Pabappa verbs
Pabappa verb conjugation is much like a simplified version of that of Poswa. Only tense is marked on the verb, and there are only 3 tenses, since aspect is not marked either. There are still separate conjugation classes, but these differ only in which consonant the ending begins with, not in any vowels.
Conjugation tables
The basic Pabappa suffixes are -pi, -pa, and -pu for the past, present, and imperative respectively. They appear to be related to Poswa's monosyllabic intransitive suffixes (-bel, -ba, -bob), perhaps through analogy with the respective subjunctive forms, but are in fact heavily analogized descendants of the disyllabic transitive suffixes. Early on, the "extra" vowel remained, but a later sound change pushed the last vowel of the stem into the suffix. Later, these were analogized in such a way that it appeared the initial vowel had never existed.
Vowel stems
All verbs whose stems end in a vowel take endings beginning with -b. Below is the verb pepu "to bend, fold":
| pepu | Past | Present | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Indicative) | pepubi | pepuba | pepubu |
| (Subjunctive) | pepubep | pepubap | pepubop |
Since Pabappa verbs are not marked either for person or for transitivity, pronouns must be present for context. However, when two pronouns come together in a word, they can be elided into a single word stressed on the initial syllable. Thus for example:
- Pom pubulap pepubi.
- I folded the shorts.
- Pomap pepubi pasuappububom.
- I bent you over my knee.
Note that the subjunctive forms are the same as those of the 3rd person Poswa intransitive subjunctives, but that, as above, they are in fact derived from the transitives.
The copula verb
Unlike Poswa, Pabappa has a copula verb, pis. It behaves like a normal verb except that it can contract at the end of another word and lose the -i- vowel, thus becoming a suffix that would in isolation be impossible under the phonological rules of modern Pabappa. (Although words beginning with ps- were common in earlier stages of Pabappa, these were gone before the sound shift that removed the -i- of pis took place, so it did not follow the further sound changes that the ps- words had.)
Pis is conjugated like any other -s verb, meaning its basic indicative forms are pissi, pissa, and pissu, with the subjunctives being pissep, pissap, and pissop. The C₁VC₂C₂ ---> C₁C₂ rule creates the contracted forms, and thus it is not just the -i-, but the -is- in the middle of the verb that drops out when the stress is removed. Normally, this change would not have taken place, because modern Pabappa's -ss is generally derived from an earlier -sp-, but the copula was analogized from alternate forms in which an extra -i- had been inserted, thus leading to a different proto-form.
