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Kavahiri Grammar
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Overview of phonology, morphology, syntax
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 19 Aug 2019, 18:07.

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Menu 1. Phonology 2. Pronouns 3. Nominal morphology 4. Verb morphology 5. Auxiliaries 6. Syntax
 Kavahiri is a minority language in  Tabiqa, mostly spoken in the northwest of the country around the Kasingadh Lakes. It is the most widely-spoken remaining Kaffic language, which were once the main languages in the Kaffic Kingdom about 3,000 years ago. Kavahiri fairly isolating fluid-S language with marked transitivity and polypersonal verbal prefixes. Its phonology features a simple three-vowel system and much more complex consonant system including ejective and implosive stops.

[edit] [top]Phonology

IPALabialDentalAlveolarVelarRadical
Nasalmnŋ
Plain stopp bt dk g
Glottalizedɓt' ɗk' ɠ
Affricatetskx
Fricativeɸ βθ ðs zʕ h
Liquidl r

OrthoLabialDentalAlveolarVelarRadical
Nasalmnŋ
Plain stopp bt dk g
Glottalizedc ḋq ġ
Affricateţkh
Fricativef vŧ đs zx h
Liquidl r


Non-ejective voiceless stops including /p/ become ejectives in clusters with ejectives or implosives.
The voiceless and ejective stops /p t k t' k'/ become aspirated [pʰ tʰ kʰ t'ʰ k'ʰ] word-initially.
The alveolar series /n t d t' ɗ s z ts/ palatalizes to [ɲ c ɟ c' ʄ ç ʝ cç] after /i/ or word-finally before it.

Vowels : There are only three vowels, /i a u/.
Vowels glide between two vowels : /i a u/ → [j ʕ w]
/u/ harmonizes to [y] if the previous syllable contained /i/.
/i u/ [y] become [ɪ o ʏ] before nasals, liquids and /ʕ/.
Vowels can be long morphophonologically.

Syllable structure is usually fairly simple (CV, CVC, CVV) but more complex syllables that make all sorts of sonority hierarchy faux-pas (like /lmu/) are permitted as well.

Morphophonology
Long vowels and geminate consonants are permitted at morphological boundaries (depending on the morpheme - some have allomorphs to prevent this).

One of the noun declensions (long-stem plural direct - see below) triggers a /ð/ → [j] change to intervocalic /ð/ anywhere in the word, e.g. ađuka /aðuka/ 'city' → aiuki [ajuki] 'cities'.

[edit] [top]Pronouns

Kavahiri is a pro-drop language with mandatory verbal person agreement, so standalone pronouns are rarely seen, however they do occur on occasion. Like nouns, the pronouns come in singular, plural, and collective numbers, and in direct or genitive case.

Pronouns123
SGnivsazhau
PLŋamristid
COLnuntua

The collective 1st/2nd person is only one form, and can be considered the inclusive first person. (The same distinction is maintained throughout the language, including verbal agreement forms.)

Possessives123
SGnaisalhai
PLŋamirisitidi
COLnultul

Many of the possessive pronouns are the same as or very similar to the intransitive subject verbal prefix.

[edit] [top]Nominal morphology

Nouns are marked for number (SG, PL, COLL) and case (DIR, GEN) in a single fused suffix. They do not decline for definiteness and the language has no articles (although demonstratives can be used if necessary).

There are two noun declensions, "short-stem" and "long-stem." (A very small minority of nouns can take either.) Nouns of one syllable are always short, and nouns of three or more syllables are always long, but two-syllable nouns are somewhat unpredictable; those with a closed second syllable (AKA ending in a consonant) are long-stem, but those which are open can be either; it must simply be memorized.

The two declensions are very similar but modify the nouns in different ways; in brief, short-stem nouns take ordinary suffixes, while long-stem nouns undergo final sound mutation instead.

Short-stemSGPLCOL
DIRØ-(r)i-(a)l
GEN-(u)n-(r)in-(x)a

The sounds in parentheses are inserted to disrupt hiatus, long vowels, or break up unmanageable consonant clusters. For example, a vowel-final word like imġi [ɪmɠi] 'sea' declines as imġi, imġiri, imġil, imġin, imġirin, imġia ; whereas a consonant-final word like qub [k'ʰub] 'stone' instead becomes qub, qubi, qubal, qubun, qubin, quba.

Long-stemSGPLCOL
DIRØ-r/i-(u)l
GEN-n/g-(r)in-(n)un

The long-stem declension takes a it more explanation.

The DIR.PL, DIR.COL and SG.GEN forms mutate a single final consonant (e.g. zinirah 'meat' → zinirar, ziniral, ziniran), while the GEN.PL and GEN.COL forms are often simple suffixes (zinirahin, zinirahun). The SG.GEN form is -n in most cases, but if the root has native -n, it instead becomes -g (kitan 'breakfast' → kitag). In vowel-final words, most of the forms are simple suffixes, except for the DIR.PL, which mutates final /a u/ into /i/ (kaxina [kʰaʕina] 'sturgeon' → kaxini).

The GEN.PL -(r)in and GEN.COL -(n)un suffixes have a few more strange quirks. Firstly, if a word ends in -VVC, the final VC are switched and -r or -n are affixed. For example, antaib 'knee' becomes antabir, antabin. Finally, word-final /n m ŋ l r ʕ/ mutate into /r n/ for the GEN.PL ; for example, đaxum /ðaʕum/ 'father' becomes đaxurin, đaxunun.

[edit] [top]Verb morphology

Verbs take polypersonal agreement/transitivity prefixes and simple TAM suffixes. Many verbal meanings, including negation and the future, require the use of auxiliaries.

The prefixes are agglutinative and mostly regular, and composed of two 'slots' : the subject and object. However, other affixes can occupy these slots. The imperative marker goes in the subject slot, while the voice markers (intransitive, mediopassive, and reflexive) occupy the object slot. There is also the impersonal prefix, which can go in the subject slot alone, or take up both slots (it doesn't require the intransitive marker).

Subject123
SGna-sa-hi-
PLŋi-si-ti-
COLnu-tu-

Dir.Obj123
SGf-z-u-
PLm-r-t/s-
COLn-a-

Ind.Obj123
SGv-z-ui-
PLam-d-ud-
COLan-ua-


  • Intransitive: i/l-
  • Mediopassive: us-
  • Reflexive: ţi-
  • Impersonal: kui(k)-
  • Imperative: ţa-


Some examples:

  • naigiz
    1SFirst person singular (person)
    speaker, signer, etc.; I
    .SUBSubject (argument)-INTRIntransitive (valency)
    has one argument
    -drink
    'I drink'
  • naugiz
    1SFirst person singular (person)
    speaker, signer, etc.; I
    .SUBSubject (argument)-3SThird person singular (person)
    neither speaker nor addressee
    .OBJObject (argument)-drink
    'I drink it'
  • saituv
    2SSecond person singular (person)
    addressee (you)
    .SUBSubject (argument)-INTRIntransitive (valency)
    has one argument
    -see
    'You (can) see'
  • saftuv
    2SSecond person singular (person)
    addressee (you)
    .SUBSubject (argument)-1SFirst person singular (person)
    speaker, signer, etc.; I
    .OBJObject (argument)-see
    'You see me'
  • himmasi
    3SThird person singular (person)
    neither speaker nor addressee
    .SUBJUnknown code-1SFirst person singular (person)
    speaker, signer, etc.; I
    .DATDative (case)
    indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location
    -come
    'He comes to me'
  • nausgumi
    1SFirst person singular (person)
    speaker, signer, etc.; I
    .SUBJUnknown code-RFXReflexive (valency)
    argument acts on itself
    -hurt
    'I hurt myself'
  • kuiavir
    IMPERImpersonal (valency)
    Has no arguments
    -rain
    'It rains / It's raining'
  • kuivvir
    IMPERImpersonal (valency)
    Has no arguments
    -1First person (person)
    speaker, signer, etc; I
    .DATDative (case)
    indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location
    -rain
    'It's raining on me'
  • ţauxzu
    IMPImperative (mood)
    command
    -3SThird person singular (person)
    neither speaker nor addressee
    .OBJObject (argument)-kill
    'Kill him!'


The Verbal suffixes encode tense, and aspect/mood. There are two tenses, past and non-past.

TAM suffixesNon-pastPast
SIMP.DECLØ-(x)u
CONT/IMPF-zi-qu
SUBJ-s-us


[edit] [top]Auxiliaries

Auxiliaries, which appear after their verb (except for the interrogative, which is fronted), are needed for many aspect/mood forms and to convey negation and the future tense. The future auxiliary lai can only be used with a nonpast-tense verb, but otherwise all auxiliaries can be used with both past and nonpast tenses.

Auxiliaries can also take verbal suffixes.

  • lai - future
  • mi(r) - NEG
  • rih - inceptive
  • kuţ - cessative
  • rut - continuative
  • taif - WH-question
  • ţid - if, conditional


[edit] [top]Syntax

The typical word order is SOV. Imperatives front the verb, and copulas can appear medially (SVO) (but SOV is also grammatical).

Predicative adjectives precede their noun, while attributives follow them. Genitives and possessive adjectives also follow the head noun.
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