A Grammar of Ayeri: Carsten Becker

DRAFT
Carsten Becker
A Grammar of Ayeri
See http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8026017/Ayeri%20grammar/grammar.pdf for the latest revision

Carsten Becker, 2011.
Published under cc-by-nc-sa license.
Last edited: January 30, 2011.
Set in Gentium, 8.5 to 10.5 pt.
All references in this work marked with a dagger (†) are part
of the fictional context of this grammar, just like all locations,
languages, and persons associated directly with Ayeri and the
research thereof. Any similarity to existing or formerly
existing entities, or persons living or dead with the same or a
similar name, is purely coincidental.
In the case of adaption and/or redistribution of this work – as

specified by the cc-by-nc-sa license – the original author’s
name and the original source are to be indicated. Fair use is
granted otherwise.
carbeck@gmail.com
http://benung.nfshost.com/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................... 1 7 Predicate nominals and related constructions ... 43

1.1 The name of the language ........................................ 1 7.1 Predicate nominals ................................................. 43
1.2 Ethnology ................................................................... 1 7.2 Existentials and Predicative locatives .................. 43
1.3 Demography ............................................................... 1 7.3 Possessive clauses .................................................... 44
1.4 Dialects ....................................................................... 1
8 Syntactic typology ................................................... 45
1.5 The sociolinguistic situation ................................... 1
9 Voice and valence adjusting operations .............. 47
2 Sound inventory ........................................................ 3
9.1 Valence increasing operations .............................. 47
2.1 Phonotactics .............................................................. 3
9.2 Valence decreasing operations ............................. 47
2.2 Prosody ....................................................................... 5
10 Other verb and verb-phrase operations ............ 49
3 Morphological typology ........................................... 9
10.1 Nominalization ...................................................... 49
3.1 Traditional morphological typology ...................... 9
10.2 Compounding ........................................................ 49
3.2 Morphological processes .......................................... 9
10.3 Tense, aspect, and mode ...................................... 49
3.3 Marking strategies .................................................. 11
10.4 Location and direction encoding ........................ 49
4 Grammatical categories .......................................... 13 10.5 Participant reference ............................................ 49
4.1 Nouns ........................................................................ 13 10.6 Evidentiality, validationality, and mirativity ..... 49
4.2 Pronouns .................................................................. 17 10.7 Miscellaneous ........................................................ 49
4.3 Verbs ......................................................................... 19
11 Pragmatically marked structures ....................... 51
4.4 Modifiers .................................................................. 20
11.1 Focus, contrast, and topicalization ..................... 51
5 Constituent order typology ................................... 27 11.2 Negation ................................................................. 51
5.1 Main clauses ............................................................. 27 11.3 Non-declarative speech acts ................................ 51
5.2 Verb phrase .............................................................. 27
12 Clause combinations ............................................. 53
5.3 Noun phrase ............................................................. 28
12.1 Complement clauses ............................................. 53
5.4 Prepositional phrase ............................................... 29
12.2 Adverbial clauses ................................................... 53
5.5 Comparative constructions .................................... 32
12.3 Clause chaining ...................................................... 53
5.6 Questions .................................................................. 33
12.4 Relative clauses ...................................................... 53
5.7 Summary .................................................................. 33
12.5 Coordination .......................................................... 53
6 Noun and noun-phrase operations ....................... 35
13 Works Cited ............................................................ 55
6.1 Compounding .......................................................... 35
6.2 Denominalization .................................................... 35 A Appendix: First names .............................................. i
6.3 Number ..................................................................... 36
B Appendix: Surnames ................................................. 3
6.4 Case ........................................................................... 36
6.5 Articles, determiners, demonstratives ................. 40 C Appendix: Swadesh List ............................................ 5
6.6 Possessors ................................................................. 41 D Epilogue, or why I did this ....................................... 9
6.7 Diminution ............................................................... 41
Tables and Illustrations
Table 1: Consonants (spelling in brackets) ..................................................................................................................... 3

Table 2: Vowels (spelling in brackets) ............................................................................................................................. 4
Table 3: Unmarked forms of personal pronouns ........................................................................................................ 18
Table 4: Singular pronouns ............................................................................................................................................. 18
Table 5: Plural pronouns ................................................................................................................................................. 18
Table 6: Honorific pronouns ........................................................................................................................................... 18
Table 7: Integer cardinal numerals ............................................................................................................................... 21
Table 8: Fractional cardinal numerals .......................................................................................................................... 22
Table 9: Large count multipliers .................................................................................................................................... 22
Table 10: Ordinal numerals ............................................................................................................................................. 23
Table 11: Prepositions derived from nouns ................................................................................................................. 30
Table 12: Prepositions not derived from nouns .......................................................................................................... 30
Table 13: Postpositions .................................................................................................................................................... 31
Figure 2.1: Pitch contour of a statement ........................................................................................................................ 6

Figure 2.2: Pitch contour of a question without a query word ................................................................................... 6
Figure 2.3: Pitch contour of a question with a querying word ................................................................................... 7
Figure 8.1: Nominative-accusative alignment ............................................................................................................. 45
Figure 8.2: Ergative-absolutive alignment ................................................................................................................... 45
Figure 8.3: Handling of ditransitive sentences ............................................................................................................ 46
Abbreviations used in glossed examples
. compound morpheme CONTR contrastive LOCF locative focus

- morpheme boundary COP copula M masculine
= clitic morpheme DAT dative MKR marker
~ reduplication DATF dative focus MOT motion indicator
* ungrammatical F feminine N neuter
?
questionable, uncertain FOC focus NEG negative
✓
acceptable, correct GEN genitive S singular
Ø covert morpheme GENF genitive focus SBJ subjunctive
1 first person HAB habitative P, PL plural
2 second person HON honorative P patient
3 third person IMP imperative PF patient focus
A agent I inanimate PROG progressive
AF agent focus IND indefinite PTCP participle
AUX auxiliary INS instrumental QUAL quality
CAU causative INSF instrumental focus QTY quantifier
CAUF causative focus LOC locative STD standard
If not marked otherwise, present indicative and animate gender are assumed as default.
THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 1
1 Introduction
This is a grammar of Ayeri, a South-Western-Kataytanian language. Blah.†

This grammar is one more attempt at a thorough documentation of the rules of the language. ‡ In order
to achieve the goal of writing a comprehensive grammar, Payne’s Describing Morphosyntax1 has been used as a
reference for the general structure of this description. In the course of documentation we will focus on the
common Standard Dialect (Ayeri Vihay) that is used in administration and literature.
1.1 The name of the language
The language described here is known to speakers of the language itself as well as to outsiders as Ayeri. The
word Ayeri includes the word aye, ‘people,’ but can arguably be broken down to ay-eri, ‘by my help,’ as well.
1.2 Ethnology
...
1.3 Demography
...
1.4 Dialects
...
1.5 The sociolinguistic situation
1.5.1 Multilingualism and language attitudes
...
1.5.2 Contexts of use and language choice
...
† On a meta-fictional level however, this language has been born on an evening in December 2003 when I was just beginning to
become interested more deeply into Linguistics. Since then it has gone through a number of metamorphoses; the current,
morphologically rather stable form as described in this grammar had been arrived at by about 2008. Since then my main goal has
been to further improve vocabulary and syntax.
‡ Previous attempts have failed because the language was still changing, so that information became obsolete easily (cf. Becker,
Carsten. “Readme.txt to Ayeri Course Book.” Tay Benung. The Ayeri Resource. 2003-10. Sangumiray na Velinkay Agonye. 21 Oct.
2005. Web. 4 Jul. 2010. <http://benung.nfshost.com/files/ayeri_course.zip>) or just for the reason of “real life” intervening, or losing
interest in the face of the sheer amount of work needed to write a grammar.
1 Payne, Thomas E. Describing Morphosyntax. A Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge: CUP, 1997. Print.
Introduction THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 2
1.5.3 Viability
...
1.5.4 Loan words
...
2 Sound inventory
Ayeri’s phonemic inventory with its seventeen consonants and six/eleven1 vowels is moderately small,
bordering on small regarding the consonants,2 and average to large regarding its vowels.3 Ayeri’s consonant
economy4 has a value of 1.7 distinctive features per phoneme for consonants, and 1.13 distinctive features
per phoneme for vowels: Consonants may be labial, dental, and ‘posterior,’ also there are stops, nasals,
fricatives, affricates, approximants, flaps, and voicing, yielding ten features to differ by. Vowels differ
according to height (high, mid, low) and tongue position (front, central, back), as well as length and
roundedness, yielding eight features.
2.1 Phonotactics
2.1.1 Consonant inventory
Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

p b t d k g
Plosives
‹p› ‹b› ‹t› ‹d› ‹k› ‹g›
m n ŋ
Nasals
‹m› ‹n› ‹ng›
r
Trills
‹r›
v s h
Fricatives
‹v› ‹s› ‹h›
ʧ ʤ
Affricates
‹c› ‹j›
j
Approx.
‹y›
l
Lat. Approx.
‹l›
Table 1: Consonants (spelling in brackets)
In addition to the phonemes above, [w] appears marginally as well, although as an allophone of /u/. The
sounds are realized as in the chart above, except that in the main dialects, /t/ and /d/ are often pronounced
dentally, that is, [t ̪] and [d̪]. /r/ is commonly realized as [ɾ], while /h/ in the vicinity of back vowels is
usually [x], whereas in the vicinity of front vowels it is [ç]. The combinations /kj tj/ and /gj dj/ are often
palatalized to [ʧ] and [ʤ] respectively, besides phonemic occurrences. A voicing contrast only exists for
1 See section 2.1.2, page 4.

2 cf. Maddieson, Ian. “Consonant Inventories.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. 2008. Max Planck Digital Library. Ed.
Martin Haspelmath et al. 2008. Web. 30 Jul. 2010. <http://wals.info/feature/description/1>
3 cf. Maddieson, Ian. “Vowel Quality Inventories.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. 2008. Max Planck Digital Library. Ed.
Martin Haspelmath et al. 2008. Web. 30 Jul. 2010. <http://wals.info/feature/description/2>
4 cf. Clements, G. N. “Feature Economy in Sound Systems.” Phonology 20 (2003): 287–333. Print.
Sound inventory THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 4
stops and the affricates /ʧ ʤ/, which is not to mean, however, that the respective other half of the binary
opposition [± voiced] necessarily appears as an allophone. /ŋ/ is the only consonant that does not usually
appear word-initially, a notable exception is the clitic adverb -ngas ‘almost’.
2.1.2 Vowel inventory
Front Central Back

i, ɪ u, ʊ
Close
‹i› ‹u›
e, ɛ ə o, ɔ
Mid
‹e› ‹e, ə› ‹o›
a, ɑ
Open
‹a›
Table 2: Vowels (spelling in brackets)
The diphthongs are: /aɪ aːɪ ɛɪ ɔɪ ʊɪ/. All tense vowels may be long, except for /u/, which does not occur as a
lexical long vowel.5 Long vowels mostly derive from two same vowels colliding due to morphologic marking,
for example:
(1a) ibutaya -ang → ibutayāng

trader -A → trader-A
(1b) nanga-ye -ea → nangayēa

house -PL -LOC → house-PL-LOC
2.1.3 Syllable structure
The rough syllable structure of Ayeri is
(2) (C(w, r, j))(V(V))(m, n, ŋ, s, r, l)
Especially striking is that secondary initial consonants are narrowly restricted. Final consonants are
restricted mostly to sonorants, with the exception of /s/. The secondary vowel stands for diphthongs or long
vowels here, however note that only certain combinations of vowels exist as diphthongs. There is also the
case of /aːɪ/, although that is very rare (cf. Pistor). For a more detailed study of Ayeri’s syllable structure, see
Pistor’s The Syllable Structure of Ayeri’s Stems (cf. Pistor).
5 Pistor, Christian. “The Syllable Structure of Ayeri’s stems. A statistical Analysis.” Tay Benung. The Ayeri Resource. 2003–10.
Sangumiray na Velinkay Agonye. 3. Apr. 2010. Web. 2. Jul. 2010. 4. <http://benung.nfshost.com/files/frequency.pdf>
2.1.4 Romanization
The usual transcription system used for the Latin alphabet spells every consonant as in IPA, except for /j/
and /ŋ/, which are spelled y and ng respectively. There is no orthographic distinction between lax and tense
vowels as this distinction is largely allophonic (cf. Pistor 2); only length is indicated, usually by a macron,
that is, a dash over the vowel letter.
(3) Ramyu tenyayam tadoy sa Tupoygahān. Ang səna-napyon maka sempay, paronān nay cān gahāneri
tenya vana, mya mirongyon niru arēn simingang.6
/ˈrɑm.ju ˌtɛn.ja.ˈjɑm ta.ˈdɔɪ sa tu.ˈpɔɪ.ga.ˈhaːn || ɑŋ sə.na.ˈna.pjɔn ˈma.ka sɛm.ˈpaɪ | ˌpa.ro.ˈnaːn naɪ ˈʧaːn
ga.ˈhaː.ne.ri ˈtɛn.ja ˈva.na | mja mi.ˈrɔŋ.jɔn ˈni.ru a.ˈreːn ˌsi.mɪŋ.ˈaŋ/
In the above example, the /e/ of the prefix indicating future tense, se-, has been spelled ə to reflect actual
pronunciation. Additionally, note that [w] is not usually spelled w – the negator -oy regularly changes into -u
before a diphthong, pronounced [w]:
(4) tang -oy -ay → tanguay

hear -NEG -1S → hear-NEG-1S
Another case of [w] not spelled w is the idiosyncratic spelling uy of edauyi/adauyi ‘now/then,’ which is rooted
in Ayeri’s native writing system.7 The spelling conventions used in this section apply to the whole document.
2.2 Prosody
2.2.1 Stress
Stress in Ayeri is irregular for the most part, however, certain rules can be applied: Syllables ending in ŋ, as
well as syllables containing a long vowel or a diphthong are usually stressed, and no two stressed syllables
may follow each other.
2.2.2 Intonation
2.2.2.1 Simple statements
Simple statements typically have a rather flat pitch contour:
6 Mills, Roger. “The Story of the Four Candles.” Trans. Carsten Becker. Tay Benung. The Ayeri Resource. 2003–10. Sangumiray na
Velinkay Agonye. Apr. 2010. Web. 30 Jul. 2010. <http://benung.nfshost.com/examples/text/xmp_candles.html>
7 cf. “Tahano Hikamu.” Tay Benung. The Ayeri Resource. 2003–10. Sangumiray na Velinkay Agonye, n.d. Web. 1 Aug. 2010.
<http://benung.nfshost.com/index.php?go=scripts&action=thn>
Figure 2.1: Pitch contour of a statement
As can be seen in the illustration above, the pitch contour of the sentence is approximately on a line at about
120–150 Hz, slightly falling towards the end of the sentence.
For the sake of simplicity, the sentence Ang manga konja seygoley edauyi will serve as the basis for all
charts in this section of the grammar. It breaks down as follows:
(5) Ang manga konja seygoley edauyi.

Ang manga kond-ya-Ø seygo-ley edauyi.
AF PROG eat-3SM-FOC apple-P.I now
‘He is eating an apple now.’
2.2.2.2 Questions
Questions not containing the equivalent of a wh-word are only marked by means of rising intonation:
Figure 2.2: Pitch contour of a question without a query word
The raising of pitch at the end of the sentence is clearly visible here, otherwise the contour is not much
different from that in Figure 2.1, in that is is rather flat as well.
For the next example, first the agent, then the patient of the sentence has been replaced with a querying
word to show its effects: Questions with querying words typically have stress on that word, as shown in the
following examples:
Figure 2.3: Pitch contour of a question with a querying word
We can observe in the two charts above that the question word sinya ‘who, which’ is higher than the rest of
the tone in the sentence in the first chart, with initial stress, while – although distinctively intonated – in
the second chart the word itself is not stressed as much as its case ending -ley – although note that this
difference in word stress is regular.8
8 See section 2.2.1, page 5. Diphthongs are prominent carriers of stress.

3 Morphological typology
3.1 Traditional morphological typology
Ayeri is an agglutinative language for the greatest part. This nature will be exemplified by the numerous
examples of word formation below. Nonetheless, Ayeri shows traits of fusion as well, especially in the way it
handles personal pronouns,1 as well as some aspects of its numeral system.2
3.2 Morphological processes
3.2.1 Suﬃxation
As a largely agglutinative language, most grammatical marking in Ayeri is done by means of suffixes. These
occur mainly with nouns and verbs, however, non-numeral quantifiers are enclitic as well, so that
adjectives – if modified – may receive these as suffixes as well. One of the most prominent cases of
suffixation is probably that of case marking on nouns, an example of which is the following:
(6) ayon-ang
man-A
‘a/the man’ (as the agent of a clause)
Another prominent example of suffixation frequently occurring is that of person and person-case marking
on verbs:
(7a) Tigal-ye ang Pila. (7b) tigal-yeng

swim-3SF A NAME swim-3SF.A
‘Pila swims.’ ‘she swims’
However, not only person can be marked on verbs by suffixes to the stem, but also mood – which means that
suffixes may be stacked as well:
(8) tigal-asa-yeng=kay
swim-HAB-3SF.A=little
‘she usually swims little’
The example above also shows an enclitic non-numeral quantifier attached to the verb phrase in its usual
slot, on the right border of the verb phrase.
1 See section 4.2, page 17.

Morphological typology THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 10
3.2.2 Prefixation
Prefixation is the second most common method of affixation in Ayeri. It applies mainly to verbs, but also to
other parts of speech like nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and conjunctions, although only idiomatically
in the latter case. In the case of verbs, the most common prefix is one marking tense:
(9) mə-tigal-yeng
PST-swim-3SF.A
‘she swam’
Another prefix occurring with verbs is the reflexive marker sitang-:
(10a) sitang=napa-reng
self=burn-3SI.A
‘it self-combusticates/burns by itself ’
More commonly, sitang- appears with pronouns, likewise to mark reflexivity:
(10b) Ang silv-ay-Ø sitang=yās.

AF see-1S.FOC self=1S.P
‘I see myself.’
For nouns and adjectives there is the likening morpheme ku- as well:
(11a) ku=koya-ley (11b) ku=erpu

like=book-P.I like=numb
‘like a book’ ‘as though it is numb’
For nouns and conjunctions, the only prefix attachable is that of the proclitic demonstrative articles:
(12a) ada=gan-ang (12b) da=nārya

that=child.A such=CONTR
‘that child’ ‘in spite of that’
Note that the demonstrative da- can also be attached to verbs in certain circumstances (for example da-saha-
‘here comes …’), or when a demonstrative is supposed to be used with a verb. Both of these cases, however,
are rather to be found in colloquial language than in written language.
(13a) Da=saha-ara seyaran-eng (13b) Da=mə-nara-yāng.

such=come-3SI rain-A.I such=PST-say-3SM.A
‘Here comes the rain.’ ‘He said so.’
3.2.3 Reduplication
Reduplication is only a marginal pattern. It is used for hortatives, to indicate that something is done again,
and it is used to form diminutives of nouns. In the case of hortatives, the whole stem is reduplicated,
including the imperative marker:
(14) sar-u=sar-u
REDUP~go-IMP
‘let’s go’
For a repeated action, only the first syllable is reduplicated:
(15a) na=nara-yāng
REDUP~speak-3SM.A
‘he speaks again’
The reduplicated verb stem forms a new one, and prefixes – like tense markers – are attached to it in the
regular fashion:
(15b) sə-na=nara-yāng
FUT-REDUP~speak-3SM.A
‘he will speak again’
Combining these two, we get:
(16) sa=sah-u
REDUP~go_towards-IMP
‘let’s go again’
With nouns, reduplication is used to form diminutives, that is, affectionate, endearing forms of words,
compare for example English dog/doggy, pig/piglet:
(17) veney=veney
REDUP~dog
‘doggy’
3.3 Marking strategies
Ayeri is a mixed-marking language, that is, it exhibits both, cases of head- and dependent-marking. An
example of dependent-marking are verbs, since person, number, and case are marked on the content verb
rather than modals:
(18a) ming nara-nang

can speak-1P.A
‘we can speak’
Note that it is important to make a distinction between true modals and light verbs 3 in this case, as marking
is exactly the opposite of the above in the case of light verbs: The head verb phrase is marked for person etc.,
while the dependent VP is marked for its own property of being a participle:
(18b) Vacyang konjam inunley.

Vac-yang kond-yam inunley.
like-1S.A eat-PTCP fish-P.I
‘I like to eat fish.’
Another example of dependent-marking is nominal possession. Here, the possessor is marked rather than
the possessee:
(19) nanga na Parayan

house GEN NAME
‘Parayan’s house’
The same pattern is found with prepositions as well, where the preposition itself is unmarked, while the
dependent NP is marked for location:
(20) kong nanga-ya

inside house-LOC
‘inside the house’

4 Grammatical categories
Ayeri exhibits many of the traditional parts of speech, for example nouns, verbs, and adjectives. However, it
is rather flexible with regards to zero-derivation. Thus, for example nouns may appear unchanged as
adjectives and vice versa.
4.1 Nouns
Payne suggests several tests to determine whether a part of speech in question can be a noun at all –
gerunds, or deverbal nouns, are the obvious case of doubt here. First of all, prototypical nouns can be the
subjects and objects of sentences (cf. Payne 35):
(21a) Common noun as subject: (22a) Common noun as object:

Ang ning-ya badan-Ø apyan-as. Ang ca-yan-Ø koya-ley.
AF tell-3SM father-FOC joke-P AF create-3P-FOC book-P
‘Father tells a joke.’ ‘They make/write a book.’
(21b) Proper noun as subject: (22b) Proper noun as object:

Sa maly-ye ang Paravay tingra-Ø. Ang silv-ye Ø Maha sa Mican.
PF sing-3SF A NAME melody-FOC AF see-3SF FOC NAME P NAME
‘Paravay sings the melody.’ ‘Maha sees Mican.’
(21c) Gerund as subject: (22c) Gerund as object:

Ø tuya-yam palay. Vac-vāng bin-yam.
COP dance-PTCP fun like-2S.A paint-PTCP
‘Dancing is fun.’ ‘You like painting.’
As the examples show, common nouns, proper nouns, and gerunds can serve as subjects and objects of
sentences. A second test for noun-likeness is that prototypical nouns can take modifiers such as adjectives or
possessive pronouns (cf. Payne 35):
(23a) Common noun and adjective: (24a) Common noun and possessive:
koya hagin koya nā
book heavy book 1S.GEN
(23b) Proper noun and adjective: (24b) Proper noun and possessive:
Ajām veno Navayan nā
NAME beautiful name 1S.GEN
(23c) Gerund and adjective: (24c) Gerund and possessive:

lamp-yam pero *lamp-yam yana
walk-PTCP slow walk-PTCP 3SM.GEN
Grammatical categories THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 14
Common nouns and proper nouns can be modified by adjectives and possessive pronouns, however, gerunds
can only be modified by adjectives. Payne’s proposal for a third test of nounhood is to investigate whether a
word can be pluralized, whether it can take a determiner, and whether a wide range of adjectives are
supported by the word (cf. Payne 35).
(25a) Common noun and plural: (25b) Proper noun and plural:
koya → ✓koya-ye, ✓
koya=ikan Kruy → ?Kruy-ye, ?Kruy=ikan
book → book-PL, book=many NAME → NAME-PL NAME=many
(25c) Gerund and plural:

gum-yam → *gum-yam-ye, ✓gum-yam=ikan
work-PTCP → work-PTCP-PL work-PTCP=much
First limitations show here – it is questionable whether names can typically be pluralized. As shown in 25c, a
gerund cannot take the normal plural marker, however, it can be modified by a non-numeral quantifier. The
closest thing to a definite article in Ayeri is whether a word can be focused or not in transitive declarative
statements.1
(26a) Common noun and focus: (26b) Proper noun and focus:
Le laya-yang koya-Ø. Ang silv-ye Ø Ajām yās.
PF.I read-1S.A book-FOC AF see-3SF FOC NAME 3SM.P
‘I read the book.’ ‘Ajām sees him.’
(26c) Gerund and focus:

Le vac-yāng asa-an-Ø (*asa-yam-Ø)
PF.I like-3SM.A travel-NMLZ-FOC (travel-PTCP-FOC)
‘He likes traveling.’
As 26c shows, the given gerundial form cannot be focused. This is probably due to the -yam ending still being
transparent as the dative ending of nouns, 2 which is essentially what makes gerunds not-quite noun-like.
The only solution to this problem is to nominalize the verb and mark that for focus. Testing the last category
(cf. Payne 35) – support for a wide range of adjectives – leads to the following results:
✓ ✓
(27a) koya tuvo, kivo, ✓veno, ✓
ban
book red small beautiful good
✓
(27b) Ajām ?tuvo, kivo, ✓veno, ✓
ban
NAME red small beautiful good

(27c) asa-yam *tuvo,?kivo, ?veno, ?ban

travel-PTCP red small beautiful good
Gerunds cannot be modified by arbitrary adjectives either, as exemplified in 27c. As a fourth test, Payne (35)
suggests investigating whether participles can be modified by adverbs, to support assumptions about their
noun- or verblikeness. Ayeri does not distinguish morphologically between adverbs and adjectives, though,
so the sentence
(28) Vac-yang lamp-yam pero.

like-1S.A walk-PTCP slow(ly)
can mean all, ?I like slowly walking, I like walking slowly, and I like slow walking.
In conclusion, gerunds can be subjects and objects of sentences; they can take adjectives – although the
range of applicable adjectives is restricted – and other modifiers, with the notable exception of possessive
pronouns; they cannot be pluralized except by non-numeral quantifiers; they cannot be marked for focus –
thus they cannot be definite; and the acceptability of them being modified by descriptive adverbs cannot be
determined, since Ayeri does not distinguish between them and adjectives. Again, it can be stated that
gerunds are neither fully like nouns, nor are they like verbs in spite of their verbal origin. This makes their
exact state regarding the part of speech they belong to not fully determinate.
4.1.1 Proper nouns
Proper nouns may be formed from words existing in the language, 3 often supported by gender markers to
disambiguate them from common nouns in the case of personal names. A noticeable morphological feature
of proper nouns is that they do not take case markers in their enclitic form, that is, as suffixes, but in their
free form, preceding the noun as an article. Looking at example 19 again:
(29a) nanga na Parayan (29c) Ang mitan-ay-Ø ya Nekandalam

house GEN NAME AF live-1S.FOC LOC NAME
‘Parayan’s house’ ‘I live in Nekandalam.’
(29b) yan na Lanya

son GEN King
‘son of the King’
Furthermore, as shown above in 25a and 27b respectively, pluralizing proper nouns seems awkward, as
are certain combinations of proper nouns and adjectives.
3 cf. Appendix: First names, page i, for a list of names derived from common nouns.
4.1.2 Count and mass nouns
Ayeri distinguishes between countable and uncoutable nouns, for example:
(30) Countable:
ayon ‘man’ → ayonye ‘men’ naka ‘plant’ → nakaye ‘plants’
biratay ‘pot’ → biratayye ‘pots’ nihan ‘fruit’ → nihanye ‘fruit(s)’
(31a) Uncountable, singular:

ahal ‘sand’ → *ahalye ijān ‘wealth’ → *ijānye
denan ‘fame’ → *denanye keman ‘east’ → *kemanye
(31b) Uncountable, plural:

ganengan ‘siblings’ → *ganenganye lunda ‘shoes’ → *lundaye
keynam ‘people’ → *keynamye panyan ‘information’ → *panyanye
Typically, materials and abstract qualities cannot be counted, and are grammatically singular. Things usually
not occurring as singular items are sometimes uncountable as well and are grammatically plural. Body parts,
for example, are irregular in this respect:
(32) niva ‘eye’ → nivaye ‘eyes’ tinu ‘arm’ → tinuye ‘arms’

nekuyi ‘eyebrows’ → *nekuyiye tiras ‘breasts’ → *tirasye
tang ‘ears’ → *tangye nama ‘leg’ → namaye ‘legs’
The inherent plural of a noun also reflects on the number agreement of verbs:
(33) Ang tang-yon ban tang-Ø nā.

AF hear-3NP good ears-FOC 1S.GEN
‘My ears hear well.’
Where -yon is the agreement for third person neuter plural, triggered by tang ‘ears’. In order now to refer to
only a single item of the pair, a genitive construction is used:
(34a) Ø erpu tang-ena yana men.

COP deaf ears-GEN 3SM.GEN one
‘One of his ears is deaf.’
(34b) Ø erpu patameng tang-ya batadan-ena.

COP deaf right ears-LOC grandfather-GEN
‘Grandfather’s right ear is deaf.’
As can be observed in example 34b, the locative agreement triggered by an adposition like patameng ‘right’
may override the genitive marking as seen in 34a,4 where the numeral behaves like an adjective.5

4.1.3 The structure of the noun word
Ayeri’s noun words are of the form
(35) IND-DIM~stem-PL-CASE=QTY
“DET” here refers to the optional indefinite determiner prefix me- as in the following example:
(36a) me-ayon
IND-man
‘some man (and I do not know which one, just any)’
This determiner must not be confused with the quantifier -aril in the example below:
(36b) ayon=aril
man=some
‘some men (a couple of them)’
It is important here to distinguish between both cases, as the first example refers to an unspecific man
whose identity the speaker is indifferent about, while the second example refers to an undefined number of
men. Both can be translated as “some” in (colloquial) English. Returning to 35, “DIM” refers to the diminutive
reduplication process,6 “PL” is the plural marker,7 “CASE” any of the case markers,8 and “QTY” refers to
quantifiers.9
4.2 Pronouns
Ayeri has a strikingly large number of personal pronouns. This is due to the pronouns not being formed
regularly from their unmarked form with the case marker in its suffixed form appended;10 but rather the
unmarked forms and the case marker undergo merging, which leads to a great number of seemingly
independent forms – although there are patterns. Note that this section will only discuss personal pronouns.
For demonstrative and relative pronouns, see sections 6.5, page 40, and 12.4, page 53, respectively.
4.2.1 Unmarked forms of personal pronouns
The unmarked forms of pronouns are the basis personal pronouns are generated from, and they are also
used for verb agreement with the syntactic subject, by cliticizing to the verb stem as suffixes. 11

Person Singular Plural Person Singular Plural

1 ay ayn 3M ya yan
2 va va(n) 3S ye yen
2 HON vay vay 3N yo yon
3I ara aran
Table 3: Unmarked forms of personal pronouns
Note that both forms of second person plurals are found, irregular va and regular van. This does not have any
impact on the declined forms, however, where singular and plural pronouns have the same form.
4.2.2 Singular pronouns
Person Agent Patient Dative Genitive Locative Instrum. Causative

1 yang yas yām nā yā rī sā
2 vāng vās vayam vana vaya vari vasa
3M yāng yās yayam yana yāy yari yasa
3F yeng yes yeyam yena yea yeri yesa
3N yong yos yoyam yona yoa yori yosa
3I reng raley/rey rayam ran raya reri rasa
Table 4: Singular pronouns
4.2.3 Plural pronouns

1 nang nas nyam nana nyā ni nisa
2 vāng vās vayam vana vaya vari vasa
3M tang tas cam tan ca ti tis
3F teng tes teyam ten teya teri teys
3N tong tos toyam ton toya tori toys
3I teng ratey racam ten raca ray ratas
Table 5: Plural pronouns
4.2.4 Honorific pronouns

2 HON vayang vayas vayyam vayena vayya vayeri vayisa
Table 6: Honorific pronouns

Honorific pronouns were historically used to refer to honourable persons, like the king, or deities. They are
not usually found in modern writing or conversation anymore, except for humorous effect.
4.3 Verbs
4.3.1 The morphological structure of verbs
Ayeri’s verbs are of the form
(37) TENSE-stem-MOOD-PERSON-CASE=QTY
“TENSE” is one of the tense prefixes,12 “MOOD” one of the mood suffixes – note that these can be stacked –13
and either simple person agreement, or a cliticized declined pronoun. 14 As mentioned above,15 “QTY” refers
to quantifiers.
Note that an epenthetic -a- is inserted between the verb’s stem and its person agreement or cliticized
personal pronoun if the word’s syllable structure becomes invalid: 16
(38) *anl-vang (bring-2S.A) → anl-a-vang
This change is usually due to no two consonants being allowed as a syllable coda.
4.3.2 Modal verbs
Modal verbs are a class of verbs in Ayeri that is handled in a different way from ordinary content verbs, in
that they do not receive any modification by affixes. Instead, it is the content verb complement that is
conjugated:
(39) Ang ming silv-ay-Ø vās.

AF can see-1S.FOC 2S.P
‘I can see you.’
Other true modal verbs, beside ming-, are mya- ‘shall’, rua- ‘must’, and kila- ‘may’. Ilta- ‘need’, no- ‘want’, vaca-
‘like’ are semi-modals and can also be used as content verbs:17

14 See section 4.2, page 17, for a list of all pronouns, and section 10.5, page 49, on verb agreement.
17 See example 18b in section 3.3, page 12. Another possible phrasing is: Ang vaca konday inunley. (AF like eat-1S.FOC fish-P.I) ‘I like to
eat fish.’
(40a) Ang ilta int-ay-Ø kondan-ley=aril. (40b) Ang ilta-ay-Ø kondan-ley.

AF need buy-1S.FOC food-P.I=some AF need-1S.FOC food-P.I
‘I need to buy some food.’ ‘I need food.’
4.3.3 Light verbs
Light verbs are similar to modal verbs 18 in that the content verb is dependent on another verb. The
distinction between both is that the light verb itself receives conjugation, while the content verb is formed
like a gerund:
(41) Eng surp-ara-Ø seyar-yam.

AF.I seem-3S.FOC rain-PTCP
‘It seems to rain.’
These can be stacked – observe the two consecutive participles in the following example:
(42) Sa nara-ye-Ø vac-yam tuya-yam.

PF say-3SF.FOC like-PTCP dance-PTCP
‘She is said to like dancing.’
4.4 Modifiers
4.4.1 Descriptive adjectives
Adjectives are used in Ayeri to communicate specific properties of a noun phrase. They are words, unlike
relative clauses, which exist as a type of subclause. 19 Adjectives can be used as predicatives and to introduce
new participants into the discourse (cf. Payne 63):
(43a) Surp-ye ang Vakas mino=ing. (43b) Ang taha-ya nanga ban=ikan.
seem-3SF A NAME happy=so AF have-3SM house good=very
‘Vakas seems so happy.’ ‘He has a very good house.’
Note that adjectives do not have any inflectional morphology, besides the ability to be modified by non-
numeral quantifiers, and the two negation markers -oy and -arya:
(44a) Ang Batadan Tavāti ledoy. (44b) Ang Batadan Tavāti ledarya.
Ø ang Batadan Tavāti ledo-oy. Ø ang Batadan Tavāti ledo-arya.
COP A TITLE NAME friendly-NEG COP A TITLE NAME friendly-NEG
‘Grampa Tavāti is not (being) friendly.’ ‘Grampa Tavāti is unfriendly.’

The two markers differ in temporal scope here: In 44a, the grandfather is not being friendly now, while in
44b, unfriendliness is a general attribute of his. Note that this second kind of negation is a pragmatic feature,
and that there may be an independent word for the opposite of a quality – the obvious example:
(45) ban ‘good’ ↔ niru ‘bad’ (*banarya20)
The ability to receive -oy as a negation marker does not make adjectives more like verbs or more like nouns,
since either part of speech can take this suffix.
An interesting case regarding adjectives is that of longer noun compounds, where there modifier is
disintegrated and acts like an adjective when the word is declined:21
(46) dadangkeyten ‘ink pen’ → dadangeri keyten ‘with an ink pen’
Other examples of words being used as both nouns and adjectives may be lexicalized, for example anang
‘charm; charming’, banaya ‘malaise; ill, sick’, or bino ‘color; colorful’.
4.4.2 Numerals
4.4.2.1 Cardinal numbers
Ayeri uses a number system with unanalyzable roots for the duodecimal kuran kivo ‘small count’ basic
numerals. The words for cardinal numbers from 0–12 are as follows:
0 ja 4 yo 8 hen
1 men 5 iri 9 veya
2 sam 6 miye 10 mal
3 kay 7 ito 11 tam
Table 7: Integer cardinal numerals
It is important to note that using numerals as modifiers of nouns suppresses the plural marker -ye:
(47) narān-ye → narān kay

word-PL → word three
‘words’ → ‘three words’
Fractional numerals are formed from men ‘one’ plus the integer divided by. Both parts of the compound
undergo crasis again here, leading to irregular forms:
20 Although note banaya ‘malaise; ill, sick.’

21 Compounding is described in section 10.2, page 49.
1 1 1
0 *menja 4 menyo 8 menyen
1 1 1
1 *memen 5 meniri 9 meveya
1 1 1
2 mesam 6 memiye 10 memal
1 1 1
3 menkay 7 menito 11 mentam
Table 8: Fractional cardinal numerals
To give multiples of a fraction, the numerator is used as a modifier of the fraction word, which serves as the
head of the phrase:
(48) vadisan menkay sam

bread third two
‘two thirds of a loaf ’
Multiples of 12 are formed from lan ‘dozen’ by suffixing it to the number stem: melan, samlan, kaylan, …,
myelan, …, malan, tamlan. After this follows menang (12² = 144 = 100₁₂), first number of the kuran nake ‘large
count’. This second, auxiliary count is based on powers of 144:
(12²)¹ menang 144 (12²)⁷ itonang 1,283,918,464,548,864

(12²)² samang 20,736 (12²)⁸ henang 184,884,258,895,036,416
(12²)³ kaynang 2,985,984 (12²)⁹ veyanang 26,623,333,280,885,243,904
(12²)⁴ yonang 429,981,696 (12²)¹⁰ malang 3,833,759,992,447,475,122.176
(12²)⁵ irinang 61,917,364,224 (12²)¹¹ tamang 552,061,438,912,436,417,593,344
(12²)⁶ myenang 8,916,100,448,256
Table 9: Large count multipliers
In the following we will have a look at an example of a very large numeral expression, using the above
chart of large numbers (24,AB,A5,23₁₂ = 86,341,995₁₀, see the footnotes for calculation):
(49a) kay-nang sam-lan=yo, sam-nang mal-lan=tam, men-nang mal-lan=iri, sam-lan=kay22

three-gross two-dozen=four two-gross ten-dozen=eleven one-gross ten-dozen=five two-dozen=three
‘twenty-four hundred-myriad, tenty-eleven myriad tenty-five hundred, twenty-three’
As exemplified in the above example, large-count numerals serve as the heads of the numeral adverb phrase,
while small-count numerals serve as modifiers. The exponent of the large count is given by the head
element of the numeral compound; the suffix -nang indicates that this numeral is an exponent to 12². Single-
digit numerals are in themselves modifiers to numerals inflected by the multipliers -lan and -sing:
22 86,341,995 = (12²)³ × 28 + 2,734,443 | ⇒ 27 = 12¹ ×2 +3

⇒ 2,734,443 = (12²)² × 131 + 18,027 | ⇒3 = 12⁰ ×3 +0
⇒ 18,027 = (12²)¹ × 125 + 27
(49b) kay-nang sam-lan=yo

three-gross two-dozen=four
‘twenty-four hundred-myriad’
The rest of the number in 49a breaks down analogously. Another way to break down this large number –
albeit less elegant – is to divide not by two-digit groups, but by four-digit ones:
(49c) sam-nang men-nang sam-lan=yo mal-lan=tam, men-nang mal-lan=iri, sam-lan=kay23

two-gross one-gross two-dozen=four ten-dozen=eleven one-gross ten-dozen=five two-dozen=three
‘twenty-four hundred tenty-eleven myriad, tenty-five hundred, twenty-three’
4.4.2.2 Ordinal numbers
Ordinal numerals are nominalized forms of the cardinal numerals:
?
0 jān 4 yan 8 henan
1 menan 5 iran 9 veyān
2 saman 6 miyan 10 malan
3 kayan 7 itan 11 taman
Table 10: Ordinal numerals
This extends to all other numerals as well, however -lan becomes -lān in this process, -nang is regularly
changed to -nangan. Ordinal numerals govern the genitive case, hence:
(50a) kay-an gan-ena yana (50b) samlan-an bavesang-ena yena

three-NMLZ child-GEN 3SM.GEN twenty-NMLZ birthday-GEN 3SF.GEN
‘his third child’ ‘Her twenty-fourth birthday’
Again, as the numeral already indicates plural, the dependent NP is not marked for this category.
4.4.2.3 Multiplicative numbers
Multiplicative numerals are formed from the ordinal numerals with the dative case suffix -yam attached:
menanyam, samanyam, kayanyam etc. Unlike in English, this can be applied to all numbers:
(51a) Ang mə-yoma-ay-Ø adaya iranyam iri.

AF PST-exist-1S.FOC there five_times already
23 86,341,995 = (12²)² × 4,163 + 18,027 | 18,027 = (12²)¹ × 125 + 27

⇒ 18,027 = 12⁰ × 18,027 + 0 | ⇒ 27 = 12¹ ×2 +3
| ⇒3 = 12⁰ ×3 +0
4163 = 12² × 28 + 131 |
⇒ 131 = 12¹ × 10 + 11 |
⇒ 11 = 12⁰ × 11 +0 |
‘I have been there already five times.’
(51b) Kama-reng kay samanyam miye.

equal-3SI.A three twice six
‘Two times three equals six.’
Like ordinal numerals, multiplicatives are nominalized forms. Note that in 51b, in spite of working like nouns
syntactically, numerals (here: kay, miye) are kept morphologically distinct: as modifiers they do not receive
nominal case-marking if not nominalized for the aforementioned purposes.
4.4.3 Adverbs
Adverbs are only different from adjectives in scope: While adjectives follow nouns as modifiers, adverbs
follow verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or they modify whole clauses. Like adjectives, adverbs do not receive
any marking typical of either nouns or verbs; also, there is comparison of adverbs. 24
4.4.3.1 Manner
Adverbs of manner typically follow their heads – verbs – and describe the quality of an action, that is, how
something is done:
(52) Maly-yo ban mesay-as.

sing-3SN good choir-P
‘The choir sings well.’
This is the largest class of adverbs, and also the only open one.
4.4.3.2 Time
Adverbs of time are used to specify when an event takes place. The constituent order for them is not fixed,
so adverbs of time may appear at the beginning of a sentence, or at the end, or right after the verb.
Adverbs of time include davano/dabas ‘today’, tavala ‘long ago’, tarela ‘still’, tamala ‘yesterday, recently’,
takala ‘a moment ago’, tapala ‘in a moment’, tasela ‘tomorrow, soon’, tanila ‘in a long time’, as well as edauyi
‘now’, adauyi ‘then’, tajaril ‘sometime(s)’, tadoy ‘never’, and tadayen ‘every time, always’, and also iri ‘already’,
iroy ‘not yet’ and netoy ‘not any more’.

4.4.3.3 Direction and location
Adverbs of direction and location include edaya ‘here’, adaya ‘there’, yāril ‘somewhere’, yanoy ‘nowhere’, and
yanen ‘everywhere’. The adverbal particle manga indicates motion in general, usually in connection with
prepositions, however, it also appears with verbs to form the progressive aspect.25
4.4.3.4 Stance
Among this group are for example mima ‘possibly’, nilay ‘probably’, nilyang ‘I think’, paronyang ‘I guess, I
believe’, surpareng ‘it seems’, tono ‘certainly, surely’ and yoming ‘maybe, perhaps’. Adverbial phrases require
complement clauses.26
4.4.4 Non-numeral quantifiers
Non-numeral quantifiers convey information about either the amount of a thing or the degree of an action.
They are usually clitics attaching to the word they modify as suffixes. In case of modifying an already
cliticized adverb, they are written as separate words:
(53) Ø yang pisu=ikan nama.

COP 1S.A tired=very just
‘I am just very tired.’
Non-numeral quantifiers include -ani ‘at all’, -aril ‘a couple of, some’, -eng ‘rather’, -hen ‘every’, -ikan
‘many, much, a lot; very’, -ing ‘so’, -kay ‘a few, a bit; less, little’, -ma ‘enough’, -nama ‘just, only’, -ngas ‘almost’,
-nyama ‘even’, -vā ‘most’, -ven ‘pretty, quite’. There is also ekeng ‘overly, too much’, although this is never used
as a clitic, but only as a separate word:
(54a) Ø ada-reng matikan ekeng. (54b) Ang gin-ya-Ø ekeng nimpur-ley.

COP that-P.I hot overly AF drink-3S.FOC overly wine-P.I
‘It is too hot.’ ‘He drinks too much wine.’
As can be seen, ekeng may take the position of both a quantifier and a descriptive adverb, depending on
context and the speaker’s intention.
Some of the affixes listed above are able to modify nouns and adjectives as well as verbs, which sets
them apart from mere adverbs:
(55a) burang=kay (55b) Seyaran-reng=kay.

animal=few rain-3SI.A=a_little
‘few animals’ ‘It rains a little.’

(55c) ban=kay
good=little
‘not so good’
4.4.5 Other modifiers
Other modifiers may be part of the realm of syntax rather than part of that of morphology and can be found
in subsequent chapters of this grammar:
• Determiners and demonstratives: See section 6.5, page 40.

• Possessive constructions: See section 6.6, page 41.
• Noun-noun, verb-noun etc. modifiers: See section 10.2, page 49.
• Relative clauses: See section 12.4, page 53.
5 Constituent order typology
5.1 Main clauses
Ayeri exhibits a strong preference for VAP/VS in spite of all NPs being marked for case; consider for
example:
(56a) V-SA: (56c) V-A-P:

Gum-ya ang Sān. Ang binisa-ye Ø Misan sapa-ley
work-3SM A NAME AF dye-3SF FOC NAME wool-P.I
‘Sān works.’ ‘Misan dyes cotton wool.’
(56b) V-SP:
Binisa-ara sapa-ley.
dye-3SI wool-P.I
‘Cotton wool is dyed.’
However, if a relative clause modifies A, it is possible to reverse the order of A and P:
(57a) V A RelCA P: *Ang binisaye Misan [si məpengalyang tadayya tupas,] sapaley.
?
(57b) V A P RelCA: Ang binisaye Misan sapaley [sang məpengalyang tadayya tupas].
✓
(57c) V P A RelCA: Ang binisaye sapaley Misan [si məpengalyang tadayya tupas].
This also goes for when P is followed by another argument, for example a direct object or an oblique
argument. Relative clauses are dealt with more elaborately in section 12.4, page 53.
5.2 Verb phrase
Transitive verb phrases in Ayeri typically consist of a focus marker and a verb. The focus marker is an
anaphora to an argument of the verb and indicates that it is the subject of the sentence. The focus marker
always leads the verb phrase:
(58) Yam nara-yang van-Ø.

DATF speak-1S.A 2S.FOC
‘It is you I speak to.’
Furthermore there may be an auxiliary involved. Ayeri’s modal verbs 1 may be interpreted as such in that
they add additional information to the content verb. The progressive marker manga2 may be counted as an
auxiliary as well and is even more prototypical in this respect than modal verbs because it only expresses a

Constituent order typology THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 28
grammatical function and does not carry any meaning of its own. Thus, it cannot be used as a verb, but only
as a modifier of a content verb. Auxiliaries are placed between the focus marker and the main verb:
(59a) Ang no pa-ya Ø Kaman benenyān-ley yana.

AF want take-3SM FOC NAME breakfast-P.I 3SM.GEN
↓ ↓ ↓
FOC AUX V = VP
‘Kaman wants to have breakfast.’
(59b) Ang manga konja seygoley edauyi.

Ang manga kond-ya seygo-ley edauyi.
AF PROG eat-3SM apple-P.I now
↓ ↓ ↓
FOC AUX V = VP
‘He is eating an apple now.’
Adverbs modifying verbs follow their verb head, just like adjectives follow their nouns head:
(60) Nimp-yāng para.

run-3SM.A fast
‘He runs fast.’
5.3 Noun phrase
Besides a noun or a pronoun, noun phrases may contain several different types of modifiers. Typically, all of
these follow their head noun, except for the indefinite determiner prefix me- and the demonstrative
pronouns. Another exception to this is the case marker of proper nouns, 3 which precedes the noun as an
article, that is, a free morpheme.
Adjectives, too, follow their head noun, as can be seen below in example 61a. As for adjective order in
longer chains of adjectives, there is a restriction that these must be coordindated, and that lists of
coordinated adjectives greater than two are typically moved into a relative clause:
(61a) nanga veno ‘beautiful house’
(61b) nanga veno nay tado ‘beautiful old house’
(61c) nanga si veno, tado nay Prihaytam ‘beautiful old Prihaytam-style house’
The relative clause can then also be used to single out a certain trait which the speaker wants to highlight:
(61d) nanga veno si tado nay Prihaytam ‘beautiful house that is old and Prihaytam-style’
…
Different than in English, however, there is no fixed order in which the adjectives have to appear.

The order of possessive pronouns in relation to single adjectives is arbitrary. However, possessive
pronouns can precede a group of adjectives, or follow it, but they can never be placed among a group of
adjectives:
(62a) kegan nā kāryo nay dano (62c) *kegan kāryo nā dano

hat 1S.GEN big and green hat big 1S.GEN green
(62b) kegan kāryo nay dano nā

hat big and green 1S.GEN
Relative clauses are always last in a noun phrase; the relative pronoun is marked for the case of its head
if there is a phrase constituent (for example an adjective or a pronoun) in between it and its head – the
relative clause is in brackets, its head underlined, and the adjective separating it from its head in the main
clause is in italics:
(63a) Adareng nangās tado [sasena ang məningay vās].

Ada-reng nanga-as tado si-as-ena ang mə-ning-ay-Ø vās.
that-A.I house-P old REL-P-GEN AF PST-tell-1S.FOC 2S.P
‘That is the old house of which I told you.’
(63b) *Adareng nangās [sinā ang məningay vās] tado.

Ada-reng nanga-as si-Ø-na ang mə-ning-ay-Ø vās tado.
that-A.I house-P REL-P-GEN AF PST-tell-1S.FOC 2S.P old
‘*That is the house of which I told you old.’
Non-numeral quantifiers attach to anything they modify, although they do not modify possessive
pronouns, indefinite determiners, relative clauses, or demonstratives. They can modify each other, however,
becoming head and dependent of a nested modifier phrase.
Lastly, having a demonstrative and an indefinite determiner in one noun phrase is ungrammatical,
likewise a combination of two demonstratives, or two indefinite determiners.
5.4 Prepositional phrase
In Ayeri, basic prepositions are expressed by the genitive,4 dative,5 and locative,6 case markers:
(64a) Locational genitive: (64b) Locational dative:

Ang ning-ay-Ø na Tasankan. Ang nimp-ye-Ø māva-yam yena.
AF tell-1S.FOC GEN NAME AF run-3SF.FOC mother-DAT 3SF.GEN
‘I tell of Tasankan.’ ‘She runs to her mother.’
4 cf. section 6.4.3, page 37.

(64c) Locative without preposition:

Ya yoma-yāng nanga-Ø.
LOCF exist-3SM.A house-FOC
‘He is in the house.’
Especially the locative case marker takes the inherent meaning of a verb regarding the location of its
argument for granted.
In order to specify the relation between verb and noun as concerns position more elaborately,
preposition words. These are derived from nouns, some even from the words for body parts. All of them
govern the locative case.7 In the following, there will be a list of all prepositions that Ayeri employs which
can be used as independent nouns as well:
agonan outside of outside

avan at the bottom of bottom, ground
dayrin to the side of side, waist
kong inside of inside
eyran below, under sole
ling above, on, on top of; while top
marin in front of face
pang behind back
terpeng among, between middle
Table 11: Prepositions derived from nouns
Other prepositions include words which are not clearly derived from nouns, and which need to be
nominalized in order to be used as nouns:
kayvo with; along with

kahu distant, far
luga among, between; during
nasay near
nuveng left
patameng right
Table 12: Prepositions not derived from nouns
In order for these specialized prepositions to convey motion along a path, the particle manga8 is used:
7 cf. section 3.3, page 11.

8 cf. mangān ‘movement, motion’, manga- ‘to move’, mangan ‘feeling, sentiment; dream’.
(65a) Ya nuna-ara suran-reng manga ling nanga-Ø.

LOCF fly-3SI ball-A.I MOT top house-FOC
‘A ball flies over the house.’
Note that this works with the plain case markers as well:
(65b) Yam nuna-ara suran-reng manga nanga-Ø.

DATF fly-3SI ball-A.I MOT house-FOC
‘A ball flies at the house.’
Although, according to Dryer,9 verb-initial languages are likely employ prepositions, Ayeri also has a number
of postpositions:
mangasaha to here, towards

mangasara to there, away from
mararya next
masahatay since
nasyam according to
pesan until
ran against
yamva instead of
Table 13: Postpositions
These postpositions also require their dependent to be marked for locative, unless the word modified is not
able to be marked, as for example temporal adverbs are (as in 66b), or verb phrases (as in 66c and d):
(66a) bihan-ya mararya (66c) sara-vāng masahatay

week-LOC next leave-2S.A since
‘next week’ ‘since you have left’
(66b) tamala pesan (66d) cutor-yang pesan

yesterday until fall_asleep-1S.A until
‘until yesterday’ ‘until I fall asleep’
The postpositions mangasaha and mangasara must be handled with care, as their meaning changes
according to whether an object follows or not:
(67a) Ang asa-yan mangasaha/mangasara.

AF travel-3MP to_here/away_from
‘They travel here/away from here.’
9 cf. Dryer, Matthew. Word Order. 2010. Department of Linguistics, U at Buffalo. 2007. Web. 10 Aug. 2010. 4; 52.
<http://wings.buffalo.edu/soc-sci/linguistics/people/faculty/dryer/dryer/DryerShopenWordOrder.pdf>
(67b) Ang asa-yan ya Hirapankay mangasaha/mangasara.

AF travel-3MP LOC NAME towards/away_from
‘They travel towards/away from Hirapankay.’
Using the dative case marker yam and the genitive case marker na instead of the locative case marker ya in
67b would have been possible as well. Note that for ranges, the following construction using pesan is
common, however:
(68a) beneno-na sirutay-ya pesan (68b) menan-ena iran-ya pesan

morning-GEN evening-LOC until first-GEN fifth-LOC until
‘from morning to evening’ ‘from one to five’
5.5 Comparative constructions
Ayeri uses verbs to compare the quality of an argument to a standard:
(69a) Ang eng-yo ban nanga nā, nanga-as vana.

AF more-3SN good house 1S.GEN house-P 2S.GEN
↓ ↓ ↓
MKR QUAL STD
‘My house is better than your house.’
The constituent order in this case is marker-quality-standard. This construction also works with verbs:
(69b) Kama-reng surp-yam ban, da=nara-yāng.

like-3SI.A seem-PTCP good such=say-3SM.A
‘It seems as good as he says.’
The verbs used for comparison are: varya- ‘to be least ...’, il- ‘to be less … than ...’, kama- ‘to be as … as ...’,
eng- ‘to be more … than ...’, va- ‘to be most ...’. Adverbs, on the other hand, are graded with -eng and -vā for
comparative and superlative respectively:
(70) Tigal-yāng ban=vā.

swim-3SM.A good-most
‘He swims best.’
If an adjective is not compared to a standard, but graded nevertheless, the same construction is used:
(71) Ø Ada-reng limu-ley ban=vā yana.

COP that-A.I shirt-P.I good-most 3SM.A
‘It is his best shirt.’
5.6 Questions
Ayeri does not specially mark polar questions other than by means of prosody. 10 Question words in open
questions replace the phrase they ask for, for example:
(72) Ang ilye Parānvay koyaley yam Matikan. ‘Parānvay gives a book to Matikan.’
→ Ang ilya sinya koyaley yam Matikan? ‘Who gives a book to Matikan?’
→ Ang ilye Parānvay sinyaley yam Matikan? ‘What does Parānvay give to Matikan?’
→ Ang ilye Parānvay koyaley sinyayam? ‘Who does Parānvay give a book to?’
Note that sinya ‘who, what’ is marked for case because there is no distinction in question words for the
semantic core roles, that is, agent, patient, and recipient. For a discussion of question words, see section 11.3,
page 51.
The words for ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are colloquially used as question tags to express the speaker’s expectation
concerning the polarity of the answer in closed questions:
(73a) Ang gin-yon māy patas-ye-Ø rasān-ley?

AF drink-3SN yes bear-PL-FOC beer-P.I
‘Do bears drink beer [I think they do]?’
(73b) Ang gin-yon voy patas-ye-Ø rasān-ley?

AF drink-3SN no bear-PL-FOC beer-P.I
‘Do bears drink beer [I don’t think they do]?’
These act like descriptive adverbs and follow the verb.
5.7 Summary
Ayeri fulfills many of the predictions gathered through statistical analysis by Dryer (52): The order in
possessive constructions is noun-genitive, that is, the possessee follows the possessed. Manner adverbs
follow their heads, the same goes for adjectives and relative clauses. Auxiliary verbs precede main verbs, the
copula is expected to do as well in analogy, although it is a zero morpheme. In comparative constructions,
the standard not only follows the marker, but it also follows the adjective.
The differences exhibited by the language as opposed to the mentioned predictions are its handling of
adpositions, question words and the way articles are handled: Ayeri mainly uses prepositions, although it
possesses a share of postpositions as well. Question words are not sentence-initial, but take the position of
the noun phrase they query for. Articles exist in so far as case markers precede proper nouns as expected,
however, they appear as suffixes with common nouns. The inspecific determiner mə-, as well as
10 See section 2.2.2.2, page 6.

demonstrative pronouns, precede nouns as prefixes. Taking all of the features described above into account,
Ayeri is a very typical VO language.11
11 Payne prefers to call this type “VP language” (cf. Payne 91).
6 Noun and noun-phrase operations
6.1 Compounding
Ayeri has the ability of compounding to generate new words. Consider for example:
(74) noun + noun: prihino ‘table’ + gumo ‘work’ → prihingumo ‘desk, workbench’
noun + adjective: kardang ‘school’ + iray ‘high’ → kardangiray ‘university’
verb + nominalizer: anl- ‘to bring’ + -maya ‘NMLZ’ → anlamaya ‘waiter’
verb + adposition: il- ‘to give’ + agonan ‘outside’ → ilagonan ‘edition’
Compound nouns may differ in meaning from their parts in that the meaning of the whole cannot
necessarily be deduced from its parts: Consider for example baytandevo, which breaks down as ‘blood-head’
to mean ‘headache’, probably due to an earlier assumption that an internal injury of the head causes the
pain. In other cases (for example ilagonan above), no individual components are nouns, although the
resulting word is nevertheless a noun. Evidence of compounding is consolidated by declining a word:
(75) anlamaya → anlamaya-ang (waiter-A)

ilagonan → ilagonan-reng (edition-A.I)
kardangiray→ kardangiray-ya (university-LOC)
Clearly, the new word forms a single semantic unit. However, there are exceptions to this, as exemplified in
46 above:1 When declining long noun-noun compounds – and long means, if the resulting word has more
than three syllables – the case marker goes on the head of the compound, turning the dependent into a
modifier word if both parts of the noun compound can be recognized as such and have not been modified for
example by ellipsis of syllable elements. This is certainly a borderline case of compounding, as the now-
modifier constituent may as well be regarded as an adjective.
Note that the order of noun-noun compounds is usually head-dependent, however there may be
idiomatic expressions where the order is reversed, for example:
(76) vinim ‘forest’ + ayon ‘man’ → vinimayon ‘monkey’ (*ayonvinim)
Compounds involving other parts of speech may be irregular as well, however in noun-verb compounds with
a nominalizing -an, the nominalized verb is usually last.
6.2 Denominalization
Denominalization is rather uncommon in Ayeri, instead, nominalization occurs. As shown in section 4.4.1,
page 20, there are adjectives which do not differ in their surface form from nouns, however those are rare in
comparison.

Noun and noun-phrase operations THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 36
6.3 Number
As described in the sections on countability of nouns, 2 numerals,3 and non-numeral quantifiers,4 plurals are
not marked on nouns if a modifier indicates number already. Otherwise, nouns are regularly pluralized by
means of the suffix -ye. A distinction between singular and plural is mandatory for all countable nouns.
6.4 Case
Core cases in Ayeri are most conveniently described according to their semantic function rather than their
syntactic function. Thus, the terms “agent” and “patient” will be used here instead of “nominative,”
“accusative,” or “ergative” and “absolutive.”5
6.4.1 Agent
The agent is used to mark the acting entity of a sentence. Consider the following example:
(77a) Mal-yo mesay-ang.

sing-3PN choir-A
‘The choir sings.’
If the agent noun phrase consists of a name, the case marker is not appended to the noun, but precedes it in
its free form:
(77b) Nara-ya ang Veyadan.

speak-3SM A NAME
‘Veyadan speaks.’
The examples above present the forms of the animate agent marker – that is, -ang and ang –, but there is
an inanimate form as well, marking inanimate entities:
(78a) Ya sara-ara beson-reng maykong-Ø.

LOCF leave-3SI ship-A.I harbor-FOC
‘A ship leaves the harbor.’
The free form of the inanimate agent marker is eng (Assuming that the name of the ship in 78a is Vipin Maka):
(78b) Sara-ara eng Vipin Maka.

leave-3SI A.I name
‘The Vipin Maka leaves.’

3 See section 4.4.2, page 21, especially examples 47, 48, and 50a and b.
4 See section 4.4.4, page 25, espeically examples 53 and 55a.
5 cf. especially example 80, page 37.
6.4.2 Patient
The patient typically marks the entity of a sentence that is acted on, or experiences a change of state by the
action. The marker of animate patients is -as, its free form is sa:
(79a) Ang mapa-ye-Ø nanga-as. (79b) Ang mapa-ye-Ø sa Anangko.

AF point_at-3SF.FOC house-P. AF point_at-3SF.FOC P NAME.
‘She points at a house.’ ‘She points at Anangko.’
The inanimate forms of the patient marker are -ley and le:
(79c) Ang pa-ay-Ø benenyān-ley nā. (79d) Ang silv-ya-Ø le Vipin Maka.
AF take-1S.FOC breakfast-P.I 1S.GEN AF see-3SM.FOC P NAME
‘I have my breakfast.’ ‘He sees the Vipin Maka.’
The patient is also used in intransitive sentences when the only object of the sentence is acted on,
rather than acting itself, thus forming a passive:
(80) Ers-ara kondan-ley.

cook-3SI food-P.I
‘Food is cooked.’
In ditransitive sentences, the thing given is also marked as a patient:
(81) Ang il-ay-Ø koya-ley yeyam.

AF give-1S.FOC book-P.I 3SF.DAT
‘I give her a book.’
A nominal predicate is marked as a patient in case it is a noun phrase as well:
(82) Ø ada-reng dadang-ley nā.

COP that-A.I pen-P.I 1S.GEN
‘That is my pen.’
6.4.3 Dative
The dative is the third of Ayeri’s three core cases along with agent and patient, and marks the recipient of
things – however, not the experiencer, which is also marked as an agent. It is typically found in ditransitive
constructions, the marker is -yam in its suffixed form, and yam as a free morpheme:
(83a) Ang il-ay-Ø koya-ley togan-yam. (83b) Ang il-ay-Ø koya-ley yam Kandan.
AF give-1S.FOC book-P.I mail.DAT AF give-1S.FOC book-P.I DAT NAME
‘I give a book to the mail.’ ‘I give Kandan a book.’
The dative marker is also found to be marking the complements of light verbs 6 as well as gerunds.7 There is
no animacy distinction in the dative case, as this distinction only exists in the agent and patient cases.
6.4.4 Genitive
The genitive case marks possessors as well as origin. It is marked by the suffix -na, na is its free form:
(84a) ledon netu-na (84b) ibang na Niyas

friend brother-GEN field GEN NAME
‘the friend of the brother’ ‘Niyas’s field’
The suffix -na has an allomorph -ena which is used when the word the suffix is attached to ends in a
consonant:
(84c) dileng ajān-ena

rule game-GEN
‘the rule of the game’
In the case of a “locational” genitive, the case may also mark origin:
(85a) Na gara-yāng hinang-Ø. (85b) Yāng na Yanajān.

GENF call-1S.A south-FOC 1S.A GEN NAME
‘I call from the south.’ ‘I am of Yanajān.’ (i.e. from the Yanajān
family)
6.4.5 Locative
The locative case marks location. It may appear as the case an adposition governs as well as a “locational”
locative, where the deixis semantically inherent to a verb is assumed without further specification. 8 The
locative marker is -ya, or ya in its free form:
(86a) Ang kong-ay-Ø nanga-ya. (86b) Ang baha-ye-Ø ya Pahayan.

AF enter-1S.FOC house-LOC AF shout-3SF.FOC LOC NAME
‘I enter the house.’ ‘She shouts at Pahayan.’
The suffix -ya has an allomorph -ea which is used when the word the suffix is attached to ends in -e. This is
especially the case with the plural marker -ye:

8 See section 5.4, page 29, and especially example 64c.
(86c) kong rivanyēa

kong rivan-ye-ea
inside mountain-PL-LOC
‘inside the mountains’
Under certain circumstances, the locative may also be a combination of genitive and locative proper, as
exemplified in example 34b earlier:
(34b) Ø erpu patameng tang-ya batadan-ena.

COP deaf right ear-LOC grandfather-GEN
‘Grandfather’s right ear is deaf.’
In this case, an inherent meaning ‘right of ’ may be assumed from the adposition , as the following is
ungrammatical, especially since nuveng and patameng are not among the prepositions derived from nouns:
(87) *Ø erpu patameng-ya tang-ena batadan-ena.

… right-LOC ears-GEN …
6.4.6 Instrumental
The instrumental is used to indicate the entity of a sentence by means of which, or by help of which an
action is carried out. The instrumental marker is -ri, its free form is ri. The post-consonantal form of the
suffix is -eri:
(88a) Ang vis-tang seygo-ye-ley tihang-ye-ri tan.

AF cut-3PM.A apple-PL-P.I knife-PL-INS 3P.GEN
‘They cut apples with their knives.’
(88b) Ang ling-ya-Ø mehir-as ri Kadijān.

AF climb_up-3S.FOC tree-P INS NAME
‘He climbs up on the tree with Kadijān’s help.’
(88c) Ang tav-ya-Ø gino nimpur-eri.

AF become-3SM.FOC drunk wine-INS
‘He became drunk on wine.’
6.4.7 Causative
The causative marks due to what or whom something happens, or who makes someone do something. It is
marked on a noun phrase by -isa, or sā respectively:
(89a) Ang rua sara-ayn-Ø seyaran-isa. (89b) Sā no sip-vāng adanya-Ø.

AF must leave-1P.FOC rain-CAU CAUF want cry-2S.A that-FOC
‘We had to leave due to rain.’ ‘It makes you want to cry.’
(89c) Sā nimp-vāng hakas-ley yan. (89d) Sā apa-yang petān-Ø yana.

CAUF run-2S.A mile-P.I 3PM.FOC CAUF laugh-1S.A folly-FOC 3SM.GEN
‘They make you run a mile.’ ‘I laugh due to his folly.’
Note that the causative is also used for constructions in which the agent prompts something to be done
to him- or herself:
(90) Sā vis-ay-Ø mitrang-as nā.

CAUF cut-1S.FOC hair-P 1S.GEN
‘I have my hair cut.’
The causative marker is also found with verbs: It is often used as an intensifier (for example, bin- ‘to paint’,
binisa- ‘to dye’; kac- ‘to pull, to draw’, kacisa- ‘to grab’) or to derive verbs from adjectives (for example, tiru
‘dry’, tirisa- ‘to dry’; apan ‘wide’, apanisa- ‘to extend’).9
6.5 Articles, determiners, demonstratives
Noun phrases do not commonly have articles as such in Ayeri, that is, a morpheme preceding or following a
noun phrase to show its definiteness. Instead, the focus marker of the verb takes this role:
(91a) Ang silv-ay-Ø mehir-as. (91b) Sa silv-yang mehir-Ø.

AF see-1S.FOC tree-P PF see-1S.A tree-FOC
‘As for me, I see a tree.’ ‘As for the tree, I see it.’
The tree in 91b must have already been introduced into discourse so that it is clear which tree is referred to.
Another way of referring to things are demonstratives. In Ayeri, these are clitic prefixes: da- ‘such’, eda-
‘this’, ada- ‘that’. Note that ada(nya)- also often serves as a replacement for the third person singular
pronoun:
(92) *Reng tuvo.

Adareng tuvo.
‘It is red.’
Yet another morpheme qualifying as a kind of demonstrative is me-, the indefinite determiner prefix,
which is roughly translatable as “some” in the sense of not caring about which one exactly:
(93) Ya mə-saha-nang me-minkay-ya rivan-ye-Ø.

LOCF PST-come-1P.A IND-village-LOC mountain-PL-FOC
‘We went to some village in the mountains.’
9 cf. section …, page ...

6.6 Possessors
Ayeri does not make a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession. Thus, for example, it is not
possible to say *Ang ketay sapayyeley to mean ‘I wash my hands’ or *Ang prantay netuas to mean ‘I ask my
brother.’ Instead, possession always needs to be indicated: Ang ketay sapayyeley nā; Ang prantay netuas nā.
As noted in section 3.3, page 11, and section 5.7, page 33, possessors always follow possessees:
(94a) sapay nā (94b) sapay na Trānay

hand 1S.GEN hand GEN NAME
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
POSSESSEE POSSESSOR POSSESSEE POSSESSOR
‘my hand’ ‘Trānay’s hand’
As demonstrated in the two examples above, possessees do not morphologically agree with possessors.
6.7 Diminution
As previously stated,10 reduplication is used to form diminutives, that is, affectionate, endearing forms of
words:
(95) veney=veney
REDUP~dog
‘doggy’
Otherwise, the words for ‘big’ and ‘small’ are used: kāryo and kivo, respectively.

7 Predicate nominals and related constructions
7.1 Predicate nominals
Ayeri uses juxtaposition of two noun phrases for predicate nominals for both cases, inclusion and equation:
(96a) Ø yāng sobaya-as. (96b) Ø yāng badan-as nā.

COP 3SM.A teacher-P COP 3SM.A father-P 1S.GEN
‘He is/was a teacher’ ‘He is/was my father.’
“Inclusion” refers to the predicate nominal being included in a group here. “He” is identified as an element
of a group of people called “teachers” (cf. Payne 114). Payne (114) furthermore notes that it is not unusual
for languages not to make a distinction between these two. The copula has been glossed in such
constructions as a covert morpheme in earlier examples as well because full sentences without a verb are
not usually found in the language. The positioning of this covert morpheme at the head of the clause is due
to Ayeri’s constituent order.1 Due to there not being an overt copula morpheme, there is no tense, mood, or
focus marking in these constructions. These are to be deduced from context, or by means of additional
adverbs. For predicate adjectives, the same construction is used:
(97) Ø ang Yan pakur tamala.

COP A name sick yesterday
‘Yan was sick yesterday.’
7.2 Existentials and Predicative locatives
For existentials and predicate locatives, Ayeri uses its existential verb yoma-:
(98a) Ya yoma-ara koya-reng prihino-ya. (98b) *Eng yoma-ara koya-Ø yayam.

LOCF exist-3SI book-A.I table-LOC AF.I exist-3SI book-FOC 3SM.DAT
‘There is a book on the table.’ ‘The book is for him.’
The example 98b is ungrammatical in its context, as using yoma- would mean the book exists for the
recipient, rather than the recipient simply being supposed to receive the book later. Note that the use of
yoma- in locative constructions is restricted to presentative use of locatives. This means, the phrase “She was
with me yesterday.” is not realized as the following:
(99a) *Ang yoma-ye-Ø kayvo yā tamala.

AF exist-3SF.FOC with 1S.LOC yesterday
‘She was with me yesterday.’
But instead, it is expressed in this way, without an existential verb (the same goes for example 98b above):

Predicate nominals and related constructions THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 44
(99b) Ø yeng kayvo yā tamala.

COP 3SF.A with 1S.LOC yesterday
‘She was with me yesterday.’
Likewise, to express the simple fact that a book lies on the table, the construction without yoma- is used:
(100) Ø Koya-reng prihino-ya.

COP book-A.I table-LOC
‘The book is on the table.’
However, yoma- is used in a presentative clause like this:
(101) Ya yoma-yo vipin-ang kong sangal-Ø nā.

LOCF exist-3SN bird-A inside room-FOC 1S.GEN
‘There is a bird in my room.’
Although a preposition is used here, the bird is specifically presented in this sentence, and thus introduced
into discourse, which is also why it is unfocussed in the example above and thus indefinite. In so far, example
101 mirrors 98a in structure, except that it is extended by a preposition.
7.3 Possessive clauses
In order to express ownership of something, Ayeri uses the verb taha- ‘to have.’ This verb is not special from
other ordinary verbs as discussed in section 4.3.1, page 19:
(102) Ang taha-ay-Ø ijan-ley=ma.

AF have-1s.FOC money-P.i=enough
‘I have enough money.’
In order to express that the speaker has something with him- or herself, a locative pronoun is used:
(103a) Ang taha-ay-Ø ijan-ley=ma yā.

AF have-1S.FOC money-P.I=enough 1S.LOC
‘I have enough money with me.’
Another grammatically permissible way to say this is to use a predicative construction:
(103b) Ø Ijan-reng=ma yā.

COP money-A.I=enough 1S.LOC
lit. ‘There is enough money on me.’
The construction in the above example is mostly found in speech rather than in literary contexts.
8 Syntactic typology
Ayeri is basically a language with a nominative-accusative alignment. This means that the only argument of
an intransitive sentence is marked the same way as the agent of a transitive sentence, while the patient of a
transitive sentence is marked in a different way:
(104a) Sara-ya ang Baykan.

leave-3SM A NAME
↓
SA
‘Baykan leaves.’
(104b) Ang harisa-ya Ø Baykan kunang-ley.

AF hit-3SM FOC NAME door-P.I Figure 8.1: Nominative-accusative alignment
└────────────┘ ↓ ↓
A P
‘Baykan hits a door.’
The verb can be observed to agree with the agent in the examples above, 1 while both the only argument of
the intransitive clause in 104a as well as the agent of the transitive clause in 104b receive the same case
marker: ang.
However, there is also a possibility in Ayeri to mark the only argument of an intransitive sentence as a
patient in order to indicate that the entity is acted on by an unmentioned agent – a passive. Note that this
kind of construction is marked, however:
(105a) Harisa-ya sa Pulan.

hit-3SM P NAME
↓
SP
Figure 8.2: Ergative-absolutive alignment
‘Pulan is hit.’
In this case, the verb agrees with the patient of the sentence. An agent would be expressed by marking it as a
causative – an oblique argument, essentially keeping the sentence intransitive:
(105b) Sa harisa-ya Ø Pulan yelang-isa.

PF hit-3SM FOC NAME stone-CAU
└──────────┘ ↓ ↓
SP O
‘Pulan is hit by a stone.’
Morphologically marking the semantic agent (yelang) in 105b above as a syntactic agent (yielding yelangang
without the verb agreeing with this argument) is not grammatical, since patients (Pulan, with the verb
agreeing with this argument) cannot be the referents of person marking on verbs in transitive clauses – if
1 If it agreed with the patient, the ending on the verb would be inanimate at least.
Syntactic typology THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 46
there were both an agent and a patient argument in the clause, it would be transitive, since both are core
arguments. However, note that the agent of transitive clauses may be replaced by a causative as well under
certain circumstances, keeping it essentially transitive, compare examples 89b and 90 in section 6.4.7, page
40. The verb agrees with the causative argument in this case.
A handful of verbs, such as il- ‘to give’ may take three arguments: They are ditransitive. Ditransitive
clauses are handled in the way illustrated below:
(106) Ang il-ya Ø Lita pangis-ley yayam.

AF give-3SM FOC NAME money-P.I 3SM.DAT
└──────────┘ ↓ ↓ ↓
A G=P R
Figure 8.3: Handling of ditransitive sentences
‘Lita gives him money.’
The thing given (G) is marked as a patient (P) in ditransitive clauses, while the recipient (R) receives the
dative marker.
9 Voice and valence adjusting operations
9.1 Valence increasing operations
9.2 Valence decreasing operations

10 Other verb and verb-phrase operations
10.1 Nominalization
10.2 Compounding
10.3 Tense, aspect, and mode
10.3.1 Tense
10.3.2 Aspect
10.3.3 Mode
10.4 Location and direction encoding
10.5 Participant reference
10.6 Evidentiality, validationality, and mirativity
10.7 Miscellaneous
11 Pragmatically marked structures
11.1 Focus, contrast, and topicalization
11.2 Negation
11.3 Non-declarative speech acts

12 Clause combinations
12.1 Complement clauses
12.2 Adverbial clauses
12.3 Clause chaining
12.4 Relative clauses
12.5 Coordination
13 Works Cited
Becker, Carsten. “Readme.txt to Ayeri Course Book.” Tay Benung. The Ayeri Resource. 2003–10. Sangumiray na
Velinkay Agonye. 21 Oct. 2005. Web. 4 Jul. 2010. <http://benung.nfshost.com/files/ayeri_course.zip>
Clements, G. N. “Feature Economy in Sound Systems.” Phonology 20 (2003): 287–333. Print.
Dryer, Matthew. Word Order. 2010. Department of Linguistics, U at Buffalo. 2007. Web. 10 Aug. 2010.
<http://wings.buffalo.edu/soc-sci/linguistics/people/faculty/dryer/dryer/DryerShopenWordOrder.pdf>
Maddieson, Ian. “Consonant Inventories.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. 2008. Max Planck
Digital Library. Ed. Martin Haspelmath et al. 2008. Web. 30 Jul. 2010. <http://wals.info/feature/-
description/1>
———. “Vowel Quality Inventories.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. 2008. Max Planck Digital
Library. Ed. Martin Haspelmath et al. 2008. Web. 30 Jul. 2010. <http://wals.info/feature/description/2>
Mills, Roger. “The Story of the Four Candles.” Trans. Carsten Becker. Tay Benung. The Ayeri Resource. 2003–10.
Carsten Becker. Apr. 2010. Web. 30 Jul. 2010. <http://benung.nfshost.com/examples/txt/xmp_candles.html>
Naretayan, Taryan, ed. Sigaray na Perican 693. Avirang: Bukoya Mitanena, 694. Manuscript. 2ra–15rb.†
Payne, Thomas E. Describing Morphosyntax. A Guide for Field Linguists. Cambridge: CUP, 1997. Print.
Pistor, Christian. “The Syllable Structure of Ayeri’s Stems. A Statistical Analysis.” Tay Benung. The Ayeri
Resource. 2003–10. Sangumiray na Velinkay Agonye. 3 Apr. 2010. Web. 2 Jul. 2010. <http://-
benung.nfshost.com/files/frequency.pdf>
“Tahano Hikamu.” Tay Benung. The Ayeri Resource. 2003–10. Sangumiray na Velinkay Agonye, n.d. Web. 1 Aug.
2010. <http://benung.nfshost.com/index.php?go=scripts&action=thn>
THIS IS STILL A DRAFT i
A Appendix: First names
A.1 Masculine names
Ajan, Ajān, Akan, Alingo, Alinko, Amān, Apan, Apapan, Apinisa, Apican, Apitisu, Aruno, Ayondan, Bahisang,
Bakatayan, Banan, Banvāyon, Bayasino, Bayhan, Bayhikāryo, Bayhilan, Bayhipangal, Baykan, Paypang, Bihān,
Canya, Casukolun, Denan, Diyan, Diyatan, Dugamang, Gahān, Gebisyan, Gin, Gindati, Gumkay, Hadakāryo,
Hinvo, Hiro, Idampisa, Idampyam, Ikan, Ilompangal, Itingayon, Kadijān, Kadisvati, Kagan, Kaman, Kan,
Kaytomay, Kolumakang, Kolun, Kruy, Kruyan, Kruyikan, Kuysāryan, Lakay, Lantān, Lantaya, Lanyan,
Lanyapangal, Latun, Layrivan, Ledo, Lesayivako, Linko, Lingvā, Lingyam, Lita, Lugamakang, Mahān,
Makalano, Makampangal, Makang, Makārya, Makāryān, Malimaya, Mangan, Mangān, Mangyan, Maran,
Marandan, Maranko, Maripuntayan, Matikan, Matikisu, Mavahang, Mayaran, Metāhang, Metida, Mican,
Mico, Mikadan, Mingperoy, Mingrenoy, Mingtiga, Miromān, Nahampadang, Nahang, Nahangbahis,
Nahangduga, Nahangkāryo, Nahangrivan, Nahangsirutay, Nakauran, Nake, Naraban, Nibān, Nilyaman, Niyas,
Pakay, Palungyan, Pangal, Paymayam, Peran, Pilisvarya, Pinyān, Prano, Pulan, Puntayan, Radanan, Rivahang,
Sān, Sedan, Semapayis, Sempay, Sikatān, Sikomban, Silvaban, Simileno, Sinisu, Sirimang, Sirtaneng, Sirtang,
Sopan, Suhing, Sungkoran, Taboy, Taboyan, Tahacān, Tang, Tapan, Taranan, Taryan, Tavisāya, Telbān,
Telbisu, Tenan, Tendan, Tenyam, Tiganisuyam, Tikim, Tipal, Togas, Toryan, Tukong, Ulang, Ven, Vey, Veykan,
Vipin, Virang, Vituran, Yan, Yivakan, Yivako, Yonang.
A.2 Feminine names
Agivay, Ajām, Alinglay, Anang, Apinisa, Apitu, Apituay, Apitvay, Avan, Bahay, Bayhimavay, Bayhimbay,
Bayhimvay, Bamis, Biling, Binisa, Briha, Dembay, Devisarang, Diras, Ditavay, Diyavay, Gada, Gebisan,
Gimbakay, Gindi, Hanuan, Hanvan, Hevenkivo, Ibamigray, Ijān, Ikangkan, Imaskay, Inun, Kadisati, Kadisu,
Kadisuati, Karkavay, Karon, Karonis, Kemisa, Koronān, Kovaro, Kumang, Lanvaya, Lenomagisu, Linglay, Lito,
Lompangal, Lugamakang, Magaya, Maha, Makangati, Makangisa, Malingtaraley, Malino, Malivaya,
Mangavaya, Matikisa, Migoray, Mingdruya, Mingtunyam, Misan, Nahamavay, Nahambay, Nahamvay, Narano,
Nilan, Ninlay, Niva, Notahān, Nukovay, Nupārya, Padahang, Padamban, Padangban, Palay, Pangalmican,
Panglay, Pasono, Petiginun, Pila, Pin, Pisamavay, Pisambay, Pisamvay, Pisārya, Pituay, Pitvay, Pralambaloy,
Primakay, Saylan, Sempayis, Sikatānang, Sikatāti, Sikatu, Sikavay, Sikongban, Silva, Silvan, Sinlay, Sinovay,
Sirtampel, Sirutahang, Sitampangra, Tadayen, Tahakaron, Tamaye, Taniva, Taranisu, Tasintān, Tavinim,
Tavisay, Tayvinim, Tempalay, Tentupas, Teping, Tiyisuan, Tiyisvan, Trānay, Tunan, Tunanisu, Tupoy, Tuvo,
Tuvomakay, Vakas, Vala, Vamuayam, Vamvayam, Vapa, Vesareka, Vesipangal, Veyikan, Vomay, Yirado.
THIS IS STILL A DRAFT ii
A.3 Gender-neutral names
Anang, Banvā, Cān, Cāsu, Caysu, Cisu, Dikun, Halingan, Hogo, Kongisu, Leno, Lingen, Maka, Makāti, Manting,
Migaran, Ming, Natran, Nava, Nebamperin, Nilyam, Pangoy, Pangra, Para, Parān, Paso, Perin, Perisu, Piha,
Pralan, Reta, Silnilan, Sutay, Tahi, Taran, Tenyārya, Tibeno, Toran, Veno, Veta.
B Appendix: Surnames
People commonly have surnames only in larger communities. These are usually occupational, patronymic,
derived from nicknames, or from localities.
B.1 Occupational names (examples)
Bimaya (painter) Lundāti (shoemaker) Tagaya (judge)

Binisaya (dyer) Nangāti (house builder) Tahanaya (scribe)
Dahapaya (counsillor) Napamaya (salesman) Tebamaya (baker)
Dayungati (taylor) Penaya (soldier) Tusaya (weaver)
Ibutaya (merchant) Perabimaya (miller) Vehamaya (builder)
Ijanati (coiner) Savāti (wright) Viharaya (shepherd)
Kimban (hunter) Singati (smith) Vitaya (wall painter)
Latamaya (salesman) Tagāti (judge) Yetang (farmer)
Note that -maya is often shortened to -may, or that long names may be contracted, for example Perabimaya
may appear shortened to Perambay. In the case of -maya following a Ca syllable, the -ma part is usually
dropped completely, for example -samaya → -saya. The derivational ending -ati ‘maker of something’ may be
dropped completely. Surnames derived from typical tools of trade appear as well. For girls and women,
-maya takes its female form, -vaya, with the same shortening habits.
B.2 Patronymic names (examples)
Patronyms may be formed by taking the name of the father as a surname, or by pre- or suffixing it with yan
‘son’, lay ‘daugther’, gan ‘child’, or the genitive marker na/-(e)na:
(1a)
In the case of the father being unknown, or the child having been received illegitimately, the name of
the mother is passed on:
(1b)
Appendix: Surnames THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 4
For mixed surname strategies, the local standard is preferred for naming the children: The father’s
patronym may become a surname in places where family names are preferred, or the family name of the
father is dropped in favor of a patronym in places where patronyms are preferred:
(2a) Family names preferred:
(2b) Patronyms preferred:
All examples above contain Yan or Lay, however this may be dropped as well where it is obvious: Ajān
Yan Mahān may be Ajān Mahān, Maha Lay Ajān may be Maha Ajān. In patronymic regions addressing each
other by first name is preferred.
B.3 Surnames from Nicknames (examples)
Surnames may be derived from nicknames, for example kāryo ‘big’, kivo ‘small’, nake ‘tall’, silvaryu ‘blind’ etc.
Surnames derived from tools – for example Haru ‘hammer’, Dadang ‘pen’, Tihang ‘knife’ – may be counted in
this category as well.
B.4 Surnames from Localities (examples)
Surnames deriving from places – such as Mehir ‘tree’, Yonang ‘stream’, or Aysu ‘valley’ – are common
especially in rural areas with small communities, which is the normal case, to distinguish two or more
people with the same first name. For example Bihān who lives near the market (ren) is Bihān Ren, while Bihān
who lives by the bridge (nekan) is Bihān Nekan. If Tipal from the village of Pramidano moves to the
significantly larger city of Mingkāryo where there is another person with his name, he may consider calling
himself Tipal Pramidano.
C Appendix: Swadesh List
1 I -ay 35 thin pakray

2 you (sg.) -va 36 woman envan
3 he -ya 37 man (adult male) ayon
4 we -ayn 38 Man (human being) keynam
5 you (pl.) -va(n) 39 child gan
6 they -yan 40 wife envan
7 this eda- 41 husband ayon
8 that ada- 42 mother māva
9 here edaya 43 father badan
10 there adaya 44 animal burang
11 who sinya 45 fish inun
12 what sinya 46 bird vipin
13 where siyan 47 dog veney
14 when sitaday 48 louse dasu
15 how sikay, simin 49 snake segas
16 not -oy- 50 worm lima
17 all -hen 51 tree mehir
18 many -ikan 52 forest vinim
19 some -aril 53 stick batey
20 few -kay 54 fruit nihan
21 other palung 55 seed tibin
22 one men 56 leaf baloy
23 two sam 57 root berem
24 three kay 58 bark (of a tree) santa
25 four yo 59 flower migoray
26 five iri 60 grass tipuy
27 big kāryo 61 rope kan
28 long tupas 62 skin yutan
29 wide apan 63 meat bari
30 thick pakir 64 blood baytang
31 heavy hagin 65 bone daram
32 small kivo 66 fat (n.) lapung
33 short bata, kivo (time) 67 egg hema
34 narrow mihu 68 horn hapi
Appendix: Swadesh List THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 6
69 tail sitram 104 to think nil-

70 feather nunam 105 to smell verya-
71 hair mitrang 106 to fear kar-
72 head devo 107 to sleep tor-
73 ear tang 108 to live ten-
74 eye niva 109 to die tenya-
75 nose vina 110 to kill tomba-
76 mouth banta 111 to fight pen-
77 tooth sapey 112 to hunt kimb-
78 tongue (organ) lā 113 to hit harisa-
79 fingernail ralamapang 114 to cut vis-
80 foot yila 115 to split mesam-
81 leg nama 116 to stab sik-
82 knee sirayila 117 to scratch tra- (v.)
83 hand sapay 118 to dig tirak-
84 wing navur 119 to swim tigal-
85 belly peynam 120 to fly nuna-
86 guts kongey 121 to walk lamp-
87 neck pasing 122 to come saha-
88 back pang 123 to lie (as in bed) hema-
89 breast tiras 124 to sit nedr-
90 heart patam 125 to stand beng-
91 liver nuho 126 to turn (itr.) gur-
92 to drink gin- 127 to fall lesa-
93 to eat kond- 128 to give il-
94 to bite roh- 129 to hold hang-
95 to suck mas- 130 to squeeze pasta-
96 to spit sic- 131 to rub mut-
97 to vomit banteb- 132 to wash ket-
98 to blow giha- 133 to wipe gonda-
99 breathe ulang- 134 to pull kac-
100 to laugh apa- 135 to push pehinka-
101 to see silv- 136 to throw ka-
102 to hear tang- 137 to tie nasa-
103 to know koron- 138 to sew tibin-
Appendix: Swadesh List THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 7
139 to count kur- 174 yellow piha

140 to say nara- 175 white maka
141 to sing nely- 176 black makārya
142 to play aja-, dap- 177 night sirutay
143 to float savit- 178 day bahis
144 to flow metida- 179 year perican
145 to freeze kars- 180 warm mato
146 to swell nit- 181 cold satiko
147 sun perin 182 full deng
148 moon kolun 183 new hiro
149 star siru 184 old tado
150 water karon 185 good ban
151 rain seyaran 186 bad nerau, niru
152 river nongon 187 rotten sebu
154 lake kodan 188 dirty idas
154 sea karon 189 straight sirimang
155 salt pruy 190 round hikamu
156 stone yelang 191 sharp (as a knife) kang
157 sand ahal 192 dull (as a knife) nahi
158 dust metāhal 193 smooth pray
159 earth avan 194 wet raro
160 cloud kutun 195 dry tiru
161 fog runoy 196 correct kayto
162 sky leno 197 near nasay
163 wind pin 198 far kahu
164 snow kanka 199 right patameng
165 ice karsang 200 left nuveng
166 smoke runu- 201 at -ya
167 fire tupoy 202 in -ya
168 ash napisān 203 with kayvo
169 to burn nap- 204 and nay
170 road sasano 205 if bata
171 mountain rivan 206 because yanoyam
172 red tuvo 207 name garan
173 green dano
D Epilogue, or why I did this
This section is supposed to cover why I actually did this – writing a grammar in scientific tone about a
language that does not even exist in reality, and – worse – do statistical analyses on it in order to write the
grammar as a pseudo-scientific document. Constructing languages is certainly a rare hobby, and maybe a
slightly eccentric, and people have asked me about it before on several occasions.
Let me start with an anecdote: When I was a child, maybe five or six years old, I remember I sometimes
wanted to know why words mean what they mean, or how they came to mean that. The usual answer from
my father was, “Well, get yourself an etymologic dictionary!” Of course, I didn’t yet know what that is, but as
it seems, words have always been fascinating to me in some way. It is not unusual, but I could read before
primary school and could write more than my name. Of course, my spelling was horrible until I learned to
spell in school. And while I was not yet working on artificial languages as a twelve year-old I would
sometimes, just for fun, invent cyphers of the Latin alphabet. The signs were often so complicated, however,
that I never stuck with them. I am not aware of any sheets with tables of letters having survived to this day.
In fifth grade I started learning English at school, and while learning grammar and vocabulary by rote
was certainly not a task I enjoyed, I did not have too much trouble learning the language textbook unit by
textbook unit. When I was in ninth grade, I wanted to read the Lord of the Rings in English; it seemed a
daring experiment to me at that time. Of course I did not make it through all three volumes in English,
however, again I must have been somehow fascinated by the detail Tolkien put into the various languages in
the book especially. I was not into the whole Fantasy Epic Thing with its Dwarves and Elves and Hobbits and
adventure and wars etc., but I learned Tengwar (the writing of Tolkien’s Elves), read things about Quenya
and Sindarin (two languages featured throughout the work) here and there on the internet and was shocked
to learn that at least Quenya had a full-blown grammar. Grammar! It was something awfully dreadful
teachers torture their pupils with. By way of Helge Fauskanger’s Ardalambion1 I got to Mark Rosenfelder’s
Language Construction Kit2 in the end, which I nevertheless gave a try, just for fun. After all, making up your
own rules cannot be as bad as learning preexisting ones, by definition! And thus I created my first
constructed language with the little knowledge of German, English, and French grammar I had acquired in
school, and I was bound to basically reproduce that. Eventually I gave up on this first attempt after a couple
of months and started a new project, which was doomed to die only a couple of months later as well,
suffering from similar problems. However, I had also got in touch with the Zompist Bulletin Board forum3 and
1 Fauskanger, Helge K. Ardalambion. Of the Tongues of Arda, the Invented World of J. R. R. Tolkien. 22 Dec. 2009. Helge K. Fauskanger, n.d.
Web. 12 Aug. 2010. <http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/>
2 Rosenfelder, Mark. “The Language Construction Kit.” The Metaverse. 2010. Mark Rosenfelder. 1996–2010. Web. 12 Aug. 2010.
<http://www.zompist.com/kit.html>
3 Rosenfelder, Mark et al. Zompist Bboard. Formerly d.b.a. Virtual Verduria Message Board. 2005. Spinnwebe, n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2010.
<http://www.spinnoff.com/zbb>
Epilogue, or why I did this THIS IS STILL A DRAFT 10
the Conlang Mailing List4 in the meantime, where I met people who actually knew things about linguistics, or
even studied it. This encouraged me to start reading linguistic papers to educate myself a little more in this
area. Not formally, but as a layman, and rather unsystematic, admittedly. Only reading papers is rather dry,
however, so in order to try out ideas which seemed interesting, I used language construction as a
playground: Ayeri was essentially born from this knowledge hunt.
Certainly, aesthetics is another aspect of why people create artificial languages – not necessarily in
order to facilitate worldwide communication through international auxiliary languages like Esperanto, but
as a form of self-expression, or art. Indeed, people have compared language-making to the fact that some
people draw or paint, while others compose or make music, and yet others put a lot of attention to detail in
their building of airplane, car, ship, or train models. For me on the other hand, it was words and grammar
that have replaced tinkering with Lego bricks at some point in time, and I was an avid Lego-tinkerer.
From this description of how I got to create Ayeri it may seem to the reader as though I had
continuously worked on my language for years, but that is not the case. Instead, much work on this project
has been done in fits, as time allowed. As I see it, any good work takes its time and effort, since you grow
with your project, learn from mistakes, refine things, and revise things. Thus, as time goes by, a vivid
complexity may arise in spite of its artificial, rational origin.
4 Theiling, Henrik et al. The Conlang Mailinglist. 1998–2010. Brown U, n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2010. <http://listserv.brown.edu/archive/-
conlang.html>

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Set in Gentium, 8.5 to 10.5 pt.

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1 Introduction ............................................................... 1 7 Predicate nominals and related constructions ... 43

Table 1: Consonants (spelling in brackets) ..................................................................................................................... 3

Figure 2.1: Pitch contour of a statement ........................................................................................................................ 6

. compound morpheme CONTR contrastive LOCF locative focus

This is a grammar of Ayeri, a South-Western-Kataytanian language. Blah.†

1.1 The name of the language

1.5 The sociolinguistic situation

1.5.1 Multilingualism and language attitudes

1.5.2 Contexts of use and language choice

1.5.4 Loan words

2.1.1 Consonant inventory

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Table 1: Consonants (spelling in brackets)

1 See section 2.1.2, page 4.

2.1.2 Vowel inventory

Front Central Back

Table 2: Vowels (spelling in brackets)

(1a) ibutaya -ang → ibutayāng

(1b) nanga-ye -ea → nangayēa

2.1.3 Syllable structure

The rough syllable structure of Ayeri is

(2) (C(w, r, j))(V(V))(m, n, ŋ, s, r, l)

(4) tang -oy -ay → tanguay

2.2.2.1 Simple statements

Simple statements typically have a rather flat pitch contour:

Figure 2.1: Pitch contour of a statement

(5) Ang manga konja seygoley edauyi.

Figure 2.2: Pitch contour of a question without a query word

Figure 2.3: Pitch contour of a question with a querying word

8 See section 2.2.1, page 5. Diphthongs are prominent carriers of stress.

3.1 Traditional morphological typology

3.2 Morphological processes

(7a) Tigal-ye ang Pila. (7b) tigal-yeng

1 See section 4.2, page 17.

Another prefix occurring with verbs is the reflexive marker sitang-:

More commonly, sitang- appears with pronouns, likewise to mark reflexivity:

(10b) Ang silv-ay-Ø sitang=yās.

(11a) ku=koya-ley (11b) ku=erpu

(12a) ada=gan-ang (12b) da=nārya

(13a) Da=saha-ara seyaran-eng (13b) Da=mə-nara-yāng.

For a repeated action, only the first syllable is reduplicated:

‘he speaks again’

Combining these two, we get:

3.3 Marking strategies

(18a) ming nara-nang

(18b) Vacyang konjam inunley.

(19) nanga na Parayan

(20) kong nanga-ya

3 See section 4.3.3, page 20.

(21a) Common noun as subject: (22a) Common noun as object:

(21b) Proper noun as subject: (22b) Proper noun as object:

(21c) Gerund as subject: (22c) Gerund as object:

(23c) Gerund and adjective: (24c) Gerund and possessive:

book → book-PL, book=many NAME → NAME-PL NAME=many

(25c) Gerund and plural: