Möxali grammar

Lexical classes
Content words in Möxali are categorised into three lexical classes distinguished by valency, that is the number of arguments they take:


 * Nouns cannot be predicate (zero arguments)
 * Statives can be predicate with exactly one argument
 * Transitives can be predicate with one or more arguments

A ubiquitous pillar of Möxali's grammar is a closed set of valency-decreasing suffixes which convert a word from one class to another:


 * -j / -c — Converts a noun stem into a stative stem, the state of being associated with the noun
 * -d / -t — Converts a transitive stem into a stative stem, the state of participating in the verb
 * -n — Converts a transitive stem into a noun stem, the act of the verb itself

These processes are derivational in nature, involving a change in class and the production of a different part of speech, but are practically as regular as inflection. A newly derived word using one of these suffixes tends to retain a strong semantic relationship to the basic stem from which they are derived, unlike other more typical derivational patterns in Möxali. For example, consider the following derivations from the transitive root líj- "divide":


 * líjto-d- — stative stem: the state of undergoing iterated division (transitive → stative)
 * líji-n — noun stem: the act of ongoing division (transitive → noun)
 * líji-n-c- — stative stem: the state of being associated with the act ongoing division (transitive → noun → stative)

Compare the following other derivations, showing semantic abstraction from the original stem:


 * xiya-líji — transitive stem: to fairly share between people (lit. "fair-divide", a stative-transitive compound)
 * lijtu-d-n-e — noun stem: a particular short unit of time (lit. "divide.ɪᴛᴇʀ-ꜱᴛᴀᴛ-n-ᴄʟꜰ", a numeral classifier construction using the dummy root -n- and the classifier -e for segmented things, i.e. "segment which has been iteratively divided")

Case
Nouns take an obligatory inflection for case, of which there are three which mark different morphosyntactic roles. The accusative case has two allomorphs depending on the final segment of the underlying form of the noun stem. The suffix |-yo| appears on stems ending in a vowel (e ö i í a o u), a nasal (m n ñ g), h or l, and the suffix |-o| appears elsewhere. In the case of a final nasal, |Ny| regularly neutralises to ñ, so the accusative appears as ...ño, while a final h similarly assimilates to the palatal yielding ...xo. The accusative also triggers inversion ablaut (notated with \⇵), in which the two vowels in a disyllabic stem are raised and lowered respectively. Approximants (v l y) and the dorsal fricative h always assimilate to any following approximants. Stem-final -v simply never exists at the morphophonemic level, while a final l is essentially elided before the accusative suffix. On all other final segments (p t c k b d f s x z j), the accusative case takes the form -o: The allomorphy of the accusative suffix originates from a sound change which occurred in a late stage of Xiri, known as Exodus Xiri, in which medial approximants were generally lost in unstressed syllables. The relative chronology of sound changes indicates that plosive-final stems must have been incorporated into an early stage of Exodus Xiri through a large number of Alöbi loans, before its characteristic vowel-loss generated many new instances of stem-final consonants.
 * udok-in| (lizard-ᴇʀɢ) → udokin
 * ana-in| (mouth-ᴇʀɢ) → anen
 * tino-in| (salt-ᴇʀɢ) → tinín
 * ine\⇵-yo| (rice-ᴀᴄᴄ) → eniyo
 * kíxon\⇵-yo| (spear-ᴀᴄᴄ) → kixuño
 * lípil\⇵-yo| (tendon-ᴀᴄᴄ) → lipíyo
 * kabah\⇵-yo| (mountain-ᴀᴄᴄ) → kabaxo
 * anök\⇵-o| (axe-ᴀᴄᴄ) → aníko
 * íyos\⇵-o| (fire-ᴀᴄᴄ) → iyuso
 * díhac\⇵-o| (leg-ᴀᴄᴄ) → dihaco

The underlying form of the stem is important to consider for case inflection, particularly in the peripheral dialects which exhibit coda plosive spirantisation. Compare the inflectional set tanih/tanikin/taníko (knife) to ínih/ínihin/iníxo (finger), from the underlying forms |tanik| and |ínih| respectively.

Instancing and number
Nouns in Möxali exhibit the phenomenon of instancing, a trait inherited from Alöbi, where nouns distinguish two types of reference:


 * Instanced — countable reference to a particular instance of a thing regardless of definiteness, e.g. "a person", "the person", "two people"
 * Uninstanced — uncountable reference to a kind or category of thing, e.g. "people" or "humans" in general

When instanced nouns are first introduced to the discourse, an instancing prefix is attached to the noun stem which specifies the grammatical number and animacy of the referent. The prefix may be left off subsequent references to the same instanced nouns, which still carry grammatical number as an underlying property. An instancing prefix may also be used to emphasise the number or animacy of a referent, or to clarify which referent is being referred to if it is not clear from context. Proper nouns, naturally, are always instanced nouns in Möxali.

A newly introduced referent which lacks an instancing prefix is understood to mean reference to the kind or category of a thing in general, rather than to a particular instance of it, i.e. "people (in general)" rather than "a person" or "the person". These uninstanced nouns do not carry grammatical number, but act like plurals in agreement with verb suffixes.

Each instancing prefix ends in a vowel which is subject to sandhi with an initial vowel on the stem, if it is a soft morpheme. Some prefixes have specific allomorphs for vowel-initial and consonant-initial stems, shown in the table below.

These correspond to roughly the same meanings as the equivalent prefixes used in Alöbi, from which the Möxali forms are derived. The dual number is unique in not distinguishing animacy, and has slightly extended its usage from pairs of animate things to small complete sets of two, three and very occasionally four. For example, the zivon (64 day month) of the Avizñox calendar is sometimes referred to as kovíne in reference to its four ovíne "great segments" which are each incomplete and exist only as parts of the whole, hence the use of the dual number. Such situations would use the paucal number in Alöbi, which is no longer present in Möxali. The plural number represents any greater number, but unlike in Alöbi can also be used for as little as two referents, so long as those two things aren't considered to form a pair or complete set.

Transitive verbs
The origin of Möxali's transitive verb morphology is an unusual mixture of Alöbi-style agglutination and Xiri morphemes and syntax. A verb stem consists of a root with a suffix marking aspect. A verb stem then additionally takes obligatory prefixes for mood and voice optional other prefixes. The verb template is shown below, with the optional slots in brackets.

Aspect and Stem
The transitive verb stem is derived from a monosyllabic root by addition of a monosyllabic suffix marking the aspect. The formation of a verb stem is perhaps closer to derivation than regular inflection, with particular verb stem formations often carrying nuanced meanings, and the polymorphemic verb stems being used in compounds rather than just using verb roots.

Subject
The subject prefix is present only when an explicit subject noun is not. These come directly from Xiri and are the only remnant of its pronominal system, which was completely supplanted by the Alöbi system. Unlike freestanding pronouns, these prefixes do not mark grammatical number, only first, second and third person as follows: The first person prefix appears as ñ- on vowel-initial stems and ña- on consonant-initial stems, while the second and third person prefixes may also appear as sv- and ñ- (← *my-) respectively, according to regular morphophonological processes.
 * First person |ñ(a)-|
 * Second person |su-|
 * Third person |mi-|

The syncretism of the first and third person on vowel-initial stems rarely leads to ambiguity, as the subject prefix is used only to refer back to a recently established subject of another verb. Consider the following example:faden tin-ína-in mu-nötö\⇵-∅-ʼo-ha i ñ[a]-ax-u-di

1PL.ABS 1SG.POSS-parent-ERG EV-meat-PV-bring-PFV CONJ 1-EV-eat-INCH

"We were brought meat by my parent, and so we could start eating (like animals)"The subject prefix ñ- on ñaxudi is understood by context to refer to the first person faden established as the core argument in the previous phrase rather than a third person reference to the ergative noun tinínen.

Mood
Möxali inherited most of Xiri’s evidential particles, but also adopted Alöbi’s strict verb-final structure in main clauses. This forced the evidentials in front of the verb, occupying the same position as the Xiri modal particle which was rarely used in conjunction with an evidential. The result is the merging of the evidentials and five of the Xiri irrealis moods (subjunctive, permissive, imperative, conditional, interrogative) into a single paradigm. The seven realis moods are mostly derived from evidentials and can be further categorised by type of evidence: first-hand assertion (visual sensory, non-visual sensory, inferential), second-hand report (quotative, hearsay) and third-hand statement of fact (narrative, common knowledge). Unlike Xiri, there is no unmarked indicative mood, evidentiality is necessarily implied through the mood.