Red Laqi language/Verbs
Laqi verbs are the most highly-inflected part of speech in the language, receiving both prefixes and suffixes to describe things like subject/object agreement, the direction of action, tense and mood, intentionality, and even the English equivalent to conjunctions and adverbs.
These affixes bind to the verb according to a defined sequence according to their type:
| Prefix Complex | + | VERB STEM | + | Suffix Complex | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolutive | Directional | Applicatives | Cislocative | Indirect Object | Ergative | Causative | Tense | Mood | Negation | Epistemic | Conjunctive | |||
Prefix Complex
Personal Agreement
Laqi has two basic sets of markers to indicate personal agreement: Absolutive and Ergative-Oblique. Whether these endings mark the subject or the object depends on the greater context of the verb phrase. Person markers indicate three persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd), two numbers (singular, plural) as well as a reflexive.
| Abs | Erg-Obj | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | sy- ~ | s- ~ | |
| 2s | uy- ~ | u- ~ | |
| 3s | 0- ~ | i- ~ | |
| 1p | ty- ~ | t- ~ | |
| 2p | ś°y- ~ | ś°- ~ | |
| 3p | ~ -x | a- ~ |
Ergative-Oblique affixes (and all consonant-ending prefixes) may have an epenthetic vowel, e, added to cushion them from forming consonant clusters that violate phonotactic constraints.
- e.g.
- qysfad "(s)he is like me" versus qysepły "(s)he looks at me"
Reflexive
When two or more arguments represent the same person(s), reflexive prefixes are used instead, under the following circumstances:
- Indirect Object matches Absolutive: Indirect Object = ze-
- uyzesġepły "I am making you look at yourself".
- Indirect Object matches Ergative: Indirect Object = zy-
- uyzysġepły "I am making you look at myself".
- Ergative matches Absolutive: Absolutive = zy-
- zyseuġepły "You are making yourself look at me".
- All three match: Absolutive = zy-, Indirect Object = ze-
- zyzeuġepły "You are making yourself look at yourself".
Agreement Patterns
Stative
Laqi has a set of stative verbs, which indicate an unchanging condition for the subject. These stative verbs are formed out of augmented positional prefix.
The subject is in the Absolutive Case and marked on the verb with Absolutive affixes, since the subject is taking no action and receives the verb's description.
- Cyšys. "I am sitting."
A noun can also be reinterpreted as a stative verb in order to form basic predicative statements.
- Dzeł'yh! "They are warriors!"
Intransitive Dynamic
Intransitive Dynamic verbs take a single argument, the subject who is performing an action.
The Subject is in the Absolutive Case, since they receive the effect of their action. As a quirk in the language Intransitive Dynamic verbs mark personal agreement using a separate set of affixes that superficially resemble the Ergative affixes. They are, however, positioned in the Absolutive slot in the Prefix Complex.
3rd Person is uniquely marked with a ma- prefix, but only if the verb has no other prefixes. The normal Absolutive -h suffix is used for the 3rd Plural.
| Abs | |
|---|---|
| 1s | se- ~ |
| 2s | ue- ~ |
| 3s | ma- ~ |
| 1p | te- ~ |
| 2p | ś°e- ~ |
| 3p | ma- ~ -x |
- Se seśhe. "I eat."
- Tyiuynamć'e maśheh! "They eat in our home!"
- Ć'aler mać°e. (note: no other prefixes, thus has ma- prefix)
- Ć'aler zećeć°e. "The boy walks backwards." (note: has a directional prefix, thus no ma- prefix)
Transitive
Transitive verbs take two arguments, the Subject and the Direct Object. The Subject is in the Ergative and the Direct Object is in the Absolutive. Personal agreement markers are typical, using absolutive affixes in the absolutive slot and ergative affixes in the ergative slot within the verb's Prefix Complex.
- . " ."
Inverse
Inverse verbs take two arguments, the Subject and the Stimulus. The Subject is in the Absolutive and the Stimulus is in the Oblique. This is because the action affects the Subject. Person agreement for the Stimulus is done in the Indirect Object slot with Ergative-Oblique affixes.
Because this combination will be effectively indistinguishable from the Transitive, in which the Ergative-Oblique is the Subject and the Absolutive is the Object, all Inverse Verbs take a required Directional Prefix, qy-, which goes into the Directional slot in the Prefix Complex.
- Ce ue uycle. "I paint you." (transitive, Erg-Obl = Subject, Abs = Direct Object)
- Ce ue cyqyupły. "I see you." (inverse, Erg-Obl = Indirect Object, Abs = Subject)
Valency Expansion
Ditransitive verbs take three arguments: Subject (Ergative), Direct Object (Absolutive), and Indirect Object.
- uecetyġeh "I gave them to you."
The Causative prefix can increase a verb's valency.
- iyuecġatyġeh. "I made him give them to you."
Some Applicative prefixes can also increase a verb's valency. Their objects will be indicated on the verb as an Ergative-Oblique type prefix to the Applicative.
- uyc°'yawaneġ. "They shot you near me."
Derivational Prefixes
Prefixes that expand valency are marked with (+).
| Directional Prefixes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cisdirectional unique position required for inverse verbs |
qy- | qypłe "(S)he looks here" |
| Backwards | zać'e- | zać'epłe "(S)he looks backwards" |
| Directional Prefixes (+) | ||
| Towards | ł- | łepłe "(S)he looks towards (sth)" |
| Through | phyry- | phyrypłe "(S)he looks through (sth)" |
| Beyond | ŝḥepy- | ŝḥepypłe "(S)he looks beyond (sth)" |
| Over | ŝḥade- | ŝḥadepłe "(S)he looks over (sth)" |
| Informative Prefixes | ||
| Bypass | ble- | blepłe "(S)he overlooks (sth)" |
| Informative Prefixes (+) | ||
| Benefactive | fe- | fepłe "(S)he looks for/on behalf of (sb)" |
| Malefactive | ś°'e- | ś°'epłe "(S)he looks against (sb)'s interest" |
| Causative unique position |
ġe- | ġepłe "(S)he makes (sb) look at (sth)" |
Positional Prefixes
Positional Prefixes all expand the verb's valency (except šy-). They can also be used on their own, augmented with a suffix, to form Stative Verbs.
| Prefix | Example | Stative Verb Forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stand (-t) | Sit (-s) | Lay (-ł) | ||||
| at | šy- | šypłe "(s)he looks there" |
šyt | šys | šył | |
| on | te- | tepłe "(s)he looks on/upon" |
tet | tes | teł | |
| under | ĉ'e- | ĉ'epłe "(s)he looks under" |
ĉ'et | ĉ'es | ĉ'eł | |
| among/within (a group) | xe- | xepłe "(s)he looks among/within (group)" |
xet | xes | xeł | |
| with (comitative) | de- | depłe "(s)he looks with (sb)" |
det | des | deł | |
| around/near | °'y- | °'ypłe "(s)he looks around (sth)" |
°'yt | °'ys | °'ył | |
| inside | iy- | iypłe "(s)he looks inside (sth)" |
iyt | iys | iył | |
| attached/hanging | py- | pypłe "(s)he waits (somewhere) for" |
pyt | pys | pył | |
| behind | q°e- | q°epłe "(s)he looks behind (sth)" |
q°et | q°es | q°eł | |
| aside | g°e- | g°epłe "(s)he looks to the side of (sth)" |
g°et | g°es | g°eł | |
