| Glossary/mini dictionary |
-anbwu Substantive lexical suffix for "dirt", or "ground".
da Particle. Used to indicate emphatic positive polarity ("really!")
or when responding positively to a polar question.
dasa Unaccusative Predicate. "to be that."
det Transitive Predicate. "to wear (a piece of clothing)".
dwu= Subject Clitic. Second person singular
-(e)nd Agreement Suffix. Intransitive first person exclusive
-(e)nk Agreement Suffix. Intransitive second person or first person inclusive
-(e)p Agreement Suffix. Intransitive fourth person singular, or
transitive 3/4 singular.
-gwel Aspectual Affix. Inceptive.
h(e)= Subject Clitic. Third and Fourth person plural. Also used as an
pleonastic pronoun to distinguish complement clauses from relatives
when an explicit subject phrase is already present in the clause.
hentqe Transitive Predicate. "to look at something from a distance or
from cover"
kaswol Transitive Predicate. "to offend", "to cause discomfort to".
keke Unaccusative Predicate. "to be a bird".
-kwe Voice Suffix. Antipassive.
k'asa Unaccusative Predicate. "to be what?"
k'u Transitive predicate. This predicate is typically used as a
semantically-empty base for various affixes, but on its own it can be
used with 1st and 2nd person subjects to indicate "to be".
=la Article. Marks the end of a relative clause. Obligatory on
relative clauses consisting of a single substantive predicate.
lagu, gu Conjunction. "and"
lak Determiner. Indicates that direct quote follows. Phrases in <lak>
can be used as core or oblique arguments with no additional marking.
latsa Adverb. "more", "again", "continuing"
leklex Unaccusative Predicate. "to be lower-body clothing", e.g.
pants, skirt, loincloth, etc.
lex Ambistative Predicate. "to think", "to be clever". Specifies an
oblique argument for the topic of thought or field in which the
subject is clever.
lqatqe Transitive Predicate. "to cut". Specifies an instrumental
oblique object. Translates "to use" when the instrument is a cutting
or piercing tool.
lunde Unaccusative predicate. "to be a knife." Also applies to swords,
daggers, etc., but not, e.g., axe blades.
lwo Transitive Predicate. "to fight with", "to go to war with".
lwuek Unaccusative Predicate. "to be a mountain"
nbelkwe Adverb. "all", "always"
=ndek Number Clitic. Attached to determiners to indicate explicit
plurality of a relativized argument.
ndenb Transitive Predicate. "to know", "to comprehend" (a fact). A
different word is used for "to know a person" or "to be acquainted
with".
pal Unaccusative Predicate. "to be the time for something".
p(e)= Subject Clitic. Fourth person singular.
-s Possessive Affix. Identifies the absolutive argument as possessed
by a third or fourth person.
savex Unergative Predicate. "to play around", "to joke".
sele Unaccusative Predicate. "to be courage"
-skwe Voice Suffix. Passive.
ta Determiner. Indicates the speaker either does not know or does not
care which specific item is being discussed.
tqase Unaccusative Predicate. "to be long"
tqwoluts Unaccusative Predicate. "to speak".
tunbe Adverb. Frequently, often.
txe Determiner. Indicates that the speaker knows which specific one is
being discussed.
va Preposition. Marks generic obliques. The precise function of an
oblique may depend on the semantics of the object itself, adverbs
contained in the object phrase, the inherent semantics of the main
predicate, or an applicative on the main predicate.
ves- Derivational Prefix. <ves-> re-arranges the semantic argument
structure of a predicate, suppressing one prominant argument and
externalizing a less prominant argument. For process predicates, this
results in replacing the process event argument with the resultating
state; for entity predicates, this results in surfacing the possessor
as an explicit argument.
-vol Substantive Lexical Suffix. For moving or natural bodies of water
weka Ambistative Predicate. "to stand", "to be an upright thing"
wek' Transitive Predicate. This is a negative auxiliary; with a
relative clause argument, it indicates "is not" or "does not". With a
complement clause, it indicates "does not cause" or "does not allow".
wesku Transitive Predicate, "to make"
wot- Applicative Prefix. Adds an oblique ablative argument.
woxkal Unaccusative Predicate. "to be dirt", "to be land".
xe= Subject Clitic. First person singular
xeve Unaccusative Predicate. "to be a life", in the sense of the
period of time or sequence of events through which something life.
"k'asa woxkal" "what land?" is frequently used with locative
predicates as an idiomatic phrase for "where?" |
| Grammar notes |
Valaklwuuxa has no lexical nouns; arguments to clauses can only be
pronouns, complement clauses, or relative clauses. Word order is
Verb-Argument. Predicates are classified as basically unergative,
basically unaccusative, ambistative (usable with either unergative or
unaccusative meanings), or basically transitive. Numerous voice and
applicative affixes are used to alter these default argument
structures. Predicates show polypersonal agreement with direct-inverse
alignment and a 2 > 1 > 3 > 4 hierarchy. 4th person is used for
indefinite obviates, items that are out of sight, and people who are
excluded from the discourse. Any object which is highly topical or in
sight, or a person who may be addressed by any means, is eligible for
3rd person status. 3rd person agreement is zero-marked. When the
accusative argument (subject of an unaccusative verb or object of a
transitive verb) is plural, this is marked with reduplication of the
final CV unit of the predicate root.
The default tense is non-future. Telic predicates default to a
past-tense reading, while non-telic predicates default to a present
continuous or habitual reading. Past tense can be explicitly marked
with the particle <tu>.
Multiple predicates can be serialized in a single verb phrase as long
as they all share a common absolutive argument, and all transitives
share both arguments. Only the final member of a serial verb phrase is
conjugated to show agreement.
Non-pronominal arguments are introduced by determiners. Grammatical
number is not usually marked on determiner phrases.
Any clause can have at most one explicit non-prominal core argument,
and any number of oblique arguments. When the subject is a pronoun, it
is indicated with a proclitic, leaving open the possibility of using
an explicit determiner phrase for an object. Relative clauses are
distinguished by the obligatory lack of a subject clitic. The default
target of relativization is the subject—the sole argument of an
intransitive clause, the proximate argument of a direct voice clause,
or the obviative argument of an inverse voice clause. In clauses with
1/2, 3/3, or 4/4 agreement, direct voice produces proximate-centered
relatives while inverse voice produces obviate-centered relatives,
concordant with selecting the subject as the target of relativization.
In clauses with 3rd or 4th person arguments, however, only a 3rd or
4th person argument may be relativized. In clauses showing 1/3, 1/4,
2/3, or 2/4 agreement, direct voice produces object-centered
relatives, while inverse voice produces subject-centered relatives.
This is a result of preferentially selecting the 3rd or 4th person
argument with whatever role it would be assigned in a main clause of
the same structure over the subject as the target of relativization.
In 1/2 clauses, it is not possible to directly relativize an object,
nor is it possible to directly relativize the 1st or 2nd person
argument of any transitive clause containing a 3rd or 4th person
argument. In order to relativize a 1st or 2nd person referent, it may
be demoted to use 3rd person agreement. This can be done even when
direct relativization is otherwise theoretically possible, as the
subject of a 1/2 clause.
Full reduplication of a predicate root indicates prototypicality or
superlative degree (like adding "very"), similar to English emphatic
redupication.
Orthograhic <w> marks sequences of rounded vowels. Unrounded vowels in
hiatus introduce an epenthetic <k> between them. Two rounded vowels in
a row will have only a single initial <w>, and a rounded vowel in
hiatus with an underlyingly uunrounded vowel will induce rounding
assimilation. |
