Classical Arithide conjugation
- See also Classical Arithide grammar for more information
Classical Arithide verbs are divided into two conjugations based on their infinitive endings, namely -ān (the first conjugation) and -ēn (the second conjugation). Whereas all vowel-stem verbs take -ān in the infinitive, the converse is not true, and the distinction between the two verb classes in terms of semantic and lexical meaning is not entirely clear, although it has been noted that all causative forms take as their infinitive -ēn. The two conjugations differ in their basic finite forms, whereas infixes for the various aspects and moods are common.
Verbs in each class are conjugated for four voices, three basic aspects, five derivative aspects, seven moods and four tenses, 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. The indicative perfective active is not generally marked, hence the existence of four tense-only forms. Certain aspects and moods in Classical Arithide form separate infinitives from the main verb, 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. All verbs in that class take the -ān ending.
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 | stem, gerund, imperative, cohortative potentive, causative, passive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| supine location instrument agent patient |
perfect aspect | perfect participle | present tense | |
| perfective aspect | perfective participle | past tense | ||
| imperfective aspect | imperfective participle | progressive tense | ||
| (conditional mood) | (conditional participle) | future tense | ||
| habitual, inceptive, frequentative, protractive desiderative, jussive, subjunctive | ||||
Stem & gerund
The conjugation of a verb is conducted with its stem as the basis. To find the stem of a first conjugation verb, simply remove the infinitive ending -ēn; the same is true for second conjugation consonant-stem verbs. With vowel-stem verbs, however, the stem has to be learnt by heart as the vowel is frequently elided, or has its quality changed, in the infinitive. From the stem is formed the second major part of a verb's conjugation, the gerund, by affixing an -o; hence napsēn "to hide" has the stem naps- and the gerund napso, 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 is elided.
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). Agentive nouns are of declension VI and instrumentive nouns are declension Vb, while the patientive and locative nouns as well as the supine are of declension VIII (see Classical Arithide declension for the respective inflection patterns).
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 in the first conjugation by removing the final -n from the infinitive and adding -ra; with second conjugation verbs by adding -ra to the verb stem (i.e. napsēn > napsēra, nakān > nakāra); The cohortative is constructed, in consonant-stem verbs by appending -ōra to the stem; vowel-stem verbs lengthen the final -o in their gerundive and add -ra. In colloquial speech or for purposes of scansion, the final -ra may be omitted for both these moods.
Free derivatives
Under them are listed the only three derivative verbs that can conjugate nearly as fully as the main verb itself, with only minimal restrictions (the "free derivatives"): the potentive (-ābēn), causative (-ārēn) and passive (-stēn) voices.
To illustrate, napsābēn (napso- + -ābēn 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 napsostēn (napso- + -stēn 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: napsārāre "made to cause to hide" is semantically permissible, whereas napsābābēn is illogical and napsostostēn is forbidden for transitivity reasons as already discussed.
Of these, the passive verb is constructed in certain regards somewhat differently from its active counterpart.
- The imperative is conjugated -ura—i.e. napsostura not *napsostēra
- The cohortative is conjugated -ulla—i.e. napsostulla not *napsostōra
- There is a third-person imperative ("let him hide") ending in -sit—i.e. napsosit
Records of earlier Arithide show the passive form as originally having been constructed -sitēn, 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 (napsositos, which phonetic attrition reduced), and the former of which is unattested but postulated by scholars to have been napsositu, paralleling the imperative and cohortative. For those moods, however, no material is available to explain their distinct construction from the active.
Aspects & tenses
The table is ordered with the aspects preceding what is, in Classical Arithide grammar, traditionally known as the four basic tenses, for reasons of origin: the tenses ultimately derive from reduced versions of the aspects; written records exhibit tenses only from the fifth century BCIE. The perfect aspect (-at) gave rise to the present tense (-a), the perfective (-em) to the past tense (-e), and the imperfective aspect (-is) to the progressive tense (-i), in a logical process of mapping. The once-common conditional mood (-auer) decayed into the future tense (-ae) in the early decades of the establishment of the Lazeian Empire.
With the development of the tenses, 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, as with many Indo-European languages, 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.
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 roimēn, sōpeda tholorae ivage. Having weakened the enemy, the soldiers went in for the kill.
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 (-senēn "to begin to"), the frequentative (-vasēn "to do repeatedly"), the protractive (-tamēn "to go on and on"), the desiderative (-ssēn "to want to"), the jussive (-spēn "to want the listener to") and the subjunctive (-ōnēn). The first three moods take the imperfective stem; the latter three take the gerundive stem. None of these verbs may take a subordinate voice (as they are moods), nor recur (i.e. napsisenisenēn, for example, is not permissible); all may take the inceptive and the subjunctive subordinately, and the inceptive may take the frequentative in subordination.
Also part of the limited derivatives are the progressively invariable habitual and perfective habitual aspects, which take the imperfective and perfective stems respectively, but both of which end in -mne. The simple habitual also doubles as the generic mood, to express universals.
Negation
In Classical Arithide, as with its modern descendant, there are two possible ways of constructing negation—broad and narrow—both of which use the affix av-/-va. 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:
- Vagēn raenābava. You cannot choose to go. (lit. "to-go choose-can-not")
- Vagēn avraenāba. You can not choose to go. or You can choose not to go. (lit. "to-go not-choose-can")
- Avvagēn raenāba. You can choose not to go. (lit. "not-to-go 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 presently wanting to be sick; 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 positive.
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:
- Sit iter avvagōna (do), vagae. If that person is not going, I will go.
- Sit iter vagōna (do), vagaeva. If that person is going, I will not go.
- Sit iter avvagospa. He does not want that person to go. (Lit. "he desires the person to not-go")
- Sit iter vagospava. 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 vagōnava..., 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).
First conjugation -ēn
The first conjugation 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 verbd sernēn "to order" and evtēn "to show" below:
| SERNĒN | sern-, serno, sernēra, sernōra sernābēn, sernārēn, sernostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. sernos loc. sernas ins. sernta agt. sernon, sernter pat. sernosis |
sernat, sernat- | sernāt(a) | serna | |
| sernem, sernem- | sernēm(a) | serne | ||
| sernis, sernir- | sernī(m) | serni | ||
| (sernauer, sernauer-) | (sernauē) | sernae | ||
| sernimne/sernamne, sernisenēn, sernivasēn, sernitamēn sernossēn, sernospēn, sernōnēn | ||||
| EVTĒN | evt-, evto, evtēra, evtōra evtābēn, evtārēn, evtostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. evtos loc. evtas ins. evtota agt. evton, evtoter pat. evtosis |
evtat, evtat- | evtāt(a) | evta | |
| evtem, evtem- | evtēm(a) | evte | ||
| evtis, evtir- | evtī(m) | evti | ||
| (evtauer, evtauer-) | (evtauē) | evtae | ||
| evtimne/evtamne, evtisenēn, evtivasēn, evtitamēn evtossēn, evtospēn, evtōnēn | ||||
-mēn verbs
Verbs whose stems end in -m take a slightly different ending in the perfective aspect, which has arisen due to historical phonetic dissimulation. Also, the instrumentive and agentive verbal nouns take an epenthetic -p-. To illustrate, the conjugation of the verb damēn "to carry" is provided below.
| DAMĒN | dam-, damo, damēra, damōra damābēn, damārēn, damostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. damos loc. damas ins. dampta agt. damon (dampter) pat. damosis |
damat, damat- | damāt(a) | dama | |
| damen, damen- | damēn(a) | dame | ||
| damis, damir- | damī or damīre | dami | ||
| (damauer, damauer-) | (damauē) | damae | ||
| damimne/damamne, damisenēn, damivasēn, damitamēn damossēn, damospēn, damōnēn | ||||
Second conjugation -ān, consonant-stem
Second conjugation verbs take different endings for their tenses, originating in their different aspectual endings. The present tense takes -en, but the perfective aspect marker is shared with the first conjugation; the past tense takes -ā , and the perfective aspect is marked by -am; the progressive tense takes -ī, and the imperfective aspect takes -ēs; the future tense uses -ō, and the rare conditional mood has -ur.
| NAKĀN | nak-, naka, nakāra, nakōra nakābēn, nakārēn, nakostēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. nakos loc. nakas ins. nakta agt. nakon (nakter) pat. nakosis |
nakat, nakat- | nakāt(a) | naken | |
| naketh, naketh- | nakēth(a) | naka | ||
| nakir, nakir- | nakēr(a) | nakis | ||
| (nakont, nakond-) | (nakōn) | nakon | ||
| nakimne/nakamne, nakisenēn, nakivasēn, nakitamēn nakassēn, nakaspēn, nakōnēn | ||||
Second conjugation -ān, vowel-stem
The rare vowel-stem verbs in Classical Arithide all belong to the second conjugation, and of them, a substantial number are irregular. Due to the variety in stem-final vowels (a, e and i can all end a stem), conjugations for this group of verbs are necessarily also the most varied and exhibit a certain degree of idiosyncrasy.
Regular conjugations for each of the terminal vowels are given below with the examples kalān "togive", balān "to be able (to)" and triān "to pull".
| KALĀN | kala-, kalato, kalāra, kalatōra kalābēn, kalārēn, kalastēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. kalaos/kalōs loc. kalaas/kalās ins. kalata agt. kalaton (kalater) pat. kalasis |
kalat, kalat- | kalāt(a) | kalan | |
| kalath, kalath- | kalāth(a) | kalā | ||
| kaler, kaler- | kalēr(a) | kales | ||
| (kalont, kalond-) | (kalōn) | kalon | ||
| kalemne/kalāmne, kalesenēn, kalevasēn, kaletamēn kalassēn, kalaspēn, kalatōnēn | ||||
| BALĀN1 | bale-, baleto, balēra, baletōra balēbēn, baleārēn, balestēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. baleos loc. baleas ins. baleta agt. baleton (baleter) pat. balesis |
balet, balet- | balēt(a) | balen | |
| baleth, baleth- | balēth(a) | balea | ||
| balir, balir- | balīr(a) | balis | ||
| (balent, balend-) | (baleōn) | baleon | ||
| balimne/balemne, balisenēn, balivasēn, balitamēn balessēn, balespēn, baletōnēn | ||||
1
Also baleān.
| TRIĀN | tri-, trito, triēra, triōra triābēn, triārēn, tristēn | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sup. trios loc. trias ins. trita agt. trion (triter) pat. trisis |
trit, trit- | treit(a) | trien | |
| trith, trith- | treith(a) | tria | ||
| trir, trir- | trīr(a) | trīs or triis | ||
| (trint, triind-) | (triōn) | trion | ||
| trīmne/tremne, trīsenēn, trīvasēn, trītamēn trissēn, trispēn, tritōnēn | ||||
