Rungus/Grammar

Parts of Speech

The main parts of speech in Rungus are:

• Nouns <n>
• Verbs <v>
• Adjectives <adj>
• Determiners <det>
• Pronouns <prn>
• Prepositions <pr>
• Numerals <num>
• Adverbs(?) <adv>

Inflectional Morphology

Intransitive Prefixes

Intransitive verbs are those that do not take an object. They are conjugated with a prefix (denoting aspect).

The prefix m- indicates process:

• imot<v><impf> ↔ mimot ('see')
• odop<v><impf> ↔ modop ('sleep')
• ogom<v><impf> ↔ mogom ('sit')

The author of the grammar was not clear about what "intransitive/transitive prefixes" refer to. The example verbs under "intransitive prefixes" are not all intransitive, for example, there was an example later in the grammar of 'see' taking an object: mokiimot oku disau 'I should like to see him'.

Moreover, one of the prefixes listed under "intransitive prefixes" seem to be both aspect-marking and possibly derivational. According to the author, the prefix mu- indicates state of being:

• valai<n><sta> ↔ muvalai ('house' → 'build a house (be a house builder?)')
• kadai<n><sta> ↔ mukadai ('shop' → 'keep a shop (be a shopkeeper?)')
• kabun<n><sta> ↔ mukabun ('garden' → 'be a farmer')

Transitive Prefixes

Transitive verbs are those that can take an object. They are conjugated with a prefix (denoting aspect). The prefixes themselves are determined by phonological stipulations of the stem.

Verbs in Rungus should be tagged <v>, and transitive verbs can be subcategorized as <tv>. One of the aspects is the imperfective <impf>.

Prefixation on Stem Initial Voiceless Cs and /b/

For stems with initial voiceless consonants, the prefix «mo» (var. «ma») is attached. The /o/ in the prefix assimilates to /a/ if the first vowel in the stem is /a/. The stem initial C then becomes either /m/ or /n/, depending on POA (e.g. /p/ becomes /m/, while /t/ becomes /n/ and /k/ becomes /ŋ/).

Stem initial voiceless bilabials/labiodentals (and /b/):

• panau<v><tv><impf> ↔ mamanau
• babo<v><tv><impf>} ↔ mamabo
• bubul<v><tv><impf> ↔ momubul
• valiu<v><tv><impf> ↔ mamaliu
• vudut<v><tv><impf> ↔ momudut

Stem initial voiceless alveolars:

• taʼud<v><tv><impf> ↔ manaʼud
• tulung<v><tv><impf> ↔ monulung
• sukung<v><tv><impf> ↔ monukung

Stem initial voiceless velars:

• kama<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangama
• kuvo<v><tv><impf> ↔ monguvo

Prefixation on Stem Initial Voiced Cs, excluding /b/

For stems with initial voiced consonants, the prefix «mongo» (var. «manga») is attached. The /o/s in the prefix assimilate to /a/s if first vowel in the stem is /a/, as demonstrated by previous examples.

• duat<v><tv><impf> ↔ mongoduat
• gama<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangagama
• guna<v><tv><impf> ↔ mongoguno
• havol<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangahavol
• ramit<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangaramit
• lobong<v><tv><impf> ↔ mongolobong
• zazak<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangazazak
• malun<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangamalun
• jamin<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangajamin

Prefixation on Stem Initial Vs (technically /ʔ/)

For stems with initial vowels (which are phonetically articulated to begin with the glottal stop /ʔ/), the prefix «mong» (var. «mang») is attached with the same phonological stipulations as above.

• ido<v><tv><impf> ↔ mongido
• ovit<v><tv><impf> ↔ mongovit
• ada<v><tv><impf> ↔ mangada
• umo<v><tv><impf> ↔ mongumo

Plurals

Plural nouns are formed in Rungus by adding a pluralizing prefix to a noun stem. A collectivizing stem may be added instead to form a collective noun.

Pluralizing Nouns

The pluralizing prefix <pl> for singular nouns <n> is «ongo» (var. «anga» if the stem begins with /a/). Additionally, the second vowel in the prefix may contract with a stem initial vowel according to Rungus vowel contraction rules (namely, /a/+/a/=[a], /o/+/u/=[u], /o/+/o/=[o], and /o/+/i/=[e]).

• valai<n><pl> ↔ ongovalai
• palampag<n><pl> ↔ ongopalampag
• aki<n><pl> ↔ angaki
• idi<n><pl> ↔ ongedi
• ulon<n><pl> ↔ ongulon
• dupot<n><pl> ↔ ongodupot

Collectivizing Nouns

The collectivizing prefix <coll> for singular nouns <n> is «song» (var. «sang» if the stem begins with /a/).

• ulun<n><coll> ↔ songulun
• anak<n><coll> ↔ sanganak
• riniba<n><coll> ↔ songriniba

Demonstratives

Demonstrative Determiners

There are six articles in Rungus, differentiated by definiteness (definite, indefinite) and case (nominative, accusative):

• i<det><dem> ↔ i
• o<det><dem> ↔ o
• it<det><dem><def><nom> ↔ it
• ot<det><dem><ind><nom> ↔ ot
• dit<det><dem><def><acc> ↔ dit
• dot<det><dem><ind><acc> ↔ dot

The two determiners i and o appear respectively before proper names and vocative terms. Additionally, the -t may be optionally deleted from the other articles, especially before consonants.

Demonstrative Pronouns

There are thirteen demonstrative pronouns in Rungus, differentiated by proximity (proximal, distal) and case (nominative, accusative, locative). The table displays eleven of them.

Proximity	Nominative	Accusative	Locative
proximate	iti<prn><dem><nom><prx><nom> ↔ iti	diti<prn><dem><nom><prx><acc> ↔ diti	siti<prn><dem><nom><prx><loc> ↔ siti
less close	ino<prn><dem><nom><dst><nom> ↔ ino	dino<prn><dem><nom><dst><acc> ↔ dino	sino<prn><dem><nom><dst><loc> ↔ sino
distant	ilo<prn><dem><nom><dst><nom> ↔ ilo	dilo<prn><dem><nom><dst><acc> ↔ dilo	silo<prn><dem><nom><dst><loc> ↔ silo
the aforementioned	iri<prn><dem><nom> ↔ iri	diri<prn><dem><acc> ↔ diri

The demonstrative pronouns with locative case do not have a corresponding word that refers to the aforementioned, but rather has two other pronouns that refer to things further and further into the distance:

• sori<prn><dem><dst><loc> ↔ sori
• hodi<prn><dem><dst><loc> ↔ hodi

sori refers to something in the far distance, while hodi refers to something in the general vicinity that is still visible.

Contractions

Certain demonstrative pronouns with nominative and accusative case can be contracted with the demonstrative determiner it:

Nominative		Accusative
iti + it = itit	iti<prn><dem><nom><prx> + it<det><dem><def><nom> ↔ itit	diti + it = ditit	diti<prn><dem><nom><prx> + it<det><dem><def><nom> ↔ ditit
ino + it = inot	ino<prn><dem><nom><dst> + it<det><dem><def><nom> ↔ inot	dino + it = dinot	dino<prn><dem><nom><dst> + it<det><dem><def><nom> ↔ dinot
ilo + it = ilot	ilo<prn><dem><nom><dst> + it<det><dem><def><nom> ↔ ilot	dilo + it = dilot	dilo<prn><dem><nom><dst> + it<det><dem><def><nom> ↔ dilot

Reduplication

Adjective Reduplication

• agazo<adj><> ↔ agazo-gazo ('big' → 'quite big')
• asavat<adj><> ↔ asavat-savat ('high' → 'quite high')

Enclitics

There are several enclitics in Rungus, all of which seem to have aspectual meanings ("describe time of action", as stated by the author).

1. Enclitics of realisation -no = already

• limo<n>+no<enc> ↔ limono ('already five')
• imot<v><p1><sg>+no<enc> ↔ nemotkuno ('already seen by me')
• pongo<v>+no<enc> ↔ nopongono ('always finished')

2. of expectation -po = still more, yet

• limo<n>+po<enc> ↔ limopo ('five more')
• imot<v>+po<enc> ↔ imatai ('seen first')
• pongo<v><neg>+po<enc> ↔ amupo opongo ('not yet finished')

3. Enclitics of continuation -nopo = already started, not yet completed, always

• limo<n>+nopo<enc> ↔ limonopo ('always five')
• emot<adj>+nopo<enc> ↔ emotnopo ('always visible')
• mangatag<v>+nopo<enc> ↔ mangatagnopo ('always repairing')