Okinawan/Grammar

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