sense of a fruit tree (a meaning shared with the longer pispum). Thus, although pipsis is widely understood, the first part of the compound is sometimes replaced with a different morpheme, resulting in words such as pispumpis, fampis, ipisis, povvasis, publofsis, pobbasis, popesis, and so on. Note that the verb for "sleep" is normally sys, but the sound-mutated version from pipsis has carried over to the other words and is effectively now a second verb for sleeping.
Notes
- ↑ This seems low? I think there is a second conjugation which substitutes an -al- for all of the -ab- infixes, changing the meaning to passive (and can only be used with transitive verbs). Also, I just remembered that the -ab- changes to -eb- to mark yet another shade of meaning, and that there is probably an -el- too, so the transitive tables should actually be quadrupled.