2.1.1 Vowels

Kin has five vowel phonemes: /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, and /u/. There are very few words containing the short /e/ and /o/ vowels because *e and *o that existed in the proto-language have diachronically changed to /i/ and /u/, respectively.

Long vowels, which constitute a heavy syllable, are analyzed as a sequence of a vowel and a moraic phoneme /ː/.

2.1.2 Consonants and Glides

Kin has twelve consonants and two glides as shown in Table 4.1.

There are some allophonic rules to note: first, /s/ is realized as [ɕ] always before /i/ and often before /e/ (as in /sima/[ɕima] ‘island’ and /seːku/[seːku]~[ɕeːku] ‘carpenter’); second, /z/, which contrasts with /s/ in voicing, is realized as [ʑ] in between vowels (as in /mizu/[miʑu] ‘water’) and as [d͡ʑ] elsewhere (as in /sunza/[sund͡ʑa] ‘water well’); third, /h/ is realized as [ç] before /i/ (as in /hiː/[çiː] ‘fire’) and as [ɸ] before /u/ (as in /huni/[ɸuni] ‘boat’); fourth, /n/ assimilates its place of articulation to the following consonant (as in /janme/[jamme] ‘illness’) and is realized as [ɴ] in word-final position (as in /ningwan/[niŋgwaɴ] ‘prayer’).

5.1.1 Obligatory Inflections of Regular Finite Verbs

The morphological structure of a finite verb minimally consists of three components: stem, tense, and ending. The ending is the locus for mood suffixes (imperative, indicative, interrogative, etc.) or coordinator/subordinator suffixes. Among the mood suffixes, the imperative and intentional/hortative mood suffixes are exceptional in that they concatenate with a stem directly, without any tense suffix intervening.

Stems of regular verbs are classified into three classes depending on their final segment. Class i is for stems whose final segment is a front vowel (/i/, /e/) or /r/ (exemplified by uki- ‘get up’ in Table 4.5). Class ii is for stems whose final segment is a non-front vowel (/a/ or /u/, both of which result from diachronic loss of the stem-final /w/; exemplified by wara- ‘laugh’ in Table 4.5) or a bilabial consonant (/b/, /m/; exemplified by num- ‘drink’ in Table 4.5). The other stems whose final segment is a non-labial obstruent (/k/, /g/, /t/, or /s/) belong to Class iii (exemplified by kak- ‘write’ in Table 4.5).

The non-past tense of regular verbs is expressed by an imperfective suffix, which is realized as one of three allomorphs according to the class to which the host stem belongs (-ː- for Class i stems, -i- for Class ii stems, and -ju- for Class iii stems). The relevant morphophonological rules (82)–(85) apply to the base-affix boundaries of underlying forms to yield the surface word forms shown in the rightmost column in Table 4.5.

5.1.2 Optional Inflections of Regular Finite Verbs

Finite verbs optionally inflect for politeness, negation, and imperfectivity. The politeness suffix -jabi-¹⁰ expresses politeness on the part of the speaker towards the addressee (see (96) and (97) for example sentences). Verbal stems are negated by the negative suffix -an. As we saw in § 5.1.1, the imperfective suffix is realized as one of three allomorphs: -ː-, -i-, and -ju-. It cooccurs with the past-tense suffix to yield the imperfective past form.

5.1.3 Inflections of Non-finite Verbs

There are three types of non-finite verb: infinitive, connective, and a variety of converbs. The infinitive form is used when a verb occurs as V1 of a certain kind of compound verbs (§ 10.1.1) and when the verbal stem is marked with the topic/focus or subordinator particles.¹¹ The infinitive suffix has three conditional allomorphs: -ː for Class i stems, -ji for Class ii and iii stems, and -na for negated stems.

The connective form, which is marked with the sequential suffix -ti is multi-functional: it is used in auxiliary constructions (§ 10.1.2), in a special aspectual expression with a mirative sense (§ 11.6.2), in causal subordinate clauses which can be insubordinated in a certain environment (§ 12.3), and for clause-chaining (§ 12.4), etc.

Instances of converb markers are: -jegana (simultaneity; e.g., attjegana ‘while walking’), -iwa ~ -uwa (causal condition; e.g., kamiwa ‘if (you) eat’), -tekara (hypothetical condition; e.g., narantekara ‘if (you) can’t do’), -tante (concessive; e.g., ntjagitante ‘even if (you) eat’), etc.

6.1.1 Morphosyntactic Structure

Adjectival predicates, which appear to be a single word and actually have been dealt with as such in the literature on Ryukyuan linguistics, are analyzable as predicate phrases consisting of two separate words: a morphologically independent stem which does not inflect in its own right, and an inflectional clitic, which is best analyzed as a contracted auxiliary verb (an instance of Zwicky’s (1977) simple clitics). Within the adjectival predicate, what should be identified as an “adjectival word” is only the stem component.¹³

Cliticization of the auxiliary verb results from reduction of the stem of the auxiliary verb ar-, whose lexical source is the existential verb. As an example, take the adjectival predicate magisan ‘is big’: here, magisa is a stem and ⸗n is a cliticized auxiliary verb, which expresses non-past tense and indicative mood simultaneously.

Morphological independency of the adjectival stem is shown by the fact that it can be focalized (i.e., become a host of the focus particle ⸗ru). When it is focused, the stem of the auxiliary verb is not reduced (e.g., magisa⸗ru aːru) and thus cliticization of inflectional affixes does not occur.

6.1.2 Stem Formation

There are two forms for each adjectival stem, which I call the predicative form and the adverbial form respectively.

The predicative form, which occurs in an affirmative predicate, consists of an adjectival root and a predicativizer suffix.¹⁴ Adjectival roots fall into four classes depending on their phonological properties and the predicativizer suffix has four allomorphs conditioned by the phonological properties of the adjectival roots: Class i roots, which have the phonological template /#(C)aːsa/, select the zero-morph -∅ as their predicativizer suffix. There are just two instances of Class i roots: maːsa- ‘tasty’, and jaːsa- ‘hungry’. Class ii roots are those whose root-final syllable is /si/. They are further divided into two subclasses; Class ii-A, whose root-final vowel /i/ drops when followed by the predicativizer suffix -a (exemplified by kasimasi- ‘noisy’ in Table 4.7), and Class ii-B, whose root-final syllable /si/ entirely drops when followed by the predicativizer suffix -ː (exemplified by mindasi- ‘rare’ in Table 4.7). Class iii roots consist of two subtypes: monosyllabic roots, which have /#(C)Vː/ as a phonological template (exemplified by heː- ‘early’ in Table 4.7), and roots whose root-final segment is a high vowel /i/ or /u/ (except the case of Class ii; exemplified by magi- ‘big’ in Table 4.7). They select -sa as their predicativizer suffix. Finally, Class iv roots are those whose final vowel is a non-high vowel /a/, /o/ or /e/ (except the case of Class i; exemplified by taka- ‘high’ in Table 4.7). They select -ː as their predicativizer suffix.

The adverbial form of adjectival stems appears in negative predicates or in the complement position of such verbs as nar- ‘become’. This special stem form has been called “ku-adverbial form” in the literature (Uemura 1963, inter alia). Adverbial forms are formed by concatenating the adverbializer suffix -ku with adjectival roots.¹⁵ In the case of Class ii-B roots, -ku always concatenates with the form whose final syllable /si/ is dropped.

7.1.1 Nominalization of Verbal Stems

There are two kinds of nominalization of verbal stems: event/result nominalization and agentive nominalization.

The nominalizer suffix which derives event/result nouns from verbal stems has two allomorphs: -∅ and -ji. Verbs whose stem-final phoneme is a front vowel /i/ or /e/ are nominalized by the zero-affix -∅ (e.g., //kange-∅// → kange ‘thought’); other verbal stems select -ji as the nominalizer (e.g., //uwar-ji// → uwai ‘the end’).

The suffix -jaː derives agentive nouns from verbal stems (e.g., //moːr-jaː// → moːjaː ‘dancer’).

7.1.2 Nominalization of Adjectival Roots

Nominalization of adjectival roots derives two types of nouns: concept nouns and entity/human nouns.

The nominalizer suffix which derives concept nouns from adjectival roots has three allomorphs: -∅ for the Class i roots, -a for the Class ii roots (with their root-final /i/ dropped) and -sa elsewhere (examples for each are: jaːsa-∅ ‘hunger’, kasimas-a ‘annoyingness’, taka-sa ‘height’).

The nominalizer suffix -ː creates a deadjectival noun which denotes an entity/human having a property denoted by the root (e.g., magi-ː ‘large person’, hiko-ː ‘short person’).

10.1.1 Compound Verbs

Compound verbs consist of V1 in its dedicated forms and V2 which carries the inflection. There are two kinds of compound verb: one is what I call nominalization compounds, in which V1 occurs in a nominalized form; and the other is what I call infinitive compounds, in which V1 occurs in an infinitive form.²⁰ Nominalization compounds can be further classified into two types: lexical and productive.

In lexical nominalization compounds, the combination of V1 and V2 is lexically fixed. tui+keːsun ‘take back’ is an example of a lexical compound verb, in which V1 is the nominalized form of the verb tur- ‘take’ and V2 is an inflected form of the verb keːs- ‘return’.

In productive nominalization compounds, V2 adds some adverbial meaning to V1. The combination of V1 and V2 is not lexically fixed (i.e., it is productive). Instances of verbs which can be V2 in productive nominalization compounds are: noːs- ‘V1 over again’ (e.g., sikoi+noːsun ‘remake’ (lit. ‘make+repair’)), hatti- ‘V1 completely’ (e.g., ui+hattin ‘sell out’ (lit. ‘sell+come to an end’)), etc.

In infinitive compounds, V2 is limited to a few modal verbs that are dedicated to the compound verb predicate: joːs- ‘can V1’ (e.g., sikoː+joːsun ‘can make (something)’); nsoːr-, which expresses the speaker’s respectful attitude to the S/A argument of the clause (e.g., koː+nsoːri ‘please buy’). Some modal adjectives are also employed in infinitive compounds: busa(⸗n) ‘want to V1’ (e.g., saː+busan ‘want to touch’), gisa(⸗n) ‘likely to V1’ (e.g., huː+gisan ‘likely to rain’).

10.1.2 Auxiliary Verb Construction

The connective form of verbs, which is marked with the sequential suffix -ti, cooccurs with various auxiliary verbs to yield complex predicates, most of which are aspectual expressions. Instances of auxiliary verbs are shown in Table 4.10.

In auxiliary constructions, the connective forms phonologically fuse with the auxiliary verbs ur- (as in (89)) and ar- (as in (90)).

(89)

atamani	tjuːru	usetusa	jaː.
atamani	tjuː⸗ru	use-ti ur-∅-sa	jaː.
really	person⸗foc	make.fun-seq cont-npst-ass	adr

‘(He) is really making fun of me, isn’t he?’

(90)

ottoːga	juːban	sikotesa.
ottoː⸗ga	juːban	siko-ti ar-∅-sa.
father⸗nom	dinner	make-seq res-npst-ass

‘Father has cooked the dinner for us.’

11.1.1 Declarative Sentences

The main verb in declarative sentences has its ending marked with the mood suffixes -n (indicative) or -(s)sa (assertive). While the indicative mood suffix -n is used to express objective facts, the assertive mood suffix -(s)sa expresses the speaker’s subjective judgment, which is unknown or uncertain information for the addressee as in (94).²²

(94)

aː	natesuja	jaːtami	jessa.
aː	nar-ti ar-∅-su⸗ja	jaː⸗tami	je-∅-ssa.
so	become-seq res-npst-nmlz⸗top	2sg.gen⸗fault	cop-npst-ass

‘It’s your fault that it happened.’

11.1.2 Interrogative Sentences

The main verb in interrogative sentences has its ending marked with a mood suffix such as -ː (polar question; nudaː? ‘Did you drink?’), -(s)se (polar question in a demanding tone; see (80) and (81) in § 2.5), -mi (intentional question; numimi? ‘Will you drink?’), -ga (content question), -ra (self-question), etc. The content question suffix -ga marks the verb’s concord with an interrogative word.

(95)

maːkatji	itjuga?
maː⸗katji	ik-ju-ga?
where⸗all	go-ipfv.npst-whq

‘Where are you going?’

Similarly, the self-question suffix -ra marks the verb’s concord with the interrogative focus particle ⸗ga.²³

(96)

nuːnu	juːzuga	jeːbira?
nuː⸗nu	juːzu⸗ga	je-ːbi-∅-ra?
what⸗gen	errand⸗foc	cop-pol-npst-slfq

‘I wonder what errand you came on.’

The sentence-final particle ⸗na, which cliticizes onto the indicative form of verbs, also serves as a polar-question marker.

(97)

tjaː⸗kaneː	je-ːbi-ta-n⸗na?
constant⸗well	cop-pol-pst-ind⸗ynq

‘Have you been well ever since then?’

11.1.3 Imperative Sentences

The verb of imperative sentences has its ending marked with mood suffixes such as -i or -iwa ~ -uwa. Prohibition is expressed by periphrasis of the infinitive form of a negated verb and the imperative form of the preparative auxiliary verb uk- (lit. ‘put’).

(98)

aberanna	uki.
abe-an-na	uk-i.
shout-neg-inf	prep-imp

‘Don’t shout.’

Alternatively, the prohibitive suffix -ki or -kiwa ~ -kuwa attaches immediately after the negative suffix. Thus, the two-word sentence (98) can be paraphrased as a single word, aberanki or aberankiwa ~ aberankuwa.

11.1.4 Exclamative Sentences

Exclamative sentences are signaled by the demonstrative adverb attji ‘in such a way’ and a verb whose ending is marked with the focus concord suffix -ru (see § 11.7.2).

(99)

attji	maːsa-∅⸗nu	mizu	jeː-∅-ru!
in.such.a.way	tasty-pred⸗npst.adn	water	cop-npst-ind.fccd

‘What tasty water this is!’

11.4.1 Causativization

Causativization is a valency-increasing operation, in which the S/A argument of the underlying predicate becomes a causee agent and the causer argument is introduced as the A argument of the derived predicate. The causativized verb is marked with the derivational suffix -as- or -imi- (see § 5.2).

(103)

waːga	kadikara	ittakatji	kamasugutu.
waː⸗ga	kam-ti⸗kara	itta⸗katji	kam-as-ju-gutu.
1sg⸗nom	eat-seq⸗abl	2pl⸗all	eat-caus-ipfv.npst-csl

‘I’ll eat first and then let you eat.’

11.4.2 Passivization

Passivization is a valency-decreasing operation, in which the A argument of the underlying predicate is demoted and the P argument of the underlying predicate is promoted to the S argument of the derived predicate. The demoted A argument is either omitted or marked with the dative or allative particle as in (104). The passivized verb is marked with the passive suffix -ar- (see § 5.2).

(104)

habu⸗nake	kuːr-ar-i-n⸗doː.
snake⸗dat	bite-pass-ipfv.npst-ind⸗adm

‘You’ll get bitten by a snake.’

11.6.1 Tense

There are fundamentally two tenses marked in the Kin dialect: non-past and past. In addition, there is also a modal past suffix whose semantic functions will be overviewed in § 11.6.3.

11.6.2 Aspect

The periphrastic aspectual expressions were introduced in § 10.1.2, but there are other strategies for aspect marking. For example, the imperfective past form (§ 5.1.2) is used to express reminiscences about a habit in the past.

(106)

wakasai⸗ja	meːnitji	saki	num-i-ta-n.
younger.days⸗top	every.day	alcohol	drink-ipfv-pst-ind

‘When I was young, I used to drink alcohol every day.’

As has been reported in the literature on Shuri Okinawan (Tsuhako 1989), the imperfective past form is also used to mark evidentiality of direct perception. Sentence (107) has a strong implicature that the speaker directly saw the scene of his/her father’s drinking alcohol.

(107)

ottoː⸗ga	saki	num-i-ta-n.
father⸗nom	alcohol	drink-ipfv-pst-ind

‘Father drank alcohol.’

The inceptive suffix -jagi- (§ 5.2) is used to report events denoted by the verb as having just begun and not yet completed.

(108)

amakara	⟨hikoːki⟩ga	saːgiːsa.
ama⸗kara	⟨hikoːki⟩⸗ga	k-jagi-ː-sa.
there⸗abl	airplane⸗nom	come-inc-ipfv.npst-ass

‘An airplane is coming from there.’

There is also an aspectual expression in which the non-finite connective form serves as a predicate in a main clause, without the aid of the auxiliary verbs. This kind of predicate expresses not only the continuative aspect but also some sense of mirativity. Sentence (109) expresses the speaker’s sudden realization of the situation.

(109)

aːmiː	huti!
aːmiː	hur-ti!
rain	fall-seq

‘It’s raining!’

11.6.3 Modality

The modal past tense suffix -te- expresses such modal senses as evidence-based inference, counterfactual assumption, or mirativity (sudden discovery/recollection). Sentences (110) and (111) exemplify the usages of evidence-based inference and sudden recollection, respectively.

(110)

kumakatji	tjuːnu	jaːnu	aːtesa	jaː.
kuma⸗katji	tjuːnu	jaː⸗nu	ar-te-sa	jaː.
here⸗all	human⸗gen	house⸗nom	ext-mpst-ass	adr

‘There must have been someone’s house here.’ [There are some archeological traces, etc.]

(111)

suːja	zuːguja	jeːtesa	jaː.
suː⸗ja	zuːguja	je-te-sa	jaː.
today⸗top	Fifteenth.Night	cop-mpst-ass	adr

‘(Come to think of it,) tonight is the Fifteenth Night.’

Sentence-final particles are also used to express modal meanings: ⸗doː (admonitive), ⸗te (inferential), ⸗ni (reportative), etc.

(112)

aːtjaːja	aːmiːdente.
aːtjaː⸗ja	aːmiː⸗ru je-∅-n⸗te.
tomorrow⸗top	rain⸗foc cop-npst-ind⸗infr

‘It’ll probably rain tomorrow, I think.’

11.7.1 Topicalization

The topicalized element is marked with the topic particle ⸗ja. In most cases, the nominative case particle does not cooccur with the topic particle: topic marking takes precedence over nominative marking. In (113), the A argument puːpuː ‘grandpa’ is marked with the topic particle ⸗ja, without a nominative case marker.

(113)

puːpuː⸗ja	meːnitji	saki	num-i-n.
grandpa⸗top	everyday	alcohol	drink-ipfv.npst-ind

‘Grandpa drinks alcohol every day.’

However, the S/A argument of a verbal predicate with a connotation of ability (e.g., nar- ‘can do’ or wakar- ‘understand’, etc.) is double-marked by the nominative and the topic particle.

(114)

watta⸗ga⸗ja	wakar-an-∅-gutu,	itta	ta-i	ik-uwa.
1pl⸗nom⸗top	understand-neg-npst-csl	2pl	two-clf	go-imp

‘We don’t understand (what they say) so you two should go.’

11.7.2 Focalization

The contrastive focus particle ⸗ru marks the host constituent as new information contrasted with alternatives (‘not others but X’). In concord with the contrastive focus particle, the verb’s ending is marked with the focus concord suffix -ru as in (115), unless the verb is marked with non-indicative mood suffixes or followed by a sentence-final particle.

(115)

waːta⸗nu⸗ru	jam-i-ru.
stomach⸗nom⸗foc	hurt-ipfv.npst-ind.fccd

‘It is my stomach that hurts.’

When the contrastive focus particle ⸗ru is followed by the copula, it is phonologically fused into the copula and pronounced as if they are a single word (i.e., the underlying //⸗ru jeː-∅-ru// is realized as deːru).

The additive focus particle ⸗n marks the host constituent as new information additional to alternatives already introduced in the discourse (‘not only others but also X’).

(116)

jan	maːzui	itjumi?
jaː⸗n	maːzui	ik-ju-mi?
2sg⸗adt	together	go-npst-ynq

‘Do you also want to go with us?’

12.1.1 Coordination

In the coordination structure, two clauses are linked by inflectional coordinator suffixes (conjunctive -kutu²⁴ ‘and/so’ or adversative -suga ‘but’), which are marked on the verb of the first clause.

(117)

saːisosa	seːgana	juti	izakutu,	tjuːnu	nutuːranu	hunideːtanni.
saː-iso-sa	s-jegana	jur-ti	ik-ta-kutu,	tjuː⸗nu	nur-ti ur-an-∅-nu	huni⸗ru jeː-ta-n⸗ni.
att-joyful-nmlz	do-sim	approach-seq	go-pst-csl	man⸗nom	get.on-seq cont-neg-npst-adn	boat⸗foc cop-pst-ind⸗rep

‘(He) got closer with glee (to see what it is) and it was an unmanned boat.’

12.1.2 Subordination

Inflectional subordinator suffixes, which fill the ending slot of verbs, form adverbial clauses, adnominal clauses, and nominal clauses. The bracketed parts in (118)–(120) are instances of each clause type subordinated by the causal subordinator -ruwa, the adnominal subordinator -nu, and the clause nominalizer -su, respectively.

(118)

[suːja	hamati	tjaːruwa],	jaːsaku	nati.
suː⸗ja	hamar-ti	k-ta-ruwa,	jaːsa-ku	nar-ti.
today⸗top	work.hard-seq	come-pst-csl	hungry-adv	become-seq

‘Since I worked hard outside today, now I’ve become starving.’

(119)

[jaː⸗ga	wiː-ta-nu]	hiru.
2sg⸗nom	plant-pst-adn	garlic

‘The garlic you planted.’

(120)

[ari⸗ga	j-uː-su]⸗ja	muttumu	jeː-∅-sa.
3sg⸗nom	say-ipfv.npst-nmlz⸗top	reasonable	cop-npst-ass

‘What he says is reasonable.’