Plains Apache language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:17, 2 May 2020

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Some of these forms require further explanation. The indefinite third person may be used when the possessor is unknown, and is similar in meaning to "someone's" (e.g. ''ʔí-bą̀ą̀s'' "a hoop owned by some unknown person"). The fourth person is reserved for possessors who are deemed to be in some way remote from the speaker, usually socially; compare ''bí-bą̀ą̀s'', which would refer to a hoop belonging to someone who the speaker is familiar with and interacts with frequently and informally, and ''góó-bą̀ą̀s'', used for someone who the speaker has a purely formal relationship with and does not know well.

The noun bases to which these prefixes can be added are of one of three classes: primary, compound, and nominalized. Primary noun bases are mostly monosyllabic stems such as ''t'èèš'' "charcoal," though a few of them seem to consist of an unidentified prefix and a stem (e.g. ''dèè-éh'' "antelope"), and some others are simply unanalyzable polysyllables, perhaps originally onomatopoeic (e.g. ''ʔą̀ą̀ʔą̀ʔ'' "magpie"). Many of the stem nouns have multiple different forms depending on their morphological context, with an absolute form when unpossessed, an inflected form when possessed, and a combining form in compounds or nominalized phrases. The formation of these is generally irregular, although certain patterns do exist, such as initial ''x'', ''s'', and ''ł'' becoming ''ɣ'', ''z'', and ''l'' when inflected (e.g. ''sàà'' > ''bí-zàà'' "his language") and a final V:h becoming Vʔ (e.g. ''t'ààh'' > ''bí-t'áʔ'' "his feather").

Some stem nouns, especially those referring to body parts, are [[Inalienably possessed noun|inalienably possessed]], i.e. they cannot occur without a possessor prefix (e.g. ''bí-dààh'' "his lips," but not *''dààh''). In these cases the indefinite prefix must be used if one wishes to talk about the object without specifying the possessor (''ʔí-dààh'' "lips"). In order to indicate [[alienable possession]] of these nouns, aan secondadditional possessor prefix can be attached before the indefinite prefix, yielding forms like ''bí-ʔí-k'àʔ'' "his fat (which comes from the body of something or someone else, but is now in his possession)" contrasting with ''bí-k'àʔ'' "his fat (which is a part of his own body)." Some of these nouns may change their meaning when preceded by ''ʔí-'', such as ''ʔí-bèʔ'' "milk" versus ''bí-bèʔ'' "her breast". Lastly, some can only take the indefinite prefix, effectively turning them into regular alienably possessed nouns starting with ''ʔí-'' (e.g. ''ʔí-dààh'' "enemy," but ''bí-ʔí-dààh'' "his enemy," not *''bí-dààh'').

The second kind of noun bases are compounds, which are formed from two noun stems and sometimes an enclitic of obscure meaning (e.g. ''bí-déé-kòò'' "his tears," from ''déé'', combining form of "eye," and ''kòò'', combining form of "water"). The third kind of noun bases are nominalized verbs or phrases, which may or may not include some kind of a relative enclitic. Examples include ''dáł-ts'ààh'' "zebra, tiger," from the identical verb meaning "marks are on it," and ''hà-ts'í-ɣą̀ą̀s-é'' "badger," from the verb ''hà-ts'í-ɣą̀ą̀s'' "he scratches out" plus the relative enclitic ''-é'' "he who."

=== Verbs ===

Like those of most other Athabaskan languages, Plains Apache verbs are highly morphologically complex, exhibiting [[polypersonal agreement]], rich [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]] marking, and the characteristic Athabaskan classifier system (a set of four mandatory [[Valency (linguistics)|valence]]-changing prefixes found throughout the family). Bittle (1963) identifies 14 positions in the verb template, divided into the verbal base (which defines the lexical meaning of the verb) and [[Inflectional paradigm|paradigmatic]] prefixes (which inflect the verb for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and voice). The following verb template table is reproduced from Bittle:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! rowspan="2" |Position

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|

|}

However, a verb in Plains Apache never has an affix in each position. A typical verb might be inflected as follows:

:{{interlinear| lang = apk

|Šàyédíʔą̀ą̀|ši-a-yi-dí-∅-∅-ʔą̀ą̀|1SG.OBJ-PP-3OBJ-PFV-3SBJ-CLF-give

|'He gives it to me'}}In this case, ''ši''- is the indirect object prefix in slot 1, -''a''- is the postposition in slot 2, -''yi''- is the direct object prefix in slot 7, -''dí''- is the modal prefix in slot 11, slots 12 and 13 are occupied by zero morphemes, and ''ʔą̀ą̀'' is the stem in slot 14. All other slots are empty.

== Syntax ==