Difference between revisions of "Inflectional Verbal Morphology"
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Revision as of 21:23, 28 April 2013
Person Marking
Subject Marking
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | fal | mbal |
| Prog. Part. | falaa | mbalaa |
| Imperative | fali | mbalyo |
| Positive | ||
| 1 | falaam | i mbala |
| 2 | fala | nu mbala |
| 3 | a fala | a mbala |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | faliim | i mbalee(r) |
| 2 | faliro | nu mbalee(r) |
| 3 | falee(r) | mbalee(r) |
Object Marking
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | falaam | mbalaam |
| Prog. Part. | falaxam | mbalaxam |
| Imperative | falaam | mbalyaamo |
| Positive | ||
| 1 | — | — |
| 2 | falaxamo | nu mbalaxam |
| 3 | a falaxam | a mbalaxam |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | — | — |
| 2 | faliraamo | nu mbaliraam |
| 3 | faliraam | mbaliraam |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | falong | mbalong |
| Prog. Part. | falang | mbalang |
| Imperative | — | — |
| Positive | ||
| 1 | falaaxong | i mbalaang |
| 2 | — | — |
| 3 | a falaang | a mbalaang |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | falirong | i mbalirang |
| 2 | — | — |
| 3 | falirang | mbalirang |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | falin | mbalin |
| Prog. Part. | falan | falan |
| Imperative | faleen | (mbalyeeno) |
| Positive | ||
| 1 | falaanum | i mbalaan |
| 2 | falaano | nu mbalaan |
| 3 | a falaan | a mbalaan |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | falinum | i mbaliran |
| 2 | falino | nu mbaliran |
| 3 | faliran | mbaliran |
Focus extraction marking
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | falum | i mbalu |
| 2 | falo | nu mbalu |
| 3 | a falu | a mbalu |
| S | falu | mbalu |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | faleerum | i mbaleeru |
| 2 | faleero | nu mbaleeru |
| 3 | a faleeru | a mbaleeru |
| S | faleeru | mbaleeru |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | — | — |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| S | ||
| Negative | ||
| 1 | — | — |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| S |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2 | — | — |
| 3 | ||
| S | falong | |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2 | — | — |
| 3 | ||
| S |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | a falun | a mbalun |
| S | falun | mbalun |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| S |
Passive
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | falel | mbalel |
| Prog. Part. | faleel | mbaleel |
| Imperative | ?? | ?? |
| Positive | ||
| 1 | faleem | i mbale |
| 2 | falee | nu mbale |
| 3 | a fale | a mbale |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | falaandeem | i mbalaand |
| 2 | falaandee | nu mbalaand |
| 3 | falaand | mbalaand |
Relative marking
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | faluuma | i mbalna |
| 2 | faloona | nu mbalna |
| 3 | te falna | de mbalna |
| S | falna | mbalna |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | faleeruuma | i mbaleerna |
| 2 | faleeroona | nu mbaleerna |
| 3 | te faleerna | de mbaleerna |
| S | faleerna | mbaleerna |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | — | — |
| 2 | falaxoona | nu mbalaxama |
| 3 | te falaxama | de mbalaxama |
| S | falaxama | mbalaxama |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | — | — |
| 2 | (faleeraxoona) | (nu mbaleeraxama) |
| 3 | (te faleeraxama) | (de mbaleeraxama) |
| S | faleeraxama | mbaleeraxama |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | in faloonga | i mbaloonga |
| 2 | — | — |
| 3 | te faloonga | de mbaloonga |
| S | faloonga | mbaloonga |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | (in faleeroonga) | i mbaleeroonga |
| 2 | — | — |
| 3 | (te faleeroonga) | (de mbaleeroonga) |
| S | faleeroonga | mbaleeroonga |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | falanuuma | i mbaluuna |
| 2 | falanoona | nu mbaluuna |
| 3 | te faluuna | de mbaluuna |
| S | faluuna | mbaluuna |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | (faleeranuuma) | (i mbaleeruuna) |
| 2 | (faleeranoona) | (nu mbaleeruuna) |
| 3 | (te faleeruuna) | (de mbaleeruuna) |
| S | faleeruuna | mbaleeruuna |
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | te faleena | de mbaleena |
| S | faleena | mbaleena |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | te falaandeena | de mbalaandeena |
| S | falaandeena | falaandeena |
Conditional marking
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | ||
| 1 | falanga | i mbalanga |
| 2 | o falanga | nu mbalanga |
| 3 | a falanga | a mbalanga |
| Negative | ||
| 1 | falangee | i mbalangee |
| 2 | o falangee | nu mbalangee |
| 3 | a falangee | a mbalangee |
Subject Marking
Sereer verbs agree with subject, even if a subject is overtly expressed elsewhere in the sentence. Singular and plural forms for first, second, and third person are all distinguished from each other. The only distinguishing characteristic between singular and plural third person, however, is the stem-initial consonant mutation of the verb stem. Initial consonant mutation occurs with all plural subjects, regardless of subject agreement type.
The following table shows the basic subject marking paradigm, which occurs when no pre-verbal morphology is present:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -m | 1PL | i-[mut] |
| 2SG | -' | 2PL | nu-[mut] |
| 3SG | a- | 3PL | a-[mut] |
This subject marking occurs with the proximal, past, and past progressive tenses (see Tense, below). For example, the proximal tense:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I run' | ʄuufaam | 1pl- 'we run' | iƈuufaa |
| 2sg- 'you run' | ʄuufaa'' | 2pl- 'you all run' | nuƈuufaa |
| 3sg- 'he runs' | aʄuufaa | 3pl- 'they run' | aƈuufaa |
Subject agreement varies, however, and is conditioned (at least) by clause type, negation, focus, and presence or absence of auxiliaries. Most subject agreement morphemes within these paradigms are prefixes.
When the preverbal aspect marker xe/we 'progressive' is present, a different subject marking paradigm occurs:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| -xe | -we | ||
| 1SG | me- | 1PL | in- |
| 2SG | we- | 2PL | nuun- |
| 3SG | a- | 3PL | a- |
For example, with the verb ʄuuf, 'run':
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I am running' | mexe ʄuufaa | 1pl- 'we were running' | inwe ƈuufaa |
| 2sg- 'you are running' | wexe ʄuufaa | 2pl- 'you all were running' | nunwe ƈuufaa |
| 3sg 'he is running' | axe ʄuufaa | 3pl- 'they were running' | awe ƈuufaa |
With the auxiliary verb xan 'future', or special preverbal morph (clitic?) kan (which marks predicate focus), subject marking always occurs immediately before the verb stem:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -m | 1PL | i-[mut] |
| 2SG | o- | 2PL | nu-[mut] |
| 3SG | a- | 3PL | a-[mut] |
For example, ʄuuf, 'run':
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I will see him' | xam ~ xan ga' in | 1pl- 'we will see him' | xani ng'a' in |
| 2sg- 'you will see him' | xano ga' in | 2pl- 'you all will see him' | xan nu nga' in |
| 3sg 'he will see her' | xana ga' in | 3pl- 'they will see him' | xan a nga' in |
As seen in the paradigm, first person subject marker, -m, replaces the final /n/ of xan or kan, and alternates with a zero 1sg subject marker.
Object marking
Sereer object marking varies based on how the subject is marked (which in turn varies based on tense/aspect marking). When there is no pre-verbal morphology and the subject is 3S, 1P, 2P, or 3P, the 'basic' subject marking appears, which can the following objects:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | -(ax)am | 1PL | (a) 'in |
| 2SG | -(o)ng | 2P | (a) nuun |
| 3SG | -(i)n | 3P | (a) den |
The singular objects are syntactically clitics, but phonologically suffixes. That is, they display morphophonological interactions with subject-marking suffixes, but do not always occur in the same place relative to the verb. Plural object markers are clitics as well, but are less bound than singular object markers. Plural object pronouns never interact phonologically with subject suffixes. Likewise, they are always preceded by the object marker a, and other words can intervene between them and the verb. For example:
<gl fontsize=11> anafana a Jegaan a den \gll a= naf-an-a a Jegaan a den 3sg.sbj= hit-ben-fv obj Jegaan obj 3pl \trans He hits them for Jegan (130) </gl>
This is evidence that the plural object series is not bound as the singular object series is. However, there is strong evidence that both singular and plural object markers are syntactic clitics. First, pronominal object markers are in complementary distribution with full noun phrases. In subordinate clauses, object marker can appear attached to either the verb that is thematically associated with or the matrix clause verb:
<gl fontsize=11> bugaam owarong \gll bug-aam o-war-ong want-1sg.sbj infin-kill-2sg.obj \trans I want to kill you. (155) </gl>
<gl fontsize=11> bugaxong owar \gll bug-a-xong o-war want-fv-1sg>2sg infin-kill \trans I want to kill you. (155) </gl>
In (2), the object suffix appears on war 'kill', but in (3) it attaches to bug 'want'. This can also occur with the plural series:
<gl fontsize=11> buga (o)foon a in \gll bug-a o-foon a in want-2sg.sbj infin-kiss obj 1pl \trans You want to kiss us. (155) </gl>
<gl fontsize=11> buga (a) in owar \gll bug-a (a) in o-foon want-2sg.sbj obj 1pl infin-kiss \trans You want to kiss us. (155) </gl>
This clitic climbing cannot occur with a lexical object: *buga (a) Jegan ofoon 'You want to kiss Jegan'. Thus, we should conclude that both series are clitics that attach to their hosts in different ways. Plural object pronouns are less bound than singular object pronouns, which do not phonologically behave as clitics. This points to varying levels of grammaticalization and synchronic development between the two series of object markers.
Object pronoun allomorphy
Basic object marking is altered when the subject is 1sg or 2sg. This is because these subjects are marked as post-verbal suffixes, and so these suffixes interact with the the singular object suffixes:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG>2SG | -xong | 1SG>2P | (a) nuun |
| 1SG>3SG | -num | 1SG>3P | (a) den |
In -xong, the -x- is analyzable as a 1sg marker, and -ong as marking for 2sg. Likewise, in -num, -n could mark for 3sg, and -um could mark 1sg.
The 2sg subject::object paradigm has similarly analyzable parts:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2SG>1SG | -xamo | 2SG>1PL | (a) 'in |
| 2SG>3SG | -no' | 2SG>3P | (a) den |
The -xam- in -xamo marks for 1sg, and -o is a 2sg marker; -n in -no' marks for 3sg, and -o' marks for 2sg. For all of these markers, except -xong, 1sg>2sg, the object marking comes inside the subject marking. This is the opposite order than what is normally expected.
Reflexivity
Reflexive verbs are always marked by xoox-, which is synchronically or diachronically derived from the word xoox- ‘head’. When it acts as a reflexive pronoun, xoox- displays no consonant alternations between singular and plural forms (which is not the case for the normal noun), and is always marked for person with the regular nominal possessive markers:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | xooxes | 1P | xoox'in |
| 2SG | xooxof | 2P | xooxnun |
| 3SG | xooxum | 3P | xooxden |
Tense and aspect
Tense
Matrix verbs are obligatorily marked for either tense or aspect in Sereer, and are often marked for both. The three tense markers are suffixes:
| Gloss | Sereer | |
|---|---|---|
| Simple past | -'a | |
| Proximal | -aa | |
| Progressive past | -eega |
The proximal tense marks events that happened temporally close to the speech act, which includes the present or recent past. Events outside of the recent past-present time frame cannot be marked with -aa.
The future aspect when marked with xan, however, can take -aa marking to indicate future progressive. xan can also appear by itself without any suffix aspect marking, and is glossed as the simple future. Note: Another pre-verbal morph, kan, behaves similarly to xan with regards to subject marking and position relative to the verb, but whose semantic applications are quite different. So far, the best gloss of kan is as a marker of predicate focus.
The proclitic progressive aspect marker xe/we must co-occur with either proximal tense or progressive past tense. With proximal tense -aa, xe/we is glossed as present progressive, and is past progressive with -eega. xe/we has special person marking; see the section on subject marking above.
Proximal Tense
Sample proximal tense verbal paradigm:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I run' | ʄuufaam | 1pl- 'we run' | iƈuufaa |
| 2sg- 'you run' | ʄuufaa' | 2pl- 'you all run' | nuƈuufaa |
| 3sg- 'he runs' | aʄuufaa | 3pl- 'they run' | aƈuufaa |
Past Tense
Sample past tense verbal paradigm:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I ran' | ʄuuf'aam | 1pl- 'we ran' | iƈuuf'aa |
| 2sg- 'you ran' | ʄuuf'aa' | 2pl- 'you all ran' | nuƈuuf'aa |
| 3sg 'he ran' | ʄuuf'aa | 3pl- 'they ran' | aƈuuf'aa |
Past Progressive Tense
Sample past progressive tense paradigm:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I was running' | ʄuufeegam | 1pl- 'we were running' | iƈuufeega |
| 2sg- 'you were running' | ʄuufeega' | 2pl- 'you all were running' | nuƈuufeega |
| 3sg 'he was running' | ʄuufeegaa | 3pl- 'they were running' | aƈuufeega |
Aspect
Two auxiliary verbs, xe/we 'progressive', and xan 'future', mark aspect in Sereer. The auxiliary xe/we takes special subject marking (see the section on Subject marking), and can occur with the proximal or past progressive tense. The auxiliary xan takes a different type of exceptional person marking, and can occur without a tense suffix or with the proximal tense suffix (for a future progressive reading).
Future aspect
Sample future aspect paradigm:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I will see him' | xam ga' in | 1pl- 'we will see him' | xani ng'a' in |
| 2sg- 'you will see him' | xano ga' in | 2pl- 'you all will see him' | xan nu nga' in |
| 3sg 'he will see her' | xana ga' in | 3pl- 'they will see him' | xan a nga' in |
Progressive aspect
Sample progressive aspect paradigm:
| Gloss | Sereer | Gloss | Sereer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg- 'I am running' | mexe ʄuufaa | 1pl- 'we were running' | inwe ƈuufaa |
| 2sg- 'you are running' | wexe ʄuufaa | 2pl- 'you all were running' | nunwe ƈuufaa |
| 3sg 'he is running' | axe ʄuufaa | 3pl- 'they were running' | awe ƈuufaa |
TAM Combinations
The suffixal tenses and pre-verbal auxiliary aspects can be combined in the following ways:
| Pre-verbal | Root | Post-verbal | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ | -aa | proximal | |
| _ | -'a | past | |
| _ | -eega | progressive past | |
| xe/we | _ | -aa | present progressive |
| xe/we | _ | -eega | progressive past |
| xan | _ | future | |
| xan | _ | -aa | future progressive |
Examples of TAM combinations
The following are examples of each attested TAM combination in Sereer thus far:
Present progressive: <gl fontsize=11> mexe laca \gll me-xe lac-aa 1s-PRG ask-PROX \trans I’m asking (065) </gl>
Proximal:
<gl fontsize=11>
ŋasaam
\gll ŋas-aa-m
play-PROX-1S
\trans I play (096)
</gl>
Future progressive:
<gl fontsize=11>
\gll xan nafaa aJegaan
xan naf-aa a-Jegaan
FUT hit-PROX OBJ-Jegan
\trans I will be hitting Jegan repeatedly (108)
</gl>
Future: <gl fontsize=11> \gll xan naf aJegaan xan naf a-Jegaan FUT hit OBJ-Jegan \trans I will hit Jegan (once) (108) </gl>
Past: <gl fontsize=11> \gll sob 'am sob ’a-m be.clumsy PST-1s \trans I was clumsy (068) </gl>
Progressive past (1):
<gl fontsize=11>
\gll feceegam
fec-eega-m
dance-PRG.PST-1s
\trans I used to dance (133)
</gl>
Progressive past (2):
<gl fontsize=11>
\gll mexe fooleega
me-xe fool-eega
1s-prg. jump-pst.prg
\trans I was jumping (repeatedly) (108)
</gl>
ka-
Sereer allows a proclitic ka- to appear with tense and aspect morphology. The exact semantics of ka- are yet to be determined. Ka- often occurs with the progressive aspect -aa. However, it is not inherently linked to the progressive semantics like as the auxiliary "xe/we" is when combined with the proximal "-aa" suffix. Similarly, though, ka- also takes special subject marking (See section on Subject Marking).
Progressive KA- reading: <gl fontsize=11> \gll kam labaa ka-m lab-aa KA-1S drown-PROX \trans I'm drowning (166) </gl>
Non-progressive KA- reading: <gl fontsize=11> \gll kam lab ka-m lab KA-1S drown \trans I (already) drowned (166) </gl>
However, this progressive/non-progressive reading distinction only occurs with atelic verbs. The exact function of ka- is yet to be determined. This morpheme could also have focus/extraction function (See note in Focus section)
