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Verbs
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 1 Feb 2021, 17:15.

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Menu 1. Valency and Voice 2. Person, Animacy and Number 3. Negative 4. Mood 5. Aspect 6. Verbal Affixes
Verbs in Proto-Asuranesian conjugated not for tense but for voice and valency. There were ablaut processes to mark valency for three categories: intransitive, monotransitive and ditransitive. In several daughter languages, these evolved into complex verb categories covering stative, passive and reflexive and reciprocal meanings. In addition, verbs took a set of suffixes that marked mood, aspect, number and person/animacy. PAS was a tenseless language and relied on its aspects and context to convey temporal information. Verb structure was as follows:

ROOT • valency/voice - person/animacy/number - negative - mood - aspect


Verbs in PAS are classified by their roots (dynamic, stative) and their endings (C-Stem, V-Stem, 0-Stem). The root determined how many voices a verb could conjugate for, whilst the ending determined whether the long or short form of the person/number suffixes was used - full form for C-Stems (end in a consonant, thematic vowel), with the short form occurring for V-Stems (end in a vowel, thematic vowel) and 0-Stem (end in either a consonant or vowel, athematic vowel).

The thematic vowels marked valency and were: a (INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
), u (TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
) and i (DITRDitransitive (valency)
has three arguments
), whilst athematic vowels had no syntactic value and were: e ə y o. A 0-Stem verb could either end in an athematic vowel (0-Stem Open verb) or a consonant (0-Stem Closed verb) although this didn't affect conjugation.

[edit] [top]Valency and Voice

Valency was marked by an ablaut system with a thematic vowel marking each, whilst voice was marked by an affix (unmarked for active, suffix for middle, infix for passive). Each root was composed of a set of consonants and unchanging vowels, with the thematic vowel (suffixed after the root in 0-Stem verbs) being the one that underwent ablaut. PAS had three voices (active, middle, passive) - the first marking a subject that was the agent of the verb, the second marking a semantic patient but syntactic agent (also used in a reflexive or reciprocal sense and possibly even to mark volition) and the third marking a subject that was the patient of the verb. Theoretically, any verb could occur in any voice or valency but, whilst stative roots occurred in all valencies, they are only known to have occurred in the active and middle voices, whereas dynamic roots occurred in all forms, including intransitive stative forms. Some stative roots appear to have been identical in meaning to the intransitive forms of dynamic roots, suggesting that PAS exhibited a fairly free lexicon with a number of synonymous words, as in English "ginormous, huge, massive, gigantic" - all of which mean the same thing but are still separate words that are equally acceptable in speech. Alternatively, intransitive dynamic verbs may have had connotations of non-volition or been used in a different speech register, potentially being seen as "higher" or "respectful" verbs based on the verb systems of some daughters, although this is largely conjecture and many linguists argue that these systems likely evolved later and independently of one another.

Thematic vowels: -a- (INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
), -u- (TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
), -i- (DITRDitransitive (valency)
has three arguments
)

Dynamic root *oz- (to speak)

Active
*ozá- (to speak INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
)
*ozú- (to speak about TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
)
*ozí- (to speak to ... about DITRDitransitive (valency)
has three arguments
)

Middle
*ozáŋe- (to speak to oneself INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
)
*ozúŋe- (to speak to TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
)
*ozíŋe- (to speak to each other about DITRDitransitive (valency)
has three arguments
)

Passive
*ozʔá- (to be spoken about INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
)
*ozʔú- (to be spoken about by TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
)
*ozʔí- (to be spoken about by ... to TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
)

Stative root *kʷát- (to be)

Active
*kʷát- (to be INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
)
*kʷút- (to be TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
)
*kʷít- (to be ... to DITRDitransitive (valency)
has three arguments
)

Middle
*kʷátŋe- (to be to oneself INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
)
*kʷútŋe- (to be to oneself TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
)
*kʷítŋe- (to be to each other DITRDitransitive (valency)
has three arguments
)

The contrasting intransitive-transitive forms of *kʷát- reflect whether the verb was used as a copula for an inanimate noun (intransitive form + absolutive) or an animate noun (transitive form + accusative). The ditransitive active form indicates that the indirect object is the one expressing control or reception of an event (used only with a direct object). In English this would be approximated as I am a man to him/In his opinion, I am a man/He thinks of me (as being) a man. The ditransitive middle form indicates reciprocality, i.e we are ... to each other.

In addition to the three main valencies, some stative verbs (typically describing weather or other uncontrollable situations) could have avalent forms formed by the loss of the thematic vowel in C-Stem and V-Stem verbs, or simply through the use of the bare stem in 0-Stem verbs. Avalent verbs are only attested in the active form and lacked a person conjugation, instead taking a dummy conjugation in the form of the verbaliser suffix *-pno

Stative root *lər- (to rain lightly, to drizzle)

*lərpnónl = it rains (IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'
)
*ləʔə́rpno = it is raining (CONTContinuative (tense/aspect)
continuous or durational action
)
*lərlə́rpno = it re-rains (rains again) (ITERIterative (aspect)
repeated actions within an event
)

[edit] [top]Person, Animacy and Number

Person/animacy and number were marked by a set of suffixes that followed the root and any voice suffixes. Nouns in PAS were inflected for four numbers (singular, dual, paucal, plural), whilst pronouns only inflected for three (singular, dual, plural). Nouns also appeared in two classes (animate, inanimate) and pronouns had three persons (first, second, third), all of which was reflected in the verbal suffixes. Due to these synthetic suffixes, PAS is believed to have been a largely pro-drop language, allowing subject pronouns to disappear when marked on a verb, and potentially even allowing nouns to be dropped if not needed as the verb still marked semantic information like class and number that helped avoid ambiguity or confusion.

Short Form
1st Person2nd Person3rd PersonAnimateInanimate
Singular-m--kʷ--s--tlis--nis-
Dual-lu--kl--sʷl--tlon--non-
Paucal-tih--nih-
Plural-mut--ŋu--snt--tolu--nlu-


Long Form
1st Person2nd Person3rd PersonAnimateInanimate
Singular-im--akʷ--as--lis--nis-
Dual-lu--ikl--asʷl--lon--anon-
Paucal-uih--nuih-
Plural-imut--aŋu--isnt--iolu--inlu-


Person/animacy and number were marked by suffixes that followed the voiced stem and came in one of two forms: long or short. The long forms were used after a consonant (C-Stem), whilst the short forms came after a vowel (V-Stem, 0-Stem). These suffixes showed an unusual variation in regularity and which vowel was used for the long form, suggesting that perhaps the earlier ancestor of PAS exhibited ablaut or underwent a chain shift in its vowels that resulted in the mixture seen here.

Dynamic 0-Stem *oz- (to speak)
Intransitive Active *ozá-
1st Person2nd Person3rd PersonAnimateInanimate
Singularozám-ozákʷ-ozás-ozátlis-ozánis-
Dualozálu-ozákl-ozásʷl-ozátlon-ozánon-
Paucalozátih-ozánih-
Pluralozámut-ozáŋu-ozásnt-ozátolu-ozánlu-


Stative C-Stem *kʷát- (to be)
Intransitive Active *kʷát-
1st Person2nd Person3rd PersonAnimateInanimate
Singularkʷátim-kʷátakʷ-kʷátas-kʷátlis-kʷátnis-
Dualkʷátlu-kʷátikl-kʷátasʷl-kʷátlon-kʷátanon-
Paucalkʷátuih-kʷátnuih-
Pluralkʷátimut-kʷátaŋu-kʷátisnt-kʷátiolu-kʷátinlu-


However, there was a regular mutation in certain verbs. These verbs all ended in /j/ normally but underwent a stem change to /x/ finally in the 3rd Person conjugations. This is due to the stem in Early-PAS ending in /ɣ/ which didn't take an epenthetic vowel before the 3rd Person conjugations due to the fricative-fricative sequence. Therefore, when /ɣ/ shifted between the early and late forms of the language, it became /x/ before the 3rd Person suffixes (due to these being voiceless fricatives) but /j/ everywhere else, creating this irregularity.

Dynamic C-Stem *túj- (to cut)
Intransitive Active *táj-
1st Person2nd Person3rd PersonAnimateInanimate
Singulartájim-tájakʷ-xs-tájlis-tájnis-
Dualtájlu-tájikl-xsʷl-tájlon-tájanon-
Paucaltájuih-tájnuih-
Pluraltájimut-tájaŋu-xsnt-jolu-tájinlu-


For these verbs, /i/ in the long form animate plural suffix -iolu- would also disappear after the /j/ of the stem, as in *jolu- (they cut).

[edit] [top]Negative

The PAS negative was a suffix *-i- which mutated in different circumstances:

  • *-i- after approximants or glottals
  • *-j- after stops and fricatives /p b t d k g f s z x/ or in clusters
  • *-hi- after nasals or any vowel



PAS had four moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative and potential, marked by suffixes that were the same for all persons/genders and numbers. These suffixes were: -∅, *-xʷəx, *-xaʔ, *-ʔoʔi.

Indicative:
The indicative was the unmarked mood and indicated factual statements and positive beliefs.

Subjunctive:
The subjunctive marked imaginary or hypothetical events and situations and was also used for making polite requests. As in many languages, the subjunctive typically occurred in dependent clauses.

Imperative
The imperative mood indicated orders and commands, but may have had a suggestive/cohortative meaning when used with the first person (as in Let's go!).

Potential
The potential mood indicated that an action was considered likely in the speaker's opinion.

[edit] [top]Aspect

PAS featured 5 aspects divided into two classes: Stative and Durative. The stative aspects were the gnomic, perfective and imperfective (formed through suffixes), whilst the durative aspects were the continuous and iterative (formed through reduplication). Aspect was compulsory in PAS and was always the last component of a verb.

Stative:
The three stative aspects were formed through suffixes and are believed to be the later of PAS' 5 aspects, likely having arisen from stative auxiliary verbs. These suffixes could occur with any verb and were the most common aspects used - the imperfective even replacing the older unmarked basic aspect.

Gnomic
The gnomic aspect was marked with the suffix -kʷno and marked timeless or generic truths. It seems to have also fulfilled an infinitival function, functioning in the same manner as English "I like to run".

itŋapízgil bágiolukʷno
bird-ABSAbsolutive (case)
TRANS object, INTR argument
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
-PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
fly<INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
>-ANAnimate (gender/class)
alive, moving
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
-GNOGnomic (aspect/mood)
common, timeless truths

birds fly (it is a fact)

Imperfective
The imperfective aspect was marked with the suffix -(e)nl and marked a situation viewed with interior composition (i.e. without completion). Along with the perfective aspect, the imperfective was the most common aspect and likely replaced the older unmarked basic aspect as the stative-dynamic verb system evolved.

tuxrkneʔkneʔnóbutn om kʷátpnonl
midnight-INSTRInstrumental (case)
'with' 'using'
.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
at.time be<INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
>-EEpenthetic
something 'meaningless' inserted for structural reasons
-IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'

it was midnight

Perfective
The perfective aspect was marked with the suffix -ut and marked a situation viewed as a simple whole - a unit without interior composition (i.e. completed and unanalysable). The perfective was commonly used with stative verbs to indicate a sense of being:

sbígan ətsʷénokn kʷútnisʷt
coconut-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker
.DEFDefinite
"the"
-NMNoun (POS)-ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent
.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
be<TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
>-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living things
-PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action

it is a coconut

An unusual feature of the perfective that can be seen here is that it mutated into -ʷt after the person suffix -nis. It seems that after the three person suffixes ending in s and the subjunctive suffix -xʷəx, the -u- mutated into labialisation:

Perfective (short form)
1st Person2nd Person3rd PersonAnimateInanimate
Singular-mut--kʷut--sʷt--tlisʷt--nisʷt-
Dual-lut--klut--sʷlut--tlonut--nonut-
Paucal-tihut--nihut-
Plural-mutut--ŋut--sntut--tolut--nlut-


This only affected the short form however. In the long form, -u- was inserted as normal. After /u/, -u- was deleted (or more accurately, absorbed into the preceding /u/).

Durative
The two durative aspects were formed through reduplication and expressed a continuous action. It has been speculated that these two aspects were the original aspects in Early-PAS and that the stative aspects (excluding the unmarked basic aspect) evolved from stative verbs. Like all aspects, they were permitted to occur with any verb type. The contrast between continuous and iterative is slightly fuzzy but it appears that the first marked an ongoing action (still) or an action that progressed over several periods of time, whereas the second only expressed continuation within a single time frame.

This can be seen in the examples below for *lər- (to drizzle) where the continuous form may express that there is still rain (implying an extended time span) but the iterative, whilst also translated as to be raining, only expresses that it is raining today (i.e the rain started today).

Continuous
The continuous aspect, also called the progressive, is formed through reduplication of the main vowel and insertion of a glottal stop /ʔ/ - ʔV - inserted after the main vowel in the stem. It marks a progressive or ongoing action that can be either dynamic (I am putting clothes on) or stative (I am wearing clothes), typically referring to an action that is occurring in the present - whether at the exact moment of speech or just generally in the present. Combined with the perfective, it may have implied a past action that was formerly ongoing but wasn't any longer, whilst the continuous imperfective may have implied an intended or desired future action.

*ʔə́rpno
rain<CONTContinuative (tense/aspect)
continuous or durational action
>-EEpenthetic
something 'meaningless' inserted for structural reasons

it is (still) raining

Iterative
The iterative aspect is formed through reduplication of the first syllable in a root, with the duplicate being placed after the first syllable. It marks that an action is repeated over one single occasion, as in to hit -> to knock (repeated action), to cough (once) -> to cough (repeatedly).

*lərlə́rpno
rain<ITERIterative (aspect)
repeated actions within an event
>-EEpenthetic
something 'meaningless' inserted for structural reasons

it is raining

[edit] [top]Verbal Affixes


Verb-Altering Affixes
AffixMeaningExample
*ur-causative
causes thematic vowel to become -u-
*sʷná- (to choose, to decide) → *ursʷnú- (to control, lit. "make choose")
*ŋal-non-volitional causative (by accident)
causes thematic vowel to become -u-
*ázʷe- (to fall) → *ŋalúzʷe- (to make fall by accident)


The difference between the causative and simple transitive verbs seems to be one of effort and control. When a transitive verb represents a neutral action, it was likely formed just by altering a verb's thematic vowel to transitive -u-. However, when an action expresses control over a patient or if effort was required to achieve an action, then the causative prefix was applied:

*kʷát- (to be INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
) becomes:
  • *kʷút- (to be TRTransitive (valency)
    has two arguments
    )
  • *urkʷút- (to cause to be TRTransitive (valency)
    has two arguments
    )


The difference is believed to have been that *urkʷút- expressed control over the patient, whereas *kʷút- simply expressed an action on a patient:

sbígan ətsʷénokn kʷútnisʷt
coconut-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker
.DEFDefinite
"the"
-NMNoun (POS)-ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent
.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
be<TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
>-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living things
-PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action

it is a coconut

sbígan ətsʷénokn urkʷútnisnl
coconut-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker
.DEFDefinite
"the"
-NMNoun (POS)-ERUnknown code.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
-SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
CAUSCausative (valency/mood)
cause an action to occur, force another argument to act
-be<TRTransitive (valency)
has two arguments
>-3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.INInanimate (gender/class)
for non-living things
-IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'

it becomes a coconut (lit. 'it causes to be a coconut')

As can be seen here, a causative stative acting on itself carries the meaning of "become/change into" Additionally, although *kʷút- is stative, *urkʷút- is dynamic and therefore may conjugate for all three voices.

Deverbal Nominalisers
AffixMeaningExample
*-miʔ-that which is, patientive (forms inanimate noun)*oz- (to speak)
*ozmíʔa- (that which is spoken, word)
*-tu-male human agent (forms animate nouns)
with a continuous form verb, it denotes a frequentative/ongoing agent
*it- (to hit)
*áttu- (male hitter, male one that hits)
*átʔatu- (male hitter, male one that hits often/is hitting)
*-li-female human agent (forms animate nouns)
with a continuous form verb, it denotes a frequentative/ongoing agent
*it- (to hit)
*átli- (female hitter, female one that hits)
*átʔali- (female hitter, female one that hits often/is hitting)
*-ŋa-male human experiencer, male one who experiences (forms animate nouns)
with a continuous form verb, it denotes a frequentative/ongoing experiencer
*ursʷnú- (to control)
*ursʷnúŋa- (male one who experiences control, male subject (of someone else))
*ursʷnúʔuŋa- (male one who regularly experiences/is experiencing control, male slave)
*-kʷxe-female human experiencer, female one who experiences (forms animate nouns)
with a continuous form verb, it denotes a frequentative/ongoing experiencer
*ursʷnú- (to control)
*ursʷnúkʷxe- (female one who experiences control, female subject (of someone else))
*ursʷnúʔukʷxe- (female one who regularly experiences/is experiencing control, female slave)


PAS featured a large number of nominalisers, forming many kinds of noun including agents, patients, experiencers, tools and plants. They were typically suffixes that followed one of the four verb valencies depending on the thematic relation of the noun. The most common verb forms used were the intransitive (thematic vowel -a-) and zero-root (no thematic vowel) but transitive and ditransitive nouns could also form nouns with transitivity implied.

For example: *oz- (to speak, dynamic 0-Stem)
*oztú- (one who speaks)
*ozútu- (one who speaks to ...)
*ozítu- (one who speaks to ... about ...)

All of these could be translated as speaker but govern different cases and slightly different meanings. The first would be used with an intransitive meaning (he is a speaker (he speaks)), the second when a direct object is involved (he is a speaker (to us, to the village)) and the third when the speakers talks about something (he is a speaker (to us etc.) about (something), although objects weren't required as the transitivity of the verb root implies whether the agent is simply an agent or a specific agent of something.

Another unusual feature of PAS' nominaliser system is that there was a distinction between male and female person nouns, despite the language only having animate-inanimate genders. Animal nouns meanwhile took the same suffixes, with gender being marked with additional suffixes if needed.
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