Urum has a very rich verbal morphology. Verbal suffixes are attached to the bare stem in the following order: passive, negation, TAM markers (tense, aspect, mood), person/number.
3.7.1 Passive
Passive in Urum is expressed by the suffix-Ilwhich immediately attaches to the verbal stem. See (61).
(61) Yol-lar road-PL
aˇc-ıl-dı-lar.
open-PASS-PST-3.PL
‘The roads were opened.’ (FM-C03.005)
3.7.2 Negation
Verbal negation is expressed by the negation suffix-m(E). In active sentences, the negation suffix typically attaches immediately to the bare stem of the verb. Consider the example in (62).
(62) Biz 1.PL
o that
dil-i
language-ACC
eˇc at.all
bül-ıl-ier-dı-h.
know-NEG-IPFV-PST-1.PL
‘We did not know that language at all.’ (LG-C10.001)
3.7.3 Person and number
Urum shows subject-verb agreement. Hence, finite verbs agree with subjects in number and person, as illustrated in (63).
(63) Baš-tan
beginning-ABL
urum-lar Urum-PL
yaš-ier-dı-lar live-IPFV-PST-PL
turtsia-da.
Turkey-LOC
‘First the Urum people lived in Turkey.’ (AN-Y05.001) Urum exhibits three paradigms for subject agreement suffixes on verbs.
Consider Table 3.5.
Table 3.5: Paradigms of verbal person suffixes in Urum
Paradigm I Paradigm II Paradigm III
SG
1 -Im -m NA
2 -sIn -n -∅
3 -∅ -∅ -sIn
PL
1 -Ih -h NA
2 -sIs -z -In
3 -lAr -lAr -sInlAr
The suffixes of the first paradigm attach to the present stem, the imperfec-tive suffix, the aorist and the future as well as to the optaimperfec-tive suffix (Skopeteas 2013). Consider for instance the example in (64).
(64) Biz 1.PL
gürjistan-da Georgia-LOC
yaš-ier-ıh.
live-IPVF-1.PL
‘We live in Georgia.’ (PP-B12.001)
By contrast, the suffixes of the second paradigm attach to the past tense and to the conditional suffix, see (65) (Skopeteas 2013).
(65) Bız 1.PL
birınji first
yaš-ier-dı-h
live-IPVF-PST-1.PL
gretsia-da.
Greece-LOC
‘First we lived in Greece.’ (AN-B12.001)
Finally, the suffixes of the third paradigm only attach to the imperative, as shown in (66).
(66) Ged-ın go-IMP.2.PL
de-ın
tell-IMP.2.PL
˘gardaš-ım-a.
brother-POSS.3SG-DAT
‘Go and tell my brother!’ (CL-A10.003)
3.7.4 Aspect
Urum distinguishes two aspects: perfective and imperfective. Whereas the former is used to describe actions that happened and ended in the past and has no particular suffix, the imperfective aspect is used to describe ongoing or continuous actions and is expressed by the suffix -(i)er. Consider for instance the examples in (67). However, the imperfective aspect can also combine with the past tense suffix-d(I), see (67b).
(67) Imperfective:
a. Sävın-ier-d-ıh.
happy-IPFV-1.PL
‘We are happy!’ (FE-B12.004)
b. Dädäm
grandfather-POSS.1.SG
di-er-di
say-IPFV-PST.3SG
ki
COMP
biz 1.PL
gäl-d-ıh
come-PST-1.PL
gürjistan-a.
Georgia-DAT
‘My grandfather was telling us that we came to Georgia.’
(AN-A02.001)
3.7.5 Tense
Past
Similar to Turkish, Urum has two simple past tenses: the definite and the reported past (Kornfilt 1997). The definite past is expressed by the suffixes -d(I)or-t(I). See the example in (68).
(68) Or-da there-LOC
Tsalka-da Tsalka-LOC
yap-tı-lar build-PST-3.PL
äv-lär-i.
house-PL-ACC
‘They built houses there in Tsalka.’ (AN-B09.007) By contrast, the reported past is expressed by the suffix-mıš, see (69).
The reported past is used when a speaker is not sure whether the proposition of a statement is true or not, because the action or the event he or she is describing has only been reported to him or her (cf. also Kornfilt 1997 on Turkish).
(69) Biz-ım 1.PL-GEN
halh people
yap-mıš build-REP.PST
böyük big
kissä.
church
‘It appears that our people have built the church.’ (VL-B05.004) Future
Future in Urum is expressed either by the aorist or by the future case suffix -AˇjA(h). Whereas the aorist in Turkish is used to express habitual actions and general events (Kornfilt 1997), the Urum aorist case suffix-Ir10 has a future (or habitual) time reference (cf. the results of an elicitation study by Schellenbach 2014 and an acceptability judgment task by Hass 2014).
Consider the example in (70). Moreover it has been found that the use of the Urum aorist suffix correlates with counterfactuality and polarity, i.e., the aorist suffix is predominantly used and accepted in counterfactual contexts that involve negation (cf. the results of an elicitation study by Franz 2014 and an acceptability judgment task by Zähres and Wardhani 2014).
(70) Biz-ım our-GEN
halh people
e˘gıl-ir gather-AOR
kissä-dä.
church-AOR
‘Our people will get together at the church.’ (FE-B05.002) Furthermore, future time reference in Urum can be expressed by the future case suffix-AˇjA(h), see (71).
(71) Bül-m-ier-ıh
know-NEG-IPFV-1.PL
nä what
ol-ajah.
be-FUT
‘We don’t know what will happen next.’ (VL-C15.008)
10If following negation, the Urum aorist is expressed by the allomorph-z(Skopeteas 2013: 346).
Present
Urum does not exhibit a present tense suffix. As shown in the previous paragraph, habitual actions in Urum are expressed by the aorist case suffix -Ir(72). By contrast, simple present time reference in Urum is indicated by
the use of the imperfective aspect marker-(i)er(73).
(72) Biz-ım 1.PL-GEN
dil-i
language-ACC
bän 1.SG
ˇco˘g much
säv-er-ım.
love-AOR-1.SG
‘I love our language very much.’ (PS-X34.001) (73) Adam
man
ˇcıh-ier
climb-IMPF.3.SG
märdivän-dän ladder-ABL
ˇcam-ın tree-GEN
ust-ün-dä.
top-POSS.3.SG-DAT
‘A man climbs the tree with a ladder.’ (PS-X34.001)
3.7.6 Mood
Urum has several mood markers. The potential suffix-(y)Aonly occurs in negative verbs forms and is the only suffix that precedes the negation marker.
Consider for instance the example in (74).
(74) Syabyat reason
bul-a-ma-di.
find-POT-NEG-PST.3
‘He couldn’t find a reason.’ (PS-X35.036)
The potential suffix -(y)A can co-occur with the ability suffix -yAbIl, which is used to express ability or permission. The potential suffix is the only one which can precede the ability marker while all other TAM markers follow the ability suffix, see (75).
(75) Yaši-abıl-ir-ıh.
live-ABIL-IPFV-1.PL
‘We can live so.’ (VL-A14.007)
Urum also exhibits the conditional suffix-sA. Consider the example in (76). By contrast to the other mood markers, the conditional suffix can either precede or follow tense and aspect markers.
(76) Ägär if
var-sa be-COND
maršutka-inän marshrutka-INS
gid-ier-sin.
go-IPFV-2.SG
‘If there is a marshrutka you go with it.’ (PA-X29.002)
Moreover, Urum has an optative suffix-yA(OPT) which is used to express hope or advice (77).
(77) Baba-si
father-POSS.3SG
di-er-dı say-IPFV-PST
ki
COMP
gid-ä-h go-OPT-INF
gretsia-ya.
Greece-DAT
‘Her father was telling her to go to Greece.’ (AN-C08.005)
3.7.7 Adverbs
As shown in Section 3.6.8, Urum has no lexical distinction between adjectives and adverbs. Hence the same lexical item can modify either a verb or a noun.
Compare the examples in (78) and (79).
(78) Güzäl beautiful
köv-dür.
village-EPST.COP
‘It’s a beautiful village.’ (VL-B12.002)
(79) güzäl beautiful
atmeˇcat celebrate:INF
ed-ir-lär do-AOR-PL
‘we celebrate it beautifully’ (FE-A15.002)
Furthermore, adverbs can be used with the epistemic copula-dIr, as illustrated in (80).
(80) Biz-ım 1.PL-GEN
halh people
biräz little
seriozni-dır.
serious-EPST.COP
‘Our people are a bit serious.’ (PP-B09.001)