Verbs
Verbs in Nuer can be divided into two basic verb groups, known as intransitive verbs (in. verb) and transitive verbs (tr. verb).
Basic intransitive verbs describe an event or property. They only have one argument - a subject. In Nuer, intransitive verbs often describe motion events and bodily functions:
They also describe properties that are otherwise expressed by adjectives in languages like English:
We refer to this subytpe of transitve verb as adjectival verbs (adj. verb).
Most verbs in Nuer are transitive. Basic transitive verbs require a subject and an object:
It is currently unclear if there are any genuine ditransitive verbs in Nuer, since verbs that obligatorily have three arguments in other languages appear to be transitive in Nuer.
It isn't possible to tell if a word is a verb based on its meaning alone. We need to consider the shape of the word and its relationship to other words (morphology). We also need to consider its distribution in a phrase or clause (syntax).
Verb morphology
Verbs in Nuer vary in form depending on how they are used in a sentence. Different verb forms are used depending on where they appear. These verbs forms also differ according to their valence. Grammatical categories commonly associated with verbs such as tense and aspect are expressed using auxiliary verbs.
The type of vowel that occurs in a basic verb is very important for understanding verbal morphology in Nuer. Vowels can be grouped according to their distribution in the verb paradigm into grades. Basic verb forms can be distinguished according to whether the stem vowel is Grade 1 or Grade 2.
| Orthography | IPA |
|---|---|
| i | ɪ |
| ɛ | ɛ |
| a | a |
| ɔ | ɔ |
| o | ʊ |
| iɛ | ɪɛ |
| ɛ̈ | ɛa |
| ɔa | ɔa |
| uɔ | ʊɔ |
| Orthography | IPA |
|---|---|
| i̱ | i̤ |
| e̱ | e̤ |
| ä | ʌ̤ |
| a̱ | a̤ |
| ɔ̱ | ɔ̤ |
| o̱ | o̤ |
| u | ṳ |
| e, ë | e |
| ö | o |
| i̱e̱ | i̤e̤ |
| ɛ̱̈ | e̤a̤ |
| ɔ̱a̱ | ɔ̤a̤ |
| uɔ̱ | ṳɔ̤ |
The following verbs all have Grade 1 vowels:
The following verbs all have Grade 2 vowels:
Verb forms
Each verb has a set of verb forms which are used in different contexts. If the subject of the clause is expressed by a pronoun or noun phrase that occurs immediately after the verb, a bare form of the verb is used. If the subject does not follow the verb, then the verb changes its form to agree with its subject. Verbs also have non-finite forms, which are used when a verb is combined with an auxiliary. There are also imperatives, used to make orders, and gerunds, which are special forms of a verb that allow it to be used like a noun.
Bare verb forms
Bare verb forms occur when the subject immediately follows the verb:
- Ŋam jɛn. ‘S/he yawns’
- Cuy jɛn. ‘S/he is tired’
- Nhiɛy jɛn ŋuani̱. ‘S/he squeezes things.’
Bare forms are interpreted as having a general imperfective/present reading, and are often translated into English as progressives.
Agreeing verb forms
If the subject does not immediately follow the verb, then the verb changes its form to agree with its subject. Like bare forms, agreeing verbs forms are interpreted as having a general imperfective/present reading.
The form of a verb may differ depending on the person (first, second and third) and number (singular, dual and plural) of their subject. If the subject is first person, and refers to more than one person (the speaker plus one or more people) then a clusivity distinction is also made to indicate whether the hearer is included (inclusive) or excluded (exclusive) from the group. Dual forms (where the subject refers to exactly two entities) aren’t used in declaratives and aren’t currently exemplified in the dictionary.
Subject agreement is expressed by the following suffixes (Reid 2019: 56):
| Person/number of subject | Suffix |
|---|---|
| 1SG | -ä |
| 2SG | -i̱ |
| 3SG | -ɛ |
| 1PL.EXCL | -kɔ |
| 1PL.INCL | -nɛ |
| 2PL | -ɛ |
| 3PL | -kɛ |
In addition to suffixation, the stem of the verb varies in vowel quality, depending on the person and number of the subject. Because of this, vowels that fall into Grades 1 and 2 can be further grouped into cross-cutting grades A and B. Each Grade A vowel has a corresponding Grade B vowel (see Reid 2019: 109).
| Grade 1 | |
|---|---|
| Grade A | Grade B |
| i | iɛ |
| ɛ | ɛ̈ |
| a | a |
| ɔ | ɔa |
| o | uɔ |
| Grade 2 | |
|---|---|
| Grade A | Grade B |
| i̱ | i̱e̱ |
| e̱ | e, ë |
| e̱ | ɛ̱̈, |
| ä | a̱ |
| ɔ̱ | ɔ̱a̱ |
| o̱ | ö |
| u | uɔ̱ |
Grade A vowels always occur in the stems of second person singular (2SG) and third person singular (3SG) verbs. Grade B vowels always occur in the stems of first person singular (1SG) and plural (1PL), and second person plural (2PL) verbs. Third person plural (3PL) forms are Grade A for basic intransitive verbs and Grade B for basic transitive verbs.
When a verb is used without agreement suffixes, in its bare form, it always has a Grade A vowel.
Non-finite verbs forms
If a verb occurs together with an auxiliary verb, it must occur in a non-finite form. Non-finite forms do not agree. Instead, the auxiliary verb varies according to the person, number and clusivity of their subject in a similar way to regular verbs:
- Cä Bool ca̱a̱r ‘I have thought about Bool.’
The negative non-finite form (NF NEG) occurs with the negative auxiliary in present tense constructions. This form always has a Grade A vowel. The general non-finite form (NF) occurs in all other auxiliary verb constructions. This form sometimes has a Grade A vowel and sometimes has a Grade B vowel, depending on the verb.
Other verb forms
Verbs also have a number of other forms which are not currently listed in our dictionary entries. For instance, most verbs have distinct imperative forms used to make an order. In the basic paradigm, the imperative forms have the same vowel length and vowel grade as the corresponding bare form. However, they can differ in terms of tone:
- Kit di̱i̱t! ‘Start singing a song!’
Every verb also has at least one gerund. Gerunds are special forms that allow a verb to be used like a noun. They most frequently occur in progressives, which express that an event is ongoing:
- Ɣän a̱ kwe̱t ra̱n. ‘I am kicking the person.’
Gerunds can inflect for number and case, just like other nouns. In this example kwe̱t 'kicking' is the singular gerund in the locative case for the verb kwɛt 'kick'. For a detailed account of Nuer gerunds see Baerman et. al (2019).
Valence
A very important property of verbs in Nuer is that they can change their form based on their valence. All verbs can be characterised as having a basic valence (i.e. intransitive or transitive) which helps us identify how many arguments the verb normally has. Morphology that alters the valence of a verb decreases or increases the number of arguments a verb has. There are three main types of valence-changing processes: antipassive, applicative and associated motion. The applicative and antipassive changes can be used together to form applicative antipassives.
In Nuer valence is indicated by changes to vowel quality, vowel length and tone of the verb stem. Valence changes are not marked by suffixes.
A full description of valence changing morphology in Nuer can be found in Reid (2019).
Antipassive
Antipassive verbs are transitive verbs that have had their object argument suppressed. That is, they have a subject argument but no obligatory object argument. While transitive verbs usually describe an event in which an entity (the object) is affected by the action of the verb, antipassive verbs are more concerned with the action of the verb, than the entity that is affected. Antipassives can be formed from all transitive verbs.
Applicative
Applicative verbs are transitive verbs that have had have an additional object added. This is called an applied object. The original object of the transitive is known as the primary object. The applied object usually expresses a beneficiary (i.e. someone who benefits from the event), but can also expressed a maleficiary (i.e. someone who is affected negatively by the event). Verbs formed in this way are sometimes called applied verbs. Applicatives can be formed from all transitive verbs.
Applicative antipassive
The applicative antipassive are formed using two valence changing processes. They are formed from transitive verbs, by adding an applied object, and suppressing the primary object. They have a subject and an applied object, but no primary object. Applicative antipassive forms can be formed from all transitive verbs.
Associated motion
Associated motion verbs indicate that the action of a verbs is associated with an additional motion event. As well as a subject and object, associated motion verbs must express the goal of the motion (i.e. the place or person that the subject and object is moving towards). All three arguments are obligatory. Associated motion forms can be formed from most transitive verbs.
Associated motion oblique
Associated motion oblique verbs are derived from associated motion verbs. Like associated motion verbs, they express the goal of the motion (i.e. the place or person that the subject and object is moving towards). However, the goal must be introduced by the preposition kä̱. The term oblique is used to indicate that the goal is less like a genuine argument of the verb, but it is nevertheless obligatory.
Causative
Causative verbs indicate that the subject causes someone or something else to do something. It brings in a new argument (the causer) into a clause, with the original subject becoming an object.
Middle
Middle verbs indicate that the subject referents act upon themselves or for their own benefit. Middle forms are uncommon and can only be formed from certain verbs.
Verbal number
Stem changes reflecting a change in verbal number indicates that the action denoted by the verb is performed a single time or multiple times. Whether the event is interpreted as occuring once or iteratively depends on the meaning of the verb: verbs that are inherently iterative, such as mat 'fold many times' are interpreted as occuring just once when marked for verbal number, whilst those events which happen once, such as ban 'fold' are interpreted as iterative when marked for verbal number.
There are three possible interpretations of the verbal number category:
- Multiplicative verbs indicate that the event described happened iteratively.
- Punctual verbs indicate that the event described happened once.
- Neutral forms indicate that event described happened either once or iteratively.
References
Baerman, Matthew, Irina Monich & Tatiana Reid. 2019. Nominal inflection classes in verbal paradigms. Morphology 29, 317–335.
Reid, Tatiana. 2019. The phonology and morphology of the Nuer verb . PhD dissertation: University of Surrey.