Quick facts about the grammar of 'Iipay Aa:
- Word order is typically SOV (Subject-Object-Verb), with adverbs often coming at the beginning of the sentence or before verbs. Thanks to case marking, however, speakers are often free to change the word order for emphasis and style with no changes in meaning.
- Morphosyntactic alignment is a rare subtype of nominative-accusative called marked nominative. As such, the noun in the nominative case (i.e. the subject) in a sentence is marked with the suffix -ch, while objects are usually unmarked.
- Verb mood: Strictly speaking, Kumeyaay does not have verb tenses like Indo-European languages do, but has two moods: realis and irrealis. Realis mood means an action is happening or did happen, and irrealis mood, marked with the -h suffix on the verb, means the action did not happen, could happen, or is expected to happen.
- Word classes: Kumeyaay has verbs, nouns, adverbs, and interjections. No adjectives! Instead, verbs are used, which are also used for numerals and even question words!
- Affixes: Kumeyaay makes roughly equal use of prefixes and suffixes. Person on verbs and nouns is shown as a prefix, and a set of suffixes fill the role of prepositions in English. One suffix acts as a definite article, and several other prefixes and suffixes serve additional grammatical functions. Kumeyaay often reuses affixes which mean something different depending on whether they are on a noun or a verb.
- Ablaut: Kumeyaay uses ablaut, a change in vowel length or quality, as well as other changes as a way of expressing number in nouns and verbs. Number is not expressed as an affix but as a change to the root word.
- Dialects: Different dialects of Kumeyaay have very similar, if not identical grammar, with the same word order and choice of affixes. In general, Tiipay has more words that serve grammatical purposes than 'Iipay, in which affixes serve more functions and more things are left to be implied by context.
Look below for guides on specific aspects of 'Iipay Aa grammar:
Verbs
How to form verbs to show person and number, with subsections for:
Affixes
A number of prefixes and suffixes attached to nouns and verbs perform multiple grammatical functions in Kumeyaay, stepping in where English would use conjunctions and prepositions. Remember that affixes never change the position of a word's stress!
Nominalizing verbs, or turning them into nouns with the prefix ku- or kw-, is a very important process to understand in Kumeyaay. It is how you create nouns of the type meaning, "the one who is..." or "that which does...", which are ways to create new words and adjective-like structures in Kumeyaay.
Suffixes on nouns can indicate the case or serve the same functions of certain prepositions in English. Included in these are:
-i: In/at; -m: to/with; -k: from; lly: into/inside; -ch: subject marker
-i: In/at; -m: to/with; -k: from; lly: into/inside; -ch: subject marker
This suffix adds emphasis on verbs and can sometimes be used on nouns.
Postpositions
How to say above, below, in front, behind, and more.
Compound & Complex Sentences
The suffix -ch on verbs connects clauses that have the same subject.
The suffix -m on verbs can be used to conjoin or subordinate clauses in sentences containing multiple different subjects.
The prefix nya- on verbs means "when" and often combines with suffixes -ch, -m, and their variants.