Wamesa/Grammar

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Wamesa Pronouns

The Wamesa pronouns are as follows:

Person ...........Cardinal Form Prefix (Infix) Form
1 p. sg. . . . . . yau. . . . . i-, y-
2 p. sg. . . . . . au . . . . . bu-, -u-
3 p. sg. . . . . . i. . . . . . di-, -i-
1 p. du. in. . . . nan(d)u. . . tu(n)-
1 p. du. ex. . . . amu(n) . . . amu(n)-
2 p. du. . . . . . man(d)u. . . mu(n)-
3 p. du. . . . . . san(d)u. . . su(n)-
1 p. pl. in. . . . tata(t). . . ta(n)-
1 p. pl. ex. . . . ama(t) . . . ama(n)-
2 p. pl. . . . . . mia(t) . . . me(n)-
3 p. pl. hum.. . . sia(t) . . . se(n)-
3 p. pl. non-hum.. si . . . . . si

Inclusivity

Inclusivity (<incl>, <excl>) in Wamesa affects 1du and 1pl (1sg is always exclusive by nature), and indicates whether the listener is included in the narrator's group.

* funny<1pl><excl> ↔ amambekomamasare
"We <excl> are being funny"

Human-ness

In Wamesa, morphemes indicate whether something is a human <hum> or non-human <nhum>. However, this only affects the 3pl forms of a word.

Number

There are three numbers in the Wamesa number system: singular (<sg>), dual (<du>), and plural (<pl>). \\In other words, there are morphemes indicating one of something, two, and more than two, as follows:

Wamesa Articles

There are two types of articles in Wamesa - definite and indefinite - but they behave slightly differently than in English. Perhaps most importantly, they can attach to adjectives to turn the resulting phrase into a noun.

Definite Articles

The definite article (<def>) in Wamesa has a few forms: pai<sg>, pasanu<du>, and pasiat<pl>. Some examples are as follows:

* child<def> ↔ antum-pai
* fish<def> ↔ dian-pai
* eye<du><def> ↔ re-pasanu
* < >

Indefinite Articles

The indefinite article(<indef>) in Wamesa is pesi. Examples below:

* man<indef> ↔ muan-pesi
* big<indef> ↔ baba-pesi

pesi is almost always inert, but it occasionally found in its dual and plural forms:

* woman<du><indef> ↔ babin-pesi-sanu
* night<pl><indef> ↔ diru-pesasi

Wamesa Nouns

Number

The Wamesa number system extends past just the pronouns to encompass the nouns as well. Singular, dual, and plural still exist and affect nouns.

babin-pesi-sanu = some two women re-pasanu = the two eyes