Poswa irregular verbs
- NOTE, I currently no longer consider Poswa to have irregular verbs. Rather, a verb consists of four principal parts, which must be learned for each verb. Thus, either all the verbs are irregular or none of them are.
Syncopating verbs
Many verbs with bisyllabic stems and a stem-final consonant undergo syncope when the verbal inflection suffixes are attached. Verbs with other stem shapes are not affected; however, in some cases a longer verb may be historically derived from a compound of two words, and the verb as a whole may follow a syncopating pattern derived from its second element.
Reflexive syncopating verbs
Many syncopating verbs are reflexives ending in a -p sound. The non-reflexive versions of these verbs generally do not undergo syncope since they almost always have a syllable shape of CVCV. Note that transitive reflexives are in common use and often encode meanings similar to English constructions such as "I flashed my eyes at you." Transitives of verbs that resemble English adjectives often encode meanings such as "I am smaller than you."
Bare stem | meaning | 1st person past intransitive |
1st person past transitive |
Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
pronap | to stand with the hands on the hips | prompi | prompebi | ||
rimap | to be mild, avoid extremes | rimpi | rimpebi | ||
patemop | to hold fast, stand firm; to remain, stay in place | patempi | patempebi | ||
pwabap | to hide oneself | pwapfi | pwappebi | ||
pabap | to blush; to be visibly embarrassed | papfi | pappebi | ||
palop | to take off one's clothes; to strip | palfi | palpebi | ||
Other syncopating verbs
Bare stem | meaning | 1st person past intransitive |
1st person past transitive |
Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
wopas | to be kind, nice, to please | wopši | wopsebi | ||
šuvapa | to hug | šuffi | šuffebi | ||
Verbs with irregular suppletive stems
For example, the verb šane "to dance" is most commonly seen in its suppletive reciprocal form, šwes, "to dance with a partner". The sound change that led to this suppletion was very common, but in most verbs, one form or the other was restored by analogy. In this verb, it did not happen because the bare form of the verb was not often used.
Other irregular verbs
Poswa has many irregular verbs. Many are commonly used verbs such as pys "to find", but some are merely the result of peculiar sound changes or lexical suppletion.
A
B
bana
The verb bana "to create pleasure" is a syncopating verb usually found as the second or third element of a compound. It is often used to describe sexual pleasure, but is not limited to this sense.
Agent | Patient | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | — | bvi | bvo | bvub |
2nd person | — | bve | bvae | bvi | |
3rd person | — | bvel | bva | bvob | |
Transitive | 1st person | 2nd person | bvebi | bvabo | bvybub |
3rd person | |||||
2nd person | 1st person | bvebe | bvabae | bvybi | |
3rd person | |||||
3rd person | 1st person | bvebel | bvaba | bvybob | |
2nd person |
Since this verb mostly occurs in contexts in which one would expect the sound rule bv ---> b to kick in, it seems unusual that the forms of the verb begin with bv- rather than b-. This is because the hypothetical b- forms would be identical with the verb endings themselves, and thus the entire stem of the verb would have been syncopated away. Thus, the -v- is retained.
F
I
K
L
M
N
P
pampap
The verb pampap is the reflexive form of pampa "to comb". Because it is reflexive, it is generally understood to mean to comb one's hair. It is a hyper-regular syncopating verb:
Agent | Patient | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | — | pampi | pampo | pampub |
2nd person | — | pampe | pampae | pampi | |
3rd person | — | pampel | pampa | pampob | |
Transitive | 1st person | 2nd person | pampebi | pampabo | pampypub |
3rd person | |||||
2nd person | 1st person | pampebe | pampabae | pampypi | |
3rd person | |||||
3rd person | 1st person | pampebel | pampaba | pampypob | |
2nd person |
- Pampo.
- I'm combing my hair.
The transitive forms of this verb are rarely used, and when they are, the understood meaning is not "I comb your hair" and so on (which would use the simple verb pampa) but rather
- Pampebi.
- I made you comb your hair.[1]
peppla
Below is the conjugation of peppla "to lack; to have none":
- NOTE TO SELF. THIS COULD EASILY CHANGE TO PEPI, PEPO, PEPUB ETC SINCE IT IS MOSTLY USED TRANSITIVELY AND THEREFORE ALWAYS FOLLOWS A WORD ENDING IN -P. THIS MEANS THAT TWO /PP/ OCCUR IN A ROW, WHICH TRIGGERS A SOUND RULE CHANGING THE SECOND TO /P/. BUT ONLY IF THE WORD IS UNSTRESSED.
- THIS WOULD MAKE IT HOMOPHONOUS WITH THE VERB 'PEPEBI' ETC MEANING "I DIDNT (DO IT)" BUT THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM BECAUSE THIS ONLY OCCURS DIRECTLY AFTER A NOUN.
Agent | Patient | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | — | peppi | peppo | peppub |
2nd person | — | peppe | peppae | peppi | |
3rd person | — | peppel | peppa | peppob | |
Transitive | 1st person | 2nd person | peppebi | peppabo | peppypub |
3rd person | |||||
2nd person | 1st person | peppebe | peppabae | peppypi | |
3rd person | |||||
3rd person | 1st person | peppebel | peppaba | peppypob | |
2nd person |
Thus one can say
- Plwop peppabo.
- I don't have a choice.
- Bipimpwembwap peppabo.
- I don't have a gun.
- Peppo.
- I don't have anything.
plomip
The verb plomip "to pray, to request for" is a syncopating verb:
plomip | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | plompwi | plompwo | plompwub |
2nd person | plompwe | plompwae | plompwi | |
3rd person | plompwel | plompwa | plompwob | |
Transitive | 1st person | plompwebi | plompwabo | plompwubub |
2nd person | plompwebe | plompwabae | plompwubi | |
3rd person | plompwebel | plompwaba | plompwubob |
Note that this verb is a doublet of plommip, which has no significant difference in meaning. Plommip is regular because there are no sound changes which could have created an -mmp- cluster in the middle of a word. Thus
- Pawiapop plompwabo.
and
- Pawiapop plommipwabo.
both mean
- "I'm praying for a boat."
pys
The verb pys "to find" is an irregular stem-changing verb:
pys | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | pwi | pwo | pwub |
2nd person | pwe | pwae | pwi | |
3rd person | pwel | pwa | pwob | |
Transitive | 1st person | pwebi | pwabo | pwubub |
2nd person | pwebe | pwabae | pwubi | |
3rd person | pwebel | pwaba | pwubob |
- Pwebi bwafwap temwašem.
- I found a worm on the ground.
- Pwufi* pammiap!
- Seek out a bottle of wine!
⁎Note, this uses an experimental "third conjugation" which is used for transitive verbs that have a "distal" object instead of the more common proximal one. Normally, since the bottle is mentioned in the sentence, I would think the proximal conjugation would be appropriate, but I may change my mind.
- Oblique
This verb has an oblique form used when inserting infixes into the stem of the verb: pip. This is not actually irregular, but because verbs ending in -ys can belong to any of several different conjugations, it must be learned with the verb.
- Homophony with forms of pwos
This verb collides with an alternate conjugation of the normally regular verb pwos "to give, to donate". The collision happened fairly recently. What this means is that Poswobs sometimes use pys where one would expect pwos.
R
S
Below is the conjugation of sopa "to answer, respond appropriately":[2]
sopa | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | soffi | soffo | soffub |
2nd person | soffe | soffae | soffi | |
3rd person | soffel | soffa | soffob | |
Transitive | 1st person | soffebi | soffabo | soffypub |
2nd person | soffebe | soffabae | soffypi | |
3rd person | soffebel | soffaba | soffypob |
swavop
The verb swavop "to dream" is a syncopating verb showing regressive voicing assimilation in some forms and progressive voicing assimilation in others. The transitive form expresses meanings such as "I dreamt about you". Despite its appearance, this verb is not etymologically related to the word for sleep:
Agent | Patient | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | — | swaffi | swaffo | swaffub |
2nd person | — | swaffe | swaffae | swaffi | |
3rd person | — | swaffel | swaffa | swaffob | |
Transitive | 1st person | 2nd person | |||
3rd person | |||||
2nd person | 1st person | ||||
3rd person | |||||
3rd person | 1st person | ||||
2nd person |
sys
The verb sys "to sleep" is an irregular stem-changing verb. All of its non-oblique forms rhyme perfectly with those of pys "to find", and thus, to know one is to know the other:
Agent | Patient | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | — | swi | swo | swub |
2nd person | — | swe | swae | swi | |
3rd person | — | swel | swa | swob | |
Transitive | 1st person | 2nd person | swebi | swabo | swubub |
3rd person | swefi | swafo | swufub | ||
2nd person | 1st person | swebe | swabae | swubi | |
3rd person | swefe | swafae | swufi | ||
3rd person | 1st person | swebel | swaba | swubob | |
2nd person | swefel | swafa | swufob |
- Tus, swebi?
- Did I put you to sleep?
For the most part, the multitude of verbs ending in -sis such as besis "to sleep like a baby (fitfully)" and pipsis "to sleep in a tree" behave regularly and thus do not rhyme with the simple standalone verb for sleep. However, ad hoc coinages do exist, particularly for words in which the first morpheme in the compound has not been affected by sound changes. Poswobs thus can choose between
- Beswi!
- I slept like a baby!
Using the normal verb for sleep, or
- Besiši!
- I slept like a baby!
Treating it like a normal -s verb.
Š
T
TŠ
U
V
W
Ž
bottom
Agent | Patient | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | — | |||
2nd person | — | ||||
3rd person | — | ||||
Transitive | 1st person | 2nd person | |||
3rd person | |||||
2nd person | 1st person | ||||
3rd person | |||||
3rd person | 1st person | ||||
2nd person |
Verbs with suppletive negatives
Some verbs have suppletive negative forms. These take negative verb agreement, which means that, for example,
- Bripfa!
- He's not breathing!
can also be emphasized as
- Puba bripfa!
- He's not breathing!
Here, one sentence has the negative auxiliary verb puba and the other does not, but both sentences have the same meaning because the verb is considered to be negative regardless of the presence of the auxiliary.
Verb stem | meaning | Negative stem | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
two | to translate Womb Magic words | kitšy | regular development from a shared common stem | ||
žebis | to breathe | bribap | parent verb no longer in use | ||
fip | to touch | blaba | used after a verb to indicate "without touching (it)" | ||
Verbs with suppletive cessatives
Other irregular verbs
pappo
The verb pappo "to bite" is a suppletive verb that is otherwise regular:
Agent | Patient | Past | Present | Imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intransitive | 1st person | — | pappwi | pappwo | pappwub |
2nd person | — | pappwe | pappwae | pappwi | |
3rd person | — | pappwel | pappwa | pappwob | |
Transitive | 1st person | 2nd person | pappwebi | pappwabo | pappwubub |
3rd person | |||||
2nd person | 1st person | pappwebe | pappwabae | pappwubi | |
3rd person | |||||
3rd person | 1st person | pappwebel | pappwaba | pappwubob | |
2nd person |
This verb was formed from the merger of the two stems pappo "to bite, as with fangs; to hold with the teeth" and the rare verb pappop "to chew", a derivative of pappop "cheeks". Even though pappop was longer, its conjugated forms were shorter than those of pappo. The new verb thus shares the meaning of both original verbs:
- Pappwebi beffap.
- I bit on the stick.
- Pappwebi popfop.
- I carried my pen (in my teeth).
The iterative form of the verb, which takes the infix -at-, is most often used when the sense of a repeated action is intended:
- Tašepi pappwatwebi.
- I was chewing on an apple.
However, when the sense of a single pointed thrust is meant, as in the case of a sharp-toothed animal that bites into someone but does not intend to bite anything off, the simple aspect is used after all:
- Bibubbum pypiop pappwaba.
- Spiders are biting my hands.
- Deixis
Note to self: consider replacing the patient "1st/2nd/3rd person" with "proximal" and "distal" instead, as that's really what they are. This could be called a deictic person system.
Notes
- ↑ This could be an error. What seems to be the case is that the intransitive forms of the reflexive and the plain verb merged, and the transitive ones didn't. Thus, either the two verbs merged completely due to analogy, or they are separate after all and this verb is irregular only in its intransitive form.
- ↑ This was actually an error ... sopo, etc should be soffo, unless it was regularized during the change of pf>ff and then later underwent pf>p.