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Pabappa to English English to Pabappa
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PREFIXES There are not many prefixes in Pabappa, which means that the few that do exist are very important ones.pu- is a prefix that marks out the word it attaches to as one which would otherwise have been a suffix or the second part of a compound, attached to the word that is the last word in the main clause modified by pu-. So for example, pebba means "house", and pebbadebba means "coming from the house". This can be rearranged, with the addition of the prefix pu-, to pudebba pebba, which has exactly the same meaning. More information is given in the Conjunction section.
NUMBERS AND ASSORTED SUFFIXES Numbers are considered to be ordinary morphemes suffixed directly to the stem of the noun, before any inflections. They obey the standard consonantal sandhi rules as do all other suffixes. Thus padam means "sun", padamblarpa means "two suns", padammada means "three suns", and so on. Very long numbers can be affixed this way as well, but they can also be treated as conjunctions and therefore appear as separate words, easier to hear. Hence purpebasi padam means "eight suns", formed from rearranging the morphemes in padamebasi and adding pu-. There is no true dividing line between a suffix and an ordinary noun, since they are morphologically identical. Nevertheless, there are some suffixes that rarely occur as independent nouns, and they are described as suffixes in the dictionary. Some suffixes begin with consonant clusters that would be illegal if they belonged to standalone words. In this case, the problem is fixed by inserting an i between the consonants and then doubling the second consonant. The reverse process applies when making a compound of two words: the sequence always contracts if it is possible to do so. Thus -plom, a causative suffix, would if used by itself be pillom-. There is a suffix -wa that acts like a reverse genitive case, in that it affixes itself to the first noun rather than the second. So munampawa wimpa means "wood of the forest", with the same essential meaning as the more common wimpamunampa. A noun or verb can take the suffix -pa to give it the meaning "affected with". This is usually used for temporary states; for permanent or habitual states you would normally use the suffix -pad. VERBAL SUFFIXES Pabappa shares these suffixes with nouns also, but their verbal meanings are described here. -pad- turns a noun into one type of adjective. It often corresponds to English -y or -ous. For example, tap means water and tappad- means wet. -pan- indicates superlative meaning. Wep (stem wes-) means "hot", and wespan- means "hotter, hottest". -peb- is used to add preteritive meaning to a noun or verb. It modifies the stem, and is modified by any suffixes that come afterward. Thus supawibup means "farmer" and supawibuppeb- means "former farmer". -ped- is used to express the meaning of "try to", "attempt to" after a verb stem. Thus pimpi- means "to swallow, gulp" and pimpiped- means "to try to swallow". -pep- express negative meaning. It is usually used to express exclusion rather than opposition; other suffixes exist to express opposition. -pes- is used to express the meaning of "but, except that" in Pabappa. It is more commonly found separated out as a word by itself, but it can be used as a verbal midfix. -pet- is a reflexive marker. It produces meaning like "knowing oneself", not "knowing by oneself". -pi- marks out indefiniteness. -pid- is an interrogative for qualitative questions. It is more commonly found separated out as a word by itself, but it can be used as a verbal midfix. -pim- is used to switch the roles of agent and patient in the verb. It is not a true passive marker. -pis- is the conditional, used to mark out the "if" part of an if-then clause. It is more commonly found separated out as a word by itself, but it can be used as a verbal midfix. -pit- is used to designate the result of an action. -pod- is used to signify the ability of the subject or topic to perform the action described. -pol- is used to add the meaning of an exclusive "or" (xor) to the verb. It is more commonly found separated out as a word by itself, but it can be used as a verbal midfix. -pom- is used to add progressive meaning to the future tense and in some participial constructions. It is not the same as the standard progressive verb tenses although it expresses the same meaning. -pot- is the interrogative for yes/no questions and certain other questions. It is more commonly found separated out as a word by itself, but it can be used as a verbal midfix. -pub- is used to add future tense meaning to some compound verb tenses and to nouns. -pud- is used in compound verb tenses to add desiderative meaning. -pum- is used in compound verb tenses to add potential meaning. -pup- is used to add "as well as; also; and" to the meaning of a verb. -pus- is used in compound verb tenses to add imperative meaning.
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