Poswa/scratchpad

U verbs: a potential dead-end path in Poswa

Poswa could use verb affixes such as -mpibabo "I use my arm", and give them widely divergent semantic definitions. For example the /mp/ comes from a word meaning thorn, which followed the semantic path

thorn ---> pointed object ---> elbow ---> arm

And then stayed with the meaning "arm" because that was the most useful.

All U verbs use bisyllabic forms for the intransitives, and therefore trisyllabic forms for the transitives. These morphemes are -ibo -ube -oba for the ordinary verbs' -o -e -a. Thus it is not a simple infix; it is conjugated.

NOTE: I came up with this idea after 4 months of not working on Poswa, however, so I may be overlooking a reason why I didnt try this before. It may even be better to simply say that this category does not exist. EVEN SO, the fact that these verbs use a unique set of suffixes means that they can exist alongside the ordinary verbs without coalescence, and therefore forever remain theoretical.

THESE VERBS LACK PASSIVE FORMS. THEY ALSO CANNOT BE TURNED INTO NOUNS.

These are called U-stem verbs or U verbs because in Play the stems typically ended with /u/ or /ū/. They are bipersonal verbs, but both person markers must be the same. Thus, forms like *-ubo -obe -iba do not occur even though diachronically they would be just as legitimate as the forms that do occur.

Many U verbs imply privilege on the part of the agent, particularly that the agent is performing an action that other parties would not be able to do.

If they exist, they would be theoretically an open class, since the derivation of each U affix from a given content word is formulaic and cannot produce an ungrammatical form. However, many forms would collide, and it is likely that only a small number of such forms would be used outside of poetry and perhaps some specialized fields. (For example, the same morpheme that for humans could mean "by arm" could for some animals mean "by claw" since the original morpheme is in fact a word for thorn.)

Most U morphemes would be short ones, such as -š- "by key", which could take either a literal use (e.g. opening a door) or a metaphorical one (performing an action that others cannot do). A possible polysemic affix would be -p-, which could mean "by finger/hand", "by water", "by womb", "by eye", and up to 32 other lesser used meanings (that is, anything whose C-stem is a bare /p/). Even more /p/ would occur when other stems such as /š/ occur after a stem ending in a labial consonant.

Some further potential examples, with generous translations:

INTRANSITIVES

Tampišibi.

I drank wine (because I can).

Lappotavibi.

I fell down. (By accident; this derives from tane "rump, tail" and thus means literally "i fell down with my bottom")

Tipopožibi.

I traveled by animal. (/re/ "animal for riding" ---> /rož/ > /ož/) If this verb came into common use it could theoretically contract to /tipʷp-/ through regular syncope, but note that there are no other examples^{that i can remember} of this contraction in the language.

If the affix "by animal" gets grammaticalized, it could shift its meaning widely as have the others, and come to mean "with help". Though again, note that there is already a convenient way of expressing this in Poswa without using a U-verb: the D-stem affix _____ (not at home now so cant list it)

These are all etymologically repetitious, and could be replaced by "normal" forms with the shorter verb suffix, since the U form occupies one extra syllable while adding no new meaning. Thus the entire category of U verbs survives through idiomatic use only.

Other potential U verbs

Most of these use zero-syllable U morphemes, and therefore appear as though they were ordinary atomic word roots. Even with a one-syllable U morpheme, though, this could be achieved if the preceding root were also one syllable or was of a type that offers syncope when compounded.

/p/

1. Ø-p-U to give birth (A zero stem verb. Only if prioritizing the meaning "womb" over other body parts such as the eyes, hands, etc is valid; note that there already exists an ordinary verb /v-/ "to see", so the primary competitor at least for human agents is the "hand" meaning.)

   The two meanings could nonetheless coexist side by side since there would be very little opportunity for confusion in a running conversation: people rarely give birth to objects that they also hold in their hands, unless they are doing both together. The womb/hand dual use would survive for thousands of years not only because of the small overlap, but because they were phonetically different until a few hundred years before the classical Poswa stage.

2. pa-p-U or pap-p-U to menstruate (same as "give birth" but with "blood" as the stem; note that many words for menstruation already exist such as /paepi-/)

   As /papp-/ means "to predict rain", this could be a rare example of a double entendre.

3. pwum-p-U to teach (contraction of /pušum-ba-š-U/)

   On the surface, this looks like it could be reanalyzed as either "using the baby in one's womb" or "using one's military alliance", both of which have C-stems of /pwump-/.

4. la-p-U to teach (contraction of /labi-š-U/)

   Some Moonshine speakers would analyze the /p/ here as certainly meaning "womb" and then say that these are feminine verbs that prove that only women should be allowed to teach.

5. sae-p-U to masturbate (/sala-p-U/; here, /p/ really does mean hand instead of womb)
6. pipu-p-U or pipʷ-p-U to masturbate (same as above but uses /pipi/ "sun; to be happy"; note the shift of /i/ > /u/ before a wet syllable)
7. pim-p-U to use what one is holding up. This is likely to be one of the most concrete U-stems, though it is homophonous with "to use one's bubble" and "to use one's cloud", which could suggest metaphorical meanings and might spread to non-U-stems. Note that the words for bubble and cloud are not homophonous as nouns, only merging when used in their C- and D- stem forms.

/b/

1. Ø-b-U unlikely to see much use; massively polysemous, second only to /p/. Possible meanings include (to use (one's)): handheld object; social play, cooperative work; bottled object; beach life; crime; different, stand-out, out of place; cooperative plural; palm of the hand; artificial light, star; protector, giant; lake; coastal plain. However, the fact that /b/ is the cooperative plural's C-stem may kill off the opportunity to use /b/ with U-stems just by itself.
2. tam-b-U drunk on wine. A literal use. Homophony with plural of /tam/ "grape" not a problem, but note the ordinary verb tamb- "to whip", which might restrict this to intransitive use or to final position in a serial verb construction or a compound.

/ž/

1. Ø-ž-U mouse; flower; birth; touch, whole body; marriage, wedding; arm, hand; bubble, foam, buoy; hill; filth, pollution, dirt.

   The sense of "touch" probably overwhelms all others; it would add to any verb the meaning of "by direct skin contact". Could be used with verbs that already indicate the act of touching something to clarify a literal meaning or as an intensifier. But note that this will have a reflex of /b/ after stems ending in labials, sometimes shifting to /Ø/. This would create homophones with the original word, and thus make the alternation meaningless. For example, bebb- "pinch, grope" would simply shift to itself, unless the thematic vowel were kept intact for emphasis.

/dž/

1. Ø-dž-U to use money. Likely literal uses predominate when used with the zero stem. In fact, it could simply mean "to buy".

Outside of the zero stem, this morpheme may trigger too many mutations to be viable; it would almost always appear as /i/, and more often than not would delete the final vowel of the root it follows. If it is used at all, it is likely in fossilized words where its presence is no longer detectable. For example, piššež- "buy" could be padded with this and turn into pišši-U, actually losing a letter with the addition of the new affix.

Compare, for example,

Poppapi piššelebi.

Poppapi piššiebebi.

I bought a book.

Both sentences are equally valid and would likely have identical meanings, even metaphorically, since the /dž/ completely disappears and the only clue that it was once there is that this verb is a U-stem.

Nevertheless, potential uses of /dž/ could be such as

1. sab-i-U to solicit sex from a prostitute. A literal use, since the etymology is nothing more than "have sex by using money".
2. sal-i-U, same as above, but with /sala/ "enjoy", the same root used up above for masturbation.
3. pal-i-U, same as above but with /paly/ "vagina". Many other similar words could be formed, but some would coalesce with others.

Other verbs could use the /dž/ in a manner similar to /š/, implying that the agent was only able to do something because they had wealth to spend. Thus the piššiebebi sentence above might imply, without saying so, that the book was expensive and that the speaker was flaunting their wealth by deliberately purchasing something the listener would not have been able to afford, whereas the sentence with piššelebi would not. (But note that /džibebi/, with no root, could stand in for one of these.)

/bi/

1. Ø-bi-U by means of a computer or electronic device, originally from a word meaning "intelligent slave". See Modern terminology in Poswa; obviously not part of the classical language.

/f/

1. Ø-f-U by use of a slave. From regular contraction of /taba/ "boy; soldier; obedient slave" into /f/. Similar to Icecap Moonshine constructions, grammatically correct but not common in traditional Poswa.

/mp/

1. Ø-mp-U by use of a slave. From regular contraction of /mifa/ "slave; young boy" into /mp/. Similar to Icecap Moonshine constructions, grammatically correct but not common in traditional Poswa. This morpheme *does not* trigger wet syllable mutations or any other mutations because it was not a primordial cluster. Thus one can say wapimpibebi "I captured him", where the implication is that the person speaking was in control but sent somebody else to do the job.