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

Transitive Prefixes

In Rungus, transitive verbs are those that can take an object. They are conjugated with a prefix (denoting aspect), and the appropriate personal pronoun is attached to the end (denoting the subject). 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>. The person tags needed in Rungus are <p1>, <p2>, and <p3>, and the number tags needed are <sg> and <pl>.

Prefixation on Stem Initial Voiceless Cs and /b/

For stems with initial voiceless consonants, the prefix «ma» (var. «mo») is attached. The vowel in the prefix assimilates to match the height of the first vowel in the stem (low vowels get «ma», and high vowels get «mo»). 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/). The following examples are all conjugated in the first person singular <p1> <sg>, represented by the first person singular suffixed personal pronoun «oku»:

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

• panau<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mamanau oku
• babo<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mamabo oku
• bubul<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ momubul oku
• valiu<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mamaliu oku
• vudut<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ momudut oku

Stem initial voiceless alveolars:

• taʼud<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ manaʼud oku
• tulung<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ monulung oku
• sukung<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ monukung oku

Stem initial voiceless velars:

• kama<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangama oku
• kuvo<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ monguvo oku

Prefixation on Stem Initial Voiced Cs, excluding /b/

For stems with initial voiced consonants, the prefix «manga» (var. «mongo») is attached. The vowels in the prefix assimilate to match the height of the first vowel in the stem as demonstrated by previous examples. The following examples are, again, all conjugated in the first person singular <p1> <sg>:

• duat<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mongoduat oku
• gama<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangagama oku
• guna<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mongoguno oku
• havol<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangahavol oku
• ramit<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangaramit oku
• lobong<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mongolobong oku
• zazak<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangazazak oku
• malun<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangamalun oku
• jamin<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangajamin oku

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 «mang» (var. «mong») is attached with the same phonological stipulations as above. The following examples are again all in 1sg <p1> <sg>:

• ido<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mongido oku
• ovit<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mongovit oku
• ada<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangada oku
• umo<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mongumo oku

Non-1sg Examples

There are a few examples of these same rules applying for non-1sg subjects, evidence that this is a broader linguistic pattern and not solely applicable to 1sg. Note that the 3sg suffixed personal pronoun <p3> <sg>, as well as the 3pl suffixed personal pronoun <p3> <pl> are null [∅]. You hit

• bobog<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ momobog ko

He makes

• gama<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ mangagama

We tell (this appears to be irregular, since these rules would predict «mamalangon tokou»)

• valangon<v><tv><impf><p1><sg> ↔ manangon tokou

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	ilo<prn><dem><nom><dst><acc> ↔ dilo	ilo<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

Enclitics

Perfective

Enclitics of realisation -no = already

• limo<n><perf> ↔ limono ('already five')
• imot<v><perf><p1><sg> ↔ nemotkuno ('already seen by me')
• pongo<v><perf> ↔ nopongono ('always finished')

Imperfective

Enclitics of expectation -po = still more, yet

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

Progressive

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

• limo<n><> ↔ limonopo ('always five')