User:Aegon/High Valyrian Tutorial/4-2

Lesson 2|Prefixes and Verb Derivation

Vocabulary

Lesson Vocabulary
High Valyrian	English
belmurtys (2sol.)	slave master, slaver
rōbir (5aq.)	fig
iqighagon (c-fin.)	to make somebody feel; (reflexive) to make oneself feel

Verb Derivation

High Valyrian features three forms of common verbal prefixes.

The instrumental passive describes actions from inanimate grammatical subjects, like "the knife cut the man."

The oblique applicative promotes an indirect object, a noun in the dative case, to the direct object, in the accusative case.

The locative applicative promotes the object of an adpositional phrase to a type of indirect object.

Instrumental Passive

The instrumental passive describes actions from inanimate grammatical subjects. Form it in the following manner:

Instrumental Passive Prefix	Verb Begins With
s-	the consonants k, p, q, t
z-	the consonants b, d, g, l, r(1)
h-	all vowels except e and o
a-	all other letters

• ⁽¹⁾ Recall that the illicit sequence x zr becomes j.

Consider the following two sentences:

High Valyrian	English
vala egromy rōbir ezīmza	the man splits the fig with a knife
rōbir egry aezīmza	the knife splits the fig

The first has vala as the subject, the one who does the action. The second omits vala and focuses on the action of the knife. As knives do not have animacy, this sentence uses the instrumental passive. Note how the instrument promoted to the subject appears directly before the verb in contrast to the usual subject-object-verb order. Should one want to introduce the subject, the owner of the knife, use the postposition ondoso.

High Valyrian	English
valo ondoso rōbir egry aezīmza	the knife of the man splits the fig

Note how this sentence does not appear as x rōbir valo egry aezīma, with a genitive phrase, which one may assume as licit. Avoid confusing the instrumental passive with the passive voice, as they may occur together as in the following examples.

High Valyrian	English
rōbir ezīmaks	the fig is split (due to someone)
rōbir aezīmaks	the fig is split (due to something)

A nuance, use of the instrumental passive with the passive voice indicates that the action occurred upon the action of an inanimate.

High Valyrian	English
rōbir valo ondoso ezīmaks	the fig is split due to the man
egromy rōbir aezīmaks	the fig is split with a knife

Notice how the focus with the passive voice shifts to the fig and not the man in the passive voice with the postpositional phrase occurring after the patient. Then, in the second example, the patient appears directly before the verb.

Oblique Applicative

The oblique applicative promotes a noun appearing in the dative case to the accusative case. Form it in the following manner:

Instrumental Passive Prefix	Vowel Begins With
i-	all consonants except h; the vowels a, e, o
j-	the consonant h; the vowels i, u, y

The below example shows the difference with and lacking the oblique applicative. Notice how the first says "say to the" and the second with the oblique applicative says "tell the." Thusly, the dative case appears less frequently than expected as the oblique applicative appears commonly.

High Valyrian	English
belmurtoti vestrās kesīr pōnte jiōrinna	say to the slavers I will receive them here
belmurtī ivestrās kesīr pōnte jiōrinna	tell the slavers I will receive them here

A commonly used word iderēbagon has an oblique applicative and its object and subject may not appear intuitive.

High Valyrian	English
vala rōbrȳti Aeri iderēbza	the man selects figs for Aerys

As iderēbagon means to select for, the recipient appears in the accusative case and the object selected, in the dative case. Note that in the passive voice, iderēbagon will mean is selected for and not is selected.

High Valyrian	English
Aeri iderēbaks	Aerys is selected for

Of note, Aerys appears in the accusative case when typically, in the passive voice, the patient appears in the nominative case.