Ye'kwana

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Variant orthographies
ALIV ö-
Brazilian standard ä-
New Tribes ä-

Etymology 1

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Prefix

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ö-

  1. Marks a noun as having a second-person possessor.
  2. Marks a postposition as having a second-person object.
  3. Marks a transitive verb as having a second-person patient/object when the agent/subject is of third person with verb forms that take series I markers.
  4. Marks a transitive verb as having a second-person patient/object when the agent/subject is unspecified with verb forms that take series II markers.
  5. Marks an intransitive verb with patient-like argument as having a second-person argument/subject with verb forms that take series I markers and on all intransitive verbs with verb forms that take series II markers.
  6. Marks a verb form derived with n- and -dü or -'jüdü as having a second-person agent/subject.
Usage notes
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The form taken by this prefix depends on the first syllable of the stem it attaches to:

  • ö- if the first syllable begins with a consonant and its vowel is i, ö, or ü.
  • öy- if the first syllable begins with a vowel i, ö, or ü. (No possessible nouns fall into this category; those that would have ö ablaut to e.)
  • o- if the first syllable begins with a consonant and its vowel is o or u.
  • oy- if the first syllable begins with a vowel o or u.
  • a- if the first syllable begins with a consonant and its vowel is a or e.
  • ay- if the first syllable begins with a vowel a or e.

In the Cunucunuma River dialect, the above forms with -y- have -dh- or -d- instead.

Inflection
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Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Prefix

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ö-

  1. allomorph of öt- (detransitivizing prefix).

References

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  • Cáceres, Natalia (2011) “ö-”, in Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana[1], Lyon, pages 169–171, 188–189
  • Hall, Katherine Lee (1988) The morphosyntax of discourse in De'kwana Carib, volumes I and II, Saint Louis, Missouri: PhD Thesis, Washington University, pages 284–287