This article describes the Grammar of Tigrinya , a South Semitic language pronounced primarily in Eritrea and Ethiopia, and is written in the Ge'ez script.
Video Tigrinya grammar
Nouns
Gender
Like other Afro-Asian languages, Tigrinya has two types of grammatical, masculine and feminine, and all nouns including one or the other. Grammatical genders in Tigrinya language go into grammar in the following ways:
- Verbs agree with the subject in gender (unless the subject is the first person).
- The second and third person pronouns ( you , them , them , them , etc. in the language English) are differentiated by sex.
- The adjectives and determinators agree with the nouns they modify in gender.
Some pairs of nouns for people distinguish masculine and feminine with their ends, with feminine signals by t . This includes the noun agents derived from the verb - ??? kÃÆ'¤fÃÆ'¤tÃÆ'¤ 'open', ??? kÃÆ'¤fati 'opener (m.)', ???? kÃÆ'¤fatit 'opener (f.)' - and nouns for national or indigenous populations - ????? t? graway 'Tigrean (m.)', ?????? t? grawÃÆ'¤yti 'Tigrean (f.)'.
Grammatical gender usually agrees with biological sex for humans and animals; so no such noun ?? 'abbo ' father ', ?? wÃÆ'¤ddi 'boys', and ???? b? '? ray 'ox' is masculine, while a noun like? addÃÆ'¤ 'mother', ?? g? al 'daughter, woman', and ?? lam or ??? lah.mi 'cow' is feminine. However, most names for animals do not specify biological sex, and words ????? tÃÆ'¤ba'tay 'men' and ?????? an? stÃÆ'¤yti should be placed before the noun if gender should be indicated.
The gender of the least living noun is unpredictable from its form or meaning. Grammar sometimes disagrees with the gender of certain nouns; as an example, ??? ? ÃÆ'¤? ay 'sun' is masculine according to Leslau, feminine according to Amanuel. [0927904205] This disagreement seems to be due to dialect differences.
Numbers
Tigrinya have a single number and plural, but nouns that refer to many entities are not in the plural. That is, if the context is clear, a single formal noun can refer to several entities: ???? ? ammu? tÃÆ'¤ 'five', ???? sÃÆ'¤b'ay 'men', ???? ???? ? ammu? tÃÆ'¤ sÃÆ'¤but , 'five men'. It is also possible for a single formal noun to appear along with the adjective plural adjectives or verbs: ???? b? zu? in 'many (pl.)', ?? 'addi' 'village'; ???? ?? b? zu? in 'addi ' many villages'. The convention for when these singular and plural combinations is or may not seem complicated.
As in Arabic, Tigre, and Ge'ez, plural nouns are formed either through the addition of suffix to singular ("external" plural) and by modification of the vowel pattern in (and sometimes outside) consonants that make up noun root ("internal" or "broken" plural). In some cases, suffixes can also be added to the plural internally. The most common patterns are as follows. In the appointment of internal plural patterns, "C" represents one of the consonants of the noun root. Note that some nouns (for example, 'arat ' bed ') have more than one possible plural.
- External plural
- -in , -tat
- ??? 'arat ' bed ', ???? (????) bed 'aratat '
- ??? ? mba 'mountain', ????? ? mbatat 'mountain'
- -ot (after deletion of -a or -ay )
- ??? g? ÃÆ'¤yta 'master', ???? g? ÃÆ'¤ytot 'master'
- ????? ? arÃÆ'¤stay 'farmers', ????? ? arÃÆ'¤stot 'farmers'
- -? tti , -w? tti (sometimes with final deletion -t )
- ?? gÃÆ'¤za 'home', ???? gÃÆ'¤zaw? tti 'home'
- ??? 'arat ' sleep ', ???? 'araw? tti 'bed'
- Plural internals
- 'aCCaC
- ??? 'horse' fÃÆ'¤rÃÆ'¤s, ???? 'afra ' horse '
- ??? '? zni '' ear ', ???? 'a'zan ' ear '
- 'aCaC? C
- ??? n? hbi 'bee', ???? 'anah? b 'bee'
- ??? bÃÆ'¤gg? '' sheep '(s.), ???? 'abag?' 'sheep' (p.)
- CÃÆ'¤CaCu
- ??? DÃÆ'¤rho 'chicken', ??? dÃÆ'¤rahu 'chicken'
- ??? g ??? ila 'thief', ??? g ??? alu 'thief'
- C {ÃÆ'¤, a} CaC? C
- ???? mÃÆ'¤nbÃÆ'¤r 'seat', ???? mÃÆ'¤nab? r 'seat'
- ???? ? armaz 'elephant', ???? ? aram? z 'elephant'
- ... ÃÆ'¤Cti for plural of noun agents and instruments derived from the verb
- ??? k'ÃÆ'¤llabi 'feeder', ???? k'ÃÆ'¤llÃÆ'¤bti 'feeder'
- ????? 'agÃÆ'¤lgali ' server ', ?????? 'agÃÆ'¤lgÃÆ'¤lti ' server '
- ???? mÃÆ'¤xdÃÆ'¤ni 'cover', ????? mÃÆ'¤xdÃÆ'¤nti 'includes'
- C? Caw? Cti
- ??? k? and 'clothing', ????? k? daw? nti 'clothing articles'
- ??? ?? s'an 'baby', ????? ?? s'aw? nti 'baby'
- CÃÆ'¤CaC? Cti
- ???? mÃÆ'¤s'? af 'book', ????? mÃÆ'¤s'a ?? fti 'book'
- ??? koxÃÆ'¤b 'star', ????? kÃÆ'¤wax? bti 'star'
- ... C * aC *? C..., where "C *" represents a single root consonant
- ???? wÃÆ'¤rÃÆ'¤x'ÃÆ'¤t 'paper', ????? wÃÆ'¤rÃÆ'¤x'ax'ti 'document'
- ??? tÃÆ'¤mÃÆ'¤n 'snake', ???? tÃÆ'¤mam? n 'snake'
Among the irregular plural shapes is ???? sÃÆ'¤bÃÆ'¤yti 'ladies', ???? 'an? sti 'ladies' and ?? g? al 'girls, girls', ???? 'start? d 'women, daughters' (together ???? ' ag tool ).
Proprietary, genitive expression
Tigrinya has two ways to express the genitive relationship expressed in English using possives ( city streets ), from phrases ( city ​​streets, and noun-noun compounds ( city roads).
Maps Tigrinya grammar
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
In most languages, there are a small number of basic, number, and often gender differences that play a role in grammar. Tigrinya and English are such languages. We see this difference in the basic set of independent personal pronouns , for example, English I , Tigrinya ?? ana¤ ; English he , Tigrinya ?? n? ssa . In the Tigrinya language, like other Semitic languages, the same distinction arises in three other places in grammar as well.
- Subject-verb agreement
- All Tigrinya verbs agree with their subject; ie, person, number, and (second and third person) the subject's gender of a verb marked by a suffix or a prefix on the verb. Since the affixes that signify the subject agreement vary greatly with a verb/aspect/atmosphere of a particular verb, they are usually not considered as pronouns and are discussed elsewhere in this article under verb conjugation.
- Object pronoun suffix
- Tigrinya verbs often have additional morphology that shows the person, number, and (second and third person) gender of the verb object.
- While suffixes like -yya in this example are sometimes described as signaling object agreements, analogous to subject agreements, they are more often regarded as replace because, unlike the subject agreement marker, they do not vary significantly with the tense/aspect/verb atmosphere. For arguments from verbs other than subjects or objects, separate sets of suffixes have dative, benefactive, adversative, instrumental or locative meanings ('to', 'for', 'against', 'with', 'by', 'at' ).
- Suffixes like -La in this example will be referred to in this article as pronouns instead of prehistoric objects because they correspond to prepositional phrases like 'for him', to distinguish them from the direct object of the suffix pronoun like her 'dia'.
- Possessive suffixes
- The tigrinya has a further set of morphemes that suffix to either a noun or a preposition. The mastery of this signal on a noun object and a preposition on a preposition. They will be referred to as possive suffixes .
- ?? gÃÆ'¤za 'home', ??? gÃÆ'¤za-y 'my house', ??? gÃÆ'¤za-'a 'his home'
- ???? b? za'ba 'about', ????? b? za'ba-y 'about me', ????? b? za'b? - 'a ' about it '
In each of the four aspects of grammar, independent pronouns, verb-subject agreements, object-pronoun suffixes, and possessive suffixes, the Tigrinya distinguishes ten combinations of people, numbers, and sex. For the first person, there is a two-way difference between singular ('I') and plural ('we'), whereas for the second and third persons there is a four-way difference for the four combinations of singular and plural numbers and masculine and feminine gender ('you sg. ',' you f. sg. ',' you m. pl. ',' you f. pl. ',' he ',' she ',' they m. ',' they f. ').
Like other Semitic languages, Tigrinya is a pro-drop language. That is, neutral sentences, where no element is emphasized, usually use verb conjugations rather than independent pronouns to indicate the subject, and incorporate the object's pronoun into the verb: ?????? ?? 'er? traway '? yyu 'he Eritrean,' ???? 'addimÃÆ'¤yya ' I invited him '. The Tigrinya words directly translated as 'him' and 'I' do not appear in these sentences, while the word 'dia' is indicated by 'a' at the end of the verb (thus, person, number, and (second person or third) the subject and object's genders are all marked with affixes on the verb). When the subject in the sentence as emphasized, the independent pronoun is used: ?? ?????? ?? n? ssu 'er? traway? '? yyu ' her' s Eritrean, '?? ???? an? 'addimÃÆ'¤yya ' I invited him '. When an object is emphasized, instead of an independent pronoun, the accusative marker n? - used with the right possessive suffix: ??? ???? n? 'a'a ' addimÃÆ'¤yya 'I invited him him' .
The table below shows an alternative to many forms. In each case, the choice depends on what precedes the form in question. For a possessive suffix, the shape depends on whether a noun or a forward word ends in a vowel or consonant, for example, ???? kÃÆ'¤lb-ÃÆ'¤y 'my dog', ??? 'addo-y ' my mom '. For the suffix of the pronoun object, for most forms there are "light" (non-gem) and "geminated" variants, the pattern is also found in a number of other Ethiopian Semitic languages, including Tigre and Western Gurage. Which choice of variants to use is rather complicated; some examples are given in the verb part.
In the second and third persons, there is a set of independent "polite" additional pronouns, for reference to people that the speaker wants to show respect to. This use is an example of the so-called T-V distinction made in many languages. The polite pronoun in Tigrinya is only a plural independent pronoun without -xat- or -at : ???? n? ss? xum 'you m. pol. ', ???? n? ss? x? n 'you f. pol. ', ??? n? ssom 'he pol.', ??? n? ssÃÆ'¤n 'he pol.'. Although these forms are most often single semantic - they refer to one person - they correspond to second or third person plural elsewhere in grammar, as is common in other T-V systems.
For the second person, there is also a set of independent voice pronouns, which are used to call the recipient. This is ?? atta (m. sg.), ?? atti (f. sg.), ??? attum (m. pl.), ??? attÃÆ'¤n .
For possessive pronouns ('mine', 'yours', etc.), the Tigrinya adds a possessive suffix to nat - (from the foreground nay 'of'):? ? ? natÃÆ'¤y 'mine', ??? natka 'yours m. sg. ', ??? natki 'yours f. sg. ', ?? nata 'hers', etc. Reflexive pronoun
For reflexive pronouns ('myself', 'yourself', etc.), Tigrinya add a possessive suffix to one of the nouns ??? r? 'si ' head ', ??? nÃÆ'¤sisi 'soul', or ??? ba'li 'owner': ???? r? 'sÃÆ'¤y /???? nÃÆ'¤fsÃÆ'¤y /???? ba'lÃÆ'¤y 'own', ??? r? "sa /i demonstrative pronoun
Like English, Tigrinya makes a two-way difference between adjectives and demonstrative close pronouns ('this, this') and far ('it, they'). In addition to singular and plural, as in English, Tigrinya also distinguishes masculine and feminine gender.
Adjective
The adjective Tigrinya may have singular single, single feminine, and plural forms, and adjectives usually agree in gender and numbers with the nouns they modify. The plural follows the same pattern as the plural noun; that is, they can be formed by a suffix or internal change or a combination of both. Some common patterns relating to masculine, feminine, and plural adjectives are as follows. Note that ÃÆ'¤ is in the pattern to be a after a pharyngeal or globally consonant (like elsewhere in Tigrinya).
- masculine C? C (C) uC, feminine C? C (C)? Cti, plural C? C (C) uCat
- ??? ?? mum ???? ?? m? mti ???? ?? sick 'sick'
- masculine CÃÆ'¤CCiC, feminine CÃÆ'¤CCaC, CÃÆ'¤CCÃÆ'¤Cti plural or CÃÆ'¤CCaCti
- ??? s'ÃÆ'¤llim ??? s'ÃÆ'¤llam ???? s'ÃÆ'¤llÃÆ'¤mti 'black'
- ??? nÃÆ'¤wwi? ??? nÃÆ'¤wwa? ???? nÃÆ'¤wwa? ti 'long'
- masculine and feminine the same, plural - ( t ) in . In the following case, the adjective is formed from adding - "am" to a noun, a feature shared with Amharic
- ??? habti , 'wealth', ???? habtam ????? habtamat 'rich'
Adjectives that modify plural animate nouns must be plural, but adjectives modifying plural multiple expressions may be singular: ??? ????? s'a'da k? daw? nti 'white clothing' ('white' single, 'plural'). However, the noun refers to many singular entities as possible when the context makes plurality clear, and this single noun can be modified by a plural adjective: ????? ???? k? l? ttÃÆ'¤ habtamat sÃÆ'¤bÃÆ'¤yti 'two rich ladies' (lit. 'two rich women').
Adjectives are less commonly used in Tigrinya than in English. Most adjectives have appropriate verbs that come from the same consonantal root, and these verbs often appear where English will have adjectives. As an example, ??? kÃÆ'¤bbid 'heavy' ??? kÃÆ'¤bÃÆ'¤dÃÆ'¤ 'becomes, becomes heavy', ??? ?? mmax '' bad ', ??? ? ammÃÆ'¤x'ÃÆ'¤ 'becomes, becomes bad'. In particular, adjectives can be replaced by the relative perfect form of the corresponding verb: ??? ???? "mmax 'sÃÆ'¤b'ay ' bad guy , ??????? z ?? ammÃÆ'¤x'ÃÆ'¤ sÃÆ'¤b'ay 'bad guy' (lit. 'bad guy').
Determiner
The demonstrative adjective
Like the demonstrative pronoun, the Tigrinya demonstrative attribute is divided into expressions for close ('this, this') and distant ('it, they') references, with a separate form for four combinations of singular and plural numbers and masculine and feminine types. Like any other adjective, the demonstrative adjective precedes the noun, but the words are often accompanied by a second copy or slightly modified form following the noun. Vowels that start the form after the noun are often dropped and in writing can then be represented with quotes: ?? ?? ? zi sÃÆ'¤bzi 'this man'.
Articles
Like other Semitic languages, Tigrinya does not have unlimited articles (English a ), but has a definite article (English the ). In Tigrinya, as in Tigre, but unlike in Southern Semitic Semitic such as Amharic, this takes the form of a word that appears at the beginning of a noun phrase. Articles that must have come from, and almost identical to, the distal demonstrative attribute (English 'that'), as can be seen in the table below.
When is a definitive article preceded by an accusative marker/preposition? n? or prepositions? b? , vowel sequence ? ? fused with vowel ÃÆ'¤ : ?? ??? bÃÆ'¤ti mÃÆ'¤gaz 'with a saw'. After another preposition, the initial vowel of the article is often dropped: ??? ?????? ?? kabti? ttÃÆ'¤? adÃÆ'¤rÃÆ'¤llu bota 'from where he spent the night'.
Verbs
In the Tigrinya language, as in other Semitic languages, the verb is a complex object, the result of selection by the speaker/author along at least four separate dimensions.
- Root
- At the heart of the Semitic verb is its root, most often consisting of three consonants. It determines the basic lexical meaning of the verb. For example, the Tigrinya root meaning 'rest' consists of three consonants { sbr }.
- Derivative
- Roots can be changed in one of several ways that change the basic meaning of a verb. In Tigrinya there are five possibilities like that (though not all may be for every verb). For example, a verb can be passive: the meaning of 'broken' comes from the root { sbr } 'break' with the addition of a PASIFIF morpheme, although the actual realization of the form depends on the choice on another dimension.
- Tense/Aspect/Mood
- The root should be given a certain basic tense/aspect/atmosphere (TAM). In Tigrinya there are four possibilities, conventionally referred to as perfect , imperfect , jussive/imperative , and gerundive . Once the lexical root, which may be changed through the addition of a derived element, has been assigned a basic TAM, it becomes a spoken bar, although it is still not a complete word. For example, { sbr } PASSIVE 'broken' in imperfection becomes s? BbÃÆ'¤r 'broken'.
- Conjugate
- concluded Semitic verb; that is, they agree with the subject of verbs directly, number, and gender. For example, if the imperfect subject of passive { sbr } is a plural third person masculine ('them'), the form becomes a word ???? y? s? bbÃÆ'¤ru 'they are broken'.
In addition to the basic dimensions of variation that characterize all Tigrinya verbs, there are four possible modifications.
- The direct object or suffix of prepositional objects (see # Personal pronouns) can be added to the verb. For example, the preposition object -lÃÆ'¤y 'for me' can be abbreviated with the word ???? y? s? bbÃÆ'¤ru 'they are broken' to give ?????? y? s? bbÃÆ'¤rulÃÆ'¤y 'they are broken for me'.
- Verbs can be negated. This requires a prefix and sometimes suffix. For example, word ?????? y? s? bbÃÆ'¤rulÃÆ'¤y 'they are broken for me' negated by the prefix ay - and suffixing -n : ???????? ayy? s? bbÃÆ'¤rulÃÆ'¤y? n 'they are not broken for me'.
- One or more morphemes including morpheme relativizing z? - and various prepositions and conjunctions can begin with a verb. For example, with the relativising prefix, the form ???????? ayy? s? bbÃÆ'¤rulÃÆ'¤y? n 'they are not broken for me' to be ??????? zÃÆ'¤yy? s? bbÃÆ'¤rulÃÆ'¤y '(them) that is not broken for me'. (Negative suffix -n does not occur in subordinate clauses.)
- The aspect of the verb can be modified through the addition of auxiliary verbs. Help is usually treated as separate words in Tigrinya but in some cases it is written as a suffix on the main verb. For example, with the addition of allo in the masculine form of a plural third person, the word ??????? zÃÆ'¤yy? s? bbÃÆ'¤rulÃÆ'¤y '(them) that is not damaged for me' take on a sustainable aspect: ??????? ??? zÃÆ'¤yy? s? bbÃÆ'¤rulÃÆ'¤y zÃÆ'¤llÃÆ'¤wu '(them) that is not broken for me'. (The relativizing prefix z? - should also appear in the tool.)
Preposition
The tigrinya has a simple and mixed preposition. The main simple prepositions are as follows.
With personal pronouns as objects, the pronoun takes the form of a possessive suffix. In some cases, this is suffixed to a modified version of the preposition, and for a third person form, there may be various possibilities: ??? n? '?' u ??? n? '?' u ?? n? 'u ' for him '.
The compound preposition consists of one simple preposition, usually ?? ab , followed by a relational noun or a form associated with a noun. Some compound prepositions alternate with simple prepositions consisting only of the second word: ??? d ?? ri ?? ??? ab d ?? ri 'after, behind', ??? q? dmi ?? ??? ab q? dmi 'before, in front'. Another example: ?? ??? ab w ?? t'i 'inside', ?? ?? ab t '? x'a 'close', ?? ??? ab l? '? li 'above, in', ?? ??? ab t ?? ti 'under', ?? ???? ab ma'kÃÆ'¤l 'in the middle, between', ?? ??? ab mÃÆ'¤ngo 'between'.
Bibliography
- Amanuel Sahle (1998) SÃÆ'¤wasÃÆ'¤s? w T? gr? ÃÆ' Â ± ÃÆ' Â ± a b? sÃÆ'¤fi? . Lawrencevill, NJ, USA: Red Sea Press. ISBNÃ, 1-56902-096-5
- Dan'el TÃÆ'¤xlu RÃÆ'¤da (1996, Eth. Cal.) ZÃÆ'¤bÃÆ'¤nawi sÃÆ'¤was? wk? 'ank?' a T? gr? ÃÆ' Â ± ÃÆ' Â ± a
- Leslau, Wolf (1941) Tigrigna document: grammaire et textes . Paris: Libraire C. Klincksieck.
- Mason, John (Ed.) (1996) SÃÆ'¤was? w T? gr? ÃÆ' Â ± ÃÆ' Â ± a, Tigrinya grammar . Lawrenceville, NJ, USA: Red Sea Press. ISBNÃ, 0-932415-20-2 (ISBNÃ, 0-932415-21-0, paperback)
- Praetorius, F. (1871) Grammatik der TigriÃÆ' Â ± asprache in Abessinien . Halle. ISBNÃ, 3-487-05191-5 (1974 reprint)
- Tadross, Andrew & amp; Abraham Teklu. (2015) Essential Guide to Tigrinya: Eritrean and Tigray Ethiopian Language.
- Voigt, Rainer Maria (1977). Das tigrinische Verbalsystem . Berlin: Verlag von Dietrich Reimer.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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