Kaingang/Grammar

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Conjunctions

Common Conjunctions
Kaingang English
ge ra as so, even so
hã jé for this end
hã kato instead of this
hã kỹ because of this
hã ra but, on the contrary of
hã ri similar to
hã to instead of
hã tugrĩn because of this, for that
hã tỹ because of this, for that
jarĩnmỹ although
jãvo but, on the contrary of
jo but
kỹ therefore, for this end
mũ ra as so, even so
mỹr’ meanwhile

Interjections

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Subject
Person Singular Plural
1 inh
2 ã ãjag
3m ti ag
3f fi fag

Examples:

  • Genderable nouns receive "suffixes" for pluralization and gender.
    • Kanhgag<n><nf><sg> ↔ Kanhgag ti "Indigenous (male)"
    • Kanhgag<n><f><sg> ↔ Kanhgag fi "Indigenous woman"
    • Kanhgag<n><nf><pl> ↔ Kanhgag ag "Indigenous men"
    • Kanhgag<n><f><pl> ↔ Kanhgag fag "Indigenous women"
  • Some irregulars such as mynh "mother" when pluralized mean something completely different.
    • mynh<n><f><pl> ↔ mynh fag "parents"

Reflexive Pronouns

There are two reflexive pronouns that function as an object or possessive, but not as a subject or ergative.

Kaingang type English
jagnẽ object and possessive pronoun: reciprocal one another
vẽnh object pronoun: reflexive of himself/of herself

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstratives
Anaphoric (leftwards reference) Exophoric close Exophoric far
ẽn tag (this) (that) (followed by circumstantial indicator)

Interrogative Pronouns

Who What When
ū ne hẽ

Ex. 1: Ū ne? who is it?

Ex. 2: Ne ne? what is it?

[Pronoun document, 378-379]

Relative Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns

: Indefinite marker

Nouns

  • Nouns take on different morphology based on whether they are agents, subjects, or objects. These markers appear at the end of the noun phrase:
    • kẽnkẽr "parrot"
    • kẽnkẽr<n><sub> ↔ kẽnkẽr vỹ "the parrot"
    • kẽnkẽr<n><agent> ↔ kẽnkẽr tỹ "the parrot"
    • kẽnkẽr<n><obj> ↔ kẽnkẽr "the parrot"
  • Kaingang doesn't mark definite nouns. However, Kaingang has an (optional, but to reduce ambiguity we will always add it) indefinite marker.
    • jynhkén "lizard"
    • jynhkén<n><def> ↔ jynhkén "the/a lizard"
    • jynhkén<n><indef> ↔ jynhkén ũ "a lizard"
  • Kaingang nouns can all take genitive markers that are conjugated for number, person, and gender (in the third person)
    • mynh "mother"
    • mynh<n><gen3pnf> ↔ ti mynh "his mother"
    • mynh<n><gen1ps> ↔ inh mynh "my mother"

Verbs

  • Certain verbs have different forms that require minute changing of the base verb. Not all verbs have different forms at all. Among the verbs that do have different forms, not all of them contain a distinct spelling for all the different forms. These forms exist independent of the transitivity of the verb. What form a verb takes depends on where the verb is located within the sentence. No categorization defaults to basic?[Dic KG-PT 163]
    • fãn "to harvest corn"
      • fãn<v><bas> ↔ fãn
      • fãn<v><v1> ↔ fã
      • fãn<v><v2> ↔ fa
      • fãn<v><v3> ↔ fãg
    • rĩnh "to carry (pl.)"
      • rĩnh<v><bas> ↔ rĩnh
      • rĩnh<v><v1> ↔ rĩ
      • rĩnh<v><v2> ↔ rĩnh
      • rĩnh<v><v3> ↔ rĩg
  • Verbs come in one of three classes: intransitive, transitive, and semi-transative. Semi-transitive verbs can only take objects with the help of a post-position.
    • fyn<v><bas><tra> ↔ fyn "to divide"
    • ẽkrénh<v><bas><int> ↔ ẽkrénh "to marry"
    • jé prẽr<v><bas><sem> ↔ jé prẽr "to call (ã)"
  • The verb is followed by three more markers: A modality marker
    • sór "to want"
    • ēgfãn "harvest corn"
      • ēgfãn<v><int><bas><sg><want> ↔ ēgfãn sór "want to harvest corn"
    • "to talk"
      • <v><bas><int><sg><want> ↔ vĩ sór "want to talk"
    • kanãn "to smooth"
      • kanãn<v><bas><tra><sg><want> ↔ kanãn sór "want to smooth"

Vocatives

Used to get someone's attention.

Markers

Modality Markers

Follows only verbs

Follows verbs, nouns, and other modality markers

Aspect Markers

Perfective Aspect Markers

Imperfective Aspect Markers

Indicators of Circumstance

Grammatical Mood/OpinionMarkers

Kaingang Approximate Meaning
inhhã ‘only, focus marker’
ge ‘thus’
‘as well’
ha ’emphatic now’
‘emphatic focus, assertive’
hẽ ‘don't do!’
hẽ’ ‘it can't be done!’
hur ‘already’
huri ‘already’
hỹn ‘probably’
hỹn ‘where?’
ker ‘continued habitually, does not stop happening’
kur ‘fast,quickly, hurriedly’
mỹr ‘it's true, truthfully’
nẽji ‘as I have heard, it is said’
sir ‘thus, important information’
-' ‘doubtedly, emphatic focus marker, assertive’
[Diccionario PT-KG, p159]

Noun Markers

Subject markers are used to define the topic or subject of a given sentence. They typically follow the subject in a sentence.

Kaingang Approximate Meaning
subject expects/anticipate the action, speaker desires the action
mỹ subject of a yes-no question
ne subject is origin of the action
agent has feelings? (only in third-person)
nỹ subject is topic and contrasted with vỹ, subject shift/change
pijé subject does not do the action
tóg subject is agent
tỹ agent is ergative; topic marker
this subject does bad things
vỹ subject is topic

[Dicionario PT-KG 159-160]

Singular and Plural