Gevey verb transitivity and valency

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Gevey verbs can be grouped according to the maximum number of core objects they can accommodate (known as the verb's valency). A core object is an object that associated directly with the verb, without the assistance of a preposition to modify the verb's action.

The majority of Gevey verbs with a valency of 1 or above demonstrate a variable transitivity, meaning that core objects can often be dropped from the clause without the verb needing to show they have been omitted.

Impersonal verbs

There are only a few naturally impersonal verbs in Gevey

These - often weather related verbs - are clearly derived from nouns ('petju', rain; 'swuedxu', snow). While they can be conjugated for tense ('noupetjatu', it rained), they are more often used in the infinitive using a form of the verb ën as an auxillary to add tense information.

Agents, patients and obliques

The core objects of a Gevey clause can clearly be divided into two groups:

Additional objects can be added to a Gevey clause to show where, when, why, how or with whom the action takes place. These oblique objects will always require some form of preposition to mediate this information, and are often marked with some form of dative suffix.

Core object preferences

The above classification of objects into agents, patients and obliques is complicated by the Gevey verb's preference to take objects in specific forms. Every object comes in three flavours:

For Gevey verbs with a valency greater than 0:

  • those objects most closely associated with an action takes the base (nominative) form
  • those objects less associated with an action take the dissociated (accusative) form
  • those objects least associated with an action take a derived (dative) form.

Intransitive verbs

By definition, intransitive verbs can take a maximum of one core object which, depending on the verb's meaning, can be the agent or the patient. This core object will always take the nominative (ie base associated) case.

Intransitive verbs are always associated with a set of prepositions - motive, spatial, or (more rarely) temporal. The preposition must always be present in the clause.

Oblique objects that "fit the shape" of the verb's preposition set routinely take the accusative (dissociated form) case, with the preposition attached to the dissociated noun complex; otherwise they take one of the dative (derived associated) cases. When no accusative case object is present, the preposition will attach itself to the verb.

The animativity of the core object is important in determining verb voice:

Examples of intransitive verbs

'strimen' (run) - motive in nature with a default preposition of ta- (run towards something); core object is usually the agent; oblique objects which help explain the source, destination or passage of the action (motive: ta-, di-, ïsta-, dosta-, vii-, gle-) take the accusative case, while all other oblique objects take the appropriate dative case.

'saven' (die) - temporal in nature with a default preposition of dene- (die during a given event); core object is usually the patient; oblique objects which help explain when the action occurs take the accusative case, while all other oblique objects take the appropriate dative case.

'bladxljen' (fall) - motive in nature with a default preposition of ânte- (fall off of something); core object is usually the patient; oblique objects that help describe where the action occurs (motive: ïsta-, dosta-, debe-, tcisa-, modo-) take the accusative case, while all other oblique objects take the appropriate dative case.

'puzen' (come, go, enter, exit, arrive, leave) - motive in nature with a range of default prepositions: tapuzen (moving towards something); dipuzen (moving away from something); ïstapuzen (moving into something); dostapuzen (moving out of something). Core object is usually the agent; oblique objects that help describe where the action starts or finishes take the accusative case, while all other oblique objects take the appropriate dative case. This verb is guaranteed to confuse students as it does not encode information of the speaker's position within itself - that information (if needed) is supplied by locative pronouns. Gevey uses the verb 'grjen' for more permanent arrivals and departures, and the verb 'giedxan' (a transitive verb) to describe the journey itself.

Gevey intransitive verbs are perfectly happy to lose their core object:

Transitive verbs

Transitive verbs can take a maximum of two core object; one will be the agent of the action, while the other will be the patient. The agent core object will always take the nominative (base associated) case, while the patient will always take the accusative (dissociated) case. Oblique objects will always take the appropriate dative case.

It is a general rule that applicative objects cannot be the agent of a transitive action, except where a particular action permits a particular object into its scope of agency. For example, 'rabu' (tree) is by definition an applicative object and can never be an agent for a transitive verb, except for a very limited number of actions which are particularly associated with trees, such as 'tjlaedxwjan' (grow, ie branches, thorns) and 'buetsnuempan' (bud, ie leaves, flowers).

Most actions in Gevey are transitive:

With some exceptions, transitive verbs are quite happy to drop either or both core objects without marking the change on the verb:

In Ramajal, it is possible to promote the importance of the patient object over that of the agent object by turning the active clause into a passive clause. Gevey achieves a similar effect by reordering the clause syntax to bring the patient into a higher focus than the agent:

Again, either of the core objects can be dropped from the "passive" clause, though focus markers are often required to clarify that the dropped object is more (or less) significant to the action than would be expected from a seemingly identical "active" clause:

"Ditransitive" verbs

No verb in Gevey has a valency greater than 2. However some verbs - known as ditransitive verbs - will often promote a systemic oblique object to the accusative case alongside any direct object already present in the clause; these promoted objects handle their prepositions in the same way as promoted intransitive obliques handle them.

This page was last updated on Tecufintuu-26, 530: Viejluu-69 Gevile