Knowledge base · Part IX — The Verb: Structure, Transitivity, and Verbal Number · this topic as a network
57. Transitivity, Valence Classes, and Ambitransitivity
How are verbs classified by the number and type of core arguments they license?
As a general principle in Ainu, a single clause or verb phrase has only one main verb, other verbal elements being converted into nouns, auxiliary verbs, or postpositional adverbs. (Nakagawa 2024: 518)
Transitivity as a formal property
What formal diagnostics determine a verb's transitivity class?
Trivalent transitive verbs in Ainu do not constitute an independent valency class because all of them are derived verbs. (Bugaeva 2012: 492–493) Aspectual pair verb constructions are often used as a diagnostic test for dividing Ainu verbs into actions versus states or processes. (Bugaeva 2012: 494–495) Regardless of syntactic transitivity, action verbs naturally enter the progressive construction, whereas process verbs do not. (Bugaeva 2012: 494–495) Process verbs allow only the perfect resultative pair verb construction with wa an / oka, and cannot occur in the progressive. (Bugaeva 2012: 494–495) Intransitive action verbs cannot occur in the perfect resultative with wa an / oka, taking the actional perfect construction instead. (Bugaeva 2012: 494–495) Transitive action verbs that imply a change of state can occur in the perfect resultative with wa an / oka, with the resultant state referring to that of their object. (Bugaeva 2012: 494–495) In Ainu, the opposition between transitive and intransitive verbs is clear-cut, as is the opposition between transitive verbs and nouns. (Bugaeva 2016) Some Ainu verbs exhibit uncoded alternations in the semantic roles of their arguments without a change in syntactic valency (the number of arguments). (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) When a transitive verb combines with an objective noun or affix (such as i-, u-, yai-, inau) and completes its meaning, no longer requiring an object or complement, it shifts to Class II conjugation. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Class II verbs whose singular stem ends in -n and whose plural stem ends in -p are classified as Type iii. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) hawean (plural haweokai) and haweash can be used synonymously with itak ('to say'), in which case they are Class II verbs. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Ainu verbs can be classified into complete verbs v0 (zero-argument verbs), intransitive verbs v1 (one-argument verbs), monotransitive verbs v2 (two-argument verbs), and ditransitive verbs v3 (three-argument verbs), depending on how many NPs they take. (Murasaki 2025: 23) The arguments required by an Ainu verb must appear as bare noun phrases without case particles or postpositional adverbs. (Nakagawa 2024: 126) Intransitive verbs require one argument and take personal affixes corresponding only to the subject, whereas transitive verbs require two or more arguments and take personal affixes corresponding to both subject and object. (Nakagawa 2024: 126) In Ainu, there is no grammatical distinction in form between subject and object, nor between direct and indirect object; both appear as bare noun phrases. (Nakagawa 2024: 127) Noun phrases accompanied by case particles or postpositional adverbs do not count as verbal arguments and can be added freely as adverbial phrases as long as meaning permits. (Nakagawa 2024: 127) Verbs in Ainu range from 0-place verbs ('complete verbs') to 4-place verbs according to the number of noun phrases they require as arguments. (Nakagawa 2024: 128) Transitivity in Ainu is determined by whether an expression is semantically complete with one argument or not. (Shibatani 1990: 26)
Person marking as the transitivity test
Which person markers distinguish intransitive from transitive verbs?
Whether an Ainu verb is a 1-argument verb versus a 2- or 3-argument verb is clearly distinguished by which set of subject person affixes attaches to it. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.2) To determine whether a verb is intransitive or transitive, one can attach the first-person plural affix 'an: if ='an is encliticized it is intransitive, and if 'an= is procliticized it is transitive. (Murasaki 2025: 23) In the Shizunai dialect, pronominal affixes attached to transitive verbs are always prefixed. (Refsing 1986: 142) nunpa 'to squeeze, strain' is a transitive verb that takes an object, and takes the inclusive first-person plural transitive subject prefix a-. (Satō 2008: 95) ipe is an intransitive verb meaning 'to eat (things), dine' that does not take an object, taking the inclusive first-person plural intransitive subject suffix -an. (Satō 2008: 95) e is a transitive verb meaning 'to eat' that takes an object, taking the inclusive first-person plural transitive subject prefix a-. (Satō 2008: 96) The distinction between intransitive and transitive verbs is most reliably identified in Ainu by the forms of the first-person plural subject ('we'). (Satō 2008: 96) For intransitive verbs, the first-person plural subject markers are suffixed as -an (inclusive) and -as (exclusive), whereas for transitive verbs, they are prefixed as a- (inclusive) and ci- (exclusive). (Satō 2008: 96) In person-number inflections other than first-person plural, intransitive verbs and transitive verbs do not inflect differently. (Satō 2008: 96)
Zero-place and one-place verbs
How are zero-place and one-place verbs formed, especially weather predicates?
One-argument verbs in Ainu can take an Agent, a Theme, or a Space/Location as their subject. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The one-argument verbs apkas 'walk' and yapkir 'throw' take an Agent as their subject. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The one-argument verbs makke 'open' and tuy 'break/get cut' take a Theme as their subject. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The one-argument verbs peker 'be bright' and hutne 'be narrow/constricted' take a Space/Location as their subject. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The one-argument verb as 'stand' can take either an Agent or a Theme as its subject. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) Verbs that take no noun phrases (NPs) are called complete verbs (v0) or zero-argument verbs, and many weather verbs belong to this class. (Murasaki 2025: 21) Zero-place verbs are basically formed by incorporating an element corresponding to a subject into a 1-place verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 128) Intransitive verbs may be extended by prefixes and suffixes, and thereby converted in some cases into transitive verbs. (Refsing 1986: 140) The suffixes -ke, -ka, and -(vowel) are added to intransitive verbs to derive transitive verbs. (Refsing 1986: 189) Ainu strictly regulates the number of noun phrases a verb can take, so structures where an intransitive verb like an 'exist' takes two noun phrases without a case particle are avoided. (Satō 2008: 4) Verbs compounded of a concept-form subject noun and an intransitive verb yield a zero-argument (ambient) verb (e.g., sir-kunne 'to become dark / be dark'). (Satō 2008: 272) Verbs compounded of an affiliative-form subject noun and an intransitive verb yield a one-argument intransitive verb (e.g., kema-pase 'to have one's legs become unsteady with age'). (Satō 2008: 272) Verbs compounded of a subject noun and a transitive verb yielding a one-argument verb are extremely rare in Ainu (e.g., koy-yanke 'to be washed ashore by waves'). (Satō 2008: 272) Verbs compounded of an object noun and a transitive verb yield a one-argument intransitive verb (e.g., aynu-hunara 'to look for people', ceppo-koyki 'to catch small fish', sir-epa 'to arrive at land'). (Satō 2008: 272) Verbs like o, us, oma, ot, and un can participate in two frame types: one where the entity/target is the subject, and one where the location is the subject and contains or holds the entity as an object. (proposed in Satō 2008: 275) The verb kopepka means 'to suffer hardship / to struggle'. (Satō 2008: 364) In Chitose and Saru dialects, the verb iyomare 'pour sake' is treated as a one-argument intransitive verb. (Satō 2023) The verb iyomare takes intransitive person inflection, as shown in i-y-oma-re-an 'we pour sake'. (Satō 2023)
Two- and three-place verbs
How are two-place and three-place verbs distinguished, and is there a direct/indirect object contrast?
In the Shizunai dialect, a few transitive verbs such as oyra 'forget', eranpetek 'not understand', and eramuan 'understand' can appear without an overt surface object. (Refsing 1986: 141, 142) In the Shizunai dialect, two-place transitive verbs taking only one object constitute the overwhelming majority of transitive verbs. (Refsing 1986: 143, 144) In the Shizunai dialect, underived lexical three-place verbs are very few in number. (Refsing 1986: 143, 144) In the Shizunai dialect, the vast majority of three-place verbs are derived from two-place verbs. (Refsing 1986: 143, 144) In the ditransitive verb kore 'give', the recipient functions as the direct object. (Satō 2023) In ditransitive verbs, direct and indirect objects are not morphologically distinguished and there is no special dative form. (reported in Satō 2023) In Sakhalin Ainu grammatical description, Murasaki (1979) terms verbs taking two objects 'ditransitive verbs' (v2). (reported in Satō 2023) In three-argument verbs, the third argument slot can be satisfied by an external argument that is not cross-referenced by personal affixes. (Satō 2023) In three-argument verbs, both objects cannot be simultaneously indexed on the verb with personal affixes. (Satō 2023) Three-argument verbs take the same set of person-marking affixes as two-argument transitive verbs. (Satō 2023) In the verb kore 'give', person marking normally falls on the recipient, whereas the theme receives no object marking. (Satō 2023) The causative verb ta-re can be analyzed as a two-place verb inflected according to morphological transitivity. (proposed in Satō 2023) Two-place transitive verbs cannot be converted to nouns and therefore cannot be morphologically incorporated into rusuy 'to want' as a single word. (Satō 2025) A class of transitive verbs is derived from intransitive verbs or verb roots by suffixing one of the five vowels -a, -e, -i, -o, or -u. (Shibatani 1990) Although paired intransitive and transitive verbs show systematic formal and semantic relationships, the transitivity-pairing suffix selected by any given root is lexically unpredictable. (Shibatani 1990) Identically shaped pairing suffixes like -ke function as intransitive markers in some verb pairs and as transitive markers in others. (Shibatani 1990) All trivalent transitive verbs are derived by applicative and/or causative derivations and are distinguished from bivalent verbs only by having two unmarked objects. (Bugaeva 2012: 470–471) With the sole exception of the verb o 'put plural things on something', all three-place verbs in Ainu are derived verbs formed by causatives or applicatives. (Bugaeva 2015: 48) The verb nu 'hear/ask sth' is a two-place transitive verb that can take only a Theme as its object, while the Source role can be expressed with the applicative prefix ko- or the postpositions wa and eun. (Bugaeva 2015: 49) Almost all 3-argument verbs in Ainu are derived either from applicatives or causatives. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.4) Two-argument verbs in Ainu fall into three types based on argument roles: Agent and Theme, Agent and Space/Location, or Theme and Space/Location. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The two-argument verb tuy-e 'cut sth/sb' takes an Agent subject and a Theme object. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The two-argument verb kus 'pass through (somewhere)' takes an Agent subject and a Space/Location object. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The two-argument verb oma 'be located (somewhere)' takes a Theme and a Space/Location argument. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) Three-argument verbs take Agent, Theme, and Space/Location arguments. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The three-argument base verb us-i means 'attach sth to (somewhere)' and takes Agent, Theme, and Space/Location arguments. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The two-argument verb otke 'poke, stick into' allows its non-spatial argument to be realized either as an Agent or as a Theme alongside a Space/Location argument. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The two-argument verb kuta 'empty out' exhibits three argument structures: Agent and Space/Location, Theme and Space/Location, and Agent and Theme. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) The two-argument verb kus 'pass through' can take an Agent and a Space/Location argument, or a Theme and a Space/Location argument. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) Consonant-final transitive verbs are extremely rare in Ainu, and their final consonants are restricted to a few consonants such as k, r, and t. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In a ditransitive verb like kore 'give X to Y', both objects are bare noun phrases and either can be omitted if understood from context. (Nakagawa 2024: 127) In three-argument verbs like epakasnu ('teach something to someone'), the indirect object appears as a bare noun phrase without any postposition. (Nakagawa 2024: 133) Very few transitive verbs may appear without an overt object, except when the object is third person, which has no overt pronominal affix. (Refsing 1986: 77) Transitive verbs that normally require an explicit object may occasionally be used without an explicit object in imperative utterances. (Refsing 1986: 142) When a verb phrase serves as the object of another verb, the dependent verb does not take a subject personal affix if both verbs share the same subject. (Satō 2008: 91) The verb kore can be translated depending on context as either 'give (to someone)' or 'give (to me/us)'. (Satō 2008: 119) The verb kouk means 'to rob X of Y', and its objective personal prefix en- is translated as 'from me' in this context. (Satō 2008: 145) The verb ruska is a transitive verb meaning 'be angry at / resent (something)'. (Satō 2008: 296) kore literally means 'give', but it can also be used to mean 'provide a spouse for one's child / marry off'. (Satō 2008: 353) The verb ari 'to put, place' takes a relatively narrow range of objects compared to anu, being frequently used for setting traps or nets, or kindling a fire, carrying the nuance of purposefully placing something there for a specific objective. (proposed in Satō 2008: 358) The verb kotapu seems to mean 'to roll up tightly', as seen in the expression kaskamuykotapu. (proposed in Satō 2008: 358)
Locative-object verbs
Which verbs take a bare location as object without a postposition?
The two-argument verbs us, o, oma, osma, kam-u/kam-pa, seske, kik, and pici take Space/Location as an argument and allow their other argument to alternate among multiple semantic roles. (Bugaeva & Kobayashi 2022: 15.5) Ainu possesses locative object verbs that specify a noun phrase of the <location> class as their object. (Nakagawa 2022: 14.6) The verb oma-re is a three-place locative object verb taking two objects, one of which must be a <location> noun phrase. (Nakagawa 2022: 14.6) The verb ahun 'enter' is intransitive and takes only a subject, requiring a case particle like ta to relate a location phrase to it. (Nakagawa 2024: 128) The verb osma 'jump into' is a locational-object transitive verb taking a subject and a place as its object, so marking the place with ta yields an ungrammatical sentence. (Nakagawa 2024: 128) Among base verbs, o 'put into' is the only verb that is inherently a 3-argument locative object verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 212) In clauses with 3-argument locative object verbs, the grammatical feature of being a <place> functions like a case marker to distinguish the locative object from the theme object. (Nakagawa 2024: 213) The transitive verb un 'to be attached to, to fit into' differs from the case particle un in that the verb does not require a locational complement. (Nakagawa 2024: 301) Locative-object verbs require a grammatical 'place' as one of their objects, and include oma 'to be in', omare 'to put into', o 'to put into', osma 'to plunge into', and kus 'to pass through'. (Nakagawa 2024: 457) The verb sik by itself appears to take a location as its subject, so esik can be analyzed as taking a location as subject and a thing/matter as object. (proposed in Satō 2008: 337)
Arity and the derivational calculus
How does arity function as a derivational calculus over verb words?
The suffix -ke functions as a transitivizer, deriving transitive verbs from intransitive verbs. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The suffix -ka functions as a transitivizer, deriving transitive verbs from stative and intransitive verbs. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) As transitivizing suffixes, -re attaches to vowel-final stems, whereas -te attaches to consonant-final stems. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) By adding derivational affixes or incorporating objects, verbs can change their valency to range from zero to four arguments. (Nakagawa 2024: 136) In this grammar, the term 'arity' is defined as a value calculated based on a verb's capacity to take noun phrases as its arguments, and is assigned to various elements within words and sentences. (Nakagawa 2024: 136) The derived verb he-puni 'to raise one's head' is intransitive (arity +1) and reflexive, whereas e-puni 'to raise someone else's head' is transitive (arity +2) taking the possessor of the raised head as its object. (Nakagawa 2024: 192) Formative suffixes derive citation-form verbs from roots, specifically forming paired intransitive and transitive verbs, and possess no arity of their own. (Nakagawa 2024: 198) Nominal prefixes equivalent to concept forms, such as he-, ho-, u-, yay-, si-, ci-, and i-, have an arity of -1. (Nakagawa 2024: 366) The verb poso 'pass through' is further analyzed as consisting of the root pos- and the transitive singular suffix -o. (Satō 2008) In Ainu, instances where a 3-argument verb converts into a 1-argument verb by the addition of a single nominal prefix are extremely rare. (Satō 2023) In Ainu three-argument verbs, personal affixes can only fill two of the argument slots, while the existence of the remaining one slot is supported by nominal derivational affixes or nominal roots. (Satō 2023) Under the concept of 'argument slot', which includes nominal derivational prefixes and incorporated nominal bases, the maximal valency of Ainu verbs is three. (Satō 2023) The 'argument slot' in Ainu is an abstract, verb-internal lexical property analogous to gender in nouns, rather than a surface morphological slot. (Satō 2023) Verbal valency in Ainu exists independently of macrorole valency and licenses anaphoric reference to a theme argument even without a cross-referencing personal affix. (Satō 2025) The macrorole valency of the auxiliary verb rusuy is 0, but its syntactic valency is 2. (Satō 2025)
Ambitransitivity and lability
How common are verbs that are both intransitive and transitive without morphological change?
As a rule, Ainu verbs do not exhibit valency fluctuation between intransitive and transitive uses without explicit morphological derivation. (Satō 2008: 97, Satō 2023) In many paired verbs, the intransitive verb is formed with the suffix -ke and the corresponding transitive verb with a bare vowel suffix. (Nakagawa 2024: 199) In some verb pairs, the intransitive verb corresponds to the bare root while only the transitive verb is formed with a single vowel suffix. (Nakagawa 2024: 199) Although -rototo and -rototke appear formally as if -rototo derives transitive verbs and -rototke intransitive verbs, this is not necessarily so, as yasrototo and pusrototo are intransitive while senrototo is transitive. (Nakagawa 2024: 206) When etokoyki 'prepare to do, be about to do' is used as an independent verb, it functions as a separable verb. (proposed in Satō 2008: 81) When etokus 'be just about to do' is used as an independent verb, it functions as a separable verb. (proposed in Satō 2008: 81) Verbs identical in form for both intransitive and transitive uses are extremely rare in Ainu, with only one pair attested so far: intransitive roski 'stand (pl.)' and transitive roski 'erect/set up (pl.)'. (Satō 2008: 97) Ainu intransitive–transitive verb pairs include pairs showing partial formal resemblance (e.g., intransitive inunpa vs. transitive nunpa) and pairs without formal resemblance (e.g., inkar vs. nukar, ipe vs. e, itak vs. ye, yaynu vs. ramu). (Satō 2008: 97) The verb ikka 'to steal' is an intransitive verb meaning 'to steal things' without taking an object, whereas eikka is a transitive verb meaning 'to steal [something]'. (Satō 2008: 150) In Ainu verbs, valency itself is almost always fixed and valency fluctuation is extremely rare, arising primarily in the case of three-argument verbs. (Satō 2023) The form iyomare-an represents an exception to valency shift triggered by pragmatic reasons. (Satō 2023)
Arity against the three-valency analysis
What is the main debate about which valence property the grammar should count?
A comprehensive account of Ainu verbal valency requires simultaneously distinguishing three separate types of valency: argument slots, general semantic-role valency (M-transitivity), and morphological valency. (proposed in Satō 2023) Argument slots in Ainu verbs are not inherently endowed with fixed semantic role specifications; rather, the specific function of an argument is determined independently depending on the construction. (proposed in Satō 2023) Under Van Valin's framework of M-transitivity, the maximal verbal valency in Ainu is two, consisting of Actor and Undergoer. (Satō 2023)