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<html><head><title>Questions on Kebreni verbs</title></head>
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<center><h1><!--title-->Questions on Kebreni verbs
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<p>Posted by <b><!--poster-->Philip Newton</b>
on <!--date-->12:46 7/12/01
<p>In reply to: (none)
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<p>I have some questions on Kebreni verbs. A couple of difficulties already
arose which I mentioned in my posting <i>Comments on love</i>. For example,
it was not clear what happens in verbs with more than one vowel in the root.
(For the purposes of this, I'll call the basic letters the "root" rather
than the "stem", since the grammar talks about a "stem vowel" while a root
may potentially have several vowels, only one of which presumably is "the
(one) stem vowel".)</p>
<p>By the paradigmatic verb <b>pabadu</b> "laugh", the stem vowel in a
two-vowel root is the second one, since it is the second <b>a</b> in
<b>pabadu</b> that is fronted to form the benefactive <b>pabedi</b>, and
backed to form the antibenefactive <b>pabona</b>. (It's not clear to me,
however, why the root consonants changed from p-b-d to p-b-n in the forms of
the antibenefactive. Typo?)</p>
<p>Another problem involves volition, which involves voicing the initial
consonant. This rule doesn't say what happens when the verb begins with a
vowel. Presumably, that vowel is the beginning of the root. There are a
several verbs beginning with a vowel listed in the lexicon. They are:</p>
<dl>
<dt><b>adnedu</b></dt><dd>to add</dd>
<dt><b>aladu</b></dt><dd>spend money</dd>
<dt><b>alamatu</b></dt><dd>scrounge up cash, get a little money</dd>
<dt><b>ansu</b></dt><dd>touch or feel (with the hands)</dd>
<dt><b>avunu</b></dt><dd>agree</dd>
<dt><b>ebdiru</b></dt><dd>to leave off working, take a holiday</dd>
<dt><b>ebu</b></dt><dd>to leave, avoid</dd>
<dt><b>es'u</b></dt><dd>to not be</dd>
<dt><b>impuz'u</b></dt><dd>print</dd>
</dl>
<p>(No verbs are listed that begin with <b>o</b>, <b>u</b>, or <b>y</b>, but
there may be such.)</p>
<p>Since Kebreni phonology does not include a glottal stop, I can't just say
that, say, <b>avunu</b> has the root consonants ?-v-n. (Which wouldn't help,
since what's a voiced glottal stop?) Interestingly, there are not only verbs
with one root vowel such as <b>ebu</b> and some with two such as
<b>impuz'u</b>, but there's even one with three root vowels: <b>alamatu</b>.
Is the "stem vowel" here the second <b>a</b> or the third? It's not clear
whether the second <b>a</b> in <b>pabadu</b> changed because it was the
second vowel of the root or because it was the last vowel of the root.
Depending on this, I would expect either <b>*alemati</b> or <b>*alameti</b>
as the benefactive.</p>
<p>But back to the volitional. I've seen that a voiced consonant does not
change further, so I suppose the absence of a consonant to be voiced is not
spectacular, either. So does the verb change like this?</p>
<ul>
<li>single root vowel: <b>ansu</b> --> add initial <b>e</b> -->
<b>eansu</b> --> voice initial consonant --> <b>eansu</b> (<b>n</b> is
already voiced) --> switch the first two vowel --> <b>aensu</b>;
<b>es'u</b> --> <b>ees'u</b> --> <b>eez'u</b> --> <b>eez'u</b></li>
<li>two root vowels: <b>impuz'u</b> --> <b>eimpuz'u</b> -->
<b>eimpuz'u</b> --> <b>iempuz'u</b></li>
<li>three root vowels: <b>alamatu</b> --> <b>ealamatu</b> -->
<b>ealamatu</b> --> <b>aelamatu</b></li>
</ul>
<p>While there are a number of verbs with two root vowels, verbs with three
or more root vowels are very rare indeed. The only ones I was able to find
were the aforementioned <b>alamatu</b> and <b>nuitukanu</b> "imagine" <--
"mind-see". The latter has four root vowels! I wonder which one changes in
the benefactive? My guess is the <b>a</b> and that the stem vowel is the
last vowel in the root; the benefactive would then be <b>*nuitukeni</b>, the
volitional <b>*uneitukanu</b>, and the volitional benefactive
<b>*uneitukeni</b>, with the middle <b>-ituk-</b> completely untouched.</p>
<p>Cheers,<br>Philip</p>
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<b>Philip Newton</b>
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