Morphophonemic vowel changes in verb roots

13 Verbs and verb morphology Verbs in Lhomi differ from other word classes in that they have their own set of suffixes that never combine with the words of other word classes. Also the morphophonemic changes in verb roots with inflectional suffixes is unique and do not occur with any other word class. Only verbs can combine with the suffixes listed inError Reference source not found. not all are listed. Table 13.1. Verbal suffixes 1. finite verbal suffixes: - soŋ PST.VIS -t ɕuŋ PST.EXP - moŋ NEG.PST.EXP - pa bet NMLZ;Q AUX -tuk PRF.VIS - pen-en-jen 1PST -kuk PROG;VIS -køt PROG;EXP -ken NMLZ;CONJ -let SCI - toŋ 1PL.HORT -ki 1SG.HORT - ʈo PROB -t ɕit IMP2 2. non-finite verbal suffixes: -na NFNT1 -ni NFNT2 -t ɕaŋ NFNT3 occasionally also in non-finite clauses

13.1 Morphophonemic vowel changes in verb roots

There are quite a few types of Lhomi verb roots based on morphophonemic changes that take place depending on what inflectional suffixes are affixed to the root. All verb roots in Lhomi are free morphemes which may stand alone without any affixation. I have chosen the nonpast root as the base. Typically the morphophonemic changes in the verb root are unpredictable. There may be up to three different vowels in a single verb root that take part in the vowel shift throughout the inflection. The roots of those verbs that have the semantic role of an agent have been divided into three categories: nonpast, past, and imperative. In other words, an inflectional verbal suffix requires either a nonpast, past, or imperative verb root. Typically a verbal suffix which is attached to the finite verb root combines with only one of those three verb root types. There are exceptions. Obviously those verbs that cannot have the role of an agent have only two types of roots, nonpast and past. Table 13.2 provides the key for different types of morphophonemic roots of Lhomi verbs. When there is neither root vowel change not dropping of the root-final consonant in inflection, the root type is left unmarked in this grammar. Table 13.2. Types of verb roots that have a vowel shift andor drop a root-final consonant in verbal inflection Lhomi verb root Root type Gloss Nonpast root Past root Imperative root ‘naa 1 ‘to put someone to bed’ ‘naa ‘naa ‘noo ʈøt 2 ‘to give’ ʈøt ʈet ʈøt tɕok 3 ‘to cut something’ tɕok tɕak tɕok phap 4 ‘to descend’ phap phap phop tok 5 ‘to pick something’ tok too too ɕuk 6 ‘to enter somewhere’ ɕuk ɕuu ɕuu phik 7 ‘to erase something’ phik phii phii ‘hek 8 ‘to burn something’ ‘hek ‘he ‘he phøt 9 ‘to invite someone’ phøt phø phø dʏt 10 ‘to gather something’ dʏt dʏ dʏ ok 11 ‘to dig up something’ ok oo oo tɕø 12 ‘to accompany someone’ tɕø tɕe tɕø ta 13 ‘to look at’ ta te tø ɕu 14 ‘to request something’ ɕu ɕʏ ɕʏ no 15 ‘to buy’ no nø nø ʈhi 16 ‘to enquire’ ʈhi ʈhii ʈhii tak 17 ‘to grind’ tak taa too When the verbal suffix begins with s, ts, t ɕ, k, p the root-final consonant t assimilates to it, e.g. ʈes-soŋ. A Lhomi verb root is a free morpheme and any of those roots in table 13.2 may occur without any affixation. Lhomi vowels e, ø and ʏ are always long in open syllables. There are some verb roots that show irregularity and do not fit into the table above. They are frequently occurring motion verbs or presentation verbs like sir ‘to say’, t ɕhit ‘do;VBZR’, dʑak ‘VBZR’, ɖo ‘go’ and ‘phin ‘go.come’ see also section 13.3.

13.2 Semantically empty grammatical heads