Minhast
| Minhast | |
| Spoken in: | Republic of Minhay |
| Total speakers: | 58,750,000 |
| Genealogical classification: | Kilmay-Ri
|
| Basic word order: | SOV |
| Morphological type: | polysynthetic |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | ergative-absolutive |
| Created by: | |
| Anyar | 2005 |
Introduction
Minhast (Minhast min kirim lit. "Minhast-speak), the national language of Minhai, is spoken by nearly 59 million people. Approximately 1 million speakers live in expatriate communities throughout the globe, with the largest concentrations residing in the U.S., Xayda, Mexico, the Middle East, Kallaxwān and Canada. Significant numbers also exist in Southeast Asia and Norhern Europe.
Minhast is divided into two major dialects. Upper Minhast, which is centered in the highlands of Kilmay Rī, Ešked (Ekšed), and Attum Attar; the northeastern coastal prefectures of Iskamharat and Perim-Sin; and the National Capital Region, consisting of Āš-min-Gāl, Ankussūr, Huruk, Nammadīn, and Kered. Lower Minhast is spoken mainly in the southeastern coastal prefectures of Neskud, Yaxparim, Senzil, and Rēgum. The two dialects differ chiefly in phonetics and the lexicon, with Lower Minhast containing some Spanish loanwords absorbed during the Colonial Occupation ("Ayawaškum min Karkaraktimaħt"). Otherwise, the two dialects are mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, it is Upper Minhast that is the standardized form of the language, used in government, commerce, and the media.
Additionally, the two dialects are divided into several smaller dialects. The major subdialects of Upper Minhast include the Salmon Speakers of the "Gaššarat" (Northeastern Coast), the Dog Speakers of the "Hisašarum" (Northeaster Plains), the Horse Speakers of the "Gannasia" (Middle Plains), and the Knife Speakers (Plateau Prefecture). Lower Minhast consists of the Gull Speakers (Senzil and Rēgum Prefectures), the Osprey Speakers (Kings' Bay), and the Stone Speakers of the southernmost prefectures (Neskud and Yaxparim).
Minhast possesses a complex grammar, demonstrated in particular by the elaborate polysynthetic morphology of its verbal system. The Minhast verb inflects not only for tense and aspect, but can inflect to indicate mood, modality, causation, potentiality, intensity, and other functions. The verb also possesses a well-developed set of pronominal affixes used to cross-reference the core arguments of a clause. These affixes indicate both gender and number of the nouns they cross-reference, an essential function as Minhast nouns themselves do not have any markings to indicate these two classifications. Additionally, the verb can carry out three other operations, that of noun incorporation, antipassivation, and applicative formation, used by speakers for discourse purposes such as backgrounding previously established information and for changing the argument structure of the phrase for the purposes of focusing on a particular argument, ensuring that priviledged noun phrases retain their core status, or to employ rhetorical devices. This polysynthetic characteristic can lead to very long verbs that can express an entire sentence. To demonstrate, the English phrase, "You did not even try to get them to reconsider the matter with this evidence" requires only three words in Minhast: "Keman yattah, tašnišpipsaryentinasummatittaharu", meaning literally "To them the evidence, not-try-cause-return-look.at-yet-matter-with-it.you-did." The verb "tašnišpipsaryentinasummatittaharu", which is an individual sentence in its own right, can be parsed to its individual morphemes, yielding "ta-šn-šp-b-sar-yenti-nasum-mat-tittah-ar-u" (neg.-conative-causative-resumptive-look.at-yet- matter-instr.applicative-3rd.inanim.sg.patient/2nd.sg.agent-past-transitive).
Minhast is classified as an ergative language, where an agent of a transitive clause receives one type of case marking, while patients of a transitive sentence and subjects of intransitive clauses are grouped together under a single case. This is in contrast to an accusative language like Latin, which groups agents and subjects together under a single case (e.g. -us in mund-us "world"), and patients under a different case (e.g. -o in mundo ). For Minhast, agents are marked with the ergative clitic =de (e.g. nassa-de "brother"), while subjects and patients receive null marking (i.e. nassa=Ø).
Word order is SOV. In simple sentence, this word order is free, although the verb rarely deviates from its clause-final position. Deviation from the unmarked SOV word order is used for discourse purposes; an argument that is to be focused is fronted to the head of the clause. For compound and complex sentences, the verb is obligatorily fixed in clause-final position, but the other arguments of the clause, core, oblique, and sentential complements, still display free word order.
The following grammatical sketch is a description primarily of the National Capital Region variant of Upper Minhast, the standard dialect used for government, commerce, and media; examples from other Minhast dialects, or from Old or Classical Minhast will be noted as appropriate.
Phonology
Phonemic Inventory
| Voiced | Unvoiced | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Labials | b,m | p,f | |
| Dentals | d,n | t | |
| Velars | g | k,x | |
| Liquids | l,r | ---- | |
| Sibilants | z,/ƹ/ | s, š | |
| Palatals | (t) | ---- | |
| Laryngeals | ---- | h | |
| Pharyngeals | ---- | / ħ/ | |
| Glottal | /'/ | ---- | |
| Glides | w, y | ---- |
| Short | Long | Devoiced |
| a | ā | (ạ) |
| e | ē | (ẹ) |
| i | ī | (ị) |
| u | ū | (ụ) |
Syllabic Structure and Phonemic Interactions
Minhast words are subject to complex morphophonemic changes resulting from interactions with other morphemes occurring in the word. The verb is particularly complex in the various sound changes that may occur as a result of noun incorporation as well as the aggluginative processes involved in conjugation or other inflectional processes. These phonemic changes can be broken down according to the following classifications:
- Assimilation
- Metathesis
- Syncope
- Epenthesis
- Voicing/Devoicing
These complex morphophonemic interactions operate according to the general phonological principals outlined below:
- No syllable can have a consonant cluster of more than two consonants. Syncope can be applied only if a biconsonantal cluster is formed, and the vowel is not a part of a heavy syllable (i.e. the vowel is long, or it occurs in a VCC sequence).
- No Minhast word can have an initial consonant cluster. After any initial consonant cluster results from one or more of the possible morphophonemic alternations described below, an epenthetic is automatically appended to the head of the word to form the permissible iCC- pattern.
- An epenthetic vowel is always inserted between two syllables if combining the syllables results in a triconsonantal cluster. The default epenthetic vowel is , but the other 3 vowels may also be used, depending on multiple factors (e.g. vowel harmony, an underlying quiescent initial vowel as part of the attached morpheme, etc.)
- Minhast has a strong tendency to form intermedial clusters, either or , providing that Rules #1-#3 are observed. If necessary, an epenthetic vowel may be added before or after the syllable to create these syllabic patterns, e.g. e.g. kanut-maris-kar- >> -kant-(u)-maris-kar
- The tendency to form intermedial consonant clusters creates complex assimilation interactions that nevertheless are predictable and almost always regular. These interactions are illustrated in Table X below:
Final Consonant Initial Consonant f p b k x g t d s š z l r m n h w y f ff pp pp fk fx fk ft ft fs f fs fl fr fm fn f fw fy p pp pp pp pk xp pk pt pt ps p ps pl pr pm pn p pw py b pp pp bb pk xp mg pt mb ps p ps bl br mb mb p bw by k kf kp kp kk kk kk kt kt ks k ks kl kr km kn k kw ky x xf xp xp kk x gg xt xt ss šš ss xl x xm xn x xw xy g kf kp gb kk k gg kt gd ks k zg lg gr gm gn k gw gy t ft pt pt kt xt kt tt tt st t st tt rt mt nt t wt šš d ft pt bb kt xt gd tt dd st t zd ld rd mb nd t dw d s sp sp sp sk xs sk st st ss šš ss sl ss sm sn s sw š š p p p k šš k t t ss šš ss l šš m n ħš ww š z sp sp zb sk ss zg st zd ss šš zz zl zz zm zn s zw ž l lf pp lb kk xl lg tt ld sl l zl ll rr mm nn l lw yy r rf rp rb rk x rg rt rd, dd ss šš zz ll nn rm nn rh, r ww yy m mf mp mb k xn mg mt md ns n nz ml mr mm nn mh ww my n mf mp mb k xn g nt nd ss šš nz ll rr mm nn nh nw ny,yy h f p p k x k t t s ħš s l r m n h w y - Vowels are classified according to a "weak-strong" gradient, where the "strong" vowels are more resistant to syncope than neighboring "weak(er)" vowels. All long vowels are by definition "strong", so the weak-strong gradient really applies to short vowels: Table X: Vowel Gradients In Order of Increasing Strength
- The shape of a -CVCVC- syllable may contract either to a -CCVC- or -CVCC- pattern, depending on the strength gradients of the vowels with respect to one another. The -CaCaC- syllable pattern is the only one that does not contract. Syllables consisting of the same vowels may appear in either -CCVC- or -CVCC- patterns; the pattern they resolve to is influenced by interactions from surrounding syllables. These contractions are summarized in Table X:
Initial Pattern Final Contraction -CaCaC- (no change) -CaCuC-, -CaCeC-, -CaCiC- -CaCC- -CuCaC-, -CeCaC-, -CiCaC-, -CCaC- -CuCuC-, -CuCeC-, -CuCiC- -CuCC- -CuCuC-, CeCuC-, -CiCuC- -CCuC- -CeCeC-, -CeCiC- -CeCC- -CeCeC-, -CiCeC- -CCeC- -CiCiC- -CCiC-, -CiCC- - A verb root or an incorporated noun tends to lose one or more vowels to form at least one biconsonant cluster. The vowel that is lost depends on its strength gradient in relation to the noun of the neighboring syllable.
- With the exception of pattern -CaCa-, when two adjoining syllables have vowels within the same gradient, vocalic syncope resolves to CVCC.
- The pattern (C)VVCC always resolves to (C)VCC
- Compared to nominal and verbal roots, inflectional morphemes (e.g. theme, aspect, tense, person, etc) are resistant to syncope because this may lead to the inflectional morpheme to be changed beyond recognition. For example,-šp-irak- he informed (him) (lit. "he caused him to know") does not resolve to -šip-rak-, even though this would prevent the impermissible CCV pattern from occurring. Instead, an epenthetic vowel is added before the causative affix to prevent this impermissible consonant cluster from occurring.
- Although inflectional morphemes do not experience syncope, they still may experience phonological changes in the form of metathesis and devoicing.
- Vowel devoicing occurs in CVħC, CVxC, CVsC, or CVC syllables, where C is any of the unvoiced consonants listed in Table X.
- Two consecutive syllables with the pattern CVCVC resolves to CVCCVC, due to the difficulty of pronouncing the allophone in two consecutive closed syllables. Additionally, the vowel in the previous syllable may be devoiced if its adjacent consonants are voiceless, as in Example A, where the verb root vowel -a- which occurs the voiceless consonants -k- and -h- devoices to -ạ-. Note also the epenthetic vowel -i- appearing before the verb root and the 1st person incl. pl. affix ,-ħk- e.g.: naħtikemkaraban >> *naħtiħkemaraban >> *naħt-hkem-ar-ab-an "We were (being) annoying" (lit.: annoying-we.and.you-[past]-[ imperf.]-[intrans]) nekạħtikemaraban >> *nekạħtịħkemaraban >> *nekạħt-ħkem-ar-ab-an "I was avoiding..."
- Dissimilation occurs in CVC-patterns involving š-Vš, resolving to s-Vš. A prime example is the number "twenty", e.g.*šan-šentāz >> *san-šentāz > > saššentāz
- Dissimilation occurs in CVC-patterns involving mVm, resolving to nVm.
Parts of Speech
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Particles
Existentials
| Form | Basic | Past Tense | Immediate Future | Immediate Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | matti min, mattim | mattarim | mattanem | massatum |
| Negative | hambin | hambarin | hambanem | hambatine |
Conjunctions
| Affix | Meaning | Additional Comments |
|---|---|---|
| suttu/sut, =s + [NP]=suttu | and | [additional comments] |
| kan | but | [additional comments] |
| xan, xandaš | or | [additional comments] |
Deictics
| Type | Basic Form | Preposed "wa=" Form |
|---|---|---|
| Proximal | sappu | wassappu |
| Medio-Proximal | naš | wannaši |
| Distal | wašia | wassaše |
| Invisible | hūrit | wahūrit |
Modals
| Neutral | Dubitative | Comments | |||
| Independent | Verbal Clitic | Independent | Verbal Clitic | ||
| Hearsay | (wak)kaš | =(n)niš | (wat)tassumš | =(š)šix | it is said |
| Scriptive | (was)suriš | =ssumš | (wat)tupiš | '=supnimaš | it is written |
| Conjectural | (wan)nay | =sippaš | (wayy)utaš | =taš | perhaps |
| Exclamatory | ayye | =š | ayye | =š | "You don't say! Really!" |
Nouns
Interrogative Pronouns
| English | Minhast |
| Who | šikk, darad |
| What | bak |
| Which | ādan min; * ādam |
| When | sippan, sippamey |
| Why | širekka, bakran |
| Where at | nakkī |
| Where to, whither | nakran |
| Where from, whence | nakyar |
| At which location | nakkīdān |
| From which location | nakkīdanyār |
| To which location | nakkīdarran |
| how many/how much | bitakku |
Quantifiers
| Quantifier | Substantive | Attributive |
|---|---|---|
| All | rea | rem, suppī min, sumpī min |
| Most | šie | šim |
| Some | rem | azarim, ikyem, wakkī min |
| Many | san | sam |
| Both | šani | šanim |
| Each | uššumī | uššumīm |
| Few | kattua | kattum |
| Another/Other | xani, nexāni | xanim, nexāni min |
Case
| Case | Strong Noun | Weak Noun | ||
| Absolutive | gal | marua | yarea | simmia |
| Ergative | gal=de | marū=de | yarē=de | simmī=de |
| Oblique | gal= | marūa= | yarē= | simmī= |
| Stative | gal= | marū= | yarē= | simmī= |
| Meaning | horse | star | young girl | night |
| Preceding Phoneme | Erg. Enclitic Form |
|---|---|
| (V)V, g, z, l, r, n | =de |
| f, p, k, x, s, š, h, | =te |
| m | =be |
| d, t | =e |
| Case | Postposition |
|---|---|
| Dative | -(a)ran |
| Benefactive | -nī |
| Ablative | -yār |
| Locative | -kī |
| Instrumental | -pār |
| Commitative | -kān |
| Malefactive | -dah |
Pronominal Forms
| Independant Forms | Bound Forms | |||
| Person - Number - Gender | Ergative | Absolutive | Oblique | Stative |
| 1st Sg. | yakte | yak | yak- | -ek |
| 2nd Sg. | tahte | taħ | tah-,taħ- | -taħ |
| 3rd Masculine - Common Sg. | kūde | kua | kū- | -na |
| 3rd Feminine Sg. | lēde- | lea | lē-, ley- | -lea |
| 3rd Neuter Animate Sg. | šemet | šea | šē-, šey- | -šea |
| 3rd Neuter Inanimate Sg. | mēde | mea | mē-,mey- | -mea |
| 1st Plural Inclusive | hakemt(e) | hak | hak- | -hakkem |
| 1st Pl Exclusive | nemt(e) | nem | nem- | -nem |
| 2nd Pl. | taħtemt(e) | taħtem | -taħtem | -taħtem- |
| 3rd Masc./Common Pl | kemt(e) | kem | kem- | -kem |
| 3rd Fem. Pl. | wext(e) | wexī, weššī | wex- | (n/a) |
| 3rd Neut. Anim. Pl. | sešt(e) | seš | sešš(i)- | -sseš |
| 3rd Neut. Inanim Pl. | maħt(e) | maħ | mah-, maħ- | -maħ |
Demonstratives
| Pronominal Demonstrative Forms | Independent | Attributive | Clitic | Comments | ||
| Absolutive | Ergative | Absolutive | Ergative | |||
| Proximal | sap | sapte | sapim, sap min | =sap | =sapte | this one, near the speaker |
| Medio-proximal | nax | naxt(e) | naxtim | =nax | =naxt(e) | this/that one near the listener |
| Distal | waššī | wašt(e) | waššim | =waš | =wašt(e) | far from both speaker and listener |
| Invisible | kiryit | kirte | kiryit min | =kirit | =kiryit | |
Numbers
Cardinal and ordinal numbers are one of the [two/XX] groups of true adjectives in the Minhast language. Minhast employs a vegisimal, i.e. base-20, counting system. Numeric expressions involve binding the number and modified noun in a specific construct involving the ligature: Both cardinal and ordinal numbers can take possessive pronominal suffixes (see Part III "Syntax - Possession" for discussion of possessive constructs), which then convey "X number of..." in the case of cardinal numbers, and "the Xth one of/among..." for ordinals, e.g.:
Meneħnemš nasxēreħ iŋkunnuħnemaran "Four of us went out there into the forest."
Menhakkem nasxēreħ iŋkunnuħkēmaran "The fourth one among them went into the forest."
The numbers 1-10 even have intransitive verbal forms, meaning "There were X number of us/you/them." The cardinal, ordinal, and verbal forms are summarized below:
| Number | Cardinal | Ordinal | Verbal |
|---|---|---|---|
| one | šūmi | sanannūx, manx | -šūmi-an |
| two | šānī | šānāx | -šān-an- |
| three | duxt | duxtāx | -duxut-an, -duxt-an |
| four | meneħ | menhāx | -mene-an, -menh-an |
| five | kaħtam | kaħtamāx | -katam-an |
| six | silix | silxāx | -silix-an, -silx-an |
| seven | gelix | gilxāx | -gelix-an, -gelx-an |
| eight | mun | munāx | -mun-an |
| nine | karun | karnāx | -karun-an, -karn-an |
| ten | tazem | tazmāx | -tazem-an, -tazm-an |
| eleven | šiktāz | šiktezāx | ---- |
| twelve | sen | senāx | ---- |
| thirteen | halk | halkāx | ---- |
| fourteen | duggalk | duggalxāx | ---- |
| fifteen | āš | āšāx | ---- |
| sixteen | neš | nešāx | ---- |
| seventeen | manšat | manšatāx | ---- |
| eighteen | zenat | zenatāx | ---- |
| nineteen | zelkark | zelkarkāx | ---- |
| twenty | šentāz | šentezāx | ---- |
| twenty-one | šentāz-u-šum | šentāz-u-manāx | ---- |
| twenty-two | šentāz-u-šan | šentāz-u-šanāx | ---- |
| twenty-three | šentāz-u-duxt | šentāz-u-duxtāx | ---- |
| thirty | šentāz-u-tazem | šentāz-u-tazmāx | ---- |
| forty | saššentāz | saššentezāx | ---- |
| fifty | saššentāz-u-tazem | saššentāz-u-tazmāx | ---- |
| sixty | duššentāz | duššentezāx | ---- |
Ligatures
The Ligature "Min" and Allophones
| Preceding Phoneme | Final Form | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| f,g,h,k,m,p,r,s,š,(w),y,z | min | |
| (V)V | =m | Long vowels are retracted to short vowels |
| b,d | =mbin | Preceding -b is metethasized, -d is elided |
| l,n | =mmin | Preceding -l, -n are elided |
Verbs
Transitivity is determined by the number of core arguments, that is Agent or Patient/Goal. Minhast verbs do not necessarily map to traditional (i.e. Indo-European) notions of transitivity. As an example, the English sentence, "He jumped on the table" is grammatically intransitive. Available to the Minhast verb are both intransitive and transitive mappings: "Zekyaškī nirriekaran" , which is grammatically intransitive, with zekyaš=kī an oblique argument. The same meaning can be expressed transitively when the verb's valence is altered when the locative applicative affix (i)-n(i)- is applied: Zekyaš in-nirrieku.
Types
1) Adjectival 2) State 3) Impersonal 4) Phenomonological 5) Event
Verb Template
1) Negators, Precatives 2) Theme 1 Affixes 3) Applicatives 4) Theme 2 Affixes 5) Verb Stem: Verb-like Derivational Affixes, Root, Noun-like Derivational Affixes, Incorporated Noun 6) Social-Distributional Affixes 7) Pronominal Cross-Reference Affixes 8) Tense-Aspect Markers 9) Post-TA Markers (includes transitivizer, detransitivizer, and nominalizer affixes) 10) Terminals (clause operator affixes, irrealis markers)
Theme 1 Affixes
| Theme | Affix | Meaning | Additional Notes |
| Desiderative | -šak- | to desire, wish | Incompatible with imperatives. Other affixes that may occur in this slot are "-xp-" (to enjoy), "-nisp-" (to hate), -"ruxt-" (to like), etc. |
| Conative | -šn- | try | Incompatible with imperatives. |
| Abilitative | -mar- | can, to be able to | Incompatible with imperatives. |
| Inclinative | -ntar- | almost | Denotes an action that was or is nearly to be carried out; Incompatible with imperatives. |
| Potentive | -nitt(a)- | might, possibly | Incompatible with imperatives. |
| Causative | -šp- | to cause, bring about | When used with the Privative, become the Negative Causative |
| Resumptive | -b- | again | |
| Intensive Intransitive | -nt(a)- | very, extremely | This affix is used with adjectival, stative, or qualitative verb roots only. |
| Intensive Active | -t(a)- | very, extremely | This affix is used with semantically transitive verb roots, even if the verb has been antipassivized. |
| Privative | -mašn- | to undo | Reverses a state or action. When used with the Causative, it means "to cause to not be/do something" |
| Necessitive | -(y)yat- | to be necessary | |
| Continuative | -xt- | to continue | |
| Cessative | -kš- | to cease | Indicates the cessation of an action or state |
| Iterative | -rex- | to do several times | This affix occurs only with semantically transitive verb roots |
Applicative Affixes
| Applicative | Affix |
| Dative | -dut- |
| Benefactive | -rak- |
| Instrumental | -mat- |
| Locative | -n- |
| Commitative | -mgar- |
| Ablative | -ner- |
| Malefactive | -nusk- |
Theme 2 Affixes
| Mode | Affix |
| Habitual | -asum-,-abab- |
| Inchoative | -saxt- |
| Inceptive | -nd- |
| Inverse Volitional | -kah- |
| Partial Control | -šk(e)- |
The Verb Stem
Verb-like Derivational Affixes
Verb Root
Noun-like Derivational Affixes
| Affix | Gloss/Meaning |
| -hupn- | instrumental affix |
| -šnī-,-šn- | consisting of |
| -pniš- | propensity towards |
| -pa- | abstract affix, "-tude,-ity","-ness" |
| -sset- | temporal affix, "time of" |
| -ky-,-kī- | locative affix |
| -(n)niwak-,-nwak- | occupational affix, "one who engages in an activity" |
| -tak- | transitive manner affix, "the manner of engaging in an activity" |
| -tak- | intransitive stative/adjectival manner affix, "manner of being" |
Incorporated Noun
Restrictions on incorporated nouns: they can only be noun stems; case and other markers are not allowed. Morphophenemic operations may occur as a result of the incorporation process. These operations may be seen in Phonemic Inventory.
Prepronominal Affixes
| Class | Affix | Additional Notes |
| Reflexive | -šar- | |
| Reflexive-Benefactive | -sakšar- | |
| Reciprocal | -šattar-,-sart-,-šatt- | This affix requires plural actor affixes |
| Reciprocal-Benefactive | -sakšatt- | This affix requires plural actor affixes |
| Assistive | -fk- | This affix requires plural actor affixes |
| Assistive-Benefactive | -fkast- | This affix requires plural actor affixes |
| Associative | -mmak- | This affix requires plural actor affixes |
| Associative-Benefactive | -mmakast- | This affix requires plural actor affixes |
| Adversarial | -dus(s)art/dust- | Co-occurs requires plural actor affixes |
| Pretensive-Assitive | -fkuš- | Co-occurs requires plural actor affixes |
| Pretensive-Associative | -tušt-, -tuštim- | Co-occurs requires plural actor affixes |
| Pretensive-Benefactive | -(a)mtuš- | Co-occurs requires plural actor affixes |
| Distributive | -tar- | The Distributive refers to an action or state across each individual, and is usually translated as "each". The Distributive may also in some verbs indicate that the verbal event is spread out spatially across a surface, or temporally across different segments of time (e.g. "each day"). The Distributive does not refer to the Ergative argument of transitive clauses; for that, the appropriate Quantifier adjective/noun is used. |
| Partitive | -nes- | Conveys that only a portion of the argument(s) is involved in the verbal event or state, sometimes translated as "some". The Partitive does not refer to the Ergative argument of transitive clauses; for that, the appropriate Quantifier adjective/noun is used. |
Pronominal Affixes
Portmenteau Pronominal for the Transitive Verb
The pronominal affixes present one of the greatest challenges to the students of the Minhast language due to their inherent complexity in structure and morphosyntax. These affixes serve important functions to the core arguments they coreference, such as indicating syntactic roles, gender, animacy, and number. These affixes, along with the role affixes, also serve to identify the verb as transitive or intransitive. For the transitive verb, the pronominal affixes present greater complexities than those of the intransitive verb - the transitive affixes, representing both the ergative and absolutive arguments of the clause, are portmenteau affixes; although some patterns can be discerned from this fusion of the segments representing the ergative and absolutive components, the transitive pronominal affixes are mostly irregular and have to be memorized individually. As expected, the affixes may change shape due to the sound changes created by adjacent morphemes. However, many of these sound changes deviate from the normal assimilation patterns described earlier in Chapter X "Phonology". The pronominal affixes distinguish three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. The neuters are further differentiated into animate and inanimate; the masculine and feminine genders are inherently animate and thus require no special marking. These affixes also indicate singular and plural numbers. Both the masculine and the feminine 3rd person plurals have merged into one common gender, while the gender for animate and inanimate neuter nouns are still distinguished.
Due to the complexity of the transitive pronominal affixes, their full forms are summarized in Table X below:
| Patient (Singular) | ||||||
| Agent | 1st sg. | 2nd sg. | 3rd masc. sg. | 3rd fem. sg. | 3rd neut. anim sg. | 3rd neut. inanim. sg. |
| 1st Sg. | ---- | -tak- | -(e)k- | -kk- | -k- | -tirk- |
| 2nd Sg | -ktah- | ---- | -tah- | -lettah- | -tah- | -tittah- |
| 3rd Masc. Sg | -knen- | -tnen- | -nn-, -- | -lenn- | -enn- | -tirenn- |
| 3rd Fem. Sg | -kl- | -tal- | -l- | -ll- | -l- | -till- |
| 3rd Neut. Anim. Sg | -k- | -t- | -- | -- | -se- | -ti- |
| 3rd Neut. Inanim. Sg | -km- | -tam- | -m- | -mm- | -m- | -tmm- |
| 1st Pl. Incl. | ---- | ---- | -hak- | -hlak- | -k- | -tirhak- |
| 1st Pl. Excl. | ---- | -tnem- | -nem- | -lennem- | -ennem- | -tinnem- |
| 2nd Pl. | -ktahm- | ---- | -tm- | -lettm- | -ettm- | -tittm- |
| 3rd Pl. Common | -kken- | -takken- | -nk- | -lekken- | -se��en- | -tikken- |
| 3rd Pl. Neut. Anim. | -ksen- | -taen- | -sen- | -less- | -sesse- | -tisse- |
| 3rd Pl. Neut. Inanim. | -kmah- | -tamah- | -mah- | -mmah- | -ma- | -timmah- |
| Patient (Plural) | ||||||
| Agent | 1st plural incl. | 1st plural excl. | 2nd plural common | 3rd plural common | 3rd plural neut. anim | 3rd plural neut. inanim. |
| 1st Sg. | ---- | ---- | -tmek- | -kenk- | -ak- | -mak- |
| 2nd Sg | -hektah- | -nimtah- | ---- | -kemtah- | -iat- | -mattah- |
| 3rd Masc. Sg | -hakn- | -nenn- | -tenn- | -kenn- | -sen- | -mann- |
| 3rd Fem. Sg | -hall- | -nell- | -tall- | -kell- | -sel- | -mall- |
| 3rd Neut. Anim. Sg | -hak- | -nem | -tahem- | - kem - | -se- | -ma- |
| 3rd Neut. Inanim. Sg | -hakm- | -nemm- | -tamm- | -kemm- | -sem- | -namm- |
| 1st Pl. Incl. | ---- | ---- | ---- | -kemhak- | -sak- | -makkak- |
| 1st Pl. Excl. | ---- | ---- | -tamme- | -kemmi- | -sni- | -manne- |
| 2nd Pl. Common | ---- | -nittam- | ---- | -kettamm- | -sutam- | -mattam- |
| 3rd Pl. Common | -hakkem- | -nikkem- | -takkem- | -ikkem- | -skem-,-skum- | -makkem- |
| 3rd Pl. Neut. Anim. | -haks- | -nims- | -tass- | -kess | -suss-, -suss- | -mass- |
| 3rd Pl. Neut. Inanim. | -hakmah- | -nemmah- | -tammah- | -kemmah- | -smah- | -nammah- |
In comparison to the transitive pronominal affixes, the affixes for the intransitive verb are much simpler. There forms are listed below in Table X:
Absolutive Pronominal Affixes for the Intransitive Verb
| Person | Absolutive |
| 1st Sg. | -k- |
| 2nd Sg. | -ta- |
| 3rd Masculine - Common Sg. | -- |
| 3rd Feminine Sg. | -l- |
| 3rd Neuter Animate Sg. | -Ø-, -š- |
| 3rd Neuter Inanimate Sg. | -m- |
| 1st Plural Inclusive | -hak |
| 1st Pl Exclusive | -mm- |
| 2nd Pl. | -tam- |
| 3rd Common Pl. | -km- |
| 3rd Neut. Anim. Pl. | -i- |
| 3rd Neut. Inanim Pl. | -mah-, -ma- |
Tense-Aspect (TA) Affixes
| Tense | Affix | Additional Notes |
| Remote Past | --šar- | The Remote Past usually encompasses periods of decades or longer |
| Past | -ar- | ---- |
| Present | --Ø-- | Also encompasses the immediate past. |
| Immediate Future | -ne- | ---- |
| Future | -(a)satt- | ---- |
| Aspect | Affix |
| Imperfect | -(a)b- |
| Perfect | -Ø- |
| Partial Completion | -knakt- |
| Permansive | -sniyat- |
Note: The Permansive is used to indicate that a state or action is an eternal truth. It is therefore incompatible with all tenses and aspects, and the Habitual.
Post-TA Affixes
The Post-TAM affixes serve to mark the verb's transitivity, and to establish its role as either a true verb or a nominalized VP. All affixes in this slot are mutually exclusive.
| Class | Affix |
| Detransitivizer | -an, -ēn, -en + C |
| Transitivizer | -u |
| Nominalizer | -naft |
Note: For the Detransitivizer -an, the latter two forms are non-pausal forms for when the preceding vowel is e or -ē. Otherwise, the combination -ean occurs if the verb is sentence-final and no other affix follows.
Clause Operation Affixes
These occupy the final position of the verb complex. They often co-occur and interact with other verbal affixes and participate in valence operations (e.g. antipassivation, applicative formation) to coordinate clauses.
| Affix | Function | Notes | |
| -pi- | Antipassive | ||
| -pamp- | Correferential Affix | This affix occurs in an intransitive verb to indicate that the Abs. argument is coreferrential with an Erg. argument of a later clause. | |
| -mā | General Subordinative |
English translation: "then; that". This suffix is used primarily to link Sequential clauses. It also interacts with other verbal affixes in clause combining operations to form conditionals, complements, and other clause types. | |
| -nimmā | Purposive | in order to | |
| -namā | Direct Quotative | English: "Thus (x) says/said". Marks the following clause as direct speech. | |
| -tamā | Indirect Quotative | English: "(s/he) said that". Marks the following clause as indirect speech. | |
| -dur, -dūr | Consequential Affix | Indicates the clause is a direct result of the preceding clause | |
| -kil | Unexpected | Indicates the verb is a sudden, unexpected event or state. | |
| -š | Irrealis Affix | This affix marks the VP as an unrealized and/or hypothetical state or event. In addition to its usage in interrogative sentences, this affix, combined with the Consequential affix and certain sentential particles to form hypothetical and conterfactual clauses. This affix tends to elide any consonant before it. The Irrealis co-occurs with certain affixes, such as the Desiderative and allied forms, the Conative, the Inclinative, and the Future tenses. |
Allomorphs for Correferential "-pamp-"
The Correferential affix "-pamp-" combines with the other Clause Operation affixes to form highly irregular allomorphs:
| -an | -ampi | -u | |
| -- | -ampa(mpa) | -ampimampa | -nipampa |
| = mā | -ampā, -ampamā | -ampimampā | -nimampā, -nimampimā, -nimampamā |
| = š | -ampampiš | -ampimampiš | -nimampiš |
| =mā + š | -ampama(ma)š | -ampimampaš, -ampimampimaš | -nimampamaš |
| = nimmā | -ampamapimmā | -ampipampimmā | -numampimmā |
| = nimmā+ š | -ampamapimmaš | -ampipampimmaš | -numampimmaš |
Syntax
Main article in Minhast Morphosyntax
Vocabulary
Main article in Minhast Vocabulary
Texts
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