Kipin/Morphology/Verbs

Kipin Verbs

Kipin verbs are polypersonal, marking the person, number and (for third person) gender of up to three arguments - the subject, primary object and secondary object. While noun marking is split subject by gender, verbal marking is accusative and decticetiative. The verb may also be marked for tense, negation or interrogativity, and voice (including several applicatives).

Paradigm

{Future tense}+Subject+Root+{Negative/Interrogative}+{Past tense}+{Applicative}+{Primary object/voice}+{Secondary object/Voice}

Future Tense

Kipin has two future tenses, inferred which expresses a prediction about future events, and intentional, which expresses the intent of either the speaker or the subject to do something in the future. In the second person, the intentional future also expresses the imperative.

ce

/t͡ʃe/

IA weak

tea, twifo

/tea/, /twiɸo/

(prefix) Inferred future tense

* tiha

ral

/ral/

A strong

rel, rol

/rel/, /rol/

(prefix) Intentional future tense

* ral

ce and ral are cognate with verbs meaning see and chase respectively.

Subject

Third person human singular subjects are unmarked. Other subject markers are as follows.

lu

/lu/

U weak

lwi, lo

/ɫi/, /lo/

(prefix) 1st person singular subject

* lu

lhe

/ʎe/

IA weak

lea, lwifo

/lea/, /ɫiɸo/

(prefix) 1st person plural subject

* liha

ar

/ar/

A strong

er, for

/er/, /ɸir/

(prefix) 2nd person singular subject

*har

alho

/aʎo/

A strong

eliwi, folhu

/eliwi/, /ɸoʎu/

(prefix) 2nd person plural subject

* halju

ir

/ir/

I strong

er, fir

/er/, /ɸir/

(prefix) 3rd person Human plural subject

* hir

si

/si/

I weak

se, swi

/se/, /swi/

(prefix) 3rd person Animal singular subject

* si

pa

/pa/

A weak

pe, po

/pe/, /po/

(prefix) 3rd person Animal plural subject

yi

/ji/

I weak

ye, iwi

/je/, /iwi/

(prefix) 3rd person Inanimate singular subject

Note iwi does not trigger r-z mutation or z insertion. It is pronounced /jwi/ after vowels, although the spelling does not change if the preceding vowel is e.

* ji

yimpi

/jimpi/

IU strong

iwinku, yenko

/iwiŋku/, /jeŋko/

(prefix) 3rd person Inanimate plural subject

Note iwinku does not trigger r-z mutation or z insertion. It is pronounced /jwiŋku/ after vowels, although the spelling does not change if the preceding vowel is e.

* jinku

Negation and Interrogative

bu

/bu/

U weak

bwi, bo

/bwi/, /bo/

(suffix) Not

* bu

ambo

/ambo/

A strong

embwi, fombu

/embwi/, /ɸombu/

(suffix) Interrogative

* han bu

Etymologically, the interrogative suffix may be related to the conjunction an, meaning or, hence the meaning of * han bu is thought to be or not?

Past tense

Kipin has two past tenses, recent, which refers to events within the speaker's own lifetime, and distant, which refers to events before the speaker's lifetime.

gur

/gur/

U strong

bir, gor

/bir/, /gor/

(suffix) recent past tense

* gur

xi

/ʃi/

I weak:

see, swifi

/seː/, /swiɸi/

(suffix) distant past tense

* sihi

The past tenses appear to have originated earlier than the future tenses, and their markers had both been semantically bleached by the time they attached to the verb.

The distant past is rarely used in the first person, but when it is, it refers to events from which the speaker wishes to dissociate himself.

Applicatives

Applicatives add an additional argument to a verb. The added argument is treated as the primary object, while an existing primary object may be demoted to a secondary object or omitted. With ditransitive verbs, demotion of a primary object to a secondary object displaces the original secondary object, causing it to be omitted, so the exact role of the secondary object in a ditransitive verb with an applicative may be ambiguous.

yi

/ji/

I weak

ee, fifi

/eː/, /ɸiɸi/

(suffix) locative applicative. The added argument indicates the place at which the action happens.

Note when the preceding component ends with a consonant, yi becomes ji /ʒi/. This replaces r. When ee follows a form ending in e, an epenthetic /ɸ/ is inserted.

* hihi

tufi

/tuɸi/

UI weak

tuyi, toe

/tuji/, /toe/

(suffix) instrumental applicative. The added argument indicates the means by which something is done, or the route of motion.

* tuhi

par

/par/

A strong

per, por

/per/,/por/

(suffix) source applicative. The added argument is the place of origin or the cause of the action

* par

gni

/ŋi/

I weak

gne, mi

/ŋe/, /mi/

(suffix) malefactive applicative. The added argument is adversely affected by the action.

* ŋi

dje

/d͡ʒe/

IA, weak

dea, dwifo

/dea/, /dwiɸo/

(suffix) circumstantial applicative

*diha

If an additional argument is added to a normally monotransitive verb without an explicit applicative, it is understood as a benefactive

Primary object

The primary object is the patient of monotransitive verbs, the recipient of ditransitive verbs, the destination of verbs of motion, or an argument added by an applicative.

fu

/ɸu/

U weak

fi, fo

/ɸi/, /ɸo/

(suffix) 1st person singular primary object

* hu

fufo

/ɸuɸo/

* huho

UA weak

foa, fye

/ɸoa/, /ɸje/

(suffix) 1st person plural primary object

ear

/ear/

A strong

yer, fifor

/jer/, /ɸiɸor/

(suffix) 2nd person singular primary object

Note yer becomes jer /ʒer/ after consonants. This replaces r.

* hihar

sasar

/sazar/

A strong

seser, sorfor

/sezer/, /sorɸor/

(suffix) 2nd person plural primary object

Note the initial /s/ is spelt ‹ss› after vowels

*sarhar

i

/i/

I weak

e, fi

/e/, /ɸi/

(suffix) 3rd person singular Human primary object

* hi

sar

/sar/

A strong

ser, sor

/ser/, /sor/

(suffix) 3rd person plural Human primary object

Spelt ssar, sser, ssor after vowels

* sar

gnu

/ŋu/

U, weak

mi, gno

/mi/, /ŋo/

(suffix) 3rd person singular Animal primary object

* ŋu

gin

/gin/

I strong

gen, bin

/gen/, /bin/

(suffix) 3rd person plural Animal primary object

* gin

in

/in/

I strong

en, fin

/en/, /ɸin/

(suffix) 3rd Person singular Inanimate primary object

*hin

kulon

/kulon/

UA strong

kolan, pilen

/kolan/, /pilen/

(suffix) 3rd Person plural Inanimate primary object

*kulan

Secondary object

The secondary object is the patient of ditransitive verbs or an object demoted by an applicative.

gu

/gu/

U weak

bi , go

/bi/, /go/

1st person singular secondary object

* gu

gufo

/guɸo/

UA weak

goa, bye

/goa/, /bje/

1st person plural secondary object

* guha

ar

/ar/

A strong

er, for

/er/, /ɸor/

2nd person singular secondary object

* har

asa

/aza/

A strong

ese, forfo

/eze/, /ɸorɸo/

2nd person plural secondary object

* harha

sur

/sur/

U strong

swir, sor

/swir/, /sor/

spelt ssur and ssor after vowels

3rd person singular human secondary object

* sur

li

/li/

I weak

le, lwi

/le/, /ɫi/

3rd person singular animal secondary object

* li

lhe

/ʎe/

IA weak

lea, lwifo

/lea/, /ɫiɸo/

3rd person plural animal secondary object

* liha

pan

/pan/

A strong

pen, pon

/pen/, /pon/

3rd person singular inanimate secondary object

*pan

pagno

/paŋo/

AU weak

pognu, pemi

/poŋu/, /pemi/

3rd person plural inanimate secondary object

* paŋu

Note that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person human plural markers are the same as the proximal, medial and distal deixis markers on nouns. It appears that in Kikun these were pronouns that were undergoing a semantic drift from deictic to personal pronouns, and that they may have agglutinated onto nouns before they agglutinated onto verbs. Why the plural form was incorporated into nouns rather than the singular is unclear. Hypotheses include that the singular forms drifted towards personal use before the plural forms, that the plural forms were more distinctive, or that the use of plural forms or deictic markers was associated with a prestigious dialect.

Voice

Either of the objects may be replaced with one of the following voice markers.

sufo

/suɸo/

UA, weak

soa, suye

/soa/, /suje/

Passive - object (either primary or secondary) is promoted to subject and the agent is omitted

* suha

yal

/jal/

A strong

yel, yol

/jel/,/jol/

Reflexive - object (either primary or secondary) is the same as the subject, which acts upon itself

* jal

yalhal

/jaʎal/

A strong

yelhel, yolhol

/jeʎel/ /joʎol/

Reciprocal - can be used only when the subject is plural. The subjects act upon each other.

* jaljal - probably a reduplication of the reflexive marker

ma

/ma/

A weak

me, mo

/me/, /mo/

Antipassive - Corresponding object is omitted, and considered to be unspecified or "Things in general".

* ma

The first three of these can be combined with an applicative. This assigns the applicative role to the argument marked as subject.