Ayoreo
Verbs table
| gloss | layer | 1 sg | 2 sg | 3 | 1 pl | 2 pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chew | lexeme | yigase | bagase | chigase | yigaco | uacagaso |
| dispatch | lexeme | yiroque | baroque | chiroque | yiroco | uacarocho |
| do | lexeme | yipesu | bapesu | pesu | yipeco | uacapeso |
| eat | lexeme | yaque | baque | taque | yajo | uacacho |
| fear | lexeme | yitodo | batodo | todo | yitodogo | uacatodoyo |
| knock down (fruit off a tree) | lexeme | yiguisare | baguisare | chiguisare | yiguisaco | uacaguisayo |
| plant | lexeme | yaca | baca | chaca | yacago | uacacayo |
| pull | lexeme | ñora | môra | tôra | ñorango | uacoraño |
| remove | lexeme | yase | base | chase | yaco | uacaso |
| say | lexeme | yigo | bago | chigo | yigogo | uacagoyo |
| shout | lexeme | yibite | babite | tibite | yibico | uacabicho |
| sniff | lexeme | yojare | bojare | chojare | yojaco | uacojacho |
| take away | lexeme | ñijnoque | majnoque | chijnoque | ñijnojo | uacajnocho |
| visit | lexeme | yibagui | babagui | tibagui | yibajoi | uacabachoi |
| walk | lexeme | yirique | barique | dique | yirijo | uacaricho |
| chew | prefix | yV₂ | ba | chV₂ | yV₂ | uaca |
| dispatch | prefix | yV₂ | ba | chV₂ | yV₂ | uaca |
| do | prefix | yV₂ | ba | zero | yV₂ | uaca |
| eat | prefix | yV₁ | bV₁ | tV₁ | yV₁ | uacV₁ |
| fear | prefix | yV₂ | ba | zero | yV₂ | uaca |
| knock down (fruit off a tree) | prefix | yV₂ | ba | chV₂ | yV₂ | uaca |
| plant | prefix | yV₁ | bV₁ | chV₁ | yV₁ | uacV₁ |
| pull | prefix | yV₁ | bV₁ | tV₁ | yV₁ | uacV₁ |
| remove | prefix | yV₁ | bV₁ | chV₁ | yV₁ | uacV₁ |
| say | prefix | yV₂ | ba | chV₂ | yV₂ | uaca |
| shout | prefix | yV₂ | ba | tV₂ | yV₂ | uaca |
| sniff | prefix | yV₁ | bV₁ | chV₁ | yV₁ | uacV₁ |
| take away | prefix | yV₂ | ba | chV₂ | yV₂ | uaca |
| visit | prefix | yV₂ | ba | tV₂ | yV₂ | uaca |
| walk | prefix | yV₂ | ba | zero | yV₂ | uaca |
| chew | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| dispatch | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| do | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| eat | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| fear | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| knock down (fruit off a tree) | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| plant | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| pull | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| remove | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| say | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| shout | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| sniff | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| take away | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| visit | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem | #stem |
| walk | stem | #stem | #stem | #stem 1 | #stem | #stem |
| chew | suffix | sV | sV | sV | co | so |
| dispatch | suffix | C₂V | C₂V | C₂V | co | cho |
| do | suffix | sV | sV | sV | co | so |
| eat | suffix | C₂V | C₂V | C₂V | jo | cho |
| fear | suffix | zero | zero | zero | go | yo |
| knock down (fruit off a tree) | suffix | C₁V | C₁V | C₁V | co | cho |
| plant | suffix | zero | zero | zero | go | yo |
| pull | suffix | zero | zero | zero | go | yo |
| remove | suffix | sV | sV | sV | co | so |
| say | suffix | zero | zero | zero | go | yo |
| shout | suffix | C₁V | C₁V | C₁V | co | cho |
| sniff | suffix | C₁V | C₁V | C₁V | co | cho |
| take away | suffix | C₂V | C₂V | C₂V | jo | cho |
| visit | suffix | C₂V | C₂V | C₂V | jo | cho |
| walk | suffix | C₂V | C₂V | C₂V | jo | cho |
Ayoreo notes
General observations
- Subject person-number marked by prefixes and suffixes, with stem alternation playing a minor and predicatable role. Both prefixation and suffixation fall into a number of different patterns, which appear to be independent of each other.
- The status of both the prefix vowel and the suffixes is open to question, and it is worth reviewing the issues involved:
- What is treated here as the prefixal vowel might also be construed as the first vowel of the stem, and any vowel alternations might be treated as the result of some kind of phonological interaction between the prefix and stem. One reason for not doing this is the fact that possessed nouns take what seem to be the same prefixes, but with a different alternation in the 2nd person (nominal yidai 'my camp' ~ bedai 'your camp' vs verbal yitodo 'I fear' ~ batodo 'you fear'). This suggests some degree of morphological stipulation.
- The singular suffixes which are deleted in the plural have a lexical quality to them, and might also be treated as a singular stem augments, which themselves select distinct sets of plural inflectional suffixes. As Bertinetto (2009) suggests, the allomorphy of the inflectional suffixes was probably diachronically the result of phonological fusion with this preceding element.
Other observations
If the singular suffixes and the prefixes are construed as inflectional, then Ayoreo has quite a few Ø roots (in the case of 'sell', we might say the root was a floating nasal feature):
| 'eat' | |
| 1sg | ya-Ø-que |
| 2sg | ba-Ø-que |
| 3 | ta-Ø-que |
| 1pl | ya-Ø-jo |
| 2pl | uaca-Ø-cho |
| ‘remove’ | |
| 1sg | ya-Ø-se |
| 2sg | ba-Ø-se |
| 3 | tcha-Ø-se |
| 1pl | ya-Ø-co |
| 2pl | uaca-Ø-so |
| ‘meet’ | |
| 1sg | yi-Ø-se |
| 2sg | be-Ø-se |
| 3 | chi-Ø-se |
| 1pl | yi-Ø-co |
| 2pl | uace-Ø-so |
Note: the vowel alternation in the 2nd person prefix is of the nominal type rather than the verbal type (see 'General observations').
| ‘sell’ | |
| 1sg | ñe-Ø-râ |
| 2sg | me-Ø-râ |
| 3 | te-Ø-râ |
| 1pl | ñe-Ø-cô |
| 2pl | uaque-Ø-chô |
Most likely the suffixes were at least originally lexical/derivational, though from the above examples is would be hard to fish out any coherent semantics.
Inflections
Prefix
Terminates in CV. Default pattern has 3rd person chV-; Ø and t- and are both exceptional (t- especially so, limited to 16 verbs), with Ø nearly always cooccuring with prefix theme vowel -i- in the other persons (a few examples in -u-, one in -a-).
Stem
Alternation only occurs where 3rd person is Ø.
Suffix
All verbs have plural suffixes. Singular suffixes only with some verbs: (in descending order of frequency) -re, -se, -que, -te, -gu, -si, -ru, -di, -ra, -ro, -su. Plural suffixation depends on singular suffixation pattern. Where there are no singular suffixes: 2pl -go, 3pl -yo. Otherwise, plural suffix pattern depends on phonology of the initial C of singular suffix: default is -co, -cho; 2pl -so occurs where the singular suffix has -s-, while 1pl -jo only occurs where the singular suffix is a velar (but this is not automatic). Note also that if the singular suffix ends in -i, so does the plural; this has been factored out of the representation.
Orthography and symbols
- Spanish-style orthographic conventions are used.
- 'Hat' over vowel indicates nasalization.
- Nasal harmony within the word (the exact phonological conditions are not entirely clear) affects the shape of the affixes. This has been factored out of the representation.
- Underlying representations:
| V₁ = | ¬high a, e, o; n.b. where vowel is a, it coincides with inflectional a of 2nd person found in V₂ (high vowel) paradigms |
| V₂ = | high i, e |
| C₁ = | ¬s, ¬velar C |
| C₂ = | velar C |
| LEX1 = | initial C alternation only affects some segments; might be characterizable as fortition (examples: ch --> t, r --> d, b --> p, ŋ --> c) |
Exceptional paradigms
The major pattern of plural suffixation is 1pl -go, 2pl -yo where there is no singular suffix, and -co, -cho where there is one. Deviations from this regualarity are:
- -co, -cho where singular lacks suffix: Ciucci (2007-8) ex. (5e), (33b-f).
- -go, -yo where there is a singular suffix (Ciucci 2007-8, ex. (33g).
- Heteroclitic mixture of 1pl -co and 2pl -yo (Ciucci 2007-8, ex. (33a); no singular suffix).
- 'Nominal' alternation in 2nd person: ñicâre 'I dream' ~ mecâre 'you dream'. (See 'General observations'; for additional examples, see 'Other observations'.)
- 3rd person stem vowel alternation in 'accompany': ñijnina '1sg' ~ nona '3' (Ciucci 2007-8 ex. (19l)).
- Suppletion in 'go' and 'buy' (Ciucci 2007-8 ex. (19a, b)).
References
Bertinetto, Pier Marco. 2009. Ayoreo (Zamuco). A grammatical sketch. Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica 8. Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore.
Ciucci, Luca. 2007-8. Indagini sulla morfologia verbale nella lingua ayoreo. Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica 7. Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore.