Amis/Grammar

Amis Grammar

Forms of a Verb

Regular Verbs

The tag for verbs should be <v>. The tags for voice are <av> actor voice and <uv> undergoer voice. There is no tag specifically for general/present because it is the only actor voice tense. <prst> perfective/stative, <will> will (of the actor), <futi> future/imperative, <past> past tense, and <caus> causative.

Forms Marking Voice and Tense

Voice	Affix	Feature
Actor Voice	mi-	general/present
Undergoer Voice	ma-	perfective/stative
	-aw	will (of the actor)
	-en	irrealis (future/imperative)
	ni-...-an	past
N/A	pa-(+pi-/ka-)	causative

• palu<v><av> ↔ mipalu
• nanuy<v><av> ↔ minanuy
• palu<v><uv><prst> ↔ mapalu
• la’up<v><uv><prst> ↔ mala’up
• patay<v><uv><will> ↔ patayaw
• seti’<v><uv><will> ↔ seti’aw
• patay<v><uv><futi> ↔ patayen
• seti’<v><uv><futi> ↔ seti’en
• patay<v><uv><past> ↔ nipatayan
• sanga<v><uv><past> ↔ nisangaan
• patay<v><caus> ↔ papipatay
• seti’<v><caus> ↔ papiseti’

Applicatives and Moods

Instrumental Applicative

This is used to indicate that there is an instrument or reason for doing something. the instrumental applicative can take three forms (shown in the table). the form with «pi-» can only be read as the instrument interpretation, while the forms with «ka-» can be interpreted as either instrument or reason. The tag for the instrumental applicative should be <ins1> for instrument only and <ins2> for instrument or goal, the tag for negative should be <neg>.

Instumental Applicative

Instrument	sa-pi-
Instrument or Reason	sa-ka-	sa-ka...-um-

• adup<v><ins1> ↔ sapiadup
• sanga<v><uv><ins1> ↔ masapisanga
• palu<v><ins1> ↔ sapipalu
• tukas<v><neg><ins1> ↔ kasapitukas
• fanaʼ<v><ins2> ↔ sakafanaʼ
• fanaʼ<v><ins1> ↔ sapifanaʼ

Nouns\cases

Locative Applicative

The locative applicative is used to indicate that there is an undergoer, goal, or location of doing something. The forms of the locative applicative «-an» are shown in the table below with the corresponding affixes. The tag for the locative applicative should be <loc>. The tag for the goal is <goal>, for patient is <pat>, and for location is <loca>.

Locative Applicative Markers and Co-occuring Affixes

Goal	mi-...-an
Patient	mi-...-an	-um-...-an	ka-...-an
Location	pi-...-an	ka-...-um-...-an	ka-...-an

• ulah<v><pat><loc> ↔ kaulahan
• diput<v><loca><loc> ↔ pidiputan
• adup<v><loca><loc> ↔ piadupan
• adup<v><pat><loc> ↔ miadupan
• repel<v><pat><loc> ↔ mirepelan
• cikay<v><pat><loc> ↔ micikayan

Factual Mood

The factual mood, marked with the suffix «-ay», indicates factuality. the tag <fact> is for the factual mood. The tag <adj> is for adjectives. The tag The tag <numb> is for numerals and the tag <pln> is for the numeral modifier.

• kalat<v><av><fact> ↔ mikalatay
• palu<v><uv><fact> ↔ mapaluay
• kuhting<adj><fact> ↔ kuhtingay
• tataʼak<adj><fact> ↔ tataʼakay
• tusa<numb><pln><fact> ↔ tatusaay

Optative Mood

The optative mood, marked with the suffix «-aw», indicates a suggestion or plea for the speaker. This is marked with the tag <opt>. This can be used on its own or with causative and/or active voice.

• Tapang<n><opt> ↔ Tapangaw
• dateng<n><opt> ↔ datengaw
• dateng<n><av><opt> ↔ midatengaw
• nanum<n><caus><opt> ↔ pananumaw
• nanum<n><av><caus><opt> ↔ mipananumaw

Clause Structures

Sentence Structure

• Amis is a predicate-initial language.

Nouns

Case Markings

Case Makers and Noun Classifiers

Nouns\Cases		Nominative	Genitive	Dative
Common		k-u	n-u	t-u
Personal Proper	Singular	_-ci	n-i	ci...-an
	Plural	_-...-ca	na	ci...-an

Pronouns

Tags: Pronoun: <prn> Personal: <pers> Singular: <sg> Plural: <pl> Person: <p1>, <p2>, <p3> Inclusive: <incl> Exclusive: <excl> Nominative: <nom> Genitive: <gen> Dative: <dat> Possessive: <pos>

Personal Pronouns and Posessive Pronominal Nouns

Number	Person		Nominative	Genitive	Dative	Possessive Pronominal Noun
Singular	1st		kaku	aku	takuwanan	maku
	2nd		kisu	isu	tisuwanan	misu
	3rd		cingra	nira	cingranan	nira
Plural	1st	Inclusive	kita	ita	kitanan	mita
		Exclusive	kami	niyam	kamiyanan	niyam
	2nd		kamu	namu	tamuwanan	namu
	3rd		cangra	nangra	cangraan	nangra

• aku<prn><pers><sg><p1><nom> ↔ kaku
• aku<prn><pers><sg><p1><gen> ↔ aku
• aku<prn><pers><sg><p1><dat> ↔ takuwanan
• aku<prn><pers><sg><p1><pos> ↔ maku
• isu<prn><pers><sg><p2><nom> ↔ kisu
• isu<prn><pers><sg><p2><gen> ↔ isu
• isu<prn><pers><sg><p2><dat> ↔ tisuwanan
• isu<prn><pers><sg><p2><pos> ↔ misu
• ingra<prn><pers><sg><p3><nom> ↔ cingra
• ingra<prn><pers><sg><p3><gen> ↔ nira
• ingra<prn><pers><sg><p3><dat> ↔ cingranan
• ingra<prn><pers><sg><p3><pos> ↔ nira
• ita<prn><pers><pl><p1><incl><nom> ↔ kita
• ita<prn><pers><pl><p1><incl><gen> ↔ ita
• ita<prn><pers><pl><p1><incl><dat> ↔ kitanan
• ita<prn><pers><pl><p1><incl><pos> ↔ mita
• ami<prn><pers><pl><p1><excl><nom> ↔ kami
• ami<prn><pers><pl><p1><excl><gen> ↔ niyam
• ami<prn><pers><pl><p1><excl><dat> ↔ kamiyanan
• ami<prn><pers><pl><p1><excl><pos> ↔ niyam
• amu<prn><pers><pl><p2><nom> ↔ kamu
• amu<prn><pers><pl><p2><gen> ↔ namu
• amu<prn><pers><pl><p2><dat> ↔ tamuwanan
• amu<prn><pers><pl><p2><pos> ↔ namu
• angra<prn><pers><pl><p3><nom> ↔ cangra
• angra<prn><pers><pl><p3><gen> ↔ nangra
• angra<prn><pers><pl><p3><dat> ↔ cangraan
• angra<prn><pers><pl><p3><pos> ↔ nangra

Number Plural Marker

The numeral plural marker is used when the number is counting people and certain animals.

• tusa<numb><pln> ↔ tatusa
• tulu<numb><pln> ↔ tatulu
• lima<numb><pln> ↔ lalima

Spellrelax

Although the use of «o» vs. «u» seems to be dependant on dialect, sources for text do not always specify the dialect or the writer uses their own orthography. Therefore it is useful to make sure that this spelling difference does not cause known words to be unrecognizeable by the transducer.

• tusa<numb> ↔ tosa
• tulu<numb> ↔ tolo
• aku<prn><pers><sg><p1><gen> ↔ ako

Some texts, mostly older, wrote [ŋ] as «g», but recent sources mainly use «ng». Because «g» is never used for anything but [ŋ] it is useful to specify this.

• Tapang<n> ↔ Tapag
• kilang<n> ↔ kilag
• cigra<prn><pers><sg><p3><nom> ↔ cingra