User talk:A R King/private area/Romani grammar (DRAFT)
This article will be a grammar sketch of the Romani language. At present it is in a preliminary phase of creation and not ready for posting. The Miskito grammar article I have written is being used as a rough template to guide writing. This is not intended for "public" use yet, but if you would like to discuss anything please write on my user talk page (A R King).
Sounds
editPhonemes
editShort | Long | |||
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Front | Back | Front | Back | |
High | i | u | î | û |
Low | a | â |
- The exact status of vowel length is not clear; long vowels are not consistently indicated in Miskito writing.
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | |
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Voiceless Plosives | p | t | k | |||
Voiced Plosives | b | d | ||||
Fricatives | s | (h) | ||||
Nasals | m | n | ng [ŋ] | |||
Liquids | l, r | |||||
Semivowels | y | w |
Suprasegmentals
editWord stress is generally on the first syllable of each word.
H has been included on the above consonant chart out of deference to the orthography and previous descriptions, but may in fact represent a suprasegmental feature rather than a consonantal phoneme (except in loanwords such as heven 'heaven'). Occurrence of h is restricted to the stressed syllable in a word, and its realization consists of the devoicing of adjacent vowel and consonant phonemes within that syllable. In spelling it is customary to place the letter h at the end of the syllable so affected. |
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Phonotactics
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Syllables may have up to two consonants preceding the vowel nucleus, and two following it. This may be represented by the formula (C)(C)V(C)(C). Examples of monosyllabic words: |
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Within words of more than one syllable interior clusters may therefore contain more than two consonants (rarely more than three), but in such cases there is generally a morpheme boundary involved: |
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Note that simplification of underlying consonant clusters in verb forms take place, with stem consonants disappear disappearing when certain suffixes are added to verb stems of certain phonological shapes: |
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Noun phrase
editOverview
editDeclension (nouns)
editMasculine | Feminine | ||||
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thematic stems:
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consonant stems:
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i-stems:
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consonant stems:
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Singular | Nominative | chavo | rom | zhuvli | rat |
Vocative | chavéa | roméa | zhuvl(j)e | rate | |
Accusative | chave(s) | rome(s) | zhuvl(j)a | rata | |
Dative | chavéske | roméske | zhuvl(j)áke | ratáke | |
Locative | chavéste | roméste | zhuvl(j)áte | ratáte | |
Ablative | chavéstar | roméstar | zhuvl(j)átar | ratátar | |
Sociative | chavésa | romésa | zhuvl(j)ása | ratása | |
Genitive | chavésko | romésko | zhuvl(j)áko | ratáko | |
Plural | Nominative | chave | roma | zhuvl(j)a | rata |
Vocative | chavále(n) | ||||
Accusative | chaven | romen | zhuvl(j)en | raten | |
Dative | chavénge | roménge | zhuvl(j)énge | raténge | |
Locative | chavénde | roménde | zhuvl(j)énde | raténde | |
Ablative | chavéndar | roméndar | zhuvl(j)éndar | raténdar | |
Sociative | chavénsa | roménsa | zhuvl(j)énsa | raténsa | |
Genitive | chavéngo | roméngo | zhuvl(j)éngo | raténgo |
Adjectives used attributively usually follow the head noun and do not require a ligature: |
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but some (inlcuding past participles) precede it, in which case the noun, unless inalienable, takes its ligature: |
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Determiners and quantifiers
editDeterminers | Quantifiers | ||
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Definite article | Demonstratives:
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masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | ||
Singular | Nominative | o | i | adava | adaja |
Oblique | e | adala | |||
Plural | Nominative/Oblique | e | adale |
The demonstratives naha, baha, naura, bukra and the interrogative determiners ani and dia precede the noun they determine and require the ligature (see below). |
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The indefinite article and most quantifiers follow the noun and do not require a ligature. |
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The general article ba and the proximal article na stand at the end of the noun phrase and require no ligature. The proximal article expresses proximity. |
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Optionally the article may be combined with other determiners or quantifiers, and with the ligature (which seems to convey a greater degree of definiteness). |
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The article is even used sometimes with pronouns, although not required. |
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Possession
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A noun phrase possessor precedes the possessed noun with ligature (unless inalienable, see above). |
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The possessor may be a personal pronoun if it is emphasized. |
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Such pronouns may be omitted. In either case, personal possessors are grammaticalized as morphological indices, as we shall see. |
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full form | short form | |||
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Singular | 1 | miro | mo | 'my' |
2 | tiro | to | 'your (singular)' | |
3 reflexive | piro | po | 'his, her, its' | |
3 other masculine | lésko | 'his, its' | ||
3 other feminine | láko | 'her, its' | ||
Plural | 1 | amaro | 'our' | |
2 | tumaro | 'your (plural)' | ||
3 reflexive | pumaro | 'their' | ||
3 other | léngo | 'their' |
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masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | ||
Singular | Nominative/Vocative | miro | miri | mo | mi |
Oblique | mire | me | |||
Plural | All cases | mire | me |
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masculine | feminine | ||
Singular | Nominative/Vocative | me chavésk-o(ro) | me chavésk-i(ri) |
Oblique | me chavésk-e(re) | ||
Plural | All cases | me chavésk-e(re) |
Ai and wan precede the noun, with ligature unless inalienable. |
(aras→araska) (bila) |
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The indices for first or second person are generally suffixed to the -ka or -ya ligature when either is present (with loss of final -a before -i): |
(aras→araska) (tasba→tasbaya) |
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Otherwise they are mostly infixed after the infixed ligature -a-: |
(utla→watla:) (sula→swalya:) |
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Nouns of the inalienable class (with no ligature) take the same possessive indices, which may again be either suffixed... |
(bila) |
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...or infixed. |
(napa) |
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Some nouns infix in the first person but suffix in the second, and there are some other miscellaneous irregularities. |
(kakma) (duri→dwarka) |
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Adjectives
edit
Variable adjectives:
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Invariable adjectives:
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masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | ||
Singular | Nominative | baro | bari | shukar | |
Vocative | ?barea | ?barie | |||
Oblique | bare | ||||
Plural | Nominative/Vocative/Oblique | bare |
Adjectives used attributively usually follow the head noun and do not require a ligature: |
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but some (inlcuding past participles) precede it, in which case the noun, unless inalienable, takes its ligature: |
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Pronouns
editThe personal pronouns differentiate three persons and also have an exclusive/inclusive distinction in the first person plural. The general plural morpheme nani is added to form plurals (except with yawan). Use of these pronouns is optional when person is indexed in the possessed form, relational or verb group.
Singular | Plural |
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me 'I' tu 'you' ov 'he' oj 'she' |
amen 'we' tumen 'you (plural)' on 'they' |
FIRST AND SECOND PERSON | Singular | Plural | |||
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me 'I' | tu 'you' | amen 'we' | tumen 'you (pl.)' | ||
Nominative | me | tu | amen | tumen | |
Accusative | man | tut | amen | tumen | |
Dative | mánge | túke | aménge | tuménge | |
Locative | mánde | túte | aménde | tuménde | |
Ablative | mándar | tútar | améndar | tuméndar | |
Sociative | mánsa | túsa | aménsa | tuménsa | |
THIRD PERSON | ov 'he' | oj 'she' | on 'they' | ||
Nominative | ov | oj | on | ||
Accusative | les | la | len | ||
Dative | léske | láke | lénge | ||
Locative | léste | láte | lénde | ||
Ablative | léstar | látar | léndar | ||
Sociative | lésa | lása | lénsa |
The pronouns are not case-specific, and may, under comparable conditions, be marked by the same postpositions as other noun phrases.
Demonstrative | Interrogative | Negative |
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Masculine singular | General | Specific | |||
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'this' | 'that' | 'this' | 'that' | ||
Nominative | adava | odova | akava | okova | |
Accusative | adales | odoles | akales | okoles | |
Dative | adaléske | odoléske | akaléske | okoléske | |
etc. | |||||
Feminine singular | Nominative | adaja | odoja | akaja | okoja |
Accusative | adala | odola | akala | okola | |
Dative | adaláke | odoláke | akaláke | okoláke | |
etc. | |||||
Plural | Nominative | adala | odola | akala | okola |
Accusative | adalen | odolen | akalen | okolen | |
Dative | adalénge | odolénge | akalénge | okolénge | |
etc. |
'who' | 'what' | 'which' | |||
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masculine | feminine | plural | |||
Nominative | ko(n) | so | savo | savi | save |
Accusative | ?kos | ?so | ?saves | ?sav(j)a | ?saven |
Dative | kóske | sóske | savéske | sav(j)áke | savénge |
etc. |
Adverbs
editPlace adverbs | Other adverbs | |
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Demonstrative |
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Interrogative |
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Negative |
Prepositions
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Dative complements are marked by the multi-purpose enclitic postposition ra, which is also a locative (thus doing duty for both dative and spatial meanings of English 'to', as well as 'in'). Furthermore, the same marker is also often used with direct objects. |
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This and other postpositions are placed after the last element in a noun phrase, e.g. |
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andar | 'from, out of' | |
ande, and- | 'in, inside, into' | |
angla | 'in front of' | |
katar, tar | 'from, by' | |
ke | 'to, at' | |
mamuj | 'against' | |
mashkar | 'between, among' | |
pal | 'behind, of' | |
pash | 'near, at, by, along, with' | |
pe | 'on' |
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sar | 'like' | |
tel | 'under' | |
trujal | 'around' | |
vash | 'for, because of' | |
zhi | 'as far as, until' |
Comparison
editThe verbal group
editOverview
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Verbs are conventionally cited with the infinitive suffix -aia. The stem of many such verbs (obtained by subtracting the infinitive ending) are monosyllabic (bal-, dim-, tak-, dauk-, kaik-, bri-, wi-, pi- etc.); a few are non-syllabic (e.g. w- 'go'). |
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Finite forms include several tenses and moods, in each of which the person (but not number) of the subject is marked by suffixes. The tenses themselves have characteristic suffixes which combine with the subject-indexing suffixes.
In addition to synthetic (simple) tenses, there is also a considerable range of periphrastic (compound) tenses. These are formed with a non-finite form of the main verb followed by an auxiliary verb.
Some of the synthetic tenses represent original periphrastic tense structures that have become welded into single words. This helps to explain why there are two different forms each in the present, past and future. (The sample verb used is pulaia 'play', stem pul-, given here in the third-person form of each tense.)
I | II | |
Present tenses: |
puluya |
pulisa |
Past tenses: |
pulata |
pulan |
Future tenses: |
pulaisa |
pulbia |
In addition to a subject index which form part of a verb's suffix, for transitive verbs the verb group includes an object index in the form of a preverbal particle marking the person (but not the number) of the object. The subject markers vary somewhat according to the tense, but the most usual forms are shown in the following table (see below for more details).
Person | Subject
suffixes |
Object
particles |
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1 | -na | ai |
2 | -ma | mai |
3 |
-a |
— |
1+2 | wan |
Presence of the personal pronouns (yang, man, witin, yawan, yang nani...) referring to the indexed subject or object is optional (i.e. there is pro-drop). |
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The absence of an object index preceding a transitive verb signals a third person object: |
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Other participant roles may be expressed by personal pronouns with the appropiate postpositions, e.g. |
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Forms for a third-person subject, in addition to indexing specific subjects that are equivalent to 'he', 'she', 'it', 'they' or 'we (inclusive)', are also used with transitive verbs to indicate a non-specific subject, thus providing a passive-like construction. |
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To indicate that a verb has a plural subject, a finite auxiliary, banghwaia, may be added at the end of the verb group, preceded by a same-subject participle. |
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Conjugation
editThe stem of a verb is obtained by removing the -aia suffix from the infinitive. Most verb stems end in a consonant, and are conjugated as follows (our sample verb is pulaia 'play').
Present I | Present II | Past I | Past II | Future I | Future II | Imperative | |
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1 | puluna | pulisna | pulatna | pulri | pulaisna | pulamna | |
2 | puluma | pulisma | pulatma | pulram | pulaisma | pulma | puls |
3 and 1+2 | puluya | pulisa | pulata | pulan | pulaisa | pulbia |
Verbs whose stems end in an i (bri- 'have', wi- 'tell', pi- 'eat', di- 'drink', swi- 'allow') vary from the above paradigm in a few minor points. Bal-aia 'come' and w-aia 'go', have an irregular Present I tense. The verb yabaia 'give' is anomalous in a different way by having irregularly derived non-third-person object-indexing forms. Finally, the most irregular verb of all is the defective and irregular kaia 'to be'.
Present I | Present II | Past I | Past II | Future I | Future II | Imperative | |
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1 | pisuna | pisna | pisatna | piri | piaisna | pimna | |
2 | pisuma | pisma | pisatma | piram | piaisma | pima | pis |
3 and 1+2 | pisuya | pisa | pisata | pin | piaisa | pibia |
Present of balaia 'come' | Present of waia 'go' | |
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1 | aulna | auna |
2 | aulma | auma |
3 / 1+2 | aula | auya |
Object | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1+2 |
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Infinitive | aik-aia
'give me/us' |
maik-aia
'give you' |
yab-aia
'give him/her/it/them' |
wank-aia
'give us (inc.)' |
Present | Past I | Past II | Future I | Future II | Imperative | |
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1 | sna | katna | kapri | kaisna | kamna | |
2 | sma | katma | kapram | kaisma | kama | bas |
3 / 1+2 | sa | kata | kan | kaisa | kabia |
Use of tenses
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Present I expresses that an action is happening or about to happen at the time of speaking. |
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Present II is a general present, indistinctly [[progressive aspect|progressive] or habitual. |
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Past I is a perfect. |
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As the nucleus of a main clause Past II is a simple aorist past. Connected to a following verb in a past or present tense within a switch reference chain, it functions as the different-subject participle (see below). |
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Future I expresses that an event is imminent. |
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Future II is a general future. It is also used as an irrealis in subordinate clauses. |
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The second-person imperative ends in -s; its negative (prohibitive) counterpart ending in -para. A gentler order may be expressed using the Past II second-person form (ending in -ram). The first-person inclusive plural imperative ('Let's...') ends in -p(i). |
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Switch reference and non-finite verb forms
editSwitch reference participles | Negative participle | Past participle | Infinitive | |||||
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Same subject | Same subject anterior | Different subject past/present (= Past II) | Different subject future | |||||
Regular | 1 | puli | pulisi | pulri | pulrika | pulras | pulan | pulaia |
2 | pulram | |||||||
3 / 1+2 | pulan | pulka | ||||||
kaia 'to be' | 1 | — | si | kapri | kaprika | — | kan | kaia |
2 | kapram | |||||||
3 / 1+2 | kan | kaka |
The switch reference participles are used in verb or clause chains sharing the same subject; only the last verb adopts a finite tense form. |
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These participles are also used in many compound verbs and periphrastic formations. |
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The anterior participle further expresses that an event occurred before that expressed by the following verb. |
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The different-subject participle in -ka signals a change of subject between it and the following verb, and is used when the latter is in a future tense. |
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When the subject of the different subject participle is first or second person, the ending is -rika if the main verb is future. |
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When the last verb of a different-subject chain is in the present or past tense, the preceding verb must be in the Past II tense. |
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The negative participle can be followed by a finite form of kaia to express any person-tense combination; alternatively these categories may be left implicit by omitting the [[auxiliary verb|auxiliary]. |
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The past participle, identical in form to the third-person of Past II, is used: (a) as a passive adjective; |
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(b) in a periphrastic passive construction with kaia as auxiliary; |
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(c) in an idiomatic construction with daukaia 'make'. |
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The uses of the infinitive: (a) approximates that of infinitives in many European languages: |
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(b) include several modal constructions. |
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Note: Given the differences in terminology, the following comparative table for names of non-finite forms used in this article, Salamanca's Miskito school grammar and Green's Lexicographic Study of Ulwa (a related language with similar categories) may be found useful: | |||
This article | Salamanca | Green | |
same subject simultaneous participle | 'gerundio' | 'proximate' | |
same subject anterior participle | 'transgresivo' | ||
different subject future participle | 'conexivo' | 'obviative' |
Periphrastic tenses
editThe range of aspectual, modal and other notions that can be expressed is enlarged considerably by the availability of various periphrastic constructions in which a verb acting as auxiliary is placed after the main verb. The conjugated component can take a variety of tenses, including periphrastic ones, and the periphrases themselves may often be combined; thus chains of several auxiliaries are possible. Some representative examples of such periphrases follow:
Puli kapri 'I was playing' consists of the same-subject participle of pulaia followed by the first person of Past II of kaia 'to be', "playing was-I". |
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Pulaia sna 'I am to play, I have to play' consists of kaia after an infinitive. |
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This construction with the auxiliary in Past II can express an impossible condition: pulaia kapri 'I should have played' or 'I would have played'. |
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Combining the infinitive with other auxiliary verbs we obtain other modal constructions. |
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The particle sip, with an anomalous distribution, is used in expressions of possibility and ability. |
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Another type of construction consists of a conjugated main verb followed by a third-person form of kaia. Various tense sequences for the two verbs are possible and convey a range of nuances. Past perfect and future perfect can be expressed by placing both verbs in Past II or future II respectively. |
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By compounding the past perfect construction again with sa, and then kaka for 'if' (itself really a form of kaia), we obtain an unfulfilled hypothetical clause. |
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Syntax
editWord order
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In Miskito sentences the verb (or verb group) regularly comes last. The subject, if expressed as a noun phrase, normally precedes objects and other constituents. In these examples the verb is in bold. |
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However, long or heavier constituents (here in bold) may follow the verb. |
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Demonstrative and interrogative determiners, the possessive proclitics ai and wan, and certain adjectives, precede the noun, which takes the ligature in these cases. |
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Articles and quantifiers follow nouns. |
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Adpositions and relationals follow the noun phrase. |
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Auxiliaries follow main verbs. |
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The object proclitics ai, mai and wan precede the main verb. |
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The negative particle apia follows future-tense verbs, but precedes forms of kaia 'to be'. |
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In compound verbs, the conjugated element comes last. |
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Sentence particles follow the verb. |
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In subordination structures the rule that places subordinate elements first is frequently overridden by a tendency to place long and heavy constituents last. |
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Relative clauses precede the head. |
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Complement and circumstantial clauses may precede or follow the main clause. |
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Propositional structure
editWhile no systematic case marking differentiates formally between subjects and objects, there exist (apart from word order) certain option for achieving disambiguation.
One is to mark animate direct objects with the postposition ra. |
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Another is to identify the agent of a transitive verb with the postposition mita. Since mita always occurs with agents of transitive verbs it might be viewed as a proto-ergative marker. |
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Yet another way to identify the subject is for it to participate in a verbal periphrasis. Outwardly, the 'particle' bui is placed after such subjects. Bui is the same-subject participle of buaia get up, so the semantic route of this grammaticalization is, for example, from 'Who will get up and remove it?' to 'Who (subject) will remove it?' The use of bui allows an object to precede a subject (for topicalization) without this leading to ambiguity. Bui almost always occurs with subjects of transitive verbs and so may again be understood as a proto-ergative marker. |
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Information structure
editA system of specialized postpositions is used to identify topics and focused constituents:
Lika is a particle that may follow a sentence constituent identifying it as sentence topic. |
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Sika may be placed after a definite noun phrase to foreground it; its effect is similar to that of focus clefting in English. |
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Most verbs are built up from a monosyllabic lexical root ending in a vowel or a single consonant, to which an extension or stem consonant is very often added. The extensions correlate with transitivity: transitive stems have either -k- or -b- (unpredictably), while intransitive stems have -w-. There is also a valency-decreasing verb-prefix ai- which, added to transitive stems, produces unergative, reflexive, reciprocal or middle verbs. See the section on Derivation (below) for examples.
Miskito has periphrastic causative expressions using one or another of the causation verbs yabaia 'give', munaia 'make', swiaia 'let'. In these constructions, the verb of causation is subordinated to the verb of action. |
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Negation
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To negate a verb, the invariable negative participle in -ras is used either alone or followed by an auxiliary specifying tense and person. |
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For the future tenses only, another option is to place apia after the future verb form. |
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The second person imperative has its own special negative form, with the verbal suffix -para. |
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The verb kaia, having no negative participle, is negated by a preposed apia. |
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'Nothing', 'nobody' and so on are expressed using indefinite words, generally accompanied by sin 'also, even', usually in combination with negative verb forms. |
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Questions
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The sentence-final particle ki may, optionally, be used in either yes-no or wh-questions. |
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With or without ki, in wh-questions the interrogative element either stands at the beginning of the question... |
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...or immediately precedes the verb. |
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Yâ 'who' as the agentive subject of a question may be followed by the bui marker (see above). |
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Indirect questions may be followed by saba (or sapa). |
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In yes-no questions sentence-final ki is optional. Such questions may be answered with au 'yes' or apia 'no'. |
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Sentence mood particles
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Mood particles may be placed at the end of a sentence (i.e. following the verb). See the example of ki above. |
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Coordinating conjunctions
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Relative clauses
editThere are two major constructions which may be used to form relative clauses in Miskito, the 'external head' strategy and the 'internal head' strategy.
In the external head strategy there is no subordination marker of any kind and the relative clause precedes the head noun, which takes a ligature, beside which it usually has an article too. |
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If the head is not expressed, an article following the relative clause serves to identify and delimit it. |
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In the internal head construction, the head noun is not extracted from the place it underlyingly occupies in the relative clause, which is bounded by an article as in headless external head clauses. |
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In the 'headless' counterpart of the internal construction, the place of the head within the relative clause is occupied by an interrogative pronoun. |
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Complement clauses
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A complement clause may bear no subordination marker but merely be followed by the article ba functioning in practice as a nominalizer. |
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Indirect questions end in saba (i.e. sa 'is' + ba article). |
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The tense of complement clauses does not follow that of the matrix clause, but directly expresses a time relation in reference to the matrix. |
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Complement clauses that have no autonomous time reference ('irrealis') take Future II. |
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Conditional and concessive clauses
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Conditional ('if') clauses add kaka and precede the consequence clause. (Kaka is the third-person different subject participle of kaia 'be', literally "it being (the case that)".) |
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Concessive ('although') clauses may end in sin 'also, either, even', or in sakuna 'but'. |
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Circumstantial clauses
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Circumstantial clauses generally end in a subordinating conjunction of some sort. Sometimes the article ba precedes the conjunction, which may take the form of a preposition... |
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a relational... |
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or a noun. |
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Lexicon
editGeneral
editAs regards origin, the Miskito lexicon consists of the following principal components:
- words of native Miskito origin;
- a considerable number of loans from surrounding languages of the related Sumo group;
- a large number of loan words from English;
- a smaller number of words borrowed from Spanish.
Derivation
editSome derivational affixes:
affix | function | meaning | examples |
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-ira suffix | (1) adjectives from nouns (with ligature) | abundance |
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(2) adjectives from nominalized adjectives in -(i)ka | superlative |
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-s suffix | adjectives from nouns (with ligature) | privative, '-less' |
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-(i)ka suffix | nouns from adjectives | abstract nouns, '-ness' (cf. ligature) |
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-(i)ra suffix | nouns from adjectives | abstract nouns, '-ness' |
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-aika suffix | nouns from verbs | (1) instrument |
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(2) place |
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-anka suffix | nouns from verbs | action (nominalized past participle) |
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-ra suffix | nouns from verbs | action |
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reduplication + -ra suffix | nouns from verbs | (1) agent, '-er' |
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(2) undergoer |
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-b- or -k- suffix | (1) verbs from verb roots | transitive verb |
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(2) verbs from adjective roots |
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-w- suffix | verbs | intransitive verb |
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(2) verbs from adjective roots |
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ai- prefix | intransitive verbs from transitives | reflexive or middle |
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Lexical compounds
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Miskito has a large number of light-verb constructions or compound verbs which consist of two words but express meanings that are lexically determined for the construction as a whole, e.g. |
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A similar construction is used in verbs that are loans from English: the borrowed lexeme is an invariable element (ilp, wark, want...) followed by a Miskito verb, e.g. |
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Nominal compounds are much less common. |
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See also
editBibliography
edit(see External Links)
External links
edit- Ethnologue
- Gramática Escolar del Miskito/Manual de Gramática del Miskito by Danilo Salamanca — not currently on-line
- Diccionario Miskito by Danilo Salamanca
- Lengua Miskito (PROEL: Promotora Española de Lingüística) — short page in Spanish containing several errors
- Gospel Recordings Network: Miskito — sound recordings
- A Lexicographic Study of Ulwa by Thomas Michael Green
- Dictionary of the Ulwa Language (includes sentences translated into Miskito)
- Bibliography