Nulisü Grammar
Nulisü is a lightly fusional, mostly analytic language. The morphosyntactic alignment is nominative-accusative. The language is head-final, and the basic word order is subject-object-verb (SOV). It features postpositions. Possessors precede their possessees, however, adjectives follow the nouns they modify.
Nouns
Nulisü nouns decline for case. The cases are nominative and partitive. The syntactic role of a noun is in general marked with postpositions. Nouns may be optionally marked for number. The numbers are plain, singulative, and paucal.
Case
The nominative is the unmarked of the two cases. The partitive is associated with a -u/-ü/-o suffix (< *ul̥ "to bite") on the noun, with the form depending on whether the proto-form ended with a consonant or vowel, and in the latter case which vowel. An additional following -l occurs when the subsequent word begins with a vowel, similar to the liaison of French. The case used with a specific postposition is particular to each postposition.
Morphosyntactic alignment
In Nulisü, the subject or agent in a clause is unmarked, as can be expected of a nominative-accusative language. Postpositions are used to mark direct and indirect objects. The primary object, i.e. the direct object of a clause with a monotransitive verb or the indirect object of a clause with a ditransitive verb, co-occurs with the postposition ing (< *iŋ "to sniff"), which co-occurs with a noun in the nominative. The secondary object, i.e. the direct object of a ditransitive verb, co-occurs with the postposition mo (< *m̥aβ "paw", modern mhav "paw"), which co-occurs with a noun in the partitive. In other words Nulisü is a secundative language. This is summarized below:
- Sale puu naa. "The beaver is sleeping."
- Sale odhas ing thũthu naa. "The beaver is chewing the grass."
- Sale odhasu mo bunga ing be naa. "The beaver is giving the grass to the frog."
- Sale odhas ing be naa. "The beaver is giving the grass."
The vowel of ing may optionally be elided in informal speech when it follows a noun that ends in a vowel, e.g. bunga'ng.
Additionally, the postposition mo is used with primary objects that undergo a change of place, but are otherwise unaffected by the action of the verb. In these cases, the goal of the movement co-occurs with a locative postposition sa, which governs the nominative case. Two examples are shown below:
- Sale odhasu mo kazba sa taa naa. "The beaver is putting the grass on the rock."
- Sale odhasu mo kazba sa biv naa. "The beaver is carrying the grass to the rock."
Number
Nouns feature no inflection for number. A given noun can be interpreted as singular, plural, or any number. However, nouns may co-occur with one of two articles which specify its number. These articles are ki (< *ki "stick") for the singulative number and fa (< *ɸaa "bundle") for the paucal. These articles co-occur with a noun in the partitive case, as shown below:
- Plain: odhas "grass, grasses, some grass, a blade of grass"
- Singulative: odhasu ki "a blade of grass"
- Paucal: odhasu fa "some grass"
When these articles co-occur with a postposition that assigns the partitive, they occur in their partitive forms:
- Plain: odhas mo "grass, grasses, some grass, a blade of grass"
- Singulative: odhasu kü mo "a blade of grass"
- Paucal: odhasu ho mo "some grass"
Possession
There is a two-way distinction between inalienable and alienable possession in Nulisü. Inalienable possession is conveyed through inflection, and alienable by means of a postposition.
Inalienable possession involves the possessor in the partitive being placed before the possessee:
- Body Parts: salü thaki "the beaver's/beavers' tooth/teeth"
- Kinship Terms: salü mheni "the beaver's/beavers' child(ren)"
- Close Associations: salü sã "the beaver's/beavers' name(s)"
Articles can be used in conjunction with inalienable possession, as shown below:
- No Articles: salü mheni "the beaver's/beavers' child(ren)"
- Singulative: salü kü mheni "the beaver's child(ren)"
- Paucal: salü ho mheni "the beavers' child(ren)"
Alienable possession is indicated by means of the postposition lus, which governs the partitive, such as in salü lus pappak "the beaver's/beavers' hammer".
Adjectives
When an adjective modifies a noun, the noun takes the partitive case, such as in salü mat "tall beaver(s)". Adjectives themselves in their basic form cannot take the partitive case. When the adjective needs to occur in the partitive, it must then first be nominalized by means of a prefix u-. This is for example necessary when a noun phrase with a modifying adjective as a whole must take the partitive, such as with articles, for example in salü-l umatu ki "a tall beaver".
Verbs
Nulisü verbs agree with their subjects in person and number. They do not conjugate for any tense, aspect or modality.
Auxiliaries
Verbs regularly co-occur with a series of auxiliaries, which convey various tense-aspect combinations. These auxiliaries agree with the subject in person and number. The interpretation of the various auxiliaries follows from whether the auxiliary is being used with a verb, an adjective, or a noun.
Verbal predicates
Verbs can display the following tense-aspect combinations when used with auxiliaries:
- Imperfect: Sale puu naa. "The beaver is/was sleeping."
- Habitual: Sale puu saa. "The beaver sleeps regularly."
- Perfect: Sale puu ve. "The beaver slept."
- Future: Sale puu dhama. "The beaver will sleep."
Nominal predicates (Copula)
Nouns interact with auxiliaries somewhat differently. Here, the auxiliaries have a copulative function. Examples are shown below:
- Temporary: Sale lanath naa. "The beaver is a friend, for the moment."
- Permanent: Sale lanath saa. "The beaver is a friend."
- Past Habitual: Sale lanath ve. "The beaver used to be a friend."
- Future: Sale lanath dhama. "The beaver will be a friend."
Negation
Nulisü uses the negative auxiliary ga to form negative statements. This negative auxiliary co-occurs with an infinitive verb phrase, i.e. auxiliaries appear in the infinitive form. Examples are shown below:
- Imperfect. Sale puu naa. "The beaver is/was sleeping."
- Imperfect: Sale puu na ga. "The beaver isn't/wasn't sleeping."
- Permanent: Sale lanath saa. "The beaver is a friend."
- Permanent: Sale lanath sa ga. "The beaver is not a friend."
Passivization
Nulisü has a passive auxiliary aa (< *al̥ "to receive") which conveys the passive voice. An example is shown below:
- Active: Sale odhas ing thũthu naa. "The beaver is chewing the grass."
- Passive: Odhas thũthu'ng aa naa. "The grass is being chewed."
In effect, the lexical verb is here turned into a noun, which becomes the new object of the sentence. As such, it is followed by the primary object postposition ing. The patient is promoted to the subject position.
Participles
A verb modifying a noun is called a participle. Participles come in two varieties: active -se (< *salai "beaver") and passive -ki (< *ki "stick"):
- Intransitive (Verb): Sale puu naa. "The beaver is sleeping."
- Intransitive (Participle): salü puuse "the sleeping beaver"
- Transitive Active (Verb): Sale odhas ing thũthu naa. "The beaver is chewing the grass."
- Transitive Active (Participle): salü thũthuse "the chewing beaver"
- Transitive Passive (Verb): Odhas thũthu'ng aa naa. "The grass is being chewed."
- Transitive Passive (Participle): odhasu thũthuki "the chewed grass"