Chapter 33Word Classes and Their Diagnostics
The major classification schemes and their grammatical diagnostics, including person marking, dependence, modification, and disputed category boundaries.
33.1 Word classes and their grammatical behavior
Ainu word classes are distinguished by their behavior in phrases and clauses, their person marking, and their capacity to combine with other elements. A translation such as “good,” “above,” or “then” gives only part of the information needed to describe that behavior Nakagawa (2024: 115–117). The principal descriptions differ in how they group dependent forms and divide the nominal domain.
| Description | Organization |
|---|---|
| Nakagawa (2024: 116–118) | Verbs, nouns, adverbs, prenominals, interjections, particles; auxiliaries belong to particles. |
| Nakagawa (2022: §1, Table 1) | Seven classes, with auxiliaries separate from particles. |
| Satō (2008: 3) | Six major classes; the noun subclasses include pronouns, numeral nouns, formal nouns, and nominalizers. |
| Refsing (1986: 74–77, §11) | Nominals, verbals, and clitics, each with subdivisions. |
| Bugaeva (2012: 469) | A revised presentation of Tamura's classification, with separate pronoun and conjunction labels. |
Refsing's nominals include free conjunctions, interjections, and adverbs as well as noun-like forms. Her broad category clitics includes adnouns and affixes Refsing (1986: 74–77). These groupings describe several degrees of syntactic and morphological dependence.
33.2 Predicates, arguments, and modifiers
33.2.1 Verbs
Verbs head predicates. Their subclasses differ in the arguments they license and the person series they take. Intransitives take S marking; transitives use A and O marking; the copula has its own combination of properties Bugaeva (2012: 470–471). Zero-argument verbs, such as sir-pirka “be good weather,” take no person marking. Third-person arguments also have zero marking, so a bare verb need not be zero-argument Satō (2008: 3); Bugaeva (2012: 470–471).
The person markers of a transitive verb can both precede the stem. Shibatani's a-e-koyki “I kill you,” labelled Itadori, illustrates A and O prefixes in that order Shibatani (1990: 19, example 14a). The paradigms are described in Chapter 62 (Person Marking and Argument Roles).
33.2.2 Nouns
Nouns head noun phrases that serve as predicate arguments. Common nouns, locative nouns, pronouns, and formal nouns differ in their morphology and independence Nakagawa (2024: 214–217). Common-noun affiliative forms use the A series for possessors; locative nouns use the O series for their reference point.
‘my hand’
Nakagawa 2024: 216; Hokkaido, dialect not specified
Published comparison of person marking on common and locative nouns.
These series names identify the forms shared with verbal person marking. Their function on these nouns is to identify a possessor or reference point. The subclass distinctions are developed in Chapter 34 (Nominal Subclasses and Dependence).
33.2.3 Formal nouns
Formal nouns require a modifier, with the permitted modifier differing by item. They include p/pe “thing, person” and hi “fact, time, place.” They do not take the ordinary possessive person marking Nakagawa (2022: §§3.2–3.4). Their close phonological attachment and their ability to follow a whole clause have led to noun, particle, and clitic analyses; see Chapter 35 (Formal Nouns and Nominalizing Constructions).
33.2.4 Adverbs
Adverbs modify predicates. Postpositional adverbs additionally take a preceding expression or person marker specifying their reference. O-series marking is characteristic, but opitta “all” takes A-series a=opitta in Nakagawa's Saru example Nakagawa (2024: 280–282, example 365). Person marking therefore distinguishes important patterns within the class without determining every member's classification.
33.2.5 Prenominals
Prenominals, also called adnouns, precede and modify nouns. They include demonstrative and numeral forms. Bugaeva contrasts tan cise “this house” with tan pe “this,” where the formal noun provides a nominal head Bugaeva (2012: 471). Nakagawa also records restricted combinations of demonstratives with case particles, including taan ta Nakagawa (2024: 288–289). Their distribution is described in Chapter 50 (Demonstratives and Reference).
33.2.6 Particles and auxiliaries
Particles express case relations, clause linkage, focus, sentence-final meanings, and other grammatical functions. Dependence is a matter of degree: yakun, classified as a conjunctive particle, can also begin a sentence meaning “then, in that case” Nakagawa (2024: 294, example 405).
Auxiliaries are a separate class in Nakagawa's 2022 account and a particle subclass in his 2024 grammar Nakagawa (2022: §1); Nakagawa (2024: 117, 294–295). Individual auxiliaries also differ: rusuy “want to” can join a preceding verb before its person suffix, while the anterior/perfective form a remains separate in the latter account Nakagawa (2024: 294–295).
33.2.7 Interjections
Interjections function as independent utterances. Some forms also occur as verbs: Nakagawa records verbal uses of iokunnure in Saru and Chitose, alongside its interjectional use Nakagawa (2024: 292–293). Classification can consequently depend on the construction in which a form occurs.
33.3 Property predicates
Modern descriptions generally include property predicates among verbs. They take verbal person marking and appear directly as predicates Nakagawa (2022: §§2.1–2.2); Satō (2008: 2–3); Bugaeva (2012: 470). Nakagawa's Saru example ku-pon hi ta “when I was small” contains first-person S marking on pon “small” Nakagawa (2022: §2.2, example 3).
Kindaichi and Chiri's 1936 grammar uses an adjective category while recognizing the shared inflectional behavior Kindaichi & Chiri (1936: 92, §129). The history and diagnostics of this analysis are discussed in Chapter 37 (Property Predicates and the Adjective Analysis).
33.4 Conversion and disputed category boundaries
33.4.1 Verbs used as nouns
Nakagawa describes nominal uses of intransitive verbs, diagnosed by their occurrence as objects and by the modifiers they take Nakagawa (2024: 120–123). A verb before a noun can also remain the predicate of a modifying clause. Nominal conversion and clause modification therefore require separate descriptions; see Chapter 40 (Noun Formation from Verbs and Nouns) and Chapter 103 (Relative Clauses and Accessible Relations).
33.4.2 Conjunctions
Satō and Nakagawa distribute conjunction-like forms among adverbs and conjunctive particles Satō (2008: 3); Nakagawa (2024: 117–118). Refsing groups free conjunctions with nominals, and Bugaeva's inventory gives conjunctions a separate label Refsing (1986: 75–76); Bugaeva (2012: 469). The accounts differ in the categories they use for forms of varying independence ‹contested›.
33.4.3 Nominalizers and evidential forms
Satō provisionally separates nominalizers introducing content clauses from formal nouns Satō (2008: 175, 180). Nakagawa describes formal nouns and their complementizer functions, while Bugaeva classifies the evidential uses of ruwe, hawe, siri, and humi as particles Nakagawa (2024: 258–259); Bugaeva (2012: 470) ‹contested›. The constructions and their interpretations are treated in Chapter 102 (Lexical Heads and Formal-Noun Nominalization) and Chapter 120 (Formal Nouns and Evidential Constructions).
References cited in this chapter
Bugaeva (2012) ·Kindaichi & Chiri (1936) ·Nakagawa (2022) ·Nakagawa (2024) ·Refsing (1986) ·Satō (2008) ·Shibatani (1990)