Munja'kin Grammar
Munja'kin is a very analytic, strongly head-initial verb-subject-object language. Munja'kin lacks gender, number marking on nouns or any form of agreement, but it features switch-reference particles, clusivity, differential object marking and inalienable possession.
Alternations
A pervasive feature of Munja'kin's grammar is the alternation between i and a which occurs in many derivations and compounds and usually results in a turning into i:
This phenomenon occurs because Proto-Munja'kin's vowel */e/ merged with /i/ when it was stressed and with /a/ when it was not, and stress shifts often happen when a word takes an affix or forms a compound with another. Because of some irregularly-stressed words, the alternations are not always predictable even if one knows their etymology.
Nouns
Munja'kin's nouns are invariable and are not categorized into classes. Munja'kin does not use articles, so no distinction between definite and indefinite nouns is made. Some nouns like pagi may also be used as verbs, others like juru may be used as adjectives, the exact role is determined by word order, as verbs precede their arguments while adjectives follow nouns.
Compounds and reduplication
Compounds of nouns and verbs are attested, the head noun usually appears before the modifier. Reduplication is used for some derivations, though the resulting words' meanings are lexically determined. Some roots are no longer used alone and only appear in reduplications.
Pronouns
Munja'kin's pronouns distinguish clusivity and have a possessive form, which is used after the prepositions an and pa to express attributive possession, or as a verb to express predicative possession.
| Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Person | 2nd Person | 3rd Person | 1st Person | 2nd Person | 3rd Person | ||
| Inclusive | Exclusive | ||||||
| Plain | tun | si'o | lia | hin | tunga | si'ka | li'ka |
| Possessive | toni | sa'oi | li | hini | tungí | sa'kí | li'kí |
| Reflexive | vu an doni | vu an-d-za'oi | vu an-d-li | vu an hini | vu an dungí | vu an-d-za'kí | vu an-d-li'kí |
Reflexive pronouns are formed with the particle vu, which is related to vo'u, meaning "body".
Determiners
Munja'kin's determiners have a three-way distance contrast, ni is proximal, ki is medial and kika, which was originally a reduplication of ki, is distal. Determiners precede nouns or may be used alone as demonstrative pronouns. Munja'kin also has a honorific determiner hi, which precedes names and may serve as a vocative marker.
Adjectives
Munja'kin's adjectives follow nouns and double as stative verbs, which precede nouns. Comparisons are made using the preposition puli, meaning "against".
Adverbs
Munja'kin's adverbs are often identical to adjectives and usually follow verbs directly.
Prepositions
Munja'kin's prepositions generally originate from verbs and co-occur with either the plain or the possessive form of a pronoun.
Hi and pa
Munja'kin has differential object marking: the preposition hi precedes displaced direct object proper nouns or pronouns while pa precedes displaced direct object non-proper nouns. When objects directly follow verbs (when the subject is implied by lanú, for instance), they do not take a preposition.
The an-mutation
An is a special preposition that causes a following consonant (but not a following cluster) to voice. It also becomes an-d- before z, l and r.
| Initial sound | +an |
|---|---|
| p | an b |
| t | an d |
| ch | an j |
| k | an g |
| s | an-d-z |
| z | |
| l | an-d-l |
| r | an-d-r |
Possession
Two prepositions may express possession in Munja'kin: an is used for inanimate inalienable possessions (such as body parts) and animate inferior possessions (such as offspring), while pa is conversely used for inanimate alienable possessions and animate superior possessions (such as parents). When the possessor is a pronoun, its possessive form is used.
Conjunctions
The preposition ki, meaning "with", also serves as the conjunction "and", but it is only used with noun phrases, as the particles la and lanú already link clauses. Monala, which derives from mon ala, meaning "choose one", serves as "or" and follows the noun phrases or verb phrases it conjoins.
Verbs
Munja'kin's verbs do not inflect. Tense, aspect, mood and polarity are conveyed by particles, which directly precede the verbs, or by auxiliaries, which precede the verbs and whose subjects also precede the verbs. Munja'kin does not have a copula, it uses stative verbs or zero-copula constructions.
Verb derivation
Most Munja'kin verbs may be nominalized with the suffix -ri, which often cause the stem's final phoneme to change, the change is usually predictable if one knows the verb's etymology, but some irregularities are attested. The resulting nouns express concepts, processes or instances.
| Final sound | +ri |
|---|---|
| í (Proto-Munja'kin *ai) | iri |
| i | uri |
| ú (Proto-Munja'kin *au) | |
| u | |
| a (Proto-Munja'kin *e) | |
| o | |
| a | ori |
| n | ndri |
| n (Proto-Munja'kin *ŋ) | ngri |
| s | zri |
Verbs may be made causative with the prefix liz-, which becomes li- before consonants, and may be made passive with the prefix u-, which becomes wa- before r, v- before u and o, and w- before i and a. The suffix -n makes verbs terminative, some roots no longer occur without it.
Particles
Many sentences in Munja'kin begin with a particle, three important ones are hi, la and lanú. Hi directly precedes verbs, turns a sentence into a command and is combined with the negative auxiliary inju to form the prohibitive hinju. La appears sentence-initially and indicates that the sentence's subject is different from the previous one's, it may be used before both declarative sentences and commands, and precedes hi in the latter. Conversely, lanú appears sentence-initially and indicates that the sentence's subject is the same as the previous one's and does not need to be repeated. It does not appear in commands.
Syntax
Word order
Munja'kin is usually a verb-subject-object language, however, sentences containing an auxiliary verb use the order auxiliary-subject-verb-object.
Relative clauses
An serves as a relativizer and is followed by a verb's nominalized form. Relative clauses are VSO like the main clauses and use resumptive pronouns to relativize obliques.
Questions
Polar questions are only marked by intonation in Munja'kin, it has no question particle. Interrogative words are fronted in content questions.