Documenting the Tiriki Language: with a Focus on NP Morphosyntax

Joyu Wang University of Missouri

Linguistics 4870 Field Methods in Linguistics Professor Michael Marlo May 11, 2012

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Joyu Wang LING4870: Field Methods in Linguistics Thursday, May 10, 2012 Final Paper Documenting the Tiriki Language: with a focus on NP morphosyntax 1. Introduction Tiriki is a Bantu language of western Kenya and eastern Uganda spoken by approximately 100,000 speakers (Heine & Mhlig, 1980). According to Ethnologue, Tiriki is also classified as a sub-branch of Luyia that includes the neighboring Idakho and Isukha dialects. No prior study or research has been done on the Tiriki language before this paper was written. For the very first time, Tiriki is documented and described through the instruction of professor Michael Marlo in the Field Methods class at the University of Missouri. The following transcriptions are collected from a native speaker of Tiriki, Billy Jivetti, who is originally from Mahanga village in Kaimosi, Kenya. The transcriptions in this paper are done using a letter-based spelling system, rather than in formal IPA or APA style. For instance, sh refers to []; ny is written as [], kh represents [x]; and ch means []. The reason why we are going to follow this practice is because Billy and other Tiriki-speakers will find these easier to read. Other reason is that there are not consonant clusters with [h] as the second member in the language, so we won't be confusing a contrast of the language. This paper is going to describe a general sketch of grammar in Tiriki in the following sections of phonology and morphology. Also, there will be a focus on noun phrase morphology in the discussion as well.

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2. Phonology Section 2.1. The Consonants phonemes of Tiriki The consonant phonemes of Tiriki, as analyzed so far, are listed in the following table. Bilabial Voiceless stop Voiced stop Voiced affricate Voiceless affricate Voiceless fricative Voiced fricative Nasal Glide Liquid m w l, rh, r f v ts s z n (ny) y (sh) x(kh) p b Labiodental Alveolar t d (ch) Alveopalatal Palatal Velar k g

Examples of these consonants are given in the following data set, where the consonant being focused on is in bold type. Tiriki has bilabial, alveolar and velar stops, and contrasts voiced/voiceless consonants seen in (1). (1) p: pp khpml b: smb vmb t: t t ltk father to destroy lion clan members father store khplkh mshp shkmb smb shtrh lutrch to fly belt bone dog finger Tiriki

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d:

mnd lhnd

person pumpkin three ten pig white person

khd nd mlk mhk ngkh khvg

to sell louse shin years chicken shave

k:

khvk km

g:

nglm musuungu

There are two affricates in Tiriki, [ts] and [], in (2). Again, we are going to use [ch] to represent the voiceless alveopalatal affricate [] in the following transcriptions. (2) ts: msts mkts ch: nzch kbch male neighborhood sharp cabbage lsts tsmbl khchng ch week goats to carry tea

Tiriki also has labiodental, alveolar, alveopalatal and velar fricatives, as well as contrasts voiced / voiceless consonants seen in (3). Noted that voiceless alveopalatal fricative [] is presented as [sh]; the voiceless velar fricatives [x] is written as [kh]. (3) f: khfy shfar v: vkhn vrnj s: msts sp z: nzk khsnz sh: shrn shtap do laundry rhino girls leg male seven elephant to slaughter twenty book Page 4 of 29 khfng vchf vkmb vmm pls vnys tsnzk khynz shkl shtng to close dirtiness bones mothers horse grass horn to like mountain onion

kh:

lkhkh khn

crow four

khwss khgn

breathe sleep

Tiriki has four nasal consonants, [n], [m], [] and [], as in (4). Noted that Tiriki convention is to use the digraph [ny] to represent the palatal nasal []. (4) n: ln mkhn m: mkng smb : l khd ny: nym nyny tooth girl back initiates cottage bird sell (old fashion) animal tomato mn mkhn my mkhn mb ll nynd lnyl eye arm, hand heart girl cow mouse hammer mouse

The language has two glides, [w] and [y], as in (5). They are similar to high vowels [i] and [u], but they are shorter and have a greater degree of constriction than the corresponding vowels. (5) w: mwn mwv y: ngy albyn baby thief leopard forty lsw mnw my msy hair month heart blood

Finally, Tiriki has several liquids, which are the consonants involving the blade or tip of the tongue, shown in (6). (6) rh: khrhvl lrhw l: lrh to answer ear name Page 5 of 29 khrhv mrhw llm to ask head tongue

mkhl r: mtrch shllr 2.2. Vowels

female Tirichi people window/mirror

khlm shrnj htr

bite leg danger

Tiriki is a five-vowel language, which are clearly phonemically distinct: /a e i o u/. The following chart indicates the position of tongue where each vowel is pronounced.

High Mid Low

i e

u o a

Front

Back

For one thing, Tiriki distinguishes vowel length between long vowels , such as /aa, ee, ii, oo, uu/, and short vowels. Consider the following data of vowels in Tiriki in (7). (7) a: smb shpk nym pls prw e: shtrh khlkh nglm mb khrhvl lion cat animal horse letter finger to leave pig cow to answer ee: aa: mwn mkhn msts pp pmb khynz khkhws khwss khsyv shrnj baby girl male father bamboo to sweep to pull to breathe to dance leg

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i:

mn llm nd nzk mbl

eye tongue stomach elephant goat sleep tooth chicken arm, hand chicken mouse back female head shin

ii:

lrhw lsw lrh lchng lkhkh

ear hair name rat cow heart cow back pumpkin hat rat nose person bone stomach

o:

khkn ln ngkh mkhn ngkh

oo:

my mb mkng lhnd kfy

u:

lnyl mkng mkhl mrhw m l k

uu:

lchng lyl mnd shkmb mnd

As we can see from the above data, long vowel is never found at the word-final position, as well as the short vowel is often ending with a low tone. In addition, nasal also plays a significant role in where a long vowel is found, and we will be discussing it later in the following phonology section. 2.3. Tones Tiriki is a tonal language, which has three phonetics tones, as analyzed so far, and they are High (), Low (`), and Falling () tones. Tones do play a significant syntactic role in Tiriki, such as with the verbs. In the later session, we will be discussing the factors that determine the pronunciation of tone in Tiriki verbs. Examples of words with different tones in Tiriki are shown in (8). (8) High Tone (`): shkmb lyl bone nose

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ln msts pp Low Tone (`): nym mkng lchng lnyl shrnj Falling Tone (): lrhw mt khvr khvk khn

tooth male father animal back rat mouse leg ear mattresses two three four

From the data weve collected so far, the falling tones are always found at the end of the word, and they are a predictable variant of high tone words. 2.4. Phonological rules Various phonological rules can be generated in Tiriki, and they are explained in the following data set. Nasal consonants often play a significant role in Tiriki phonology, and many rules deal with the interactions of nasals and other segments. 2.4.1. Vowel-Lengthening Rule As we mentioned it earlier, Tiriki distinguishes short vowels and long vowels. Indeed, there is a vowel-lengthening rule taking place around nasal consonants, such as [n, m, ], and this can be easily found in the language. In general, a short vowel becomes a long vowel before a nasal consonant and after a consonant, and they are shown in (9). V VV / C ___ nasal (9) /-mb/ /mmb/ /mw-n/ [mb] [mmb] [mrhnd] [mwn] Page 8 of 29 cow crocodile gun child

/mrh-nd/

/mly-ng/ 2.4.2. Glide Formation

[mlyng]

door

Glide is a kind of sonorants that are similar to high vowels [i, u] but are shorter and have a greater degree of restriction than the corresponding vowels. In many languages, the high vowels become a consonant as a glide when high vowels meet with other vowels. This also can be found in Tiriki, too. Here are some examples of glide formations with high vowels [i, u] in (10) and (11). a. u w / ____ V (10) /msl mu-mb/ /rhu-n/ /mky k-nj/ b. i y / ____ V (11) /lhnd l-nj/ [lhnd lynj] [tsngmb tsynj] [lhnd lysp] my pumpkin my cows 7th pumpkin /tsngmb ts-nj/ /lhnd l-sp/ [msl mwmb] [rhwn] [mky kwnj] short tree children my rope

Therefore, we can combine the above two sets of data, and sum it up to a single gilde formation rule: high vowels glide / ____ vowel 2.4.3. Nasal Place Assimilation (produces [b] from /p/) Interestingly, Tiriki lacks underlying voiced consonants, but we can still some voiced consonants, such as [b], in the language. This is because Tiriki produces the voiced bilabial stop [b] from the voiceless one /p/ where it is found after a bilabial nasal. Consult the examples in (12). p b / m ____ (12) [mpk] [pmp] [pmp] [smp] [mpts]

[mbk] [pmb] [pmb] [smb] [mbts] Page 9 of 29

kidney cotton bamboo lion short wind

This is also an example of nasal place assimilation, where the voicing rule is found after the nasal consonant. (It is slightly different from the post-nasal voicing rules where it takes place after the nasal in the following discussion.) 2.4.4. Post-nasal voicing rule In addition to the nasal place assimilation, nasal consonants also have other impacts on the surrounding segments in Tiriki. Post-nasal voicing rule is one of the common phonological processes changing a voiceless consonant to a voiced one, such as [t]~[d] in (13), [k]~[g] in (14) and [ch] ~[] in (15). a. t d / ____ n (13) /tsnzk [tsnzk tsn-dmn] bad horns tsn-tmn/

In this example, the underlying form of bad is /tmn/, but the surface form of bad for horns is [tsn-dmn]. This is because the prefix [tsn] ending with a nasal [n] triggers the rule so that the voiceless alveolar stop [t] becomes a voiced [d] in this certain environment. b. k g / ____ (14) /-klkhn/ /-klg/ [-glkhn] [-glg] I turned around. I flied.

The nasal voicing rule is found in not only adjectives but also verbs. Mostly, the underlying form of Tiriki verbs is their infinitive form without the prefix /khu-/ and the suffix /-a/. With the above example of verb roots beginning with voiceless velar stop [k], it becomes voiced before a nasal first person subject marker []. c. ch / ____ n (15) /n-chnd/ [n-nd] I walked. Likewise, the voicing rule also applies to affricatives. The underlying form of the verb to walk is /kh-chnd/. However, when it is used with the first subject marker within a sentence, the surface form becomes [n-nd]. (We might want to ignore the distinction between the suffixes /-a/ and /-i/ at this moment, since Page 10 of 29

it just reflects the past tense in Tiriki, which is not a related issue to be discussed in the later section on verb morphology.) And not surprisingly, the voiceless [ch] becomes voiced before a nasal subject marker [n].

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3. Morphology Section 3.1. Overview Getting depth into morphology of Tiriki, we are going to discuss parts of speech in the language. Based on the data collected so far, nouns and verbs are the two major lexical categories in Tiriki, and we are going to discuss certain issues in this following morphology session. 3.2. Nouns As other languages, the noun is also one of the fundamental parts of speech in Tiriki, and it is a large, open lexical category that can be found in the subject or object position of a sentence, or the object of a preposition. In other words, Nouns refer to real, imaginary, and abstract things and substances, signifying a person, place or thing. In Tiriki, nouns regularly express the singular and plural by adding various prefixes. Like other languages, Tiriki nouns can also occur with demonstratives and possessives and be modified with descriptive words, such as adjectives. Unlike English, those modifying components in Tiriki are usually found after the head noun. But there is only one exception that the demonstrative can precede the noun. 3.2.1. Noun Classes Unlike English, Tiriki has a variety noun classes that also distinguish singular and plural nouns, depending on the lexicons phonological property. Lets look at the following table (16) for a brief overview of Tiriki noun classes before getting into the discussion. (16) Class 1 3 5 7 9 11 12 14 16 Singular Prefix /mu-/ /mu-/ /li-/ /shi-/ /i-/ /lu-/ /kha-/ /vu-/ /ha-/ Class 2 4 6 8 10 10 13 15 Plural Prefix /va-/ /mi-/ /ma-/ /vi-/ /tsi-/ /tsi-/ /rhu-/ ---------Locative near Diminutive Note

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17 18 20 23

/khu-/ /mu-/ /ku-/ /wu-/ 4 /mi-/

Locative on Locative in Locative near Locative in the direction of

Noted that it might be misleading at first that people would treat some certain phonemes as they are associated with plurality, such as [v]. Actually, it is absolutely not the case because the cl. 14 marker /vu-/ does not indicate plurality but it is in fact a singular marker. Therefore, there is no phonological natural class of sounds that would indicate generalization that distinguishes singulars from plurals. We are going to look into different noun classes in the following data sets from (17) to (27): (17) Class 1 2: /mu-/ vs. /va-/ SINGULAR msts mkhn mnd msk mln myy mtrch PLURAL vsts vkhn vnd vsk vln vyy vtrch MEANING male girl person enemy friend boy Tiriki people

Interestingly, all of the nouns in class 1 and 2 are all about people in Tiriki. (18) Class 3 4: /mu-/ vs. /mi-/ SINGULAR mrhw mnw mkng my mlk mshr PLURAL mrhw mnw mkng myy mlk mshr MEANING head mouth back heart shin tail

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mrhnd msk mlyng mlr (19)

mrhnd msk mlyng mlr

gun bag door fire

Class 5 6: /li/ vs. /ma-/ SINGULAR lkhkhn lksh ltkh lvy lsmb lrh lth lchn lnyny lhnd PLURAL mkhkhn mksh mtkh mvy msmb mrh mth mchn mnyny mhnd PLURAL mn mrh MEANING crab ash hole egg leaf banana leaf mud stone bat (animal) pumpkin MEANING tooth name

(21)

SINGULAR ln lrh

(22)

Class 7 8: /shi-/ vs. /vi-/ SINGULAR shyr shtrh shrn shkmb shpk shsngl shsk shkl shtng shtl PLURAL my vtrh vrn vkmb vpk vsngl vsk vkl vtng vtl MEANING broom finger leg bone cat rabbit chair mountain onion bed

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(23)

Class 9 10: /i-/ vs. /tsi-/ SINGULAR mn nd nym smbw mb nzk mbl pls smb smb PLURAL tsmn tsnd tsnym tssmbw tsmb tsnzk tsmbl tspls tssmb tssmb MEANING eye stomach animal dog cow elephant goat horse lion initiates cottage

These two classes are most likely to be related to animals. (24) Class 11 10: /lu-/ vs. /tsi-/ SINGULAR llm [lm] lnyl lvuv lhk lvr lkhy llyn lpng lvl lkn lvs (25) Class 14: /vu-/ SINGULAR ---------------------------PLURAL vnys vlv vsh MEANING grass light honey PLURAL tsnm tsnyl tsmbv tsnzk tsmbr tskhy tsryn tsmbng tsmbl tsngn tsmbs MEANING tongue mouse spider horn breast firewood line machete rib story thread

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Noted that nouns in this class do not have a plural form in Tiriki. They are just like the uncountable nouns in English that dont have plural form. (26) Class 12 13: /kha-/ vs. /rhu-/ (Diminutive) SINGULAR khn khsk khkl khlm PLURAL rhwn rhsk rhkl rhlm MEANING baby/child (dim) little bag hill farm (dim.)

In the class of diminutive noun phrase, /kha-/ is the underlying forms of the prefix added to the noun root, and /rhu-/ is the prefix of the plurals. (27) Class 20 4: /ku-/ vs. /mi-/ (Augmentative) SINGULAR ksl mkl khnd lrh kkhn mkl kmbl mkl PLURAL msl mkl mhnd mlh mkhn mkl mmbl mkl MEANING a big tree/big trees a good pumpkin/good pumpkins a big girl/big girls a big goat/big goats

In the same way, /ku-/ is the underlying prefix of the augmentative noun phrase in Tiriki, and /mi-/ is the prefix of the plural form. 3.2.2. Numerals Numeral is also another sub-class under nouns in Tiriki that involved some phonological rules. Before analyzing the rules, lets look at the following list of the numbers when counting in Tiriki in set (28). (28) lll khvr khvk khn khrhn st sp mnn once twice three times four times five times six times seven times eight times Page 16 of 29

ts lkhm

nine times ten times

Noted that the below general form of numerals, for which six to ten are borrowed from Swahili. This is why the numbers six to ten do not have the same prefix /kha-/ as the numbers two to five. Tiriki uses numbers as one of the quantifiers to modify nouns, but unlike English, the numeral quantifiers are placed after the nouns in Tiriki, which is NOUN + NUMERAL. However, there is a morpho-syntactic rule involved in numerals. The numeral quantifier is not always in the same form associated with different noun phrases. Indeed, the prefixes of some numerals affected by the prefix of its noun, and interestingly, only certain numerals would be influenced, such as two, three, four, and five as we analyzed so far. The following data set will show how different prefixes of nouns influence on the prefix of numerals. In the following data set (29), [vnd] is the plural form of people with the prefix /va/, and we can observe that from number two to five, the prefixes of numeral are changed from its basic form and determined by the initial syllable of the noun. (29) /va-/: vnd vvr vnd vvk vnd vn vnd vrhn vnd st vnd sp vnd mnn vnd ts vnd lkhm two people three people four people five people six people seven people eight people nine people ten people

Though we still can find the changes of prefix in numeral qualifiers for number two to five, but different from the prefix /v-/ data set in (30), this data set of [msl] has the prefixes of numeral changed from it basic form to /tsi-/, instead of the original prefix /mi-/. This is a difference compared to the adjectives. (30) /tsi-/: msl tsvr two trees Page 17 of 29

msl tsvk msl tsn msl tsrhn msl st msl sp msl mnn msl ts msl lkhm

three trees four trees five trees six trees seven trees eight trees nine trees ten trees

In the following data set of [rhwn], the prefixes of numerals are affected by the prefix /rhu-/ of its noun phrase from number two to five. Besides the first consonant /rhu-/, you may also notice the following vowel [a] is also changed to the mid back rounded vowel [u]. Indeed, the [u] does refer to the voiced labiovelar approximant [w] in the noun phrase because they have the similar place of articulation. (31) /rhu-/: rhwn rhvr rhwn rhvk rhwn rhn rhwn rhrhn rhwn st rhwn sp rhwn mnn rhwn ts rhwn lkhm two children three children four children five children six children seven children eight children nine children ten children

For the ordinal numerals, the similar phonological rule can be also found in the following data sets. The noun [mnd] starting with a prefix /m-/, we can see a prefix /wa-/ is now added to the numeral root in its basic form for all numbers. (32) /w-/: mnd wkhrhng mnd wkhavr mnd wkhvk mnd wkhn mnd wkhrhn mnd wst mnd wsp first person second person third person forth person fifth person sixth person seventh person Page 18 of 29

mnd wmnn mnd wts mnd wlkhm

eighth person ninth person tenth person

In this [lhnd]s data set, the similar structure is also found, but a different suffix /lya-/is added because of the particular suffix of the noun phrase /li-/. (33) /lya-/: lhnd lykhrhng lhnd lykhvr lhnd lykhvr lhnd lykhn lhnd lykhrhn lhnd lyst lhnd lysp lhnd lyts lhnd lykm first pumpkin second pumpkin third pumpkin forth pumpkin fifth pumpkin sixth pumpkin seventh pumpkin ninth pumpkin tenth pumpkin

lhnd lymnn eighth pumpkin

In the last data set (33), we can still see the prefix /kha-/ is added before the basic numeral root, and it is affected by the prefix of its noun phrase /kha-/. (33) /kh-/: khn khkhrhng khn khkhvr khn khkhvr khn khkhn khn khkhrhn khn khst khn khsp khn khmnn khn khts khn khkhm first baby second baby third baby forth baby fifth baby sixth baby seventh baby eighth baby ninth baby tenth baby

In fact, the above ordinal numeral prefixes are similar to the prefix added to a NP possessor in forms of N of NP construction. We will talk more about it in the later discussion on possessives.

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Furthermore, numeral reduplication is also found in Tiriki, and it is in the form of x at a time. The underlying form /vukula/ actually means take in the form of vukula x or take x at a time. The following data set (34) below shows the examples of numeral reduplication. (34) shrlshrl vvrvvr vvkvvk vvrvvr vrhnvrhn one at a time two at a time three at a time four at a time five at a time

To sum up, we can develop some specific rules in Tiriki when using numeral qualifiers that the prefix is determined by the prefix of the noun: 1. General: Noun + Numeral Qualifier 2. For cardinal numerals (2-5): Noun + Prefix + Numeral root 3. For cardinal numerals (6-10): Noun + Basic Numeral Form 4. For ordinal numerals (1-10): Noun + Prefix + Basic Numeral Form 3.2.3. Modifying nouns with adjectives In Tiriki, nouns phrases can also be modified by adjectives, though there is relatively less lexicon inventory of adjectives because of the nature of the language and culture. However, different from English, Tiriki are adjectives always located after the noun (not before the noun), and they also have comparative and superlative forms. Moreover, the prefix of adjective is also influenced by the prefix of its noun, and some phonological rules are involved here. Noun phrase: Noun + Adjective The underlying form of Tiriki wood good is a prefix plus the root /-lahi/, shown as set (35). First of all, the prefix of noun determines the prefix of the adjective, as we discussed in the previous numeral session. (35) /PRE-lahi/~good: shnd shrh vnd vrh msl mlh Page 20 of 29 a good thing good things a good tree

msl mrh lhnd lrh mhnd mlh khn khlh rhwn rhlh ndym ndh tsnym tsndh

good trees a good pumpkin good pumpkins a good baby good baby good meat good meats

However, some phonological rules also take place in the adjectives, analyzed by the following data in (36). (36) [-lh] mlh mlh rhlh khlh It is obviously seen that [l] becomes [r] when the prefix ends with [i] and becomes [d] after [n]. Therefore, this implies the change of consonants is related to the place of articulation of certain sounds, and we can create the following rules of adjective good in Tiriki: l r / i _____ Alveolar glide becomes trill after a front high unrounded vowel. l d/ n ____ Alveolar glide becomes voiced stop after a nasal consonant. 3.2.4. Possessive Nouns In Tiriki, there are two types of possessives that modify nouns, which are possessive pronouns and possessive nouns. First of all, the possessive pronouns have underlying stems that are combined with a prefix that corresponds to the noun class of its possessed noun. In the data set (37), we will see how prefixes added to the stems which is also involved some phonological rules when determining the vowel of the prefix. Also noted that the vowel-lengthening rule often occurs because there are some nasal consonants in the stems that would trigger this particular phonological rule. Page 21 of 29 [-rh] shrh vrh [-dh] ndh tsndh

(37)

1st person singular lhnd ly-n shrv shy-n mb y-n

/-anje/ my pumpkin my basket my cow

1st person plural mhnd k-n vrv vy-n

/-erhu/ my pumpkins my baskets

tsmb tsy-n my cows 2ndperson plural vn v-ny 3 person pluralrd

2nd person singular /-oCo/ vn v-vrd

/-enyu/ your (pl) children /-avo/ their child

your (sg) children

3 person singular /-eCe/ mwn w-w his/her child

mwn w-v

For possessive nouns, similar patterns take place in the form of N of NP. Also, the vowel harmony rule applies in the first underlying vowel of the noun. Lets look at data set of (38) with the vowel highlighted in bold. (38) msk w-vnd vkhl v-vnd mky ch-vnd lhnd ly-mwm vrv vy-mwm the enemy of the people the wives of the people the ropes of the people the pumpkin of the chief the baskets of the chief

Once again, the structure of possessive nouns has a similarity with the ordinal numeral prefixes. 3.2.5. Locatives Locative noun phrases in Tiriki are structured similarly as the propositional phrases in English, and the following data sets will demonstrate the rule of locative suffix plus basic noun root. a. near NP ~ ha NP /ha-/: h-mkhn h-vkhn h-msl h-msl h-lhnd near the girl near the girls near the tree near the trees near the pumpkin Page 22 of 29

h-mhnd h-shrhv h-vrhv b. on NP ~ khu NP /khu-/: kh-mkhn kh-vkhn kh-msl kh-msl kh-lhnd kh-mhnd kh-shrhv kh-vrhv c. in NP ~ m NP /m-/: m -mkhn m -mbkhn m-msl m-msl mu-lhnd m -mhnd m-shrv m-vrv 3.3. Verbs

near the pumpkins near the basket near the baskets

on the girl on the girls on the tree on the trees on the pumpkin on the pumpkins on the basket on the baskets

in the girl in the girls in the tree in the trees in the pumpkin in the pumpkins in the basket in the baskets

Similar to other languages, verb is another fundamental part of speech that is described as a large, open lexical category. According to Grammar as Science, verb lacks case inflection, but it is inflected for tense, person, and number, signifying an activity or process performed or undergone. In other words, the functions of a verb include conveying an action, occurrence and a state of being. In Tiriki, verbs are inflected to present different tenses, aspects, voiced, as well as to agree with the argument in person, number and gender. In the data weve collected so far, the following section will have a focus on different tenses in Tiriki verbs.

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Past and present tenses are the only two tenses in English. (Future and prefect tenses are actually classified as aspects instead of tenses because they are not indicated by any inflectional suffixes. In other words, there are only two inflectional suffixes in English that convey tenses, which are -ed and -ing.) However, tenses in Tiriki are much more complicated, and we will be discussing them with the following data sets. 3.3.1. The Infinitive We shall look at the Tiriki verbs in term of their infinitives first since it is also the basic form of a verb. First of all, all infinitive verbs in Tiriki start with the prefixs /khu-/ or /khw-/. It could be also easily understood that the two prefixes function similarly as if to in English. Also, these infinitive verbs in Tiriki are also ended with the suffix /-a/. Consider the following data: /khu-ROOT-a/ khchng khfng khfy khhmb khhn khhndk khkl khklts khknd khkw carry close do laundry catch fire give write buy sell rot fall /khw-ROOT-a/ khwrhny khwsml khwny khwrm khwss khwkl khwmbkh khwnr khwrh khwts smash sneeze want swim breathe close build enter kill come

The difference between the two prefixes is that /khu-/ prefix takes place before the root beginning with a consonant, while the /khw-/ prefix is found when the root starting with a vowel is followed after it. In fact, these two prefixes share some similar properties. For instance, both vowel [u] and glide [w] are voiced, i.e. vocal cords are vibrating. They also have the same place of articulation as [u] and [w] are both rounded. The suffix of Tiriki verbs can be understood as a tense, aspect, argument marker, and /a/ is always found at the word-final position of the infinitive. 3.3.2. Past Tenses Page 24 of 29

In English, there are only a few variation of past tense, such as simple past, perfect past and past continuous tense. However, past tenses in Tiriki verbs are more complicated, and they all have slight differences in the context. First of all, hodiernal perfective means the action that takes place in the time of, for example, this morning, yesterday, two days ago. Second, recent past is the action that happened not too long ago, perhaps between one to two days and a week. Third, immediate past I indicates the action occurred within minutes or an hour, and immediate past II took place a little bit longer ago, like a day or half of a day. There are more variations of past tenses in Tiriki, such as remote past, past habitual, consecutive, experiential, and past conditional. The following examples will be using two verbs, to turn around and to go around in order to demonstrate the different usage of the above past tenses in Tiriki. We Infinitive Recent past Immediate past I Immediate past II Remote past Past habitual Consecutive I Consecutive II Experiential Past conditional to turn around kh-klkh-n khw-klkh-n khwkh-klkhn khwkh-klkhn khw-klkhn khw-klkhn-ng nkh-klkhn mkhl-klkhn khw-klkhn-khu khl-klkhn to go around kh-vyn kh-vy-n khw-vy-n khwkh-vyn khwkh-vyn khw-vyn khw-vyn-ng nkh-vyn mkhl-vyn khw-vyn-kh khl-vyn

Hodiernal perfective kh-klkh-n

3.3.3. Future Tenses Likewise, Tiriki verbs have many inflectional prefixes and suffixes to indicate various future tenses. They are included conditional future, which is something that will definitely force us to do so; crastinal future, which is the action that will take place next week or next month; indefinite future which we are not sure when the action will occur; near future, which we sure it will happen; remote future, which means if something else happens; uncertain future that the action may or may not happen.

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Again, the same examples of to turn around and to go around will be using in the following data set to illustrate the above future tenses. We Infinitive Conditional future Crastinal future Indefinite future Near future Remote future Uncertain future to turn around kh-klkhn khmkh-klkhn nkh-klkhn khl-klkhn khl-klkhn khlkh-klkhn khwkh-klkhn to go around kh-vyn khmkh-vyn nkh-vyn khl-vyn khl-vyn khlkh-vyn khwkh-vyn

3.3.4. Present Tenses Even for the present tenses, Tiriki verbs also have various inflectional prefixes and suffixes to convey specific context. They are, for example, present continuous (eg. we are [doing something]), habitual (eg. we usually [do something]) and persistive (we are still [doing something]), and the following data are the examples of to turn around and to go around in the different present tenses. We Infinitive Present continuous Habitual Persistive to turn around kh-klkhn kh-klkhn-ng khmkhklkhn-ng khshklkhn-ng 4. Brief Overview on Syntax 4.1. Wh-Questions Tiriki also uses wh-words to form questions like the ways English does, and they are independent parts of speech. In general, there are five wh-words in Tiriki, shown in the following data set (39). (39) /wina/ wn who Who fell? Page 26 of 29 who kwr fell-3sg khshvyn-ng to go around kh-vyn kh-vyn-ng khmkhvyn-ng

ty hit-3sg

wn who

Who did she hit? wn who mhr give-3sg smbw dog

Who gave him the dog? /shina/ shn what what/which shhr give-3sg msmb Masambu

What did she give Masambu? lhnd pumpkin shn which

Which pumpkin? msl tree shn which kwrhm chop-3sl

Which tree did she chop? /lina/ musasa Musasa when lr eat-3sg ln lhnd when pumpkin

When did Musasa eat the pumpkin? ln when lll see-2gl ikata Ikata

When did you see Ikata? liina when lwarhemi chop-3sg musla tree

When did she chop the tree?

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/hena/ ikt Ikata arhemi

where heen musla where tree chop-3g

Where did Ikata chop the tree? ikata Ikata anyl get-3sg hn shtp where book sh this

Where did Ikata get this book? musasa Musasa yvlw born-3sg hn where

Where was Musasa born? /ndina/ kt Ikata how rhm chop-3sg ndn how msl tree

How did Ikata chop the trees? kt Ikata rhm chop-3sg msl tree ndn how

How did Ikata chop the trees? 4.2. Negation In Tiriki, there are several types of negation markers, such as /-mba/, /tw/, /ta-/ and /kha/. All of them can be found at the end of the phrase. First of all, /-mba/ is the most common type of negation in TirikiIn, which is shown in set (40). (40) Musasa Musasa yynz like-3p-pres mnd person ws everyone

Musasa likes everyone. Musasa Musasa yynz like-3p-pres hto mnd person wseveryone mb NEGATION

Musasa does not like everyone. Page 28 of 29

msmb Masambu

hr give-3p-pres

vn children

vtp books

Masambu gave the books to the children mss Masambu hrkh give-3p-pres vn children shnd anything mb NEGATION

Musasa did not give anything to the children Also, /tw/ is another negation marker that is interchangeable with /-mba/, which is illustrated in set (37). (37) knng sleep-3sg-pres hnzr work-3sg-pres mb NEGATION

He is sleeping and is not working. knng sleep-3sg-pres hnzr work-3sg-pres tw NEGATION

He is sleeping and is not working. 5. Conclusion In summary, this paper analyzed the data collected by the native speaker of Tiriki, Billy, throughout the coursework in the Field Methods class at the University of Missouri for a full semester. What we have found is a grammatical sketch of Tiriki, including phonology, morphology and syntax. With the interest of mine, this paper has a focus on noun phrase morphology. In the paper, weve discussed several noun classes in Tiriki, singular vs. plural, possessives, locative, numerals, etc. In addition, this paper also gives a brief overview on verb tenses and syntax. Since this is the very first time that Tiriki is documented formally and academically, I believe there would be more interesting things in Tiriki that we should explore more in the near future.

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