Miyako/Grammar
Contents
Parts of Speech
Ikema has nouns, verbs, adnominals, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjections. Also postpositions and final particles.
Postpositions
Postpositions, or particles, attach to nouns, and multiple particles can be attached to one noun.
Romaji | Hiragana | Function | Tag | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
a | あ | topic 1 | <top1> | ぼーしゃ<n><top1> ↔ ぼーしゃあ |
gyaa | ぎゃー | topic 2 | <top2> | とぅか<n><top1> ↔ とぅかぎゃー |
ga | が | nominative | <nom> | っヴぁ<n><nom> ↔ っヴぁが |
nu | ぬ | genitive | <gen> | なし<n><gen> ↔ なしぬ |
u | う | accusative | <acc> | なし<n><acc> ↔ なしう |
du | どぅ | focus | <foc> | やらび<n><foc> ↔ やらびどぅ |
n | ん | dative | <dat> | かま<n><dat> ↔ かまん |
ti | てぃ | quotative | <quot> | ひやさ<n><quot> ↔ ひやさてぃ |
nkai | んかい | allative 1 | <all1> | じてんしゃ<n><all1> ↔ じてんしゃんかい |
nki | んき | allative 2 | <all2> | |
taahii | たーひー | limitative | <lim> | |
kara | から | ablative | <abl> | じてんしゃ<n><abl> ↔ じてんしゃから |
hii | ひー | instrumental | <ins> | ばた<n><ins> ↔ ばたひー |
tu | とぅ | comitative | <com> | うい<n><com> ↔ ういとぅ |
ncɨkyaa | んつきゃー | comparative | <comp> |
Combinations:
- たるがなー<n><nom><foc> ↔ たるがなーがどぅ
- きつぎ<n><dat><quot><foc> ↔ きつぎんてぃどぅ
- ふたーつ<n><dat><top1> ↔ ふたーつんな
Notes:
- Several other things seem to be used for topic 1, including nu, ya, zya, and sa.
- ga and nu can both be either genitive or nominative.
List of final particles
Final particles attach to the end of a sentence. They are all tagged with <mod>.
Romaji | Hiragana | Function | Example |
---|---|---|---|
doo | どー | information is not shared with the hearer | うらあかぎむぬ<mod> ↔ うらあかぎむぬどー |
i | い | information is shared with the hearer | うらあかぎむぬ<mod> ↔ うらあかぎむぬい |
na | な | Y/N question | うらあっヴぁがぼーし<mod> ↔ うらあっヴぁがぼーしな |
ga | が | Wh question | なうばいほぅでぃ<mod> ↔ なうばいほぅでぃが |
da | だ | how about ~? | っヴぁ<top1><mod> ↔ っヴぁあだ |
Noun suffixes
Romaji | HIragana | Function | Tag | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
gama | がま | Diminutive | <dim> | とぅい<n><dim> ↔ とぅいがま |
mmi | っみ | Plural 1 | <pl1> | やらび<n><pl1> ↔ やらびっみ |
ta | た | Plural 2 | <pl2> | みどぅん<n><pl2> ↔ みどぅんた |
nagi | なぎ | Approximative | <app> |
Notes:
- In the Introduction to Ryukyuan PDF, っみ is listed as pl1 in the table of suffices, but then is glossed as pl2 in the Pear Story.
- kya is glossed as pl3 in the Pear Story, but is not in the table
Additional examples:
- しま<n><dim> ↔ しまがま (small island)
- っふぁ<n><dim> ↔ っふぁがま (small child)
- ぷし<n><dim> ↔ ぷしがま (small star)
- ひとぅ<n><pl1> ↔ ひとぅっみ (people)
- ばな<n><pl1> ↔ ばなっみ (flowers)
Adjectival stems
Adjectives cannot stand on their own, but adjectival stems (or property concepts) can be compounded with nouns.
Noun examples:
- small + child = small child
- いみ<adj>+っふぁ<n> ↔ いみっふぁ
- black + goat = black goat
- っふがら<adj>+ひんじゃ<n> ↔ っふがらひんじゃ
- expensive + fish = expensive fish
- たかだい<adj>+っぞぅ<n> ↔ たかだいっぞぅ
Adjectival stems part 2
The suffix -むぬ can be added to an adjective stem to nominalise it.
- かぎ<n><nz> ↔ かぎむぬ (beautiful thing)
- じゃう<n><nz> ↔ じゃうむぬ (good thing)
- かさます<n><nz> ↔ かさますむぬ (frustrating thing)
The suffix -ふぅcan be added to an adjective stem to adverbalise it.
- じゃう<n><az> ↔ じゃうふぅ (well)
Note: adjectives are negated with adverbalization plus the verb nyaan.
The suffix -かい can be added to an adjective stem to verbalise it.
- じゃう<n><vz> ↔ じゃうかい
Personal Pronouns
Romaji | HIragana | Function | Tag | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
ba | ば | 1 Sg | <p1><sg> | |
vva | っヴぁ | 2 Sg | <p2><sg> | |
ura | うら | 3 Sg inanimate | <p3><sg><nn> | |
kai | かい | 3 Sg animate | <p3><sg><aa> | |
karaa | からー | 3 Sg animate top | <p3><sg><aa><top> | |
karuu | かるー | 3 Sg animate acc | <p3><sg><aa><acc> | |
banchaa | ばんちゃー | 1 Pl animate | <p1><pl><aa> |
Finite Verbs
Romaji | Hiragana | Function | Tag | Class 1 Example | Class 2 Example |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
baa | ばー | hortative | <hort> | いでぃー<v><hort> ↔ いでぃばー | くず<v><hort> ↔ くがばー |
di | でぃ | volitional | <vol> | いでぃー<v><vol> ↔ いでぃでぃ | くず<v><vol> ↔ くがでぃ |
zyaan | じゃーん | negative volitional | <vol><neg> | いでぃー<v><vol><neg> ↔ いでぃじゃーん | くず<v><vol><neg> ↔ くがじゃーん |
n | ん | negative | <neg> | いでぃー<v><neg> ↔ いでぃん | くず<v><neg> ↔ くがん |
ddan | っだん | negative past | <neg><past> | いでぃー<v><past><neg> ↔ いでぃっだん | くず<v><past><neg> ↔ くがっだん |
ru | る | imperative | <imp> | いでぃー<v><imp> ↔ いでぃる | くず<v><imp> ↔ くぎ |
i | い | non-past | <npst> | いでぃー<v><npst> ↔ いでぃー | くず<v><npst> ↔ くず |
tai | たい | past | <past> | いでぃー<v><past> ↔ いでぃたい | くず<v><past> ↔ くずたい |
na | な | prohibitive | <proh> | いでぃー<v><proh> ↔ いでぃな | くず<v><proh> ↔ くずな |
gamata | がまた | future | <ft> | いでぃー<v><ft> ↔ いでぃがまた | くず<v><ft> ↔ くざ’がまた |
n | ん | speculative | <spec> | いでぃー<v><spec> ↔ いでぃん | くず<v><spec> ↔ くずん |
Converbs
Romaji | Hiragana | Function | Tag | Class 1 Example | Class 2 Example |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ban | ばん | concession | <cvb_con> | いでぃい<v><cvb_con> ↔ いでぃばん | くず<v><cvb_con> ↔ くがばん |
da | だ | negative absolutive | <cvb_abs><neg> | いでぃい<v><cvb_abs><neg> ↔ いでぃだ | くず<v><cvb_abs><neg> ↔ くがだ |
dakaa | だかー | negative conditional | <cvb_cni><neg> | いでぃい<v><cvb_cni><neg> ↔ いでぃだかー | くず<v><cvb_cni><neg> ↔ くがだかー |
i | い | absolutive | <cvb_abs> | いでぃい<v><cvb_abs> ↔ いでぃー | くず<v><cvb_abs> ↔ くぎー |
utui | うとぅい | circumstantial | <cvb_circ> | いでぃい<v><cvb_circ> ↔ いでぃうとぅい | くず<v><cvb_circ> ↔ くぎうとぅい |
ccyaan | っちゃーん | simultaneous | <cvb_sim> | いでぃい<v><cvb_sim> ↔ いでぃっちゃーん | くず<v><cvb_sim> ↔ くざ’っちゃーん |
tuu | とぅー | immediate anterior | <cvb_ant> | いでぃい<v><cvb_ant> ↔ いでぃとぅー | くず<v><cvb_ant> ↔ くずとぅー |
ga | が | purpose | <cvb_pur> | いでぃい<v><cvb_pur> ↔ いでぃが | くず<v><cvb_pur> ↔ くずが |
tigaa | てぃがー | conditional 1 | <cvb_cni1> | いでぃい<v><cvb_cni1> ↔ いでぃてぃがー | くず<v><cvb_cni1> ↔ くずてぃがー |
ttaa | ったー | conditional 2 | <cvb_cni2> | いでぃい<v><cvb_cni2> ↔ いでぃったー | くず<v><cvb_cni2> ↔ くずったー |
Other verb suffixes
Function | Tag | Class 1 suffix | Class 2 suffix | Example |
---|---|---|---|---|
causative | <caus> | っさす | あす | どぅみ<sg> ↔ どぅみっさす |
passive/potential | <pot> | らい | あい | |
honorific | <hon> | さま | あま |
Other things
Ikema does not have productive reduplication, unlike other Miyako dialects
use the cases for the postpositions and mod for sentence final particles
Classifiers