Difference between revisions of "Verb infixes"
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| − | All verbal inflection in Na'vi makes use of infixes. These are morphemes which, rather than occurring before (prefixes) or after (suffixes), are inserted into the middle of the verbal root. There are | + | All verbal inflection in Na'vi makes use of infixes. These are morphemes which, rather than occurring before (prefixes) or after (suffixes), are inserted into the middle of the verbal root. There are three positions for infixes. Frommer speaks of first position, second position and ''pre-first'' position. In some online documentation people have chosen to label the positions ‹1› (pre-first), ‹2› (first) and ‹3› (second). |
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| + | == Pre-first Position == | ||
| + | This position holds affixes that change transitivity, as well as the participle marker. | ||
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| + | {{GrTablePreFirst}} | ||
== First position infixes == | == First position infixes == | ||
Revision as of 19:05, 7 February 2010
All verbal inflection in Na'vi makes use of infixes. These are morphemes which, rather than occurring before (prefixes) or after (suffixes), are inserted into the middle of the verbal root. There are three positions for infixes. Frommer speaks of first position, second position and pre-first position. In some online documentation people have chosen to label the positions ‹1› (pre-first), ‹2› (first) and ‹3› (second).
Contents
Pre-first Position
This position holds affixes that change transitivity, as well as the participle marker.
Reflexive ‹äp› Causative ‹eyk› Active Participle ‹us› Passive Participle ‹awn›
First position infixes
Infixes that occur in the first position indicate tense, aspect, and mood.
First position affixes are placed between the onset and the nucleus of the verb's penultimate syllable. If the verb is monosyllabic, they are placed before the first, and only, vowel of the root.
Aspect
The perfective aspect indicates completion of the verb's action. The action clearly started and stopped. The perfective morpheme is <ol>. It literally translates to the auxiliary verb "to have", as in "I have eaten". However, in Na'vi the perfective aspect can be used as a simple past tense. "Oe yolom" can mean "I have eaten" or "I ate".
lu > lolu (have been), taron > tolaron (have hunted)
The imperfective aspect indicates that the action is repeated or ongoing. The imperfect morpheme is <er>.
lu > leru (was being), taron > teraron (was hunting)
Tense
The present tense indicates that the action is happening in general. The regular form of a verb denotes present tense, so no infix is needed.
The past tense signifies that the action terminated quite a while ago, or a long time ago. If the action was finished recently, the immediate past tense is used instead. The past morpheme is <am>.
lu > lamu (was), taron > tamaron (hunted)
Mood
Combination of affixes in first position
Although not all possible combinations of aspect, tense, and mood are known from the current corpus, it is known that at least some combinations result in a new, complex infix.
Second position infixes
Infixes which occur in the second position indicate a range of features, including most prominently speak attitude toward the event.
