Difference between revisions of "Ainu/Grammar"

Revision as of 14:31, 9 February 2017

Parts of Speech

Adverb

Adverbs in Ainu <adv> seem to be created from adding suffixes to adjectives:

• ashiri<adv> ↔ ashin'no ("new" becomes "newly")
• son<adv> ↔ sonno ("true" becomes "truly")
• moire<adv> ↔ moire-tara ("slow" becomes "slowly")
• ratchi<adv> ↔ ratchi-tara ("gentle" becomes "gently")

Article

Although there is no proper article in Ainu, the numeral adjective «shine» can be used as an indefinite article, for which we will use the tag <det> to denote determiner and <ind> to denote indefiniteness.

• ainu<det> ↔ shine ainu ("a man")
• chisei<det> ↔ shine chisei ("a house")
• chikoikip<det> ↔ shine chikoikip ("an animal")

However, «shine» is also used to denote one of a thing (denoted by the tag <sg>) varying by context:

• ainu<sg> ↔ shine ainu ("one man")
• shiwentep<sg> ↔ shine shiwentep ("one woman")

For the definite article (<def> the demonstrative adjective «nei» is sometimes used:

• guru<det><def> ↔ nei guru ("(the) person")
• chep<det><def> ↔ nei chep ("(the) fish")

Noun

Nouns (<n>) in Ainu do not undergo any morphological processes to denote number, gender, or case.

• ainu<n><sg> ↔ ainu

Adjective

There are two types of adjectives <adj> in Ainu, simple and compound. Both can express number. There are at least 15 adjectival endings for simple adjectives. Some examples include:

• hek<adj> ↔ hekai
• shise<adj> ↔ shisak
• ra<adj> ↔ ram
• reta<adj> ↔ retara

For compound adjectives, the endings are an, koro, ne, nei, o, sak, tek, un, and ush:

• kera<adj> ↔ kera an
• haro<adj> ↔ haro koro
• ramu<adj> ↔ ramu-sak
• nuchak<adj> ↔ nuchaktek
• ashkan<adj> ↔ ashkanne
• paro<adj> ↔ paro-un
• kem<adj> ↔ kem-ush
• ki<adj> ↔ ki-o

Adjective Comparison

Often in Ainu adjectival degree is left to be inferred from the context, but if required, the word naa can be used before the adjective <adj> in question to mark the comparative form <comp>, and iyotta can be used in the same way to mark the superlative form <sup>:

• pirika<adj><comp> ↔ naa pirika
• pirika<adj><sup> ↔ iyotta pirika
• pon<adj><comp> ↔ naa pon
• pon<adj><sup> ↔ iyotta pon

Adjective Pluralization

Adjectives <adj> may be pluralized <pl> with the suffix plural particle pa:

• pirika<adj><pl> ↔ pirikapa
• wen<adj> ↔ wenpa
• pon<adj> ↔ ponpa
• harokoro<adj> ↔ harokoropa

Adjectivalization

The prefix chi attaches to transitive verbs to make them passive where they act as adjectives.

• ama<adj> ↔ chiama
• kuba<adj> ↔ chikuba
• pereba<adj> ↔ chipereba
• tereke<adj> ↔ chitereke
• ye<adj> ↔ chiye

Diminuitive

In Ainu, «po marks the diminutive particle, denoted as <dim>

• ise<vblex><dim> ↔ isepo
• ponbe<n><dim> ↔ ponbepo
• chikap<n><dim> ↔ chikap-po
• okkai<n><dim> ↔ okkai-po
• chi-ika-nai<n><dim> ↔ chi-ika-nai-po
• chishnai<n><dim> ↔ chishnai-po
• tukara<n><dim> ↔ tukarapo

Intensifier

In Ainu, the morpheme «i» can mark intensity (<int>)

• se<vblex><dim> ↔ ise

Nominalizing

In Ainu, adding the morpheme i, hi, or ambe to adjectives <adj> or verbs <vblex> can express abstract qualities <abs>:

• nupeki<n><abs> ↔ nupeki-i ("bright" becomes "brightness"
• nupeki<n><abs> ↔ nupeki-hi
• nupeki<n><abs> ↔ nupeki-ambe
• itak<n><abs> ↔ itak-i ("to speak" becomes "a speech")
• itak<n><abs> ↔ itak-hi
• itak<n><abs> ↔ itak-ambe

Adding the suffix pe (realized as p) to adjectives <adj> can nominalize them <n> to mean "an <adj> thing" and can also nominalize passive verbs <vblex><pass> to mean "thing that is <vblex><pass>":

• pase<n> ↔ pasep ("heavy" becomes "a heavy thing", not "heaviness")
• poro<n> ↔ porop ("large" becomes "a large thing", not "largeness")
• ae<n> ↔ aep ("to be eaten" becomes "food")
• aye<n> ↔ ayep ("to be spoken" becomes "the thing said", not "speech")

Letter changes

• No voiced stop may begin a sentence but sometimes voicing occurs: k->d, p->b, t->d

Chi is sometimes changed into t before utara, and u is dropped:

 * Heikattara = heikachi + utara = "lads"
 * Matkattara = matkachi + utara = "girls"

He/hei becomes se/sei in some places:

 * Hekachi -> sekachi ("a lad")

Ko becomes cho and vice versa:

 * koropok -> choropok "underneath"

Pa becomes cha sometimes:

 * upaskuma -> uchashkuma "preaching"

N becomes m before b or m:

 * tan be -> tambe "this thing"
 * tan matkachi -> tammakatchi "this girl

Ra and ri become n before n and ra, and t before t:

 * kara nangoro -> kan nangoro "will make"
 * oara raige -> oan-raige "to kill outright"
 * ara tuye -> oattuye "to cut through
 * ashiri no -> ashin-no "newly"

Ro becomes t before chi and t, and becomes n before n:

 * ku goro chisei -> ku kot chisei "my house"
 * ku goro toi -> ku kottoi "my garden"
 * ku-goro-nishpa -> ku konnishpa "my master"

Ru becomes n before n:

 * an guru ne -> an gun' ne "it is a person"

If word ending in vowel is followed by word starting with vowel, first vowel is sometimes dropped:

 * moshiri ebitta -> moshir' ebitta "the whole world"
 *ota moshiri un guru -> oya moshir' un guru "a foreigner"
 * Utara, obitta -> utar' obitta "everybody"

Special emphasis can be given to a noun/adj ending with a vowel by reduplication of the previous syllable where the consonant is replaced with "h":

 * nimaki -> nimakihi "a tooth"
 * to -> toho "a day" "a lake"
 * pirika -> pirikaha "good"
 * kunne -> kunnehe "black" "dark"

Often it is customary to reduplicate the final vowel:

 * cha -> chaha "twigs"
 * hochi -> hochihi "a sum"
 * wenkuri -> wen-kurihi "a rain cloud"

Noun Gender

Nouns are subject to no changes to indicate gender, number or case. Often Ainu has different words for differently gendered animate objects:

• ainu "man", mat-ainu "woman"
• shiuk "a he bear", kuchan "a she bear"

When an object has no special masculine or feminine form but the sex of the object is relevant, the word «pinne "male" or «matne "female" are placed before it:

• chikap<n><m> ↔ pinne chikap "a cock",
• chikap<n><f> ↔ matne chikap "a hen"
• seta<n><m> ↔ pinne seta "a dog",
• seta<n><f> ↔ matne seta "a bitch"

For human beings/gods, the word okkai/okkaiyo "male" replaces pinne:

• kamui<n><m> ↔ okkai-kamui

Noun number

Since the number of the noun is typically indicated by the context or verb, there is no need to use an additional morpheme to express plurality. However, when it is necessary, there are several derivations. The most typical is the suffix -utara, -utare, or -utari.

• aiai<n><pl> ↔ aiai-utara
• umma<n><pl> ↔ umma-utara
• ainu<n><pl> ↔ ainu-utara

Additionally, the morpheme u is used for a number of nouns as a suffix for plurality

• am<n><pl> ↔ amu
• ashikipet<n><pl> ↔ ashikipettu
• at<n><pl> ↔ atu
• chep<n><pl> ↔ chep-nu
• hura<n><pl> ↔ huranu
• itak<n><pl> ↔ itaku
• kut<n><pl> ↔ kuttu
• nishi<n><pl> ↔ nishu

However, sometimes the u morpheme is used as a prefix instead:

• ikushpe<n><pl> ↔ ukushpe
• iriwak<n><pl> ↔ uiriwak
• kema<n><pl> ↔ ukema
• nimaki<n><pl> ↔ unimaki

Lastly, there appear to be other methods of pluralizing, including reduplication, and the use of the morpheme cha

• pe<n><pl> ↔ pepe
• pet<n><pl> ↔ petcha

Noun affinity

In Ainu, the suffixes -po, tonoge indicate reffering to a noun in a complimentary way <endear>, akin to "my dear", while nishpake can indicate referring to a noun in a honorific way <honor>, akin to "my honored" in English:

• ak<n><endear> ↔ ak-po
• turesh<n><endear> ↔ turesh-po
• aak<n><endear> ↔ aak-tonoge
• apoho<n><endear> ↔ apoho-tonoge
• anish<n><endear> ↔ anish-tonoge
• ayupo<n><endear> ↔ ayupo-tonoge
• amichi<n><endear> ↔ amichi-tonoge

• ayupo<n><honor> ↔ ayupo-nishpake
• aak<n><honor> ↔ aak-nishpake
• atono<n><honor> ↔ atono-nishpake

Verbalization

Nouns can sometimes become verbs <vblex> by taking -kara (to do) -koro (to possess) after them:

• ikiri<vblex> ↔ ikiri-kara (from "a seam" to "to sew"}}
• attush<vblex> ↔ attush-kara (from "cloth" to "to weave")
• chisei<vblex> ↔ chisei-kara (from "a house" to "to build a house")
• hau<vblex> ↔ hau-koro (from "the voice" to "to crow; to bark; to neigh")
• honi<vblex> ↔ honi-koro (from "the stomach" to "to conceive")
• kaya<vblex> ↔ kaya-koro (from "a sail" to "to sail"