Difference between revisions of "Inflectional Verbal Morphology"

Revision as of 20:09, 13 December 2012

Sample present-tense verbal paradigm:

Present:
Gloss	Sereer	Gloss	Sereer
I ...	-aam	we ...	i-[mut]-a
you ...	-aa	you (pl) ...	nu-[mut]-a
s/he ...	-a	they ...	a-[mut]-a

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-==Stem-initial consonant mutation==
-See also [[Nominal Morphology#Stem-initial segment mutation|Nominal morphology]] for the similar phenomenon in nouns.
-Verb stems undergo a stem-initial consonant mutation as a form of inflection for plural subject. '''Only''' initial consonants that can mutate actually do mutate; some never appear to mutate (e.g. /j/, /m/, /n/). Verbs intended as plurals that do not show a distinct plural allomorph are often disambiguated from singular forms with the addition of a suffix (or clitic?) -jo.
-The mutation follows one of two "tracks", depending on whether or not the stem-initial consonant is an implosive. Note that these mutations are simplified relative to the nominal stem-initial consonat mutations.
-The non-implosive "track":
-* (sg) continuants --> (pl) prenasalized stop, e.g. '''w'''eʄ --> '''mb'''eʄ 'to swim' (022)
-* (sg) voiceless oral stop, non-implosive --> (pl) prenasalized stop (not well-attested, few verbs with initial voiceless stops)
-* (sg) voiced oral stop, non-implosive --> (pl) prenasalized stop, '''d'''isooχ --> '''nd'''isooχ 'to sneeze' (029)
-The implosive "track":
-* (sg) voiced implosive stop --> (pl) voiceless implosive stop, e.g. '''ɗ'''ok --> '''ƭ'''ok 'to grind' (047)