Intransitive
Intransitive verbs are monovalent. For the archetypal intransitives, the verbal patient is the subject.
“The world is always changing.”
Adjectival Verbs
These verbs allow the speaker to describe an attribute of the subject.
Linu ra’u ki. / Linu qixa ki.
。えぬねざき。えぬらうき。
tree prs;sta big. / tree prs;dyn big.
“The tree is big. / The tree is growing.”
The actor who imparts such an attribute is put in the ablative case.
Juffila kaluMa’iliguna pani.
。よっべわかをまいえぐなぱに。
juffila kalu-ma’iliguna pani.
dragon abl-Maelgwn tame.
”The dragon was tamed by Maelgwn.”
The experiencer who perceives such an attribute is put in the dative case.
Liqa kuhisuba bi’u.
。えげくひすばびう。
head dat-administrator hurt.
lit: “The head seems sore to the administrator.”
“The administrator has a headache.”
Chromatic Verbs
These are adjectival verbs specifically dealing with colour.
Kinetic Verbs
These verbs deal with motion of the subject. The origin of the movement is in ablative case, the destination in dative, and the general direction is marked with the adposition pa.
- malu まを to move to; to be in a place
- janni ぢっに to accelerate; to move around
- ’ussa うっさ to follow
- nura ぬら to leave; to be apart from
- madi まで to rise; to be high
- ka’u かう to jump
- hussu ほっす to fall; to be low
- saja さぢ to lie down; to be lying down
- tiku てく to turn
- na な to turn towards; to face
- raca らや to be hung; to be hanging
- fiqu べも to float; to be floating
- tihu てほ to move to; to abide
Quasi-Transitive Verbs
These are intransitive verbs in that they do not require a noun phrase in the object position. However, they act transitively by having a second noun phrase marked in a particular way.
Oblique Arguments
These are marked with an oblique case marker:
Luna kalujifiru’i mala; luna kalu’ilupahi mala.
。をなかをじべるいまわ / をなかをいをぱひまわ。
luna kalu-jifiru’i mala; luna kalu-’ilu-pahi mala.
moon abl-lake reflect; moon abl-heart-1gen reflect.
“The moon is reflected in the lake; the moon is reflected in my heart.”
The usual case assignment for objects of each of these verbs is shown in the wordlist for this section.
Comparatives
These verbs are used to denote the degree of similarity between two nouns. Their nuance can be modified by use of different case markers or adpositions.
Case denotes unmarked similarity or difference, dative for the former, ablative for the latter.
“The bear is like one of the family.”
The adposition haru はる with denotes a slight similarity or difference.
ʔusu ra’u harutaʔanissa runi.
。うすらうはるしっさたにっさるに。
’usu ra’u haru-taʔanissa runi.
1int prs;sta with-musician similar.
“I am somewhat of a musician.”
The adpositions ’adi あで near and xidu しど far denote a large similarity or difference.
Mari ra’u xidupajiga tinna.
。まりらうしどぱじがてっな。
this prs;sta far-olive different.
“This is nothing like an olive.”
Symmetric Relations
The participants of these verbs are equivalent to each other, that is, if Alice acts on Bob, then Bob acts on Alice in the same way. When the subject is Alice, say, then Bob can:
1. Be placed in the object position. Despite the structure, this is not transitive, as the verb has no passive, and pronouns use the intransitive form:
“Alice is touching Bob.”
2. Take dative marking:
“Alice is married to Bob.”
3. Be conjoined with the subject:
“Alice and Bob are having sex.”
The basic meaning of these sentences is not changed when swapping the participants or using the alternate structures.