Ye'kwana edit

Etymology edit

Originally a postposition attaching to a nominalized form of the verb, as seen by its Cariban cognates. In Ye'kwana, however, this suffix apparently never co-occurs with a nominalizer—likely the anomalous glottal stop at the start of the suffix is in fact itself a reduced form of the nominalizer -dü in origin.

Pronunciation edit

Suffix edit

-'se

  1. Forms the desiderative mood, expressing that the situation of the verb is wanted (typically by the agent of an auxiliary copula to which the desiderative verb is subordinated).
  2. In the complement clause of a verb of cognition, can be used to express the future tense.

Usage notes edit

A verb marked with this suffix is negated by -'da and pluralized with -nñe, both also found on adverbs and postpositions. If both markers are present they can appear in any order. However, a plural can also be formed with the noun plural clitic -komo, in which case it combines with this suffix into the form -konse.

References edit

  • Cáceres, Natalia (2011) Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana[1], Lyon, pages 243–248