Verb stems. Each Sarikoli verb can be analyzed as having an infinitive stem, as well as four finite stems: imperfective, third-person singular imperfective, perfective, and perfect. The formation of these aspectual stems is somewhat predictable for some verbs; in these regular verbs, the perfective stem is usually formed by adding a /t/ or /d/ ending to the imperfective stem (depending on the voice of the segment it attaches to), and the perfect stem is formed by changing those endings to /tɕ/ or /dʑ/ (Xxxxx 1989:436). Sometimes the infinitive stem is identical to the perfective stem. The third-person singular imperfective stem is identical to the past stem or the infinitive stem, or sometimes unique. Some regular verbs and their stems are presented in Table 1.4. Table 1.4 Examples of regular verbs 3sc.ipfv ‘say’ lɛv lɛvd lɛvd lɛvdʑ lɛvd ‘gather’ wix wixt wixt wixtɕ wixt ‘ask’ pars parst parst parstɕ parst ‘dig’ kəw kəwd kəwd kəwdʑ kəwd However, there are a number of more morphologically variable verbs whose stems cannot be predicted. The stem modification in these irregular verbs involves vowel and consonant alternation, but the first segment of the verb usually remains the same in all five stems. Table 1.5 lists some irregular verbs and their stems. The first is a morphologically suppletive paradigm. Table 1.5 Examples of irregular verbs 3sc.ipfv ‘become’ so səwd sɯt sɛðdʑ sɛt ‘eat’ χor χird χɯɡ χɯɣdʑ χiɡ ‘come’ joð joðd jot iθtɕ jɛt Sentences are formed by combining a verb stem with the appropriate subject- verb agreement clitic, based on the person (1/2/3) and number (singular/plural) of the subject. This pronominal agreement clitic attaches to the verb in the imperfective aspect and to a preverbal element in the perfective and perfect aspects. The forms of these agreement clitics are given in §3.2. The infinitive stem is only used for subordinate clauses, so it generally does not occur with pronominal agreement clitics. Table 1.6 below shows the conjugations of the verb χiɡ ‘eat’. Table 1.6 Conjugations of χiɡ ‘eat’ waz χor=am waz=am χɯɡ waz=am χɯɣdʑ ‘I (will) eat.’ ‘I ate.’ ‘I have eaten.’ təw χor=Ø təw=at χɯɡ təw=at χɯɣdʑ ‘You (will) eat.’ ‘You ate.’ ‘You have eaten.’ jɯ χird jɯ=Ø χɯɡ jɯ=Ø χɯɣdʑ ‘S/he (will) eat.’ ‘S/he ate.’ ‘S/he has eaten.’
