#morphology

Nous, enseignantes et enseignants du primaire, du secondaire, du supérieur et du français langue étrangère, déclarons avoir cessé ou nous apprêter à cesser d'enseigner la règle de grammaire résumée par la formule «Le masculin l'emporte sur le féminin». Trois raisons fondent notre décision:  • La première est que cette règle est récente dans l'histoire de la langue française, et qu’elle n’est pas nécessaire. Elle a été mise au point au XVIIe siècle. Auparavant, les accords se faisaient au gré de chacun·e, comme c’était le cas en latin et comme c’est encore souvent le cas dans les autres langues romanes. Bien souvent, on pratiquait l'accord «de proximité», venu du latin, qui consiste à accorder le ou les mots se rapportant à plusieurs substantifs avec celui qui leur est le plus proche. Par exemple : «afin que ta cause et la mienne soit connue de tous» (Ronsard, épître à la Response aux injures et calomnies…, 1563). [...] • La seconde raison est que l’objectif des promoteurs de la nouvelle règle n’était pas linguistique, mais politique: «Parce que le genre masculin est le plus noble, il prévaut seul contre deux ou plusieurs féminins, quoiqu’ils soient plus proches de leur adjectif.» (Dupleix, Liberté de la langue françoise, 1651) ; «Le masculin est réputé plus noble que le féminin à cause de la supériorité du mâle sur la femelle» (Beauzée, Grammaire générale… 1767). Si l'école de la République a préféré abandonner cette formule au profit de celle qu'on connaît, c'est en reconduisant l'ordre de valeur qui est à son fondement. Un ordre que les classes politiques maintenaient parallèlement, en refusant aux femmes les droits politiques jusqu'en 1944, et en refusant plus longtemps encore de leur ouvrir les grandes écoles ou d'abroger les dernières dispositions du «Code Napoléon». • La troisième raison est que la répétition de cette formule aux enfants, dans les lieux mêmes qui dispensent le savoir et symbolisent l’émancipation par la connaissance, induit des représentations mentales qui conduisent femmes et hommes à accepter la domination d'un sexe sur l'autre, de même que toutes les formes de minorisation sociale et politique des femmes.

Morphemes (particularly bound morphemes): word parts that modify the meaning of a root word.

Derivational morphemes change the meaning or the part of speech of a word (i.e., they are morphemes by which we “derive” a new word). Examples are un*, which gives a negative meaning to the word it is added to, *y, which turns nouns into adjectives, or *ness, which turns adjectives into nouns.

Inflectional morphemes (sometimes just called "inflections") add grammatical information to the word, such as *s on runs, which tells us that it is 3rd person singular present tense verb, or the *s on boys, which tells us that there is more than one boy.

Here I am using a nonstandard means of marking an affix, which is and asterisk (*) marking the position of the root word instead of the standard hyphen (-); this is because Darnassian uses hyphens as part of the affix sometimes, and so I need to be able to mark when that's the case. So, a suffix that doesn't use a hyphen will be written as *suffix (ex. *s/as + dala -> dalas), whereas one that does will be written as -suffix (ex. -lo + arith = arith-lo).

This is an incomplete list that I expect to continue updating.

Darnassae's inflectional morphemes (with any canon examples):

-dae on verbs: progressive/continuous

-lo on verbs: past tense

-na(h) on verbs: future tense (falah-nah)

-nir = periodic vernal tense (something that occurs consistently in spring)

-ral = periodic autumnal tense (something that occurs consistently in autumn)

*s/*as on nouns: plural (dalas, sharas)

-sher = periodic estival tense (something that occurs consistently in summer)

-thal = periodic hibernal tense (something that occurs consistently in winter)

Darnassae's derivational morphemes:

*ae(/*ssae?) on nouns: "of [noun]" or "from [noun]"? (Darnassae)

*al = possessive adjective/determiner suffix

an*: masculine marker

'do: honorific suffix

'el on verbs: becomes a passive participle (ie the hunted mouse)

in* on nouns: becomes an adjective

me*/mi*: feminine marker

*n/*en on verbs: becomes a noun (agent) (ie hunt -> hunter)

'ne on verbs: becomes an active participle (ie the hunting cat)

sa* on verbs: becomes a noun (abstract) (ie deliver -> deliverance)

savi- = uncertainty prefix

tae- = negation verb/adjective prefix

I'm talking about a brand new species of snake found in China called Calamaria incredibilis. The snake measures about 8-9 in (20-22 cm) long, has a slender, brownish body, is non-venomous & has a tail that is short, blunt & shaped like its own head. The purpose of the fake head is to act as a decoy to trick predators into attacking the wrong end, giving the snake time to escape. In fact, if Calamaris is attacked, it immediately coils its body, tucks its real head inside the coil & exposes only the fake-headed tail. It turns out that even if its tail is bitten, it is resilient and disposable, and if it survives, it will eventually heal. Scientists found 2 specimens of this new species separated by 100s of miles on the road, which is surprising because these are burrowing snakes, but in both these cases, the snakes ventured out from their burrows & wandered on roads where they were spotted.

I'm talking about T. rex—no, not the fearsome king of dinosaurs that ruled the land, but one that ruled the sea called Tylosaurus rex (T.rex) in what is now Texas. 80 mya, parts of North America, including Texas, South Dakota & Kansas, were covered in a vast inland sea that was full of fish, sharks, turtles & 2 huge predators—one called Tylosaurus rex, measuring 43 ft (13 m) long & a smaller predator called Tylosaurus proiger that measured 30-40 ft (9-12 m). T. rex of the oceans was indisputably more massive & strong, with a skull built for stronger muscle attachment & more violent feeding behavior. (Note: This article will only focus on the marine T. rex.) Rex ate pretty much anything it liked, including Tylosaurus proiger shearing through plesiosaur ribs as if they were spaghetti, as well as fish, turtles crushing a large sea turtle shell like a styrofoam cup, & great white sharks crushing them & serrating them & snapping them in half. It would be like a bear trap closing on a loaf of bread. Its teeth were serrated like a saw & tore right through flesh & hard shells.

The species called Microeledone galapagensis was discovered in the northern Galápagos near Darwin Island at 5,800 ft (1,768 m). It is bright blue, unusually vivid for a deep-sea octopus, & about the size of a golf ball. This is a completely new species in the genus Microeledone, previously known only from the Southern Antarctic Ocean. Its presence in the tropical Pacific is biogeographically shocking—a major range extension for the lineage. Since it's a new species, researchers did not want to capture one & dissect it. Rather, they opted for X-ray CT scanning, preserving the specimen intact. Using this technology, they were able to see inside something the same way you see layers in a sliced loaf of bread—except the computer does the slicing, not a knife. This is part of a new movement toward non-destructive taxonomy for rare deep-sea species.

The octopus, which fits in the palm of your hand (1.7 in/4.3 cm). Its tiny size is an adaptation to low food availability, high atmospheric pressure & cold temperatures. Being small helps deep-sea animals because they run their bodies on very little energy, which is crucial when the water they live in is near freezing. A small body means less to heat, less to maintain & less to feed. It has a vivid cobalt blue coloring, likely due to chromatophore density (pigment-containing cells) & structural light scattering—unusual at abyssal depths, where pigmentation is reduced. It may be necessary for camouflage. It moves by hovering on the sea floor, & its compact, spherical mantle is ideal for low-energy hovering. Its arms are short & delicate, optimized for slow crawling rather than jet propulsion. Octopuses don't have teeth like mammals. Instead, they have a radula—a tongue-like ribbon covered in tiny, hard, backward-pointing scrapers that function like teeth. They're made of chitin, the same material as crab shells & insect exoskeletons.

I've realized upon translating some sentences that Òtpoetti̖ has a few major gaps regarding the behavior of adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, which I will be clearing up in the coming posts starting with this one.

Adjective Markers

Attributive Adjectives

Attributive adjectives are marked with a suffix placed on the head lexical word, or on an adjective particle if the head is multiple words. These suffixes mark the Manner of Modification, that is what property of the adjective the modifiee is intended to be modified by.

Manners of Modification:

-(m)ái - internal property: a property of the AdjP head that originates from the actual referent. Examples include “living” for an organism, “hot” for fire, “cold” for ice, “wooden” for a door, “juicy” for a fruit, “red” for a naturally red rock, etc. The m is only included if the previous word ends in a vowel.

ttapfu̗ (“water”) ttapfu̗ái (“watery”­)

-(s)o̖u - external property: a property of the AdjP head that originates from a source other than the referent. Examples include “wet” for a towel, “broken” for a window, “hot” for a pizza, “smooth” for a countertop, “red” for a car, etc. The s is only included if the previous word ends in a vowel.

ttapfu̗o̖u (“wet”­)

-te - personal property: a property of the AdjP head that stems from an experience regarding the referent. Examples include “fast” for restaurant service, “lucky” for a person, “delicious” for food, “boring” for a theme park, “fluent” for a person speaking a language, “desired” for a toy, “too spicy” for food, etc.

ttapfu̗te (“gets wet”­)

-tsūu - behavioral property: a property of the AdjP head that is exhibited by the referent but not an actual part of it. Examples include “friendly” for a person, “fast” for a dog, “drunk” for a drunkard, “wavy” for water, “often” for rain, etc.

ttapfu̗tsūu (“fluid”­)

Predicative Adjectives

Predicative adjectives (as well as predicative nominals) are marked in the same locations as attributive adjectives, but instead with suffixes marking the personhood, number, proximity, and animacy of the topic.

First Person Non-Paucal (Singular, Dual, and Plural) • Proximal: -e̖h (animate), -me̖h (inanimate) • Distal: -nje̖h (animate), -njme̖h (inanimate) Paucal • Proximal: -te̖h (animate), -tte̖h (inanimate) • Distal: -ce̖h (animate), -itte̖h (inanimate)

Second Person Minimal (Singular and Dual) • Proximal: -qa’ (animate), -txa’ (inanimate) • Distal: -qa’-tà (animate), -txa’-te̱h (inanimate) Paucal • Proximal: -k’a’ (animate), -xa’ (inanimate) • Distal: -k’a’-tà (animate), -xa’-te̱h (inanimate) Plural • Proximal: -qa’ (animate), -lya’ (inanimate) • Distal: -qa’-tà (animate), -lya’-te̱h (inanimate)

Third Person Singular • Proximal: -ko (animate), -po̱ (inanimate) • Distal: -kola̱ (animate), -konnæ̱ (inanimate) Dual • Proximal: -ko̱lo̱ (animate), -po̱lo̱ (inanimate) • Distal: -ko̱ræ̱ (animate), -po̱lo̱u (inanimate) Paucal • Proximal: -kong (animate), -po̱ng (inanimate) • Distal: -konnæ̱ (animate), -pwæ̱ (inanimate) Plural • Proximal: -kǽ (animate), -pá (inanimate) • Distal: -kæ̂ (animate), -páu (inanimate)

Adjective Particles

A lexical word of any part of speech may be an adjective head. Clauses used as heads are preceded by a particle denoting their part of speech. The particles include:

Noun: ngo̱

Adjective: a̗i

Verb: en

Tense, aspect, mood, and evidentiality in Òtpoetti̖ are spread throughout affixes and adverb phrases. TAM cannot be marked with a single particle. If there is no adverb to include in a TAM-marking adverb phrase, TAM is mostly (that is, with the exception of affixes) left up to context.

Derivational Aspect Affixes

These affixes are obligatory for a verb and take on a more lexical meaning than adverb particles do. They moreso express the degree of relevance of parts of the action. As such, these affixed are termed as denoting aspect-focus, rather than aspect. A verb may be marked as "stative-focused" with an affix, it can be grammatically non-stative due to a TAM adverb phrase.

n- marks stative-focused verbs (initial consonants of verbalized roots are deleted)

Verb root: napta̗’ (“to stay”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> nubì (“to see”)

(ō-) marks progressive-focused verbs (the affix is included if attached to a verbalized root; on verb roots there is no affix, but the initial vowel always has a high tone)

Verb root: āpta̗’ (“to stick around”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> ōübì (“to watch”)

v- marks inchoative-focused verbs (initial conosnants of verbalized roots are deleted)

Verb root: vapta̗’ (“to resist leaving”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> vubì (“to start to see”)

kk(à)- marks habitual-focused, gnomic-focused, or "propertative-focused" verbs, propertative meaning the action occuring is some property of the topic (the affix ends in a vowel if the following stem starts with a consonant)

Verb root: kkapta̗’ (“to hang around”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> kkubì (“to be that which sees”)

Grammatical Aspect Affixes

These affixes are obligatory as well, but are not derivational. They may only be unmarked when a verb is non-momentane and ambitelic. Ambitelicity can be marked with an evidential adverb phrase headed by the qo̱ particle.

-ì marks telic verbs

-è marks atelic verbs

-a̱ marks momentane verbs

Adverb Particles

TAME is expressed primarily through adverb phrases combining an adverb particle and word or clause that functions as an adverb in this position. The adverb particles mark the relationship that word or clause has to the main verb.

Tense is marked with specific times or relations to specific events.

The main verb and adverb will be shortened to MV and Adv, respectively).

Individual Particles

Simultaneous particle: ngō (“while”; marks the MV and Adv as happening at the same time)

k’omo̖ (“today”; noun) ngō k’omo̖ (“today”; adverb)

Previous particle: kâi (“before”; marks the MV as happening before the Adv)

kâi k’omo̖ (“yesterday”; adverb)

Subsequent particle: e̗ (“after”; marks the MV as happening after the Adv)

e̗ k’omo̖ (“tomorrow”; adverb)

Preparative particle: āno̖ (“for”; marks the MV as happening in order to prepare for the Adv)

āno̖ k’omo̖ (“for today”)

Causative particle: lite̱’ (“because”; marks the MV as the cause of the Adv)

lite̱’ k’omo̖ (“because of today”)

Productive particle: mu̗h (“from”; marks the MV as happening according to or created from the Adv; this can be used to form evidentials if the adverb is a source of information; usually the root is a noun for formation and a verb for evidentials)

mu̗h k’omo̖ (“from today”)

ōubì (“to watch”) mu̗h ōubìi (“from observation”)

Cooperative particle: txo (“along with”; marks the MV as happening in cooperation or mutual contribution with the Adv)

txo k’omo̖ (“along with today”)

Partitive particle: mæ̖n (“including”; marks the MV as a whole that the Adv is a part of)

mæ̂n k’omo̖ (“including today”)

Brevitic particle: qo̱ (“during”; marks the MV as happening simultaneously, but only briefly relative to a longer lasting event denoted by the Adv)

qo̱ k’omo̖ (“during today”)

Contrastive particle: fui̱ (“or”; marks the Adv as an alternative to the MV; can be used for various epistemic moods)

fui̱ k’omo̖ (“or today”)

otkèh (“there is not”) fui̱ otkèh (“or not”) - used for potentials or speculatives

ttè (shortened version of òtpoettè (“to say”) for this usage) fui̱ ttè (“or say”) - used for requesting verification of the statement (interrogative-dubitative)

maahyè (“there is”) fui̱ maahyè (“or there is”) - used for hypotheticals

Compound Particles

Some adverb particles can be combined with each other producing a compound phrase head, sometimes with a unique meaning compared to the component particles.

Some examples:

kâi ngō, the previous and simultenous particles together form a true inchoative aspect, distinct from the inchoative-focus of the derivational affixes.

āno̖ mu̗h, the preparative and productive particles together form a imperative or necessitative mood with the adverb being the reason (which one it is depends on context).

lite̱’ mu̗h, the causative and productive particles together form a deductive mood with the adverb being the reasoning.

kâi fui̱ otkèh, the previous and contrastive particles with the “there is not” adverb form a hortative or propositive mood (which one it is depends on context).

Adverb Phrase Stacking

The hitchhiker I'm talking about is the Remora remora, a fish that has a weird pastime—occupying the butthole of a manta ray. These fish can weigh 1-3 lbs (0.5-1.4 kg), so they're no lightweight, & you can imagine the manta ray's discomfort. Rays are fish as well, and trust me when I say that they are aware of the situation because, among other things, they are the smartest fish and have the largest brain-to-body ratio of any fish species. They are also the smartest of any fish species as well. Remoras have a modified dorsal fin that evolved into a suction disc. This allows them to attach to & pester other species, including divers, sharks, whales, turtles & even boats. But sometimes, instead of attaching to the outside, they wedge themselves into the butthole, specifically the cloaca of the manta ray—the shared opening for waste, reproduction & egg/sperm release.

Why the cloaca? Because the cloaca is safe from predators, protected from hydrodynamic drag, warm & sheltered & rich in food such as sloughed tissue & mucus. Manta rays suffer as a result because mantas swim by gliding, & anything that increases drag expends their energy. A manta swims 24/7, so even a small drag increase becomes a major metabolic tax. A manta ray's skin is delicate—only a few mm thick (0.1 in), so remoras cause physical injury in & around the ray's cloaca. Abrasions, ulceration & inflammation have all been noted. Mantas have been filmed shaking, twisting, spiraling & breaching, trying to get the hellish remoras out of their buttholes, all without success. This also interrupts the feeding of mantras. The remoras even interfere with ray reproduction due to blocking or irritating the cloaca. They interfere with copulation, disrupt sperm transfer & cause avoidance behavior during courtship.