Ilocano verb

Reduplication

An important aspect of Ilokano verbal morphology is reduplication. Reduplication in verbal paradigms consists of repeating the first /C₁VC₂.../ sequence of phonemes of the root as required by the form resulting in a bimoraic or heavy syllable.

Basic form: gatang buy Repudlicated form: gatgatang Basic form: aramat use Reduplicated form: ar-aramat

The glottal stop as the second consonant of the sequence (C₂) is lost. Two strategies can be applied to maintain the weight of the reduplicated syllable. Either the vowel (V) is lengthened (compensatory lengthening) or the first consonant (C₁) is doubled (geminated).

Basic form: sao [sa.ʔo] say Reduplicated form: sasao [saː.sa.ʔo] or sassao [sas.sa.ʔo] Basic form: dait [da.ʔit] sew Reduplicated form: dadait [daː.da.ʔit] or daddait [dad.daː.ʔit]

Aspect

Ilocano verbs inflect for aspect, not for tense. In other words, the completion is encoded in the verb paradigm, not the time in which the action occurred.

Inflected Aspects

Verbs inflect for the following aspects:

Neutral - The neutral form is not marked for aspect (perfective or imperfective) or initiation (initiated or non-initiated). It serves as the form for both the infinitive and the imperative.

Perfective - The verb is marked for initiation and is completed.

Imperfective - The action habitual, non-punctual or repeated.

Past Imperfective - The same as the imperfective, however, it occurred in the past.

In the typical verbal paradigm, Neutral and Perfective forms are not reduplicated, whereas the Imperfective and the Past Imperfective are reduplicated. The Continuous Progressive and the Continuous Complete are marked for initiation.

In a typical paradigm the chart would appear as the following:

[AFFIX] is the verbal affix. [AFFIX+N] is the verbal affix modified for initiation. In many of the paradigms, the mark of initiation is N, for example, nag-, na-, and -in-. [CVC] is the reduplicated syllable of the root.

Future

The future is not encoded with a particular form. It is shown by affixing the enclitic -(n)to to the neutral form of the verb. The enclitic is not very cohesive to the verb. When it attaches, the personal pronoun enclitics are attached first before the particle. If the preceding morpheme ends in a vowel, the form is -nto, otherwise, -to.

Examples:

Kitaen to see (something) kita_{[Root: see]} + en_{[Patient Focus]}Kitaento to about to see (something) kita_{[Root: see]} + en_{[Patient Focus]} + to_{[Fut. Part.]}Kitaennanto He/she will see (something) kita_{[Root: see]} + en_{[Patient Focus]} + na_{[3rd Person Singular Ergative]} + nto_{[Fut. Part.]}Kitaendakto They will see me kita_{[Root: see]} + en_{[Patient Focus]} + dak_{[3rd Per. Plu. Erg./1st Per. Sing.]} + to_{[Fut. Part.]}

Focus

Ilocano, like other Philippine languages, has a Philippine-type focus system. The verb is capable of focusing on a particular noun phrase within the sentence. Ilokano verbs are capable of focusing on noun phrases with the following thematic roles: Agent, Patient, Commitative, Directional, Benefactive, Thematic and Instrumental.

The Agent focus requires only one noun phrase. According to Galvino (2000), the affixes in the Agent focus are Intransitive, because the verb form does not require another noun phrase to complete its meaning. The noun phrase is the agent or the experiencer of the action.

The remaining foci, Patient, Commitative, Directional, Benefactive, Thematic and Instrumental require the presence of two theta roles: the agent noun phrase and the focused noun phrase. Galvino (2000) terms these as Transitive.

Potentially, all roots can be cast into all of the foci. Due to the semantics of the root, however, not many do in practice. Roots can differ in meaning when cast into different foci. The difference can be a slight nuance to almost opposite in meaning. For example, if the root dalus clean is cast in the Patient focus, the resulting meaning is to clean (something). But, if cast in the Directional focus, the resulting meaning is to clean (something) off, the focused noun phrase becomes the area affected instead of the object affected.

Agent Focus

Verbs cast in this focus throw emphasis on the noun phrase with the agent or experiencer role in the sentence. Although, Ilokano is a null-subject language, impersonal verbs are cast in this focus, for example Agar-arbis It is drizzling.

Noun phrases in the agent role are introduced by the core forms of the articles, ti for common nouns and ni for personal nouns. The enclitic absolutive (-ak series) of personal pronouns replace these noun phrases. If the verb can take a direct object, it is marked by the oblique forms of the articles, deictives and pronouns, for example, Nangan iti saba He ate a banana. Notice how the direct object is indefinite.

Patient role noun phrases (direct objects) of verbs are introduced by the oblique forms. In addition, Patients of verbs cast in the agent focus are indefinite.

There are four affixes in this focus category: ag-, -um-, mang- and ma-. Roots will prefer to take only one or some of the prefixes. In some cases the meaning changes from one affix to another, for example, ngisit, black. If ag- is affixed, agngisit, the meaning is that of there is a likelihood of becoming black or to darken, for example Nagngisitka, You darkened. However, with -um-, ngumisit, the meaning becomes more of a possibility or conjecture, Ngumisngisitkansa iti tengnat' aldaw, You might get darker at midday.

Ag-

The verbal prefix ag- is very productive and can verbalize a large number of roots. If a new word were to enter the language, most likely this is the prefix used to verbalize it, for example, the fictitious baz: agbaz to "baz".

If the root takes either ag- or -um-, the additional meaning of ag- are some of the following:

Repetitivity of the action

Long duration of the action

With some roots, the attainment of the root, for example, dakkel, big, agdakkel to be big, doktor doctor, agdoktor to be a doctor.

The actor is in full control (internally motivated)

The certainty of the action because it is habitually occurring or frequently occurring.

Denotes the action taken on with the root, palsiit blowgun, agpalsiit to shoot with the blowgun, use the blowgun. (Compare with -um- below.)

The verbal prefix <um>, is inserted, or infixed, to the first syllable of the root.

Some of the meanings imparted using this infix are:

A single action or an action that is not as long in duration as what is denoted by ag-.

With certain roots, using <um> denotes the act of "becoming" the root, for example, lakay old man, lumakay to grow older, to become older (said of males), to become an old man.

The actor is externally or circumstantially motivated.

The possibility of the action. (Compare with ag- above.)

Ag- Versus

The affixes ag- and <um> are very similar. Many verbs take either and have little difference in meaning. Other verbs are drastically differentiated. Below is a chart contrasting the two.

Mang-

The mang- prefix is used to denote the following:

Collecting

Purchase

Movement

Occupation

The final nasal, /ŋ/, of the prefix commonly becomes the homoorganic nasal of the first consonant of the root which disappears or remains.

It is sometimes necessary to make an otherwise transitive verb (-en or -an) intransitive. These verbs will take mang- in such instances.

Ma-

There are few verbs with active meaning that use this prefix. Some of these are maturog (<turog), to sleep, mapan (<pan), to go, mangan (<kan irregular formation), to eat, magna (<pagna irregular formation), to walk. With the exception of mangan, the meaning of these roots cannot take a direct object in this focus.

In the Continuous Progressive form, the prefix participates in reduplication taking the first consonant as its final, unlike the other verbal prefixes.

Lastly, ma- is similar in form to the ma- potentive. They differ in terms of the series of pronouns they are able to take: ma- (agent) take -ak pronouns; ma- (potentives) take -ko.

Patient Focus: -En

Verbs cast in this focus throw emphasis on the patient of the verb, in other words, the direct object. Because of this, the misnomer "passive voice" has been applied to verbs in the patient focus.

Agents (or actors) for verbs cast in the true passive voice can be omitted. The English sentence The car was repaired yesterday is grammatical without the agent of the verb. This cannot be said of verbs in the patient focus. Patient focus verbs require both the agent and the object argument for grammaticality. The sentence Tinarimaan ti mekaniko ti kotse is more grammatical than *Tinarimaan ti kotse which lacks an agent.

Patients of verbs cast into this focus are definite. Both actor and patient are both marked by the core form of the article and deictives. For the pronouns, the ergative forms are used, in other words, the -ko series of pronouns. Since the core forms are used for both actor and patient, they are differentiated only by syntax: the actor follows after the verb as close as possible with the patient thereafter. If pronouns are used for both the actor and patient, a special set of pronouns are used. Consult the table of pronoun sequences for details.

What can be considered the patient of an English verb, may be cast in a different theta role in Ilocano. Take for example, the English phrase The student saved the file. In this phrase, the file is the noun phrase in the patient role (the direct object). In Ilocano, however, the same noun phrase would be cast in the thematic role and the verb in the thematic focus, instead, Indulin ti estudiante ti file because of the semantics of the verb. In the Ilocano mind, the file is being transferred to a safe place.

Use of this affix imparts the following meanings:

Consumption of the object, e.g. alimon "swallow", alimunen "to swallow (something)"

Permanent change of state, e.g. patay "death", patayen "to kill"

Mental processing of the object, e.g. panunot "thought", panunuten "to think (about something), ponder (something)"

Commitative Focus: Ka-

Verbs in the commitative focus denote that the verb action is shared between parties. The focused noun phrase is with whom the agent is partaking the action. Similar to the Instrumental focus below, these behave more like nouns.

Directional Focus: -An

The focused noun phrases of directional verbs are places or place names. When a person is the object, a notion of direction (either to or from) is implied, for example, suratan to write to someone, takawan to rob from someone. In addition, the focus noun phrase is treated as an area that is affected by the verb.

Verbs of cleaning, dalusan, to clean, labaan, to launder, sagadan, to sweep, are cast in this focus as the object noun phrases are considered as an area affected. It is possible to use -en with these roots, but notice in the following sentences how the affix alters the focus: (with -an) Dinalusak ti sala. "I cleaned the living room." versus (with -en) Dinalusko ti rugit ti sala. "I cleaned the dirt in the living room."

Meanings:

Motion to or from

Place

Area affected

Cleaning

Thematic Focus: I-

The focused noun phrases of thematic verbs are transferred or whose location or state is affected in some way by the semantics of the root. Verbs of saying are commonly cast in this focus. What is said becomes the focused element, in addition it is thought of being transferred from the speaker to the listener or reader.

Examples of roots that commonly take this form:

Transfer - dulin safe place, idulin' to save, put away

Change of state - lukat exposed, ilukat to open

Verbs that convey information or ideas - baga declaration, ibaga to declare, say

Benefactive Focus: I> The focused noun phrases of the benefactive verbs are usually persons. The verb is performed on their behalf or for their benefit. In English, this would correspond to the indirect object or prepositional phrases introduced with to, for or because of. As with non-actor verb forms, the core forms of the article and the deictives, and the ergative, or -ko, forms of the personal pronouns mark the actor. The focus, in this case the benefactor, is marked with the core forms and the absolutive, or -ak forms of the personal pronouns. If there is a direct object, it is marked with the oblique forms, for example, Igatanganto ni nanang ni ading iti sapatos Mother will buy shoes for (my) little sister. Morphologically, the benefactive focused form is a combination of the prefix 'i-' and the suffix '-an'. Instrumental Focus: Pag- The basic sense of the instrumental focus is to use something for accomplishing the root's meaning; it is the tool of the root. That something is then cast in the absolutive case. For example, dalus, clean space, pagdalus, to use something to clean with. Again, the actor is marked with the core forms or ergative, with pronouns (i.e., -ko), and the instrument, with core forms, and absolutive with pronouns, for example, Pagdalusan ni tatang ti drapo Father uses the rag to clean with. Pag-, behaves more like a verbal noun than a verb and sometimes translates as the implement, the reason or the theme of the root instead. Meanings: Instrument

Imperative Mood

The imperative mood of the verb is used for giving commands or making requests. The difference between the infinitive use and the imperative use of the neutral form is that the imperative form is accompanied by a personal pronoun.

Examples:

Manganka Eat. (Second Person Singular) Idissoyo ditoy Put it down here. (Second Person Plural) Aginanata bassit Let's rest a while. (First Person Dual)

Imperative verbs do not inflect for aspect. Thus, they are not required to "agree" with the verb of the principle clause of the sentence when they occur in subordinate clauses.

Imbaga ni nanang a manganka Mother told you to eat.

Potentive Mood

The preceding prefixes all fall into what is called the Indicative mood. In other words, the verbs stated factual information and the speaker did not have any attitudes regarding the event.

The potentive mood of verbs, on the other hand, denotes the following regarding the speaker's attitude regarding the event:

Unintentional - The actor had no intent in committing the action.

Possible - The actor had intent and was able.

Circumstantial - The actor was influence by the circumstances at the time.

Involuntary - The actor had no control over what happened.

Intransitive: Maka-, Makapag- and Makai-

The prefixes Maka-, Makapag- and Makai- corresponds to the following actor focus prefixes in the indicative mood.

Maka-

Maka- is used with all of the other actors focus verbs except for some verbs that normally take ag-. It denotes the innateness of actor, or other factors such as health or knowledge, that affect one's ability to perform the action. It also denotes inattentiveness in the action if the verb can use either makapag- or maka-.

Makapag-

This prefix is applied to verbs that normally take ag- in the indicative. Similar to ag-, makapag- denotes internal motivation as a reason, so circumstance and context affect the ability to perform the action. Only nouns that denote humans or human-like animals are used with this prefix.

Digos can also take maka-. But, with makapag-, one's ability to bathe will be determined by the availability of water, of the bathroom, of soap, of time, etc.

Makai-

The prefix makai- is used with detransitivized verbs, i.e. verbs that do not requiring an object, that normally use i- as their transitive verb form, for example, ibelleng to throw (something) out versus makaibelleng can throw out, to be able to throw out.

Transitive: Ma-

The prefix ma- is used with the patient focused affixes. Unlike the actor focused counterpart, maka-, Ma- does not replace the prefix, but is prefixed to the unaltered form. The only exception is the patient focus, where the suffix -en is dropped.

Examples:

Saanko nakasao ni maestra idi kalman. I was not able to talk to teacher yesterday.
Nasuratam ida?
Were you able to write to them?
Maigatanganak ti libro?
Can you buy me a book?
Napagdalusko ti daan a kamisetam. I happened to use your old shirt for cleaning. (It was an accident. I promise!)

The inflectional forms for ma- potentives follow the same pattern detailed above in the Aspect section. In other words, the first syllable of the root reduplicates, not a part of the word before ma- is prefixed, for example, maibagbaga, is/are able to say (something), not *maib-ibaga.

In the initiated forms, the Continuous Progressive form is prefixed with na-, for example, ibagbaga says (something), maibagbaga is/are able to say (something) and naibagbaga was/were being able to say (something), not *maimbagbaga or *naimbagbaga.

Causative: Pa-

Causatives are the verb forms where the agent causes or forces the patient to perform a given action or to become a given state. As a result, all causative verbs forms are transitive, requiring both agent and patient.

The common pattern of formation is: [FOCUS] + pa + [ROOT].