Some thoughts on verbs
Word order revisited
Proto-Wekoq uses OSV word order.
*ʢekoq qeˤn̥oˤ qeˤ
ʢe-k-oq qeˤn̥oˤ qeˤ
ANIM.SG-demonym-river 2 be
'you are Wekoq'
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o gin̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o gi-Ø-n̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
PST-
INCOMPL-live.somewhere
'he used to live by the Great River'
Polar questions
The question particle *
de occurs at the end of the sentence:
*ʢekoq qeˤn̥oˤ qeˤ de
ʢe-k-oq qeˤn̥oˤ qeˤ de
ANIM.SG-demonym-river 2 be
Q
'are you Wekoq?'
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o gin̥in̥wiˤ de
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o gi-Ø-n̥in̥wiˤ de
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
PST-
INCOMPL-live.somewhere
Q
'did he used to live by the Great River?'
Completives and incompletives
The default form of a verb is the incompletive. The incompletive is also the only form of a verb that can be negated (see below).
*g̊o n̥waˤ n̥uˤŋ
g̊o n̥waˤ Ø-n̥uˤŋ
3 1
INCOMPL-put.down.fabric
'I am putting it (the fabric) down'
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o n̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o Ø-n̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
INCOMPL-live.somewhere
'he lives by the Great River'
The completive is indicated by a prefix *
-maqʰ-.
*g̊o n̥waˤ maqʰn̥uˤŋ
g̊o n̥waˤ maqʰ-n̥uˤŋ
3 1
COMPL-put.down.fabric
'I have put it (the fabric) down'
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o maqʰn̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o maqʰ-n̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
COMPL-live.somewhere
'he no longer lives by the Great River'
Tense
There are four tenses: *
gi- PAST, *
Ø- PRESENT, *
aˤ- PERSISTIVE, and *
ʢi- FUTURE.
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o gin̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o gin̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
PST-
INCOMPL-live.somewhere
'he used to by the Great River'/'he was living by the Great River'
*g̊o n̥waˤ gimaqʰn̥uˤŋ
g̊o n̥waˤ gi-maqʰ-n̥uˤŋ
3 1
PST-
COMPL-put.down.fabric
'I put it (the fabric) down'
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o n̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o Ø-Ø-n̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
PRES-
INCOMPL-live.somewhere
'he no longer lives by the Great River'
*g̊o n̥waˤ maqʰn̥uˤŋ
g̊o n̥waˤ Ø-maqʰ-n̥uˤŋ
3 1
PRES-
COMPL-put.down.fabric
'I have put it (the fabric) down'/'I just put it down'/'I am finished putting it down'
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o aˤn̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o aˤ-Ø-n̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
PERSISTIVE-
INCOMPL-live.somewhere
'he still lives by the Great River'
*g̊o n̥waˤ aˤmaqʰn̥uˤŋ
g̊o n̥waˤ aˤ-maqʰ-n̥uˤŋ
3 1
PERSISTIVE-
COMPL-put.down.fabric
'I put it (the fabric) down (emphatic)'/'I am finished putting it down (emphatic)'
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o ʢin̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o ʢi-Ø-n̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
FUT-
INCOMPL-live.somewhere
'he will live by the Great River'
*g̊o n̥waˤ ʢimaqʰn̥uˤŋ
g̊o n̥waˤ ʢi-maqʰ-n̥uˤŋ
3 1
FUT-
COMPL-put.down.fabric
'I will have put it (the fabric) down'
The persistive tense is not typically used with completives; when it is, it adds further emphasis to the fact that the action of the verb is no longer occurring.
*ʜoq ʜig̊ahaʢ g̊o aˤmaqʰn̥in̥wiˤ
ʜ-oq ʜ-g̊ahaʢ g̊o aˤ-maqʰ-n̥in̥wiˤ
long.thin-river long.thin-great 3
PERSISTIVE-
COMPL-live.somewhere
'he no longer lives by the Great River (emphatic)'
Negation
There are two types of negative morpheme in Proto-Wekoq: The negative particle
bu and the negative prefix
miˤ-. Unfortunately (for me and everybody else), which verb takes which is semantically governed. The verb *
qeˤ 'be', for instance, uses the negative prefix:
*ʢekoq qeˤn̥oˤ miˤqeˤ
ʢe-k-oq qeˤn̥oˤ Ø-miˤ-qeˤ
ANIM.SG-demonym-river 2
INCOMPL-
NEG-be
'you are not Wekoq'
The verb *
m̥iˤb̥oˤs 'fasten', on the other hand, uses the postverbal particle *
bu:
*go qeˤn̥oˤ gim̥iˤb̥oˤs bu
go qeˤn̥oˤ gi-Ø-m̥iˤb̥oˤs bu
3 2
PST-
INCOMPL-fasten
NEG
'you didn't fasten it'
Negatives can only negate verbs that are not in the completive aspect.
The verbs that take the negative prefix tend to denote relatively "common" actions. The list below may be expanded later.
- *qeˤ 'be'
- *n̥iˤkʰ 'pick up (a long, thin object)'
- *xeˤ 'pick up (a small, round object)'
- *ɢ̥aˤ 'pick up (a fabric-like object)'
- *seˤ 'pick up (other objects)'
- *n̥wiˤ 'hold, carry (a long, thin object)'
- *mweˤ 'hold, carry (a small, round object)'
- *kʰaˤ 'hold, carry (a fabric-like object)'
- *an̥ 'hold, carry (other objects)'
- *ʢiˤ 'have, possess (a long, thin object)'
- *m̥ad 'have, possess (a small, round object)'
- *ŋ̊wuˤ 'have, possess (a fabric-like object)'
- *ʢwad̥we 'have, possess (other objects)'
- *kʰe 'put down (a long, thin object)'
- *woˤ 'put down (a small, round object)'
- *n̥uˤŋ 'put down (a fabric-like object)'
- *ʢoˤ 'put down (other objects)'
- *g̊waˤn̥ 'begin (something)'
- *pʰwe 'end (something)'
- *ŋak 'eat, drink'
- *mwed 'sleep'
- *n̥eˤn 'live'
- *n̥in̥wiˤ 'live (somewhere)'
- *kʰwes 'die'
- *aʢ 'sow a field'
- *mud̥ 'plow a field'
- *meˤg̊uˤ 'harvest'
- *m̥wiˤn̥ 'sing'
- *qiˤŋwo 'think (that)'
- *e 'apologize'
- *uˤŋ̊qeˤ 'speak, say'
- *iˤŋ̊ 'argue'
- *n̥weˤd 'do work'
- *n̥wa 'play'
Furthermore, there are four verbs with suppletive negative stems:
- *eˤŋ 'run' ~ *woˤn̥wiˤm̥ 'not run'
- *b̥oˤtqwuˤn̥ 'travel by boat' ~ *ʢwiˤtwe 'not travel by boat'
- *n̥ekʰwu 'kill' ~ *n̥aiˤʢo 'not kill'
- *waˤʜiˤŋ̊ 'betray' ~ *ʜang̊iˤ 'not betray'
