Dependent and independent verb forms
Encyclopedia
In the Goidelic languages
, dependent and independent verb forms are distinct verb
forms; each tense of each verb exists in both forms. Verbs are often preceded by a particle
which marks negation, or a question, or has some other force. The dependent verb forms are used after a particle, while independent forms are used when the verb is not subject to a particle. For example, in Irish
, the past tense
of the verb ("to see") has two forms: the independent form and the dependent form . The independent form is used when no particle precedes the verb, as in ("I saw John").As the Goidelic languages use verb–subject–object word orders, the verb ("saw") precedes the subject ("I"). The dependent form is used when a particle such as ("not") precedes the verb, as in ("I did not see John").The particle triggers lenition of the verb, changing to .
Old Irish verbs that have no prefix
es, called "simple verbs", have two sets of endings, absolute and conjunct. The conjunct endings are used after a variety of grammatical particle
s, including among others the negative particle ("not"), the interrogative particle , and prepositions combined with the relative pronoun
(e.g. "with which"). Where no such "conjunct particle" is present, the absolute endings are used. For example, "he calls" is (absolute), while "he does not call" is and "with which he calls" is (both conjunct). (An interpunct
"·", hyphen
"-", or colon
":" is usually used to indicate conjunct forms in pedagogical and analytical works on Old Irish. Actual manuscripts do not use such punctuation marks.) When a particle is present, stress
falls on the first syllable of the verb itself, i.e. the syllable after the "·" mark.
In most verbs, distinct absolute and conjunct endings are found in the present indicative, present subjunctive, future, and preterite, and in most persons. For example, a partial paradigm of ("take") is as follows:
Verbs that have one or more prefixes, called "compound verbs", always take conjunct endings. In this case, stress generally falls on the syllable after the first prefix. Where only one prefix is present, that means stress falls on the verb root, but where two or more prefixes are present, stress then falls on the second prefix.
Because these verb forms are stressed on the second syllable, they are called deuterotonic (from Greek
deuteros "second" + tonos "tone, stress"). As can be seen in the above examples, the phonological
effects of stress placement can be significant; for example, when the prefix com follows the stressed syllable, it is reduced to just n. These phonological changes become even more apparent when a conjunct particle like ("not") is added. In this case, stress shifts to the first prefix, which has phonological consequences for the rest of the verbal complex.
Because these forms are stressed on the first syllable of the verb proper (i.e. the syllable after the particle), they are called prototonic (Greek prōtos "first"). The relationship between prototonic and deuterotonic compound verb forms is thus analogous to that between simple verb forms with conjunct and absolute endings: the one group is used after a conjunct particle like , the other group without such a particle.
The distinction between absolute and conjunct endings is believed to have originated with the placement of a particle *(e)s in Proto-Insular Celtic; see Proto-Celtic#Verbs for discussion.
In addition to the above-mentioned forms, Old Irish also has one dependent verb form that is neither a regular conjunct form nor a prototonic form: the word functions in many cases as the dependent equivalent of "is", e.g. "there is no part", where follows the conjunct particle "not". This form survives in Modern Irish as , in Gaelic as , and in Manx as , all of which are used as the dependent equivalent of the verb for "is".
In other irregular verbs, the independent/dependent distinction (found in both the habitual present and in the past) is inherited from the Old Irish deuterotonic/prototonic distinction. For example:
is very similar to that in Scottish Gaelic. The future tense has the ending -ee in the independent form, which in many verbs is dropped in the dependent form. In addition, dependent forms undergo various initial mutations in Manx. For example:
In Manx too, remnants of the deuterotonic/prototonic distinction of Old Irish are found in the independent/dependent distinction in some irregular verbs, for example:
The distinction was also found in the 1st and 3rd persons of the future tense:
In Modern Irish
, all of these distinctions have been lost. Sometimes it is the independent form that was generalized (e.g. "will praise"), sometimes the dependent form (e.g. "praises").
However, the deuterotonic/prototonic distinction is still found in many irregular verbs, for example:
Irish has two types of relative clause
: direct and indirect (see Irish syntax#Relative clauses for details). The distinction between them is shown firstly by the fact that the relative particle triggers lenition of the following verb in direct relatives but eclipsis of the verb in indirect relatives, and secondly (where the distinction is made) it takes the independent form of the verb in direct relatives and the dependent form in indirect relatives. For example:
"the work which I was doing" (direct relative; independent form) "the man whose son was in the hospital (indirect relative; dependent form)
Irish also has two types of conditional clause, which are introduced by two different words for "if": introduces realis clauses, and introduces irrealis clauses. Realis clauses indicate conditionals with a possible fulfillment (e.g. "if he is agreeable", which leaves open the possibility that he is), while irrealis clauses indicate purely hypothetical conditionals (e.g. "if it were a nice day", but it isn't). The realis particle triggers lenition of the following verb and takes the independent form, while the irrealis particle triggers eclipsis and takes the dependent form. For example:
"if she saw it" (realis; independent form) "if she had found it" (irrealis; dependent form)
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...
, dependent and independent verb forms are distinct verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
forms; each tense of each verb exists in both forms. Verbs are often preceded by a particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
which marks negation, or a question, or has some other force. The dependent verb forms are used after a particle, while independent forms are used when the verb is not subject to a particle. For example, in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, the past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
of the verb ("to see") has two forms: the independent form and the dependent form . The independent form is used when no particle precedes the verb, as in ("I saw John").As the Goidelic languages use verb–subject–object word orders, the verb ("saw") precedes the subject ("I"). The dependent form is used when a particle such as ("not") precedes the verb, as in ("I did not see John").The particle triggers lenition of the verb, changing to .
Old Irish
The distinction between dependent and independent forms originates with two distinct but related phenomena in Old Irish: the contrast between absolute and conjunct verb endings, and the contrast between prototonic and deuterotonic forms.Old Irish verbs that have no prefix
Prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
es, called "simple verbs", have two sets of endings, absolute and conjunct. The conjunct endings are used after a variety of grammatical particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
s, including among others the negative particle ("not"), the interrogative particle , and prepositions combined with the relative pronoun
Relative pronoun
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence. It is called a relative pronoun because it relates the relative clause to the noun that it modifies. In English, the relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, whosever, whosesoever, which, and, in some...
(e.g. "with which"). Where no such "conjunct particle" is present, the absolute endings are used. For example, "he calls" is (absolute), while "he does not call" is and "with which he calls" is (both conjunct). (An interpunct
Interpunct
An interpunct —also called an interpoint—is a small dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script, which also appears in some modern languages as a stand-alone sign inside a word. It is present in Unicode as code point ....
"·", hyphen
Hyphen
The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen should not be confused with dashes , which are longer and have different uses, or with the minus sign which is also longer...
"-", or colon
Colon (punctuation)
The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark....
":" is usually used to indicate conjunct forms in pedagogical and analytical works on Old Irish. Actual manuscripts do not use such punctuation marks.) When a particle is present, stress
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
falls on the first syllable of the verb itself, i.e. the syllable after the "·" mark.
In most verbs, distinct absolute and conjunct endings are found in the present indicative, present subjunctive, future, and preterite, and in most persons. For example, a partial paradigm of ("take") is as follows:
| Person | Present indicative | |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | Conjunct | |
| 1 sg. | ||
| 2 sg. | ||
| 3 sg. | ||
| 1 pl. | , | |
| 2 pl. | ||
| 3 pl. | ||
| Person | Present subjunctive | |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | Conjunct | |
| 1 sg. | , | |
| 2 sg. | ||
| 3 sg. | ||
| 1 pl. | ||
| 2 pl. | ||
| 3 pl. | ||
| Person | Future | |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | Conjunct | |
| 1 sg. | ||
| 2 sg. | ||
| 3 sg. | ||
| 1 pl. | ||
| 2 pl. | ||
| 3 pl. | ||
| Person | Preterite | |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | Conjunct | |
| 1 sg. | ||
| 2 sg. | ||
| 3 sg. | ||
| 1 pl. | ||
| 2 pl. | (unattested) | |
| 3 pl. | ||
Verbs that have one or more prefixes, called "compound verbs", always take conjunct endings. In this case, stress generally falls on the syllable after the first prefix. Where only one prefix is present, that means stress falls on the verb root, but where two or more prefixes are present, stress then falls on the second prefix.
| No. of prefixes |
Underlying form | Surface form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | /to + gair/The prefix to becomes do when unstressed. | "he summons" | |
| 2 | /for + com + gair/ | "he commands" | |
| 3 | /to + air + com + gair/ | "he promises" |
Because these verb forms are stressed on the second syllable, they are called deuterotonic (from Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
deuteros "second" + tonos "tone, stress"). As can be seen in the above examples, the phonological
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
effects of stress placement can be significant; for example, when the prefix com follows the stressed syllable, it is reduced to just n. These phonological changes become even more apparent when a conjunct particle like ("not") is added. In this case, stress shifts to the first prefix, which has phonological consequences for the rest of the verbal complex.
| No. of prefixes |
Underlying form | Surface form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | /ní + to + gair/ | "he does not summon" | |
| 2 | /ní + for + com + gair/ | "he does not command" | |
| 3 | /ní + to + air + com + gair/ | "he does not promise" |
Because these forms are stressed on the first syllable of the verb proper (i.e. the syllable after the particle), they are called prototonic (Greek prōtos "first"). The relationship between prototonic and deuterotonic compound verb forms is thus analogous to that between simple verb forms with conjunct and absolute endings: the one group is used after a conjunct particle like , the other group without such a particle.
| Without particle (independent) |
With particle (dependent) |
Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| (abs.) | (conj.) | "he calls/does not call" |
| (deut.) | (prot.) | "he summons/does not summon" |
| (deut.) | (prot.) | "he promises/does not promise" |
The distinction between absolute and conjunct endings is believed to have originated with the placement of a particle *(e)s in Proto-Insular Celtic; see Proto-Celtic#Verbs for discussion.
In addition to the above-mentioned forms, Old Irish also has one dependent verb form that is neither a regular conjunct form nor a prototonic form: the word functions in many cases as the dependent equivalent of "is", e.g. "there is no part", where follows the conjunct particle "not". This form survives in Modern Irish as , in Gaelic as , and in Manx as , all of which are used as the dependent equivalent of the verb for "is".
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic retains traces of both the absolute/conjunct distinction and the deuterotonic/prototonic distinction. The absolute/conjunct distinction is retained in the habitual present tense (also used as, and often referred to as, the future tense) of regular and many irregular verbs. In these cases, the independent form of the verb ends in -(a)idh (cf. Old Irish above), while the dependent form drops this ending (cf. Old Irish above). For example:| Independent | Dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| will grasp | ||
| will drink | ||
| will hear | ||
| will reach |
In other irregular verbs, the independent/dependent distinction (found in both the habitual present and in the past) is inherited from the Old Irish deuterotonic/prototonic distinction. For example:
| Independent | Dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| will see | ||
| saw | ||
| will get | ||
| went |
Manx
The situation in ManxManx language
Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
is very similar to that in Scottish Gaelic. The future tense has the ending -ee in the independent form, which in many verbs is dropped in the dependent form. In addition, dependent forms undergo various initial mutations in Manx. For example:
| Independent | Dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| will throw | ||
| / |
will leave | |
| will eat | ||
| will hear |
In Manx too, remnants of the deuterotonic/prototonic distinction of Old Irish are found in the independent/dependent distinction in some irregular verbs, for example:
| Independent | Dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| was | ||
| will do | ||
| / |
saw | |
| went |
Irish
In Early Modern Irish, the absolute/conjunct distinction was on the wane. It was less thoroughgoing than in Old Irish, but more than in the modern languages. In the conjunct of the present tense, endingless forms like Old Irish (cf. Gaelic and Manx aboveThe future tense of Gaelic and Manx is derived from the Old Irish present.) were gradually being replaced by forms with the ending -(e)ann. The distinction was found not only in the 3rd person singular, but also in the 1st and 3rd persons plural. Thus in Early Modern Irish, distinctions like the following were made:| Independent | Dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| / |
praises | |
| we praise | ||
| they praise |
The distinction was also found in the 1st and 3rd persons of the future tense:
| Independent | Dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| I will praise | ||
| s/he will praise | ||
| we will praise | ||
| they will praise |
In Modern Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, all of these distinctions have been lost. Sometimes it is the independent form that was generalized (e.g. "will praise"), sometimes the dependent form (e.g. "praises").
However, the deuterotonic/prototonic distinction is still found in many irregular verbs, for example:
| Independent | Dependent | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| was | ||
| made | ||
| would find | ||
| saw | ||
| went |
Irish has two types of relative clause
Relative clause
A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase "the man who wasn't there" contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there...
: direct and indirect (see Irish syntax#Relative clauses for details). The distinction between them is shown firstly by the fact that the relative particle triggers lenition of the following verb in direct relatives but eclipsis of the verb in indirect relatives, and secondly (where the distinction is made) it takes the independent form of the verb in direct relatives and the dependent form in indirect relatives. For example:
"the work which I was doing" (direct relative; independent form) "the man whose son was in the hospital (indirect relative; dependent form)
Irish also has two types of conditional clause, which are introduced by two different words for "if": introduces realis clauses, and introduces irrealis clauses. Realis clauses indicate conditionals with a possible fulfillment (e.g. "if he is agreeable", which leaves open the possibility that he is), while irrealis clauses indicate purely hypothetical conditionals (e.g. "if it were a nice day", but it isn't). The realis particle triggers lenition of the following verb and takes the independent form, while the irrealis particle triggers eclipsis and takes the dependent form. For example:
"if she saw it" (realis; independent form) "if she had found it" (irrealis; dependent form)