Kjaxono verbs

Due to its complexity and widespread irregularities, unique words to describe unusual concepts in regards to conjugation, and concepts with little if any equivelant in any other natural language, verbs in Kjaxono often pose a mammoth stonewall to learners of the language. This article presupposes familiarity at least with Kjaxono grammar.

Scales and subscales

When talking about Kjaxono, unique terminology is often employed when referring to its verbal system: the two most important are scales and subscales. These roughly correspond to ordinary conjugations in other languages, but scales and subscales distinguish themselves from other language's conjugation systems in several ways. For example, some scales may imply seperate inoformation of which in an ordinary language's conjugation would have to be conjugated in addition. Another difference is the manner of which Kjaxono verbs conjugate, which is also significantly different from other languages.

In the Cjaingi Omacili, scales (Gqabakjoŋ /ɢa.'ba.kʲoŋ/ in Kjaxono) and subscales (Kangakjoŋ /ka.ɴa.kʲoŋ/) are described as so:

"[...] it [scales] is the system in verbs in which we classify, organize, and differentiate between the verbs in which take objects and not, to ensure that [subscales] see the lines and draw correctly in their wake [...]" (Page 291-292)

In Kjaxono, two types of scales are used: the transitive and intransitive. The transitive scale is used primarily for transitive verbs, aswell as with volitive verbs. The intransitive scale, meanwhile, is used for intransitive verbs and involitive verbs. Translated from the Cjaingi Omacili, the two scales in Kjaxono translate as the Objective scale, and Non-objective (or anti-objective) scale respectively. The objective scale and non-objective scale are what these are referred to by most linguists in Xjetjeŋ. The three subscales within are called the northern (qahaż), eastern (iemaqaż), and western (eameqeż) subscales. The northern subscale refers to verbs of any scale that start with front vowels, the eastern subscale refers to verbs of any scale that start with back vowels, and the western subscale refers to verbs that starts with consonants.

Due to Kjaxono's status as an open class language, newly coined verbs are assigned to each of the two scales depending on their intended transitivity or intransitivity.

Overview

Kjaxono verbs are constructed agglutinatively, though they show many fusional features.

Kjaxono verbs have 5 main tenses: the past, hodiernal, present, perfect, and future. The perfect tense has 5 different forms, of which are conveyed via the preverb slot of Kjaxono's verb template. The individual perfect subtenses are sometimes considered tenses by themselves, but they do not vary morphologically except in the preverb. Otherwise, the perfect tense takes the same conjugation as the present, lacking a tense affix. Tense is applied to the 2a subslot of the TmpD slot, and the 6b subslot of the At² slot only if aspect is also expressed. Tense is also sometimes applied on the 1b subslot of the PrV slot.

Kjaxono verbs have 5 moods: the indicative, conditional, potential, hypothetical, and imperative. The imperative mood specifically has two seperate submoods: the hard and soft. Typically, the hard imperative is used by people of higher social classes to people of lower social status. Some examples of this would be an employer to an employee, by parents to children, etc. The soft imperative is used far more commonly, and acts as a more polite and formal version of the latter. Mood is applied to the 2b subslot of the TmpD slot of the verb template as seen below. Moods are marked in combination with person. As a result, one does not necessarily need a pronoun at the start of the phrase to make sense.

Kjaxono verbs have 3 evidentialities: the direct, reportative, and assumptive. The direct is employed when the speaker has directly witnessed the event being discussed. The reportative is employed when the speaker is reporting the event, but has not actually witnessed the event themselves. Finally, the assumptive is employed when the speaker is assuming the event being discussed occured. Evidentiality is applied to the E and 8b subslot of the PsVe² slot; this means that evidentiality is doubly marked. When evidentiality is conjugated for, a postverb follows.

Whilst usually conveyed via word order, Kjaxono verbs have 3 voices: the active, middle, and passive. They are applied to the V slot of the verb template as seen below.

Kjaxono verbs have 4 aspects: the Perfective, Habitual, Continuous, and Gnomic. When included, aspect is marked alongside tense (tense being doubly marked) in the 6a subslot of At² slot of the verb template as seen below.

A unique feature only found in the [..] language family is the prescence of what is translated as pattern. Pattern is described in most grammars of Kjaxono as an event's manner, in relation to time. Pattern should not be confused with aspect, aspect being how an event extends over time. The two are often entangled, and in combination can produce many very precise scenarios. There are four patterns in Kjaxono:

• The punctual pattern describes any event that occurs or is finished at a single moment in time. The event in question is usually very brief in duration. Some examples of such events would be the flick of a match, a clap, etc.
• The repetitive pattern describes any event that occurs or is finished at many moments in time, with the length of time between each event being regular.
• The irregularitive pattern describes any event that occurs or is finished at many moments in time, with the length of time between each event being irregular.
• The fragmentative pattern describes any event that occurs or is finished at many moments in time, but in short bursts, or fragments, with the length of time between each event being irregular. The fragmentative pattern is occasionally considered a subpattern within the irregularitive pattern, but this article will treat the fragmentative pattern as a seperate pattern.

Pattern is indicated both as a suffix occuring in the 5a slot of the verb template as shown below, and in the 8c substot of the PsVe² slot.. In other words, if pattern is included within the verb, a postverb must follow.

In total, Kjaxono verbs conjugate for the following. Segments that are underlined are only featured in irregular verbs.

• Person
  • Indefinite
  • Definite
• Tense
  • Past
  • Near Past
  • Hodiernal
  • Present
  • Perfect
    • Continuative perfect
    • Anterior perfect
    • Universal perfect
    • Recent perfect
  • Future
• Mood
  • Indicative
  • Conditional
  • Potential
  • Hypothetical
  • Imperative
    • Hard
    • Soft
• Evidentiality
  • Direct
  • Reportative
  • Assumptive
• Voice
  • Active
  • Middle
  • Passive
• Aspect
  • Perfective
  • Habitual
  • Continuous
  • Gnomic
• Pattern
  • Punctual
  • Repetitive
  • Irregularitive
  • Fragmentative

Verb structure

Kjaxono uses a variety of prefixes and suffixes to conjugate verbs. The following chart shows the maximum amount of affixes and alterations a verb in Kjaxono can take in their usual order. Note that in everyday speech, most Kjaxono verbs do not take the amount of forms that the table may suggest.

Kjaxono verb template

PrV		TmpD		E	STEM	P	At²		V		PsVe²
Preverb		Tense	Person and Mood	Evidentiality		Pattern	Aspect	Tense	Voice		Postverb
Locative type	Tense		One affix				One affix				Evidentiality	Pattern
1a	1b	2a	2b	3	4	5a	6a	6b	7		8a	8b

Only the parts in bold are required to be present within a Kjaxono verb.

Preverb and postverb

The terms preverb and postverb in Kjaxono refer to particles surounding verbs. The term preverb is used to signify tense and locative and vaguely prepositional information. The modern Kjaxono preverb used to be an auxiliary verb, but now it has been incorporated into the verb complex. The postverb is a mostly optional auxiliary verb that simultaneously encodes for evidentiality and pattern - these are doubly marked, both of these features being included in the verb complex, and in several of Kjaxono's dialects and sister languages, the postverb has gradually faded away in use.

Transitive scale (Objective scale)

Northern objective scale

Preverb tenses

Perfect				Past	Nonpast
Continuative perfect	Anterior perfect	Universal perfect	Recent perfect
n(ǔ)-	e(ǔ)-	p(ǔ)-	b(ǔ)-	e-	n-

Tense and mood prefixes

Tense				Mood		Singular			Plural				"Indefinite" Marker
						1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Past	Past	i-		Indicative		N/A	c(e)-	kj(e)-	s(e)-	cj(e)-	k(e)-		o-
	Hodiernal	ǔ-		Conditional		x(e)-	ŋ(e)-		xj(e)-	ŋj(e)-
Perfect		N/A		Potential		q(e)-		tj(e)-	l(e)-		t(e)-
Nonpast	Present			Hypothetical		h(i)	hŋ(i)-	x̌ŋ(i)-		ŋj(u)-	x̌(i)-
	Future	e-		Imperative	Hard		ż(o)-			qż(o)-
(Prefixed onto the TmpD slot)					Soft		c(o)-			gqż(o)-

In addition, all tenses excluding the present triggers vowel gradation, turning the final vowel of the verb stem into /a/.

Evidentiality prefixes

Direct	-x̌q-
Reportative	-d-
Assumptive	-ng-

Pattern suffixes

Punctual	-ik(-)
Repetitive	-tk(-)
Irregularitive	-lǒ(-)
Fragmentative	-te(-)

Note that both the evidentiality and pattern affixes appear in the postverb as well as being affixes within the verb complex.

Aspect and tense suffixes (with voice changes)

Active voice
	Non word final				Word final
	Past	Perfect	Nonpast		Past	Nonpast
Perfective	-gje(-)	-gje(-)	-gjǒ(-)		-gjut	-tjǔt
Habitual		-gja(-)
Continuous	-ŋke(-)	-ŋa(-)			-njut	-ŋjǔt
Gnomic	-gje(-)	-gje(-)	-gjǔ(-)		-gju	-gjǔt
Middle voice
Perfective	-d(-)	-de(-)	-dǒ(-)		-du	-dǔt
Habitual		-da(-)
Continuous	-ŋ(-)	-ŋa(-)			-ŋu	-ŋǔt
Gnomic	-gj(-)	-gje(-)	-gjǔ(-)		-gu	-gǔt
Passive voice
Perfective	-ge(-)	-deg(-)	-dǒŋ(-)		-duŋ	-dǔŋ
Habitual		-dag(-)
Continuous	-ŋe(-)	-ŋag(-)			-kuŋ	-kǔŋ
Gnomic		-geg(-)	-gjǔŋ(-)		-guŋ	-gǔŋ

Note: the perfect is combined with the nonpast tense word finally. While considered seperate suffixes, voice suffixes change the aspect and tense markings they follow when they appear together. Since this is the case, there are two tables with voice: by themselves, and combined with the aspect and tense suffix. Most aspect and tense combination suffixes display only a past and nonpast/perfect distinction, however the perfective and imperfective do not. The perfective and momentane aspects have merged phonologically in the past tense.

Voice suffixes (by themselves)

Active	-ke-
Middle	N/A
Passive	-mǐg

Postverb

	Punctual	Repetitive	Irregularitive	Fragmentative
Direct	x̌ik	x̌atqi	x̌alǒ	x̌aihe
Reportative	diax̌	diaqi	dilǒ	daihe
Assumptive	ngak	ngaqi	ngaǒ	ngaihe

Examples

The verb we will use as an example is aqaǔŋ - to bring.

Maximally possible example

PrV		TmpD		E	aqaǔŋ	P	At²		V		PsVe²
a	n	N/A	ŋe	x̌q		lǒ	gjǒ		ke		x̌alǒ
1a	1b	2a	2b	3	4	5a	6a	6b	7		8a	8b

anŋex̌qaqaǔŋlǒgjǒke x̌alǒ = "you bring (it) at irregular intervals to the place"

Another maximally possible example

PrV		TmpD		E	aqaǔŋ	P	At²		V		PsVe²
ag	e	i	ce	ng		tk	qxe		mǐg		x̌atqi
1a	1b	2a	2b	3	4	5a	6a	6b	7		8a	8b

ageicengaqaǔŋtkqxemǐg x̌atqi = "you brought it at repetitive intervals to the place"

Minimally possible example

PrV		TmpD		E	aqaǔŋ	P	At²		V		PsVe²
N/A		e	x	N/A		N/A	N/A		N/A		N/A
1a	1b	2a	2b	3	4	5a	6a	6b	7		8a	8b

exaqaǔŋ = "i could bring it"

Another minimally possible example

PrV		TmpD		E	aqaǔŋ	P	At²		V		PsVe²
N/A		N/A	gqżo	N/A		N/A	N/A		N/A		N/A
1a	1b	2a	2b	3	4	5a	6a	6b	7		8a	8b

gqżoaqaǔŋ = "could y'all/they bring it"

Southern objective scale

The southern objective scale appears to be majorly defective with a large amount of features present in the other objective scales being phonologically the same.

Preverb

Perfect				Past	Nonpast
Continuative perfect	Anterior perfect	Universal perfect	Recent perfect
ng(ǔ)-		b-	e-	N/A

Tense				Mood		Singular Plural				"Indefinite" Marker
						1st	2nd	3rd
Past	Past	i-		Indicative		N/A	c(e)-	k(e)-		o-
	Hodiernal	ǔ-		Conditional		x(e)-	d(e)-
Perfect				Potential		t(e)-	h(i)-	t(e)-
Nonpast	Present	iq-		Hypothetical
	Future	e-		Imperative	Hard		żj(o)-
(Prefixed onto the TmpD slot)					Soft		cj(o)-

The forms for the singular and plural tenses, and the potential and hypothetical moods have merged in the southern objective scale.

Intransitive scale (Nonobjective scale)

The intransitive scales are generally the most defective types of scales: they are much more simplified than their transitive counterparts.