Difference between revisions of "Ainu/Grammar"

Revision as of 17:36, 7 February 2017

TODO: reformat everything

• I - intensifying prefix

 * I-se-po - a hare ("the little squealer")
 * I-se    - to squeal

• Po - diminutive particlue

 * ponbepo - a very little thing
 * po - a child

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"

Article

There is no article in Ainu but the numeral adjective shine ("one") is often used as the indefinite article a/an:

 * shine ainu ("a man")
 * shine chisei "a house"
 * shine chikoikip "an animal"

However, shine is also used to denote one of a thing, varying by context:

 * shine ainu "one man"
 * shine shiwentep "one woman"

For the definite article the demonsstrative adjectives are sometimes used:

 * nei guru ye "that (the) person said"
 * nei chep pirika ruwe ne "that (the) fish is good"
 * toan kambi koro wa ek "bring that (the) letter"

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:

• pinne chikap "a cock", matne chikap "a hen"
• pinne seta "a dog", matne seta "a bitch"

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

Noun number

Noun case

Turning nouns into verbs

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

• ikiri "a seam" ikiri-kara "to sew"
• attush "cloth" attush-kara "to weave"
• chisei "a house" chisei-kara "to build a house"
• hau "the voice" hau-koro "to crow; to bark; to neigh"
• honi "the stomach" honi-koro "to conceive"
• kaya "a sail" kaya-koro "to sail"