Part B: The Verb
3. First Person Subject Pronoun, Dual
At this point Denes¶øiné
has an extra category that is not found in English. Denes¶øiné
verbs number in singular, dual, and plural. English has
only singular and plural.
First person
dual 'we' is formed by adding the prefix id, just before
the classifier and stem.
| hqþe |
‘he,
it is' |
| hídlü |
'we (2)
are' |
or |
| nádher |
'He is staying' |
| náhídher |
'We (2)
are staying' |
or |
| Yeøtsi |
'He is making
it' |
| híltsi |
'We (2)
are making it' |
When the prefix id is introduced into a verb, certain phonetic
changes take place in the verb.
1. If there is
a classifier 1 or ø
just before the stem, the / d / is dropped and ø
becomes 1 .
| yálgus |
'He is jumping' |
| yáílgus |
'We (2)
are jumping' |
| or |
| yíøchu |
'he is taking
it' |
| hílchú |
‘We
(2) are taking it' |
2. If the first
consonant of the stem is / ? /,
the / d / becomes / t /.
| yene¿® |
‘he
is stealing it’ |
| niþ® |
‘we
are stealing it’ |
3. If the first
consonant of the stem is /d, k, j, t/, the / d / is dropped.
| Yedq |
‘he
is drinking it’ |
| Hídq |
‘we
are drinking it’ |
| Ghekel |
‘he
is paddling’ |
| Ghíkel |
‘we
are paddling’ |
| Hejen |
‘he
is singing’ |
| Híjen |
‘we
are singing’ |
4. If the first
consonant of the stem is / n /, the / n / is dropped.
| Eghálana |
‘he
is working’ |
| Eghálaghída |
‘we
are working’ |
5.
If the syllable immediately preceding id ends in / e / or
/ i /, the vowels
/ e / or / i / are dropped.
| hetsagh |
'He
is crying' |
| hítsagh |
'We (2)
are crying' |
or |
| nüdhen |
'He is thinking' |
| níddhen |
'We (2)
are thinking' |
6.
It will be noticed that, in some cases a consonant / gh
/ or / h / is introduced when the first person dual íd
is added to the verb.
| y®øchú |
'He
is taking it' |
| yehüøchú |
'We (2)
are taking it' |
or |
| yeríttvagh |
'He hears
it' |
| díttvagh |
'We (2)
hear it' |
or |
| shétü |
'He is eating' |
| shéhítü |
'We (2)
are eating' |
or |
| yaøti |
'He is talking' |
| yaheøti |
'We (2)
are talking' |
The reasons for the above variations are not fully understood,
but / gh / usually occurs if there is a vowel / i / in the
second last syllable. / h / usually occurs with verbs that
have ne as a second person subject pronoun prefix.
