Sakao Language - Syntax

Syntax

Sakao has a suffix -ɨn that increases the valence of a verb: it makes intransitive verbs transitive, and transitive verbs ditransitive. It the latter case, one argument may be the direct object and the other an instrument; the word order of the arguments is free, leaving context to disambiguate which is which:

Mɨjilɨn ara amas.

mɨ-jil-ɨn	a-ra	a-mas
S/he-hits-TRANS	ART-pig	ART-club

"He hits (kills) the pig with a club"

This could also be mɨjilɨn amas ara.

The Sakao strategy involves polysynthetic syntax, as opposed to the isolating syntax of its neighbor Tolomako. For instance, the word 'pig' above could be incorporated into the verb, leaving a single external argument:

Mɨjilrapɨn amas.

mɨ-jil-ra-p-ɨn	a-mas
s/he-hit-pig-PFV-TRANS	ART-club

Sakao polysynthesis can also involve compound verbs, each with its own instrument or object:

Mɔssɔnɛshɔβrɨn aða ɛðɛ (or: ɛðɛ aða)

mɔ-sɔn-nɛs-hɔβ-r-ɨn	a-ða	ɛ-ðɛ
s/he-shoots-fish-follows-CONT-TRANS	ART-bow	ART-sea

"He kept on walking along the shore shooting fish with a bow."

Here aða "the bow" is the instrumental of sɔn "to shoot", and ɛðɛ "the sea" is the direct object of hoβ "to follow", which since they are combined into a single verb, are marked as ditransitive with the suffix -ɨn. Because sɔn "to shoot" has the incorporated object nɛs "fish", the first consonant geminates for ssɔn; ssɔn-nɛs, being part of one word, then reduces to ssɔnɛs.

• Tolomako language, for parallels to the above in a closely related but grammatically simpler language