IV. Transitive Animate Verbs (VTA)
Transitive Animate Verbs are classified as such because 1) they are transitive verbs (i.e. they have both a subject and an object), and 2) the subject and the object of the verb both refer to a (grammatically) animate participants. Since both participants are animate, VTA stems occur in the richest paradigms in which both the subject and the object can show the full range of first, second and third person marking. Just like VAI and VTI stems, a full VTA paradigm consists of Independent, Conjunct indicative and future conditional forms, and the Imperative. The person marking interactions are simply far richer, resulting in much larger paradigms.
There are four main types of VTA verb stems which will thus be subclassified as VTA1, VTA2, VTA3, and VTA4.
Regular VTA Stems (VTA1)
The first and most common subclass of VTA stem always ends in a single consonant, and all consonants can occur stem-finally in VTA1s other than /t/ and the glides, /w/ and /y/. The stem can serve as a complete word when used in the second person singular acting on third person singular (2s-3s) Immediate Imperative form. Examples in (1) and (2) show the stem and Imperative forms, as well as the third person singular acting on obviative (fourth) person (3s-4) Independent form (as marked by the ending -ēw). The 3s-4 Independent form typically serves as the dictionary citation form for VTA stems.
(1) wīcih- “to help s.o.” wīcih “help him/her!” wīcihēw “s/he helps him/her/them.”
(2) asam- “to feed s.o.” asam “feed him/her!” asamēw “s/he feeds him/her/them.”
The full paradigms will be provided in the dedicated VTA1 page.
Vowel-Glide VTA Stems (VTA2)
The second type of VTA stem acts quite similarly to VTA1 stems, but does exhibit several contractions in the paradigm when the stem-final vowel plus glide sequence combines with certain /i/-initial suffixes. Examples in (3) and (4) show the same stem, 2s-3s Immediate Imperative, and 3s-4 Independent forms, while the main differences between VTA1 and VTA2 stems will be shown in the full paradigms provided on their dedicated pages.
(1) nitonaw- “to look for s.o.” nitonaw “look for him/her!” nitonawēw “s/he looks for him/her/them.”
(2) atamiskaw- “to greet s.o.” atamiskaw “greet him/her!” atamiskawēw “s/he greets him/her/them.”
Consonant-/w/ VTA Stems (VTA3)
A somewhat more restricted though still quite numerous class of VTA stems ends in a combination of consonant plus /w/. Combinations of /hw/ and /sw/ are most common, with rare examples of /mw/ and /pw/ also found. Though the stem forms suggest the presence of the /w/, this sound is dropped in the 2s-3s Immediate Imperative, but does appear in many forms in the VTA paradigm, including the 3s-4 Independent. Examples (5) and (6) exemplify these patterns, while the full paradigms will also illustrate how the /w/ sometimes merges with /i/-initial suffixes to yield [o].
(5) pakamahw- “to hit s.o.” pakamah “hit him/her!” pakamahwēw “s/he hits him/her/them.”
(6) atisw- “to dye or tan s.o.” atis “dye or tan him/her/it!” atiswēw “s/he dyes or tans him/her/it/them.”
/t/-final VTA Stems (VTA4)
Finally, a fourth class of VTA stems end in a /t/. This stem-final /t/ changes to an [s] in certain forms, such as the 2s-3s Immediate Imperative, as illustrated in examples /7/ and /8/, but remains /t/ elsewhere. The exact pattern of alternation between /t/ and [s] will be illustrated in the dedicated page for VTA4 stems.
(7) nāt- “to fetch s.o.” nās “fetch him/her!” nātēw “s/he fetches him/her/them.”
(8) kitot- “to speak to s.o.” kitos “speak to him/her!” kitotēw “s/he speaks to him/her/them.”
Each of these stem types will be more fully described and exemplified on their own respective page:
VTA1 regular transitive animate stems
VTA2 vowel-glide transitive animate stems
VTA3 consonant-/w/ transitive animate stems
VTA4 /t/-final transitive animate stems