Hariiji: Difference between revisions
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: ''Lúú-yé at?'' - were you still speaking? | : ''Lúú-yé at?'' - were you still speaking? | ||
== Adverbs == | |||
=== Adverbs of manner === | |||
The vast majority of adverbs of manner are formed by adding the desired adjective to the noun ''túla'' alongside ''ke'', meaning 'and or with', which translates literally as 'with a... face': | |||
: ''Yé at ke yusi túla ij'' - he spoke quickly (with a quick face) | |||
''Ket'', the emphatic form of ''ke'', can be used to add a sense of surprise or contrast: | |||
: ''Yé at ket yusi túla ij'' - he spoke quickly (and we were expecting him to speak slowly) |
Revision as of 17:30, 30 January 2011
Noun phrase
Adjectives Lexical Reduplication Particle Demonstrative Postpositions Genitive Number Umu hé-hé ij uy iyyu ém ij na tye umu hé -hé ij uy iyyu ém ij na tye red house ~COMPL PART that =DAT.CONST man STAT=GEN three To all three of those red houses of the man
All noun phrases in Hariiji consist of at least one 'lexical word' and a particle, plus, potentially, any number of adjectives, one postposition, an embedded genitive phrase and a number.
Stative verbs
Stative verbs, or 'roots', are morphemes with basic lexical meaning equivalent to nouns and adjectives in other languages. Hé for example is a morpheme with the rough lexical meaning of 'house'. As a verb, it means 'to be a house': hé ij, 'it is a house'. However, this phrase - hé ij - may also be treated as a nominal, in which case it is translated as 'house': semi hé is éé, (smoke house 3p.ABS PERF) 'the house smoked' (note case marking on ij).
Used as modifiers - that is, preceding a nominalised stative verb - they act as adjectives and their meaning is generally 'alike to' or 'possessing the quality of':
- Umu hé ij - a red house
These morphemes may be compounded head-finally:
- lacáhé ij - an inn (travel-house)
Reduplication
The lexical root may be reduplicated morphologically. In noun phrases, this conveys a sense of totality: 'all the houses':
- hé-hé ij - all the houses
If a root is longer than two syllables, in most cases only the last two syllables will be reduplicated:
- lacáhé-cáhé ij - all the inns
Particle, demonstratives and postpositions
The particle ij is etymologically a nominaliser but was during an earlier phase of the language followed almost invariably by the phonologically similar third person pronoun iz/is and inherited that pronoun's inflectional forms. It is invariable for number and case but may be modified by, in this order, demonstratives, possession marking, and postpositions. In speech, the vowel is often elided and the particle affixes to the previous word (thus héj, lacáhéj, umuj from hé ij, lacáhé ij and umu ij).
- hé ij uy - this house
- hé ij ne - the house of...
- hé ij yá - by the house
- hé ij uy ne - this house of...
- hé ij uy yá - by this house
- hé ij uy ne yá - by this house belonging to...
There is only one demonstrative, uy, which may mean 'this', 'that' or 'yonder' depending on context.
The dative postposition, -uyyu and the possession marker ne elide together to produce the form iyyu:
- hé ij uy iyyu - to this house belonging to...
The possession marker ne may occur with or without a genitive. Without a genitive, it is equivalent to a possessive adjective with the person assumed from context: hé ij ne - my/your/his/our/their house. With the genitive, it may or may not co-occur with the genitive postposition na. Most situations allow co-occurrence, but higher registers of the language prefer ne alone (na is a comparatively recent addition to the language, originally meaning 'from', and does not appear in older literature).
- hé ij uy (ne) yá Juni ij (na) - by this house belonging to Johnny
Pronouns
The true pronouns are comparatively rarely used as pronouns in spoken Hariiji. They are acceptable only in the most informal situations. Elsewhere, noun forms like ustála ij (servant) are used instead. The third person pronouns are used with stative verbs to form nominals.
Ergative | Absolutive | Stative | |
---|---|---|---|
1p | Uz | Us | Uj |
2p | Ar | At | Ap |
3p | Iz | Is | Ij |
Ergative
Hariiji is an ergative language. The ergative marks the agent of a verb.
- An intransitive verb with an agentive argument treats it like a causative:
- mutu iz ustála is 'aa (die 3p.ERG servant 3p.ABS PRET) - 'he made the servant die' = he killed the servant.
- A transitive verb with an agentive argument has what would normally be considered the 'subject' in the ergative:
- yé iz ustála is (speak 3p.ERG servant 3p.ABS) - he speaks to the servant
- The ergative is also used to mark causatives. The original agent of a transitive verb is demoted to absolutive and the patient to dative:
- yé iz is ustála ij-uyyu (speak 3p.ERG 3ps.ABS servant 3p.STAT-DAT) - he makes her speak to the servant
Absolutive
The absolutive marks the patient of a verb.
- An intransitive verb with only one argument will only ever have an absolutive argument:
- Mutu is (die 3p.ABS) - he dies
- A transitive verb's 'object' will always be in the absolutive:
- Yé iz is (talk 3p.ERG 3p.ABS) - he talks to him
- Causative verbs demote their agent to an absolutive (and their object to a dative):
- Yé iz is is-uyyu (talk 3p.ERG 3p.ABS 3p.STAT-DAT) - he makes her talk to him
Allocutive particles
The allocutive particles are a set of sentence-final particles that mark the listener's social status. When a group comprising members of different social statuses is being addressed, Hariiji defaults to the form appropriate to the most prestigious member of the group.
Particle | Level of formality |
---|---|
ca | Inferior |
cáá | Friend |
ut | Formal |
cú | Respectful |
sa | Worshipful |
The particles are not compulsory in the lowest registers of informal speech but elsewhere are typically required. Even when neither the subject nor the object of a sentence is the listener, the allocutive will be present:
- Ni cúta 'aa is hé ij sa (out come PERF 3p.ABS house 3p.STAT ALL.WORSH) - He came out of the house, o worshipful one
The inferior pronouns are used to address social inferiors generally. Social equals may also be addressed with these forms in banter in some extremely informal situations, but generally use of this pronoun is highly offensive. Ca is also used by parents to address their children. Use of cáá is usually restricted to close friends. Ut is the typical particle used when addressing others of similar social standing, whilst cú is used for those of clearly higher social standing. Sa is the most respectful and is used to address high nobility, higher members of the priesthood and royalty. Slaves typically address their masters with sa.
Conjunctions
Hariiji only has four conjunctions which can be split into a syntactic category of their own. These conjunctions are ke, 'and' (coordinates two nominals), yu, 'and' (coordinates two phrases or two verbs), sa, 'if' (introduces counterfactual statements - much more widely used than English 'if'), and na, 'but'. Ke has two forms, yu, se and na four, which are discussed below.
Neutral forms
These forms (yu, na, sa) are used to link two sentences where the absolutive argument is the same, without any particular emphasis:
- Ni cúta is yú yá cúta is - he comes and he goes (TOWARDS come 3ps.ABS and.COOR AWAY go 3ps.ABS)
Ke is used to coordinate two nominals:
- lacáhé ij ke hé ij tye - an inn and three houses
Switch forms
These forms (yú, ná, sá) are used to link two sentences where the absolutive arguments are different, without any particular emphasis. Ke has no switch form.
- Ni cúta is yú yá cúta is - he comes and he (someone else) goes (TOWARDS come 3ps.ABS and.SWITCH AWAY go 3ps.ABS)
Emphatic forms
These forms (yut, nat, sat) are used to link two sentences where the absolutive argument is the same but the second element is emphasised or unexpected:
- Ni cúta is nat yá cúta is - he came, but then he went! (TOWARDS come 3ps.ABS but_EMPH AWAY go 3ps.ABS)
Ket is used in a similar way with two nominals:
- lacáhé ij ket hé ij tye - an inn AND three houses!
Switch emphatic forms
These forms (yus, nas, sas) are used to link two sentences where the absolutive argument is different and the second element is emphasised or unexpected. Ke obviously has no switch emphatic form.
- Ni cúta is yus yá cúta is - he came, and then HE (another person) went (TOWARDS come 3ps.ABS and_SWITCH.EMPH AWAY go 3ps.ABS)
Use of sa
Sa is used to introduce almost all non-factual propositions. It can often be translated as 'if':
- Mutu is uz sa ni cúta is - I will kill him if he comes (kill 3p.ABS 1p.ERG if TOWARDS come 3p.ABS
However, there is no distinction made between factual and hypothetical conditionals (e.g. 'if he came tomorrow' and 'if he comes tomorrow' in English). The above sentence may equally be translated as 'I would kill him if he came'. The interpretation depends on context.
Verbal system
Directional prefixes
Two postpositions may be found as enclitics to the verb to add directional information. With verbs of motion these are compulsory. These postpositions are ni (towards the deictic centre), yá (away from the deictic centre):
- Ni cúta is - he comes
- Yá cúta is - he goes
Morphology
Dynamic verbs, that is, those describing actions, have three morphological forms. The -é or -a form is the least marked form and has no specific meaning attached to it. Removal of the final -é or -a produces an intensive form, used for various different purposes detailed below. Affixation of an -ú to the unmarked form produces a subordinate form, used in nominal clauses (removal of the unmarked suffix then produces an intensive relative form in most dialects). Adverbial clauses use the unmarked form plus a postposition, such as én, which creates temporal adverbials with the meaning 'at'.
Unmarked form
This form, marked by -é or -a in most verbs, is used in the vast majority of situations where the verb is not intensive (see below). It is found in main clauses and adverbial clauses, accompanied by a nominalising preposition which attaches to it as a clitic. Alone it has a perfective meaning:
- Ni cúta is - he comes
- Ni cúta-én is - when he comes
Reduplicated form
Verbs may be reduplicated. Most verbs, if more than two syllables long, will only reduplicate the last syllable in the second half of the compound, and many common verbs also reduplicate partially. Only the second half takes morphological marking. Reduplicated forms typically have an occasional or distributive meaning:
- Ni cúta-ta is - he comes now and again
- Yéna-na is iz - he puts them here and there
- Yé-yé is iz aa - he spoke to each of them in turn
They are also used for reciprocals with a special form of the ergative pronoun (formed by reduplication of the first vowel):
- Yé-yé iz-i aa - they spoke to each other
Intensive form
The intensive form is derived from an unmarked or reduplicated form by removing the final vowel. It gives the sense that someone did something with more effort than usual:
- Ni y' is - he spoke powerfully
- Ni yé-y' is - he spoke powerfully to each of them
It can be used in contrast with other statements or to place emphasis on the verb:
- Yá cúta is, é? - Yá cút' is! - Did he go? Yes, he did go!
It is also used to mark new information which surprises the speaker:
- May' is! - and he can sing, too!
In the colloquial language, the intensive has increasingly come to be used almost by default following fronted elements, whilst at the same time, the use of fronting to mark new information has likewise become more common. For this reason, the intensive is sometimes referred to as the 'novotopical mood'. Nevertheless, its use as a true intensive, and indeed as a mirative, persists where no fronted topic appears.
Relative form
The relative form is used in adjectival and nominal clauses. It is derived from the intensive form with the suffix -ú. There is no conjunction or equivalent to 'that', so the -ú form is the only marker of the presence of such clauses:
- Kétis yá cúta-ú is - they say that he went
Relative clauses are typically PAV in order (note that the directional prefix precedes the arguments), although this is simply the least marked order:
- Émi ij yá is cúta-ú - the man that went
Removal of the 'unmarked' suffix (usually -a or é) produces an intensive relative:
- Émi ij yá is cút-ú - the man that went now and again
Aspect
There are a number of particles indicating aspect. These inflect to show the interrogative, which is used to ask yes-no questions (i.e. closed questions). The first particle form given is the stative form, the second the interrogative.
Particle | Name | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|---|
'/un | Continuous | Yé ar is | You are speaking to him |
'aa/'ii | Perfect | Yé ar is 'ii? | Have you spoken to him? |
ús/úú | Habitual | Yé ar is úú | You speak to him all the time. |
út/útú | Stative | Yé at | You (can) speak. |
rá/lá | Inchoative | Yé at lá? | Did you start speaking? |
sú/súú | Durative | Yé is sú | He talked for hours. |
rúú/lúú | Continuative | Yé is rúú | He was still talking |
náá/yáá | Intentive | Yé uz is náá | I plan/want to speak to him |
None of these aspects really imply any kind of tense, apart from debatably the intentive which implies futurity. All of them may be used in any tense based on context and the tense is typically disambiguated by use of temporal adverbs like 'yesterday'.
Unmarked (continuous) form
This marks ongoing action or an action without any particular aspectual characteristics.
Perfect
To a degree, this is equivalent to both the English 'have' perfect and the English past tense in general. It is not necessarily past, however - it simply notes that an action has occurred before the point of reference:
- Yé uz is, na yéti is - I spoke to him, but he's still unhappy
Habitual
This marks habitual action.
Durative
This implies a long-lasting action. It often although not necessarily implies boredom or is used to convey a sense of time passing in stories:
- Ténu is sú - many years passed (pass_a_year 3ps.ABS DUR)
Continuative
The continuative resumes a former description of an imperfective action - for example 'he was walking, I went away, I came back, he was still (durative) walking'. It often, but not always, can be translated with the English adverb 'still':
- Yí is lacáá rúú - he was still there
Preverbal slot
There is a syntactic slot present before the verb in which any argument may be placed. This is done for a variety of reasons, including emphasis or contrast:
- Júún is yé uz - I'm speaking to John (of all people)/I'm speaking to John (not someone else)!
In the colloquial language, there is an increasing tendency towards using this slot to mark new information, which overlaps to a degree with the English indefinite article. This almost universally appears with the intensive mood:
- Júún is yé uz - I was speaking to John (a new factor in this conversation)
There are also concerns of respect. Typically arguments significantly higher on the hierarchy than a speaker are fronted without the argument being particularly marked:
- Júún is yé uz - I was speaking to John (the much-respected individual who is one of my betters)
When this slot is not filled by an argument, one of the aspect particles may be (and usually is) placed there instead, cliticising to the verb:
- Lúú-yé at? - were you still speaking?
Adverbs
Adverbs of manner
The vast majority of adverbs of manner are formed by adding the desired adjective to the noun túla alongside ke, meaning 'and or with', which translates literally as 'with a... face':
- Yé at ke yusi túla ij - he spoke quickly (with a quick face)
Ket, the emphatic form of ke, can be used to add a sense of surprise or contrast:
- Yé at ket yusi túla ij - he spoke quickly (and we were expecting him to speak slowly)