User:Phinary/Paumarí language

Gender and noun classes
Paumarí nouns are intrinsically categorized in two independent systems: gender and another system of two noun classes. There are two genders: masculine and feminine. If possible, gender assignment of a noun based on the referent's sex, and a few other generalizations can be made, but for the most part gender assignment is semantically opaque. Gender is not represented on the noun itself, but manifests in affixes that verbs, demonstratives, certain adjectives, and possessed nouns take to indicate agreement. Because first and second person pronouns take feminine agreement, it appears that feminine is the unmarked gender. In a transitive verb phrase, the verb agrees in gender with whichever of the agent or the object is the pivot of the discourse (this also affects which word orders are permissible.) In either case, the verb takes the suffix -hi for feminine agreement and -ha for masculine agreement: ada ojoro-a bi-kamitha-'i-hi ida sinari bono-ni

DEM(M) turtle(M)-ERG 3SG.TR-hear-ASP-TH.FEM.AGR DEM(F) buriti(F) fruit(F)-FEM.POSS

'This turtle heard the buriti fruit (fall).' ida ojoro-ra ka-karaga-'a-ha ada makhira

DEM(F) turtle(F)-OBJ NCL.AGR-find-ASP-TH.MASC.AGR DEM(M) man(M)

'A man found a turtle.'

The two classes in the other system of noun classes are called ka- class and non-ka-class, because the ka- class nouns cause certain other words to signal agreement with the prefix ka-. The semantic basis for assigning different nouns to these two classes is slightly less opaque than for gender: no abstract nouns are in the ka- class, and whether a concrete noun is in the ka- class roughly corresponds to whether its referent is large and flat, with certain semantic categories admitting other generalizations. A verb must take the prefix ka- if a particular argument is a ka-class noun; if the verb is in an intransitive clause that argument is the subject, whereas if it is in an intransitive clause that argument is the object. Aside from verb-argument agreement, noun class agreement also occurs for modifying stative verbs, possessed nouns, and certain adjectives. This system of classifying nouns is eroding in the face of contact with Portuguese, with the agreement prefix often being left off of verbs in rapid speech.