Root Verb roles

A sentence may contain only one root verb, or “main verb”, and it is always the first word of the sentence. When a root verb occurs in a stream of words, it signals that a new sentence begins at that position. A root verb alone is sufficient as a complete sentence. A root verb has a set of core complements specified by its stem, each being associated with a grammatical case. When any of these core complements is not explicitly present, it is covertly existentially quantified, i.e. it's set to “something or somebody”.

There are several different Role prefixes that create root verbs; they further show additional information, namely the illocution (speech act) of the sentence, and if that illocution is the ‘Assertive’, then they also indicate Evidentiality, i.e. the kind of evidence that is the basis for the claim being made with the utterance.
The Illocution indicates whether the sentence is an assertion (a description of what the speaker thinks is reality), a question, a command, a request, a performative/declarative act, and so on.

Below is a list of the possible root verb prefixes.

Assertive illocution

The assertive illocution expresses the speech act of informing the addressee of what the speaker deems as true or likely true in their mental model of the world. It does not imply (nor deny) a desire to convince the addressee. The prefix for the assertive illocution further declines for a variety of possible evidentialities, which indicate the mean by which the asserted information was obtained. The assertive illocution is the only one to sport evidentiality marking, thus the evidentiality prefixes all also indicate that the illocution is assertive. The list of evidentiality prefixes is shown below:

FormNameGlossUse
aı-UnspecifiedASRAssertion of unspecified evidentiality.
oı-MultievidentialMULImformation confirmed from multiple different independent sources of information.
a-InferentialNFRInference from a combination of information from several sources.
ı-SensorialSENSensory information from current perception, including metacognition.
eo-IntuitiveITUIntuition.
u-RecollectiveRECRecollection, memory of past experiences (but not memorized encyclopedic facts, for which Reportives or Epistemic should be used).
ıwa-ReconstitutiveRCSInformation obtained from sensorial recordings made by external devices (photographic or video camera, sound recorders…).
o-ReportiveREPInformation obtained via communication: report, hearsay, second-hand information.
ao-Trustworthy report.
eı-Untrustworty report.
e-EpistemicEPICollective knowledge, ‘common wisdom’, not personally verified.
aya-AxiomaticAXMBase beliefs not open to questioning.

Non-assertive illocutions

FormNameGlossUse
ï-PerformativePFMUtterance true merely by virtue of being uttered.
ma-VerificativeVRFRequest of confirmation, “… isn't it?”.
mı-Polar InterrogativePQ⁓PIYes-no question.
mu-Content InterrogativeCQ⁓CI“wh” question (“what?”, “who?”, “which?”, “when?”, “where?”, “how”? “why?”, etc.).
maı-Rethorical Polar Interrogative.RPQ⁓RPI
mao-Rethorical Content Interrogative.RCQ⁓RCI
kʰa-DirectiveDIROrder with implied threat, negative consequences if unfulfilled.
kʰo-RequestiveREQRequest with implied disappointment if unfulfilled.
kʰu-Invitative/SolicitiveINVMild request with no obligation of fulfillment, no grudge if not accepted.
kʰı-RecommandativeRCM
kʰaı-Permission-seekingPS
yea-PermissivePRMExpression of permission.
yao-OblativeOBLTDisinterested offers (“I'm available for…”, “if you're interested…”, “if you want…”).

The content interrogative illocutions go hand-in-hand with the ‘lambda’ pronominal extension ⟪-tʼ◈-⟫ (glossed as LAM or LBD), which plays here the role of the content interrogative pronoun “what”. There is no distinct pronoun for “who”, unlike English.

Note: Whilst there's a prefix for granting permission, ⟪yea-⟫, there's no dedicated one for prohibition, for that latter is expressed with negative imperatives instead:

  • — Kʰaıʎáıša.
    — Kʰohaʎáıša.
    — PS=music
    — REQ=NEG-music
    — Can I put music on?
    — Please no music.

Example sentences

  • Ï(ke)yı̋yewa.
    Ï=  (ke)-  -yı̋yewa
    PFM=(2:DAT)-thank
    I hereby thank (you).
    ➥ Note: while adding the 1st person pronominal ⟪-nı-⟫ is fine (⟪ïnıkeyı̋yewa⟫), with the Performative illocution ⟪ï-⟫ the speech act verb's agent is the speaker by default, so the 1st person pronoun can be safely left out.

  • Mıkıŋıñú.
    mı=kı-   ŋı-     -ñú
    PQ=2:ERG-want:ERG-eat
    Do you want to eat (something)?

  • Mukıŋıtʼuñú.
    mu=kı-   ŋı-      tʼu-   -ñú
    CQ=2:ERG-want:ERG-LAM:ACC-eat
    Which do you want to eat?

  • Kʰıkıƛú.
    kʰı=kı-  -ƛú
    RCM=2:ERG-drink
    You should drink (something).

  • Kʰo(ne)pákı.
    kʰo=(ne)-  -pákı
    REQ=(1:DAT)-help
    Could you please help (me)?

  • Yao(ke)pákı.
    yao=  (ke)-  -pákı
    OBLAT=(2:DAT)-help
    I'm available to help (you).

Answering questions

For answering polar questions like “do you want to eat?”, special roots similar to “yes” and “no” are used:

  • ⟪-rúk⟫ is an avalent root used to express that the preceding utterance is true: ⟪Aırúk.⟫ corresponds to the English “That's correct.” used as an answer.
  • ⟪-hák⟫, conversely, expresses that the preceding sentence is false: ⟪Aıhák.⟫ ≍ “That's incorrect/untrue.”.

For answering content questions, such as:

  • Mukıtʼušañú.
    mu=kı-   tʼu-    ša-  ñú
    CQ=2:ERG-LAM:ACC-PROG-eat
    What are you eating?

The special root ⟪-má⟫, “[ɴᴛʀ] is the answer to your question”, is dedicated for this purpose:

  • Imá tanóko.
    ı=      má     t-  a-   nóko
    ASR;SEN=ANSWER NTR-NTRᵢ-apple
    An apple (is what I'm eating).