Noun roles

With noun roles, as well as attributive and adverbial roles, Slot 2 is subdivised into the following subslots:

┌────┬───────┬──────────────────┐  
│ №  │ Form  │  Name            │  
├────┼───────┼──────────────────┤  
│ 2a │  C    │  Outer Case      │  
├────┼───────┼──────────────────┤  
│ 2b │ Vy/Vw │  Saliency        │  
├────┼───────┼──────────────────┤  
│ 2c │ Vʼ    │  Scope           │  
├────┼───────┼──────────────────┤  
│ 2d │ Vy/Vw │  Determinacy     │  
├────┼───────┼──────────────────┤  
│ 2e │ V     │  Inner Case      │  
│    │       │  / Subordination │  
└────┴───────┴──────────────────┘

There are two kinds of cases:

  • Core cases, which indicate which slot of the predicate is selected;
  • Adjunct cases, which are of circumstantial nature.

Nouns bear two case affixes:

  • The outer case, or external case, indicates the relationship between the noun and the main verb of the clause;
  • The inner case, or internal case, indicates which argument slot of the predicate represented by the noun's root is used for defining the noun (for example, with the root ‘to eat’, which expresses a binary relation between two participants, each represented by a case —the eater and the eaten thing—, selecting the first slot would yield a noun ‘eater’, whilst selecting the second case would yield a noun ‘eaten thing’).

In essence, Nahaıwa nouns may be analyzed as being one-word noun relative clauses, with the stem having a verbal meaning, and the inner case indicating which of the verb complements is the antecedent of the relative clause. Thusly, “eater” (“eat” + Ergative inner case) can be reworder using a relative clause as “that which eats”, “the one who eats”.

Instead of an inner case value, slot 2c may contain one of several Subordinator values (those will be covered later).

The outer case is represented by a consonantal prefix, followed by a vocalic affix indicating the second case. A further optional -Vy- or -Vw- affix, the Determinacy affix, may optionally occur in between them (its purpose will be explained later on).

The language exhibits tripartite alignment. Word roots represent predicates with an arity (i.e. valency) between zero and four, i.e. governing at most four different arguments. Monovalent predicates govern only one case, the Intransitive Case. Bivalent predicates govern two different cases: the Ergative and the Accusative. Trivalent verbs also govern the Ergative and Accusative, with the addition of the Dative case for the additional argument. Tetravalent predicates (which are uncommon) also govern these three cases, with the addition of a fourth one, the Codative. As the choice of cases depends on the predicate's valency, it can be said that there exist a form of grammatical agreement between cases and predicate valency.

Core noun case affixes:

OC ≝ External/outer case
IC ≝ Internal/inner case

┌──────────────┬────┬─────┬──────────────┐
│   Valency    │ OC │ IC  │     Name     │
├──────────────┼────┼─────┼──────────────┤
│ Monovalent:  │ t  │ a   │ Intransitive │
├──────────────┼────┼─────┼──────────────┤
│ Bivalent:    │ c  │ ı   │ Ergative     │
│              │ k  │ u   │ Accusative   │
├──────────────┼────┼─────┼──────────────┤
│ Trivalent:   │ c  │ ı   │ Ergative     │
│              │ p  │ e   │ Dative       │
│              │ k  │ u   │ Accusative   │
├──────────────┼────┼─────┼──────────────┤
│ Tetravalent: │ c  │ ı   │ Ergative     │
│              │ p  │ e   │ Dative       │
│              │ čʰ │ eı  │ Codative     │
│              │ k  │ u   │ Accusative   │
└──────────────┴────┴─────┴──────────────┘

Note: All of the outers case consonants above (as well as those for some other roles) can become ejectives (shown with a trailing ʼ) for marking the ‘Abstract Property’ Determinacy, see the chapter on Determinacy for details.

Other core cases:

┌───────────────┬─────┬─────┐  
│ Extensional   │  q  │  o  │   
│ Eventive      │  š  │  ï  │  
│ Propositional │  ł  │     │
│ Situative     │  tʰ │  eo │  
│ Sequential    │  ŋ  │     │  
└───────────────┴─────┴─────┘

In the first table of cases above, the cases shown are ordered according to an animacy and temporal/causal hierarchy: the first case listed represents the most animate participant, or the one triggering or exercicing the most control over the event described by the predicate, or occasionally, in the case of stative relations, it may be the largest or most concrete participant. Abstract propositions, properties and relations have lowest rank in this hierarchy, and will typically be associated with the last cases of each case list.

Below are some examples of internal and external case uses with monovalent roots and stems (-lı̋, “asleep”; -kóyu, “dog”, -cʰakóyu, “the dog”):

  • Iθalı̋.
    ı=      θa-     lı̋
    ASR;SEN=EXO:NTR-asleep
    It is asleep.

  • Ilı̋ taθayá.
    ı=      lı̋     t-  a-   θa-     yá
    ASR;SEN=asleep NTR-NTRᵢ-EXO:NTR-thing
    It is asleep.

  • Ilı̋ tacʰakóyu.
    ı=      lı̋     t-  a-   cʰa-    kóyu
    ASR;SEN=asleep NTR-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-dog
    The dog is asleep.

The root ⟪-lı̋⟫, meaning ⟪[NTR] is asleep⟫, is monovalent, and therefore governs only one noun case, the Intransitive case (NTR), with consonantal outer case form ⟪t-⟫, and vocalic inner case form ⟪-a-⟫.
In the first example above, “it” is expressed as the pronominal extensional prefix ⟪-θ◈-⟫ sporting the inner case vowel ⟪a⟫, indicating that it is the sole argument of the verb “sleep”. “It is asleep” can therefore be expressed as a single word.
In the second example, with the exact same meaning as the first, “it” is expressed as a separate word (with the dummy root ⟪-yá⟫), sporting the consonantal outer case ⟪t-⟫, again expressing the Intransitive case.

Examples with the bivalent root -ñú, “eat”, governing the Ergative and Accusative cases:

  • Unıθuñú.
    u=      nı-   θu-     ñú
    ASR;REC=1:ERG-EXO:ACC-eat
    (I recall that) I ate it.

  • Unıñú kacʰastíñu.
    U=      nı-   ñú  k-  a-   cʰa-    stíñu
    ASR;REC=1:ERG-eat ACC-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-food
    (I recall that) I ate the food.

  • Uñú cacʰakóyu kacʰastíñu.
    U=      ñú  c-  a-   cʰa-    kóyu
    ASR;REC=eat ERG-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-dog
    k-  a-   cʰa-    stíñu
    ACC-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-food
    (I recall that) the dog ate the food.

  • Uñú kacʰastíñu.
    U=      ñú  k-  a-   cʰa-    stíñu
    ASR;REC=eat ACC-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-food
    (I recall that) the food was eaten / something ate the food.

  • Uñú cacʰakóyu.
    U=      ñú  c-  a-   cʰa-    kóyu
    ASR;REC=eat ERG-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-dog
    (I recall that) the dog ate (something).

  • Ukóyu tıcʰıñú.
    U=      kóyu t-  ı-   cʰı-    ñú
    ASR;REC=dog NTR-ERGᵢ-DEF:ERG-eat
    (I recall that) the eater was a dog.

  • Ukóyu tucʰuñú.
    U=      kóyu t-  u-   cʰu-    ñú
    ASR;REC=dog  NTR-ACCᵢ-DEF:ACC-eat
    (I recall that) the eaten thing was a dog.

When a verb governs two or more nouns, their relative order of appearance has no significance on the utterance's meaning, it has no effect on information structure (topicality, focus…); the default order is the same as the one presented in the cases table above, following the hierarchy Ergative → Dative → Codative → Accusative. However their order can be freely changed to the convenience of the speaker, for example for moving a heavy complement, such as a subordinate clause, to the right edge of the clause for avoiding center embedding.

Below is an explanation of the functions of the other core cases mentioned in the second table above.

  • The Extensional Case, or ‘Affixal Case’, is governed by certain extensional prefixes, which intoduce a new participant to the relationship expressed by the verb. For example, a causative extensional prefix will add a ‘causer’ participant, which will then be accessible via the Extensional Case.

    • Unoqaoñú cacʰakóyu.
      u=      no-   qao- ñú  c-  a-   cʰa-    kóyu
      ASR;REC=1:EXT-CAUS-eat ACC-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-dog
      (I recall that) I made the dog eat (something).

    • Uqaoñú qıcʰıʎáoko cacʰakóyu kacʰastíñu.
      U=      qao- ñú  q-  ı-   cʰı-    ʎáoko
      ASR;REC=CAUS-eat EXT-ERGᵢ-DEF:ERG-take_care
      c-  a-   cʰa-    kóyu k-   a-  cʰa-    stíñu
      ERG-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-dog  ACC-NTRᵢ-DEF:NTR-food
      (I recall that) the caretaker made the dog eat the food.

  • The Eventive Case may appear with pretty much any verb; it marks a noun that refers to a concrete spatiotemporal event corresponding to the abstract proposition expressed by the verb. Its purpose is much comparable to that of manner adverbs in English, expressing a quality of an event, such as “suddenly”, “beautifully”, “surprisingly”…

    • Iθırí šunıʎáıwa.
      ı=      θı-     rí      š- u-   nı-   ʎáıwa
      ASR;SEN=EXO:ERG-walk_on EV-ACCᵢ-1:ERG-find_beautiful
      They walk in a manner that is beautiful to me.

    • Inıʎáıwa kïθırí.
      ı=      nı-   ʎáıwa          k-  ï-  θı-     rí
      ASR;SEN-1:ERG-find_beautiful ACC-EVᵢ-EXO:ERG-walk_on
      I find beautiful their walking.

  • The Propositional Case is much similar to the Eventive case above, but describes the abstract proposition represented by the current clause, and not describing its concrete, physical spatiotemporal manifestation (event). It is suitable for expressing adverbs like "probably", "arguably", "frequently", but not adverbs about specific individual events such as "beautifully" or “suddenly”, for which the Eventive Case would be appropriate.

    • Uršı̋ łaƛaokwáı.
      u=      ršı̋  ł-  a-   ƛao-       kwáı
      ASR;REC=rain PRP-NTRᵢ-repeatedly-true
      (I remember that) it rained repeatedly.

  • The Situative Case marks nouns referring to a world or a volume of spacetime within which the proposition expressed by the verb is true. For it to apply, the event and the target spacetime area must be entirely encompassed by the referent of the marked noun.

Non-core (adjunct) cases:

┌───────────────┬─────┐  
│ Pendent       │  ƛ  │  
│ Instrumental  │  ƛʰ │  
│ SP Locative   │  s  │  
└───────────────┴─────┘

  • The Pendent Case introduces a noun phrase without stating any relation between it and the current clause, and binds it to the Pendent pronoun (whose extensional form is ⟪-ƛ◈-⟫, with ⟪◈⟫ representing an Inner Case vowel). This allows the introduced noun phrase (now bound to the pendent pronoun) to be used latter, possibly in a subordinate clause not yet opened. This is especially useful for expressing quantification binding a variable that is not used in the same clause as the one in which the quantifier appears, but rather in a more deeply nested clause:

    • Anıtʰú ƛïyaltaθayá kaohakʰaoƛıkepákı.
      a=      nı-   tʰú      
      ASR;NFR=1:ERG-deem_true
      ƛ-  ïy-a-   lta-      θa-     yá
      PND-∄- NTRᵢ-among:NTR-EXO:NTR-thing
      k-  ao= ha- kʰao- ƛı-        ke-   pákı
      ACC-DCS-NEG-POSB-PND_PRO:ERG-2:DAT-help
      I expect, for none of them, that it's not possible that he/she help you.
      ———
      Here, the affix ⟪-ïy-⟫ is the Nonexistential Determinacy. See the Determinacy section for details.

  • The Instrumental Case marks a noun referring to an instrument used by the referent of the most animate slot of the verb (e.g. the ⟪c-⟫ Ergative Case participant of bivalent and trivalent predicates) for achieving the action described by the current clause.

    • Iθıwétakı kʼakóyu ƛʰaƛʰísı.
      ı=      θı-     wétakı           kʼ-      a-   kóyu
      ASR;SEN꞊EXO:ERG-draws_depiction  ACC;PROP-NTRᵢ-is_a_dog
      ƛʰ- a-   ƛʰísı
      INS-NTRᵢ-is_a_pencil
      They draw (a representation of) dogness, using a pencil.

  • The Spatiotemporal Locative Case marks nouns referring to a volume of spacetime where the event described is taking place. For it to apply, the event and the target spacetime area must simply overlap, the event needs not be entirely encompassed by that area.

    • Iłı̋ł sakoŋqʼaqʰáƛʰï.
      ı=      łı̋ł     s-  a-   ko-   ŋqʼa-   qʰáƛʰï
      ASR.SEN꞊is_mud  LOC-NTRᵢ-2:EXT-part_of-is_fur
      (I see that) there's mud on your fur.