Peculiarities of Silindion's Past Tense

 In Silindion, the past tense is the most variable
from verb to verb, being formed with 8 suffixes which
attach to the root in 3 different types of ways.

The first type of past tense is the "Root" past tense.
This attaches one of the 8 suffixes to the root of the
verb.

The following suffixes are used:

Consonantal:        Non-Consontantal:
   -si                  -zero
   -ssi                 -i
   -ti                  -ë
   -na
   -në

-si   is mostly used after roots that end in a stop or
a "v". Consonant assimilation occurs:

   nak- "to kill"      anaksi "he killed"
   it-  "to prick"     eissi  "he pricked"
   antand- "to grant"  ontansi  "he granted"
   rev-  "to row"      arepsi  "he rowed"

-ssi is attached almost exclusively to roots that end
in a long "e", which becomes "i" before the suffix:

   lē- "to show"      alissi "he showed"
   nē- "to marry"     anissi "he married"
   vē- "to gossip"    avissi  "he gossiped"

-ti is attached to some roots that end in an -n or a
liquid:

   nossan- "to snow"  anossanti "it snowed"
   sur-   "to rustle"  asulti   "it rustled"
    (irregular "r" -> "l" shift)

-na is a rare suffix which is added to vowels

    vo- "to have the power to, be able to"
  (High Silindion and Poetic/Philisophical)
     avona "he could, he was able to"
    se- "to seem"     asena "it seemed"
    ra- "to hold, have"   arena "he had"
     (irregular  "a" -> "e" shift, by analogy with
     "asena")

-në is a suffix that appears in the root neit- "to
increase, augment":   aneintë (with metathesis)

   This seems to be from a blending of the suffix -ë
   and certain consonant extension roots which will be

   discussed below. It could also be influenced
   by the suffix -na.

-zero is a "added" to some roots ending in "i" and
sometimes those that end in "y", although these
usually have an alternate form with the suffix -ë
   koimi- "to lie down"    auimi "he lay down"
   mi- "to sink, set"      ami   "it sank"
   (I'm not sure if this root behaves like this...
actually)
   pay- "to keep vigil, guard"  aphai "he guarded"
   noy- "to consecrate"         anoi "he consecrated"

-i is added to many roots ending in the vowels "o",
"e" and "a", as well as those which
end in a dropable "k". The vowels all become "ë" in
combination with the suffix. It is also added to roots
whose medial vowel is "u" or "i"

   la(k) "to ride"   alai "he rode"
   nanke- "to discover, find"  anankë "he found"
   malya- "to move"   amalyë  "he moved"
   kuiya- "to create"  auiyë "he created
   til- "to see"       assili "he saw"
   lum- "to descend"   alumi "he descended"

-ë  this is the most common suffix and is added to
many different types of roots, sometimes those with
other suffixes have alternate past tense with this
suffix, in different registers or dialects:

   neP- "to sing"     anephë  "he sang"
   ëosk- "to cut"     uyoskë  "he cut"
   nos- "to break" (waves"   anosë "it broke"
   ë- "to be"         ië "he was"
  (the root was *ay- which became ë-,
   in the past tense, the augment *a- combined
   with the root to become *oy-, which became
   *ë-. Before the -ë of the suffix, this became i-,
   hence the odd augment)

etc.

-----------------------------------------------
The second type of past tense is the "consonant
extension past tense". This is used with a small
amount of verbs whose root is extended by "l" or "n"
in some forms, like the past and the passive
participle. They all form the past with the extension
plus the suffix -ë

ne- "to give"  anelë "he gave"
ya- "to go"    ayanë "he went"
  (this one has an irregular augment to, it doesn't
   become  ëanë , like expected)

u- "to gleam"  olë "it gleamed"
hya- "to age"  ahyanë "he aged"

(Those whose extension is an "n" look like the Root
past tense with the suffix -në , and this might be the
origin of this odd suffix. They are different from the
verb neit- with its odd suffix, in that they have the
extension in many other forms as well)

-----------------------------------------------
The third and last type of past tense is the
zero-grade past tense. This adds a suffix, either -si
or -ti to a form of the root which lacks its
charecteristic vowel. This is very rare, only occuring
in 4 verbs, two of which have alternate Root past
tenses:

  vow- "to be, exist, have essence"
   vusi "it was, there was"
   (High and Middle Silindion, unaugmented. The
    -w- becomes a -u- between two consonants)

  ra- "to have, hold"    arti "he had, held"
   (as opposed to  "arena")

  se- "to seem"          asti "it seemed"
   (as opposed to "asena")

  the- "to be necessary"  thi "it was necessary"
   (this has the suffix -ti, added to an original
    *st-. The combination *st-ti, became *st-i and
    then "st" became "th" in Silindion)

And there you have it.

 Elliott Lash







		
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Express yourself with Y! Messenger! Free. Download now.
http://messenger.yahoo.com