Okinawan/Grammar
Contents
Basic Nominal Morphology
Nominals are not inflected in Okinawan, and are strictly derivational. Their derivational suffixes are added to noun stems in order to bestow different kinds of extraneous meaning. Nominals are tagged with <nom>.
Diminutive
Attaches to noun stems, diminishing it. The same suffix is used regardless of animacy. The <dim> tag can be added to nominals to produce this effect.
- んかじ<nom><dim> ↔ んかじぐぁあ
- くすい<nom><dim> ↔ くすいぐぁあ
- わあび<nom><dim> ↔ わあびぐぁあ
Basic verbal morphology
Verbs in Okinawan should be tagged <v>. Note that because the difference between present and future in Okinawan is strictly contextual, tags that refer to the "present" actually refer to the "non-past". Furthermore, verbs have three major classes:
- Regular 1: verbs with the «うん» ending, such as «あっくん», «かむん» etc
- Regular 2: verbs with the «いん» ending, such as «うりん», «きいん» etc
- Iregular: «すん», «すん» etc
Verbs have three tenses/inflections: Indicative, Intentional, and Imperative. These are represented by the tags <pri>, <int>, and <imp>. Additionally, Indicative verbs can be tagged as either past <pri> or non-past <pres>. Finally, any of these other than the Intentional can be negated using the <neg> tag.
«ゆむん» (read) is a Regular1 verb:
- ゆむん<v><ind><pres> ↔ ゆむん
- ゆむん<v><ind><pres><neg> ↔ ゆまん
- ゆむん<v><ind><past> ↔ ゆまん
- ゆむん<v><ind><past><neg> ↔ ゆまんた
- ゆむん<v><int> ↔ ゆま
- ゆむん<v><imp><neg> ↔ ゆむな
Gerundization
Verbs can be made into nouns by affixing «やあ» to the verb stem. To represent this, the <ger> tag is used.
- ないん<v><ger> ↔ なやあ
- もおいん<v><ger> ↔ もおやあ
- かちゅん<v><ger> ↔ かやあ
Plural
Plurality can be assigned to norminals with «たあ» and «んさあ» suffixies. We use the <pl> tag for this.
- ぱあぱ<nom><pl> ↔ ぱあぱたあ
- くぁ<nom><pl> ↔ くぁんさあ
- せんせえ<nom><pl> ↔ せんせえたあ
Mood and modality
While mood is covered by finite inflection, several final clitics relate conversational qualities, such as emphasis and confirmation. The <dsc> tag is used to mark this.
- にやとぅん<v><dsc> ↔ にやとぅんはじ
- かくん<v><dsc> ↔ かくんはじ
- ぷみいん<v><dsc> ↔ ぷみいんばあ
- ぬぶゆん<v><dsc> ↔ ぬぶゆんばあて
Voice
Other than the active voice, Okinawan features the passive, causative, and potential voices. These are realized by the suffixes «らる», «をぅん/う», and «るん», respectively. The tags used to this end are <actv>, <pass>, <caus>, <pot>.
Active
- かむん<v><act> ↔ かむん
Passive
- かむん<v><pass> ↔ かむらるん
Causative
- かむん<v><caus> ↔ かむをぅん
Potential
- かむん<v><pot> ↔ かむるん
Case Marking
A great deal of Okinawan's agglutinative morphology comes from so-called case marking. These markers come after words, denoting the word's case form.
Nominative
Marks subject/adjective (?). Tag: <nom>
- わあ<nom> ↔ わあが
- ちゅう<nom> ↔ ちゅうぬ
Genitive
Indicates possession. Tag: <gen>
- はなこ<gen> ↔ はなこが
Dative
Indicates a beneficiary, time, or frequency. Tag: <dat>
- はなこ<dat> ↔ はなこに
- うや<dat> ↔ うやに
- じゅうはち<dat> ↔ じゅうはちに
- をぅしか<dat> ↔ をぅしかに
Allative
Indicates direction, result of change, or the end of listings. Tag: <all>
- うみ<all> ↔ うみし
- えん<all> ↔ えんし
- みせ<all> ↔ みせし
Locative 1
Used for static action, points of movement, and results of change. Tag: <loc1>
- やあ<loc1> ↔ やあんか
- すば<loc1> ↔ すばんか
- みいち<loc1> ↔ みいちんか
- やくぁん<loc1> ↔ やくぁんか
Locative 2
Used for active actions. Tag: <loc2>
- さねえ<loc2> ↔ さねえんじ
Locative 3
Used for active actions. Tag: <loc3>
- ぷか<loc3> ↔ ぷかうてぃ
Instrumental
Indicates the usage of some object for some purpose. Tag: <ins>
- じょおきん<ins> ↔ じょおきんし
Associative
Indicates motion associated with other, exchange of equal value, general association between two. Tag: <asc>
- るしんさあ<asc> ↔ るしんさあとぅ
- たあち<asc> ↔ たあちとぅ
- ちょおなん<asc> ↔ ちょおなんとぅ
- ぱあぱ<asc> ↔ ぱあぱとぅ
Comparative
Marks comparisons using 'than'. Tag: <comp>
- わん<comp> ↔ わんゆか
Ablative
Indicates source, static action, and the beginning of listings. Tag: <abl>
- あらかあ<abl> ↔ あらかあから
- くるま<abl> ↔ くるまから
- てぃだみい<abl> ↔ てぃだみいから
- ゆにおん<abl> ↔ ゆにおんから
Limitative
"As far as". Tag: <lim>
- よじ<lim> ↔ よじまり