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.

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.

Kjaxono verbs conjugate for the following tenses:

• 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

Kjaxono verbs are unique cross-linguistically in that the full meaning that is conjugated for is only represented via the consonants, with the vowels in every slot except the verb stem being inserted to avoid consonant clusters. The vowel that is inserted into the verb depends on the vowel in the verb stem: if the verb stem has no vowel, /æ/ is the vowel that is inserted, if a verb stem has one vowel, the vowel that is in the verb stem is inserted, and in verb stems with more than one vowel, the final vowel of the verb stem is inserted.

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

pC	(v)	TM	(V)	EV	STEM	(V)	VP	A	(V)	pC
Polypersonal clitic		Tense		Evidentiality			Voice	Aspect		Polypersonal clitic
		Mood					Pattern
1		2		3			4	5		6

Only the tense and mood affix is required to be present within a Kjaxono verb. This is what is most commonly employed, though in semi-formal and formal speech more inflection is used.

Polypersonal marking

Regardless of scale, Kjaxono verbs take the following markings to indicate the subject and object of the verb. These markings replace the expected pronouns; as a result, Kjaxono is considered a pro-drop language. The subject and object sections refer to the 1st and 6th slots of the verb template shown above.

Polypersonal clitics

			Subject			Object
			Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
1p			x-	xj-		-z	-zj
2p			rq-	x̌q-		-n	-nj
3p	Kjarelen	Masculine	gq-	gj-		-ŋ	-g
		Feminine	c-	cj-		-ż	-d
		Neuter	p-	pj-		-b	-bh
	Non-kjarelen		N/A	k-		N/A
	Inanimate		d-	tj-		-m	-j

Pronouns are only added in addition to the polypersonal clitics for emphasis; it is considered ungrammatical to include both.

Intransitive scale (Nonobjective scale)

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