Chapter 69Person-Marker Order and Stem Boundaries
Prefix sequences, portmanteaux, prefix–suffix combinations, additional number marking, and evidence for separable person forms.
69.1 Person marking around a derived stem
Person marking relates a verb's arguments to the speech situation. In an ordinary two-prefix combination, the A index precedes the O index, and both precede the derived verb stem. Intransitive first-plural and fourth-person forms instead have a following S marker Bugaeva (2012: 472–474); Nakagawa (2024: 166–174, 210). These patterns can be represented schematically:
| Pattern | Order |
|---|---|
| Ordinary transitive prefix combination | A — O — derived stem |
| Intransitive with a prefixed S marker | S — derived stem |
| Intransitive first plural or fourth person | Derived stem — S |
The derived stem may already contain applicative, reflexive, reciprocal, incorporated, or causative material. The productive causative suffixes include -re, -e, -te Nakagawa (2024: 137, 210). Their internal ordering is treated in Chapter 56 (The Verb Word and Its Boundaries). A person template must also accommodate portmanteaux, zero forms and dialect-specific combinations.
69.2 Two prefixes and a portmanteau
This example displays A before O. Saru/Chitose conversational first-to-second-person forms instead use eci= for the combined person values. It covers either number of subject and either number of object Bugaeva (2012: 474); Nakagawa (2024: 171). A single visible prefix can therefore express information that other cells distribute across two prefixes.
Saru and Chitose descriptions should still be kept distinct. Nakagawa gives Saru a=eci= beside Chitose aci= for fourth-person A with second-plural O. Satō's shorter Chitose second-to-first forms coexist in the literature with longer reported variants Nakagawa (2024: 171, tables 28–29); Satō (2008: 147). See Chapter 65 (Eci and Person Interactions).
69.3 Prefix and suffix combinations
Other dialects can distribute transitive person marking across both sides of the stem. In Nakagawa's Ishikari example, the bear's first-person subject is expressed after the stem, while the people it addresses receive the second-plural object prefix Nakagawa (2024: 174, example 134).
‘I will watch over you.’
Nakagawa 2024: 174; Ishikari, Example 134, from Sunazawa 1983: 58, as reproduced by Nakagawa
The bear addresses several people. The gloss identifies the subject's value in this interaction.
Refsing reports a comparable Shizunai first-singular-to-second-plural construction, with eci=…=an alternating with an=eci= in her example 372 Refsing (1986: 225). That reported alternative belongs to a particular interaction cell; it does not establish free prefix–suffix movement throughout the paradigm.
69.4 Number markers and the stem boundary
Additional number marking can follow a person-marked verb. Satō reports Chitose yaynu-an-pa and rejects the reversed order with pa before the person marker for that example Satō (2008: 104). Nakagawa discusses both additional number particles and special constructions involving iki Nakagawa (2024: 155–160). These constructions have to be distinguished from lexical stem-forming number suffixes; see Chapter 58 (Verbal Number and Stem Alternation).
The placement of a person marker is thus useful evidence about structure, but its position does not automatically identify the final boundary of every verbal expression.
69.5 Separability and morphological status
Nakagawa calls this “separated person” marking. He reports frequent examples from one Chitose speaker and a Saru parallel, and argues that =an has clitic-like independence Nakagawa (2024: 183, examples 161–163). Bugaeva, following Tamura, distinguishes word-like =an/=as, clitic-like a=/eci=, and more tightly bound prefixes Bugaeva (2012: 472–473) ‹contested›.
These analyses use distributional and phonological evidence. The equals sign used throughout this grammar marks person boundaries; by itself it does not decide the affix–clitic question Nakagawa (2024: 59–60).
References cited in this chapter
Bugaeva (2012) ·Nakagawa (2024) ·Refsing (1986) ·Satō (2008)