Preverb
Encyclopedia
Although not widely accepted in linguistics
, the term preverb is used in Caucasian (including all three families: Northwest Caucasian
, Northeast Caucasian
and Kartvelian), Caddoan
, Athabaskan
, and Algonquian
linguistics to describe certain elements prefixed to verbs.
Theoretically, any prefix could be called a preverbal element. However, in practice, the term preverb applies more narrowly in these families, and refers to a prefixed element that is normally outside the premise of verbal morphology, such as locations of noun elements, or less often, noun elements themselves.
s, directional and locative preverbs (equivalents of prepositions), as in this example from Ubykh
:
example:
s, the term preverb is used somewhat differently to describe certain words which carry the meanings of prepositions in English. These words are lexically verbs in Chinese, and appear before the noun in question. These words are more commonly referred to as coverb
s.
, the main function of a preverb is to distinguish between the present tenses and the future tenses. In order to make a present tense verb into a future tense, one has to add the preverb to the verb compound. In addition to this function, preverbs also have directional meanings in Georgian.
Preverbs are directly attached to the beginning of the verb compound:
Note in the two examples that the meaning of the future tense is achieved only by adding the preverb; no other grammatical change occurs. Some examples where preverbs have directional meanings are:
Again, note that only the preverbs are changed in order to convey the meaning of various directional meanings. It should also be noted that preverbs add directional meanings not only to the verbs of motion, but to any kind of verbs. Compare the examples of the verb -tser- ("write"):
As can be seen from the examples the preverb changes according to the indirect object (the person for (to) whom the verb is being done).
In Georgian many verbs have a common root. For example, "end" and "stay" have the same verb root, -rch-. The meanings of these verbs are rather distinguished through their preverbs and other elements of the verb compound:
As one clearly notices, the verbs are identical in the present tense, but differ in the future tense, because of their preverbs.
Persian preverbs, referred to as "āndar" or "dar", are:
Pre-verbs can modify the procedure attribute of the verbs and the infinitives, but they do not change their objective attribute:
.او کتابی داشت (static attribute)
U ketābi dāsht.
.او کتابی را برداشت (dynamic attribute)
U ketabi bar dāsht.
The Pre-verb is normally positioned ahead of the verb. If the verb is composed of two separable components, the pre-verb is positioned ahead of the second component. The Pre-verb can be positioned at the end of the sentence, owing to versification requirements:
از کارِ خير عزمِ تو هرگز نگشت باز
هرگز زِ راه بازنگشتهست هيچ تير
Manuchehri (11th - 12th Century AD)
, preverbs can be described as phonologically separate words which may precede a verb and share its inflection. In particular, pronominal prefixes or initial change are applied to the first preverb (if any) in the verb complex rather than to the verb stem. Their meaning can range from past tense
or perfective aspect
to meanings that in English might use an adverb or another verb.
Examples from Ojibwe
:
In Munsee
, some words can come between a preverb and its verb.
Compare also Prenoun
in these languages.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, the term preverb is used in Caucasian (including all three families: Northwest Caucasian
Northwest Caucasian languages
The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called Abkhazo-Adyghean, or sometimes Pontic as opposed to Caspian for the Northeast Caucasian languages, are a group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region, chiefly in Russia , the disputed territory of Abkhazia, and Turkey, with smaller communities...
, Northeast Caucasian
Northeast Caucasian languages
The Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...
and Kartvelian), Caddoan
Caddoan languages
The Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. They are spoken by Native Americans in parts of the Great Plains of the central United States, from North Dakota south to Oklahoma.-Family division:...
, Athabaskan
Athabaskan languages
Athabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...
, and Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
linguistics to describe certain elements prefixed to verbs.
Theoretically, any prefix could be called a preverbal element. However, in practice, the term preverb applies more narrowly in these families, and refers to a prefixed element that is normally outside the premise of verbal morphology, such as locations of noun elements, or less often, noun elements themselves.
Northwest Caucasian
In the Northwest Caucasian family, such elements can include nounNoun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s, directional and locative preverbs (equivalents of prepositions), as in this example from Ubykh
Ubykh language
Ubykh or Ubyx is an extinct language of the Northwestern Caucasian group, spoken by the Ubykh people...
:
| sæbɣʲawqʼanajtʼ | ||||
| sæ- | bɣʲa- | w- | qʼa | -najtʼ |
| 1SG- | PVB- | 2SG- | talk | -IMPF |
| You were talking about me (lit. you were talking on me) |
||||
Caddoan
In Caddoan linguistics, preverbal elements are less well defined as a class, and often "preverb" designates a part of the verbal root which can be separated from the rest of the root by certain prefixes, as in this WichitaWichita language
Wichita is a moribund Caddoan language spoken in Oklahoma by the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. Only one fluent speaker remains, Doris McLemore, although in 2007 there were only three first language learners still alive...
example:
| taatíísaaskinnaʔas | |||||||
| ta- | i- | aa- | tíísaas | kir | ri- | ʔa | -s |
| INDIC- | 3SG- | PVB- | medicine | liquid | portative- | come | -IMPF |
| He is bringing (liquid) medicine | |||||||
Mandarin Chinese
In Mandarin Chinese and many other Chinese languageChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
s, the term preverb is used somewhat differently to describe certain words which carry the meanings of prepositions in English. These words are lexically verbs in Chinese, and appear before the noun in question. These words are more commonly referred to as coverb
Coverb
In theoretical linguistics, a converb is a non-finite verb form that serves to express adverbial subordination, i.e. notions like 'when', 'because', 'after', 'while'....
s.
Georgian
In GeorgianGeorgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
, the main function of a preverb is to distinguish between the present tenses and the future tenses. In order to make a present tense verb into a future tense, one has to add the preverb to the verb compound. In addition to this function, preverbs also have directional meanings in Georgian.
Preverbs are directly attached to the beginning of the verb compound:
- aketebs ("he does it") and gaaketebs ("he will do it")
- vtser ("I am writing") and davtser ("I will write")
Note in the two examples that the meaning of the future tense is achieved only by adding the preverb; no other grammatical change occurs. Some examples where preverbs have directional meanings are:
- modis ("he is coming")
- midis ("he is going")
- adis ("he is going up (the stairs)", "he is getting on (a bus)")
- chamodis ("he is arriving")
- shemodis ("he is entering")
Again, note that only the preverbs are changed in order to convey the meaning of various directional meanings. It should also be noted that preverbs add directional meanings not only to the verbs of motion, but to any kind of verbs. Compare the examples of the verb -tser- ("write"):
- davtsere ("I wrote it")
- mogtsere ("I wrote it to you")
- mistsere ("I wrote it to them")
- gadagtsere ("I wrote to you (from a place)")
As can be seen from the examples the preverb changes according to the indirect object (the person for (to) whom the verb is being done).
In Georgian many verbs have a common root. For example, "end" and "stay" have the same verb root, -rch-. The meanings of these verbs are rather distinguished through their preverbs and other elements of the verb compound:
- rcheba ("he is staying"), darcheba ("he will stay")
- rcheba ("it is ending"), morcheba ("it will end")
As one clearly notices, the verbs are identical in the present tense, but differ in the future tense, because of their preverbs.
Modern Persian
A preverb is a morpheme, which is applied together with the participles modifying their meaning and the meaning of their derivates.Persian preverbs, referred to as "āndar" or "dar", are:
- bar
- bāz
- farā and hā
- farāz
- foru and hō
- ham
- negah and negāh
- pas
- piš
- ru
- sar
- var
- vā
Pre-verbs can modify the procedure attribute of the verbs and the infinitives, but they do not change their objective attribute:
.او کتابی داشت (static attribute)
U ketābi dāsht.
| 3rdP PRONOUN- | Book.DEFINITE- | Have.PAST |
.او کتابی را برداشت (dynamic attribute)
U ketabi bar dāsht.
| 3rdP PRONOUN- | Book.DEFINITE- | PVB- | Have.PAST |
The Pre-verb is normally positioned ahead of the verb. If the verb is composed of two separable components, the pre-verb is positioned ahead of the second component. The Pre-verb can be positioned at the end of the sentence, owing to versification requirements:
از کارِ خير عزمِ تو هرگز نگشت باز
هرگز زِ راه بازنگشتهست هيچ تير
Manuchehri (11th - 12th Century AD)
Algonquian
In the Algonquian languagesAlgonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
, preverbs can be described as phonologically separate words which may precede a verb and share its inflection. In particular, pronominal prefixes or initial change are applied to the first preverb (if any) in the verb complex rather than to the verb stem. Their meaning can range from past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
or perfective aspect
Perfective aspect
The perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
to meanings that in English might use an adverb or another verb.
Examples from Ojibwe
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...
:
| Ojibwe | English | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| nibaa | he/she sleeps | has no preverb |
| ninibaamin | we sleep | likewise, with pronominal prefix |
| gii-nibaa | he/she slept | has past tense preverb |
| ningii-nibaamin | we slept | likewise, with pronominal prefix |
| gii-maajii-nibaa | he/she started to sleep | has past preverb, and a lexical preverb |
| ningii-maajii-nibaamin | we started to sleep | likewise, with pronominal prefix |
In Munsee
Munsee grammar
Munsee is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family....
, some words can come between a preverb and its verb.
Compare also Prenoun
Prenoun
Prenoun is the term for adjective-like prefixes that attach to nouns in Algonquian languages and the Korean Language. -Algonquian Languages:...
in these languages.