Blackfoot/Grammar

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Revision as of 16:38, 8 February 2017 by Lpiscit1 (talk | contribs) (Intransitive Verbs)

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Nouns

Nouns in Blackfoot can be inflected for grammatical gender (animacy), number particularity, and XXXXX

Noun Inflections

Grammatical Gender

Blackfoot has two noun classes: animate and inanimate.

Inanimate Nouns

Singular inanimate nouns whose stem ends in a vowel take the suffix «ᔪ»

  • ᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾᔪ
  • ᖹᒪᒐ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᖹᒪᒐᔪ
  • ᒉᒧᐧᖹ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᒉᒧᐧᖹᔪ

«ᔪ» is realized as «ᖱ» after consonants.

  • ᑫᒣᘁ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᑫᒣᖽ
  • ᒍᐡ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᒍᖹ
  • ᓴᔭᑲᘁ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᓴᔭᑲᖽ

Animate Nouns

Singular animate nouns whose stem ends in a vowel take the suffix «ᖷ»

  • ᖻᒣᔭ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᖷ
  • ᑲᖺᖿ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᑲᖺᖿᖷ
  • ᖿᖾ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖿᖾᖷ

«ᖷ» is realized as «ᖳ» after consonants

  • ᖳᒣᑯᐢ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖳᒣᑯᒉ
  • ᑲᔈ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᑲᓭ
  • ᖲᑊᖾᒪᘁ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖲᑊᖾᒪᖽ

Number

Blackfoot distinguishes between singular and plural nouns.

Inanimate Plurals

Inanimate plurals take the suffix «ᖱᔈᒧᐧ»

  • ᓴᔭᑲᖽᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾ<n><pl><nn> ↔ ᓴᔭᑲᖽᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾᐟᔈᒧᐧ
  • ᖹᒪᒐ<n><pl><nn> ↔ ᖹᒪᒐᐟᔈᒧᐧ
  • ᖲᒉᖽᐧᘁᔈᖾᔪ<n><pl><nn> ↔ ᖲᒉᖽᐧᘁᔈᖾᐟᔈᒧᐧ

Animate Plurals

Animate plurals take the suffix «ᖱᖽᐧ»

  • ᖻᒣᔭᖷ<n><pl><an> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᐟᖽᐧ
  • ᑲᖺᖾ<n><pl><an> ↔ ᑲᖺᖾᐟᖽᐧ
  • ᖿᖾ<n><pl><an> ↔ ᖿᖾᐟᖽᐧ

Particular vs. Non-Referring

If a noun refers to a specific entity, such as in the sentence 'I like this dog,' it is said to be particular. If it refers to a more general class of entities, such as in the sentence 'I like dogs,' it is said to be non-referring. Particular nouns do not change their form, but non-referring nouns take the suffix «ᖱ»

Non-Referring Nouns

  • ᖻᒣᔭ<n><sg><an><nr> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᐟ
  • ᖹᒪᒐ<n><pl><nn><nr> ↔ ᖹᒪᒐᐟ
  • ᖻᒣᔭᖷ<n><pl><an><nr> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᐟ

Major Third Person vs. Minor Third Person

When a sentence has two or more animate nouns, one must be marked major, which indicates that it is more prominent in the current portion of the discourse, and the others must be marked as minor third person, which indicates that they are less prominent. Any animate noun marked by a possessive must by default be demoted to minor third person status. The minor third person may also be referred to as the obviative or the fourth person. For my purposes, I will tag major third person as <p3> and minor third person as <p4>.

Major Third Person

The animate singular suffix «ᖷ» doubles as the major third person suffix.

  • ᖻᒣᔭ<n><sg><an><p3> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᖷ
  • ᖹᒪᒐ<n><pl><nn><p3> ↔ ᖹᒪᒐᖷ
  • ᖻᒣᔭ<n><pl><an><p3> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᖷ

Minor Third Person

The minor third person suffix is «ᔪ» , which is realized as «ᖱ» after consonants.

  • ᖻᒣᔭ<n><sg><an><p4> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᔪ
  • ᑲᖺᖾ<n><pl><an><p4> ↔ ᑲᖺᖾᔪ
  • ᓴᔭᑲᘁ<n><sg><nn><p4> ↔ ᓴᔭᑲᖽ

Intransitive Verbs

Verb agreement affixes
Subject person <sg> English <pl> English
<p1> ᖹᐨ- 'I' ᖹᐨ-...-ᑊᑯᖻᖻ 'we(excl)'
<p2> ᖽᐨ- 'you' ᖽᐨ-...-ᑊᑫ=ᖷ 'you(pl)'
<p21> -- -- -ᖲ'ᐤ 'we(incl)'
<p3> -ᖷ '(s)he' -ᔪ 'they'
<p4> -ᔪᖹ '(s)he' -ᔪ 'they'