Mandan grammar

The Mandan language is agglutinative, meaning that it uses a wide range of prefixes and suffixes to build its predicates. Like all Siouan languages, Mandan is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language. Mandan has Active–stative alignment.

Verbs

Morphology

Prefix ordering

Mandan prefixes appear in a specific and rigid order. The table below shows the order Mandan prefixes take:

11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0
relative ko-	negative wáa-	unspecified prefix wa-	1PL.	preverb irr.	preverb loc. preverb instr. preverb tr.	1SG.	2SG. 2PL.	SUUS MID. RECP.	iterative ki- inceptive ki-	instrumental	stem

Instrumental prefixes (1)

Mandan verbs show a number of instrumental prefixes that are also found in other Siouan languages (like Lakota).

Instrumental prefixes

original meaning	prefix
‘by force’	ka-
‘by pushing’	pa-
‘by foot’	ra-
‘with the mouth’	ra-
‘by heat’	ra’-
‘by hand’	ru-
‘by piercing through’	wa’-

Examples:

• háa "to separate" + ka- = kaháa "to cut"
• minísh "to be folded" + pa- = pamínish "to roll"
• rapį́įt "to scatter"
• shóh "to be pointed" + ra- = rashóh "to stretch one's leg"
• íxąk "to tear" + ra- = íraxąk "to tear with the teeth"
• ra’sé "to be red hot"
• ra’ptéwa "to burn"
• íxąk "to tear" + ru- = íruxąk "to tear with the hands, to tear open"
• hóp "to be hollow" + wá’- = wá’hop "to make a hole"

Iterative prefix ki-

This prefix is analogous to the inceptive and middle prefixes ki-.

• ónaate "to stand up" = ókinaate "to stand up again"
• róo "to speak" = kiróo "to talk again"

Inceptive prefix ka-

This prefix takes the form ka-, but ke- or ki- may be encountered in some texts. It conveys the idea that the action is just beginning, is starting to be done.

• róo "to speak" = karóo "to start talking"
• xką́here "to chase" = kaxką́here / kixką́here "to start chasing"

Suffix ordering

Like prefixes, suffixes appear in a specific and rigid order. The table below shows the order Mandan suffixes take:

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
stem	stem vowel	negative -nix	SMLT.	ATT.	EVID.	ASP.	plural -nit plural -kere	ASP.	EMPH.	ASP.	ASP.	CONJ. FRCE. MOD. PST. Quotative

Stative and active verbs

Mandan verbs can be divided in two groups: stative verbs and active verbs. There is no clear distinction between nouns and stative verb, and any noun (and even adjectives) can be transformed into a stative verb.

Verb inflection

Thus, there are two paradigms for verb inflection. One set of morphemes indicates the person and number of the subject of active verbs. The other set of morphemes agrees with the object of transitive action verbs or the subject of stative verbs.

Most of the morphemes in each paradigm are prefixes, but plural subjects are marked with a suffix and third-person plural objects with an infix.

First person arguments may be singular, dual, or plural; second or third person arguments may be singular or plural.

Subject of active verbs

	singular	dual	plural
first person	wa-	nu-	nu- ... -nit
second person	ra-		ra- ... -nit
third person	unmarked		-kere

Examples: réeho'sh "He goes." réehkere'sh "They go."

Subject of stative verbs

	singular	dual	plural
first person	ma-	ro-	ro- ... -nit
second person	ni-		ni- ... -nit
third person	unmarked		-kere

Object of transitive verbs

	singular	dual	plural
first person	ma-	ro-	ro- ... (+ -nit)
second person	ni-		ni- ... (+ -nit)
third person	unmarked		unmarked (... + -kere)

Example: wahékere'sh "I see them" from hé "to see somebody/something".

Subject and object pronouns in one verb
If both the subject and object need to be marked, two affixes occur on the verb. Below is a table illustrating this. Subject affixes are marked in italics and object affixes are marked in underline. Some affixes encompass both subject and object (such as mini- ...). The symbol ∅ indicates a lack of marking for a particular subject/object (as in the case of 3rd Person Singular forms).

	me	you (sg.)	him/her/it; them (inanimate)	us	you (pl.)	them (animate)
I		mini-1 ...	wa-		mini- ... -nit	∅wa-
you (sg.)	mana-2 ...		ra∅	rora- ...		∅ra- ...
he/she/it	ma∅- ...	ni∅- ...	∅∅- ...	ro∅- ...	ni∅- ...	∅∅- ...
we		nuni-3 ... -nit	nu∅- ... -nit		nuni- ... -nit	∅nu-4 ... -nit
you (pl.)	mana-2 ... -nit		ra∅- ... -nit	rora- ... -nit		∅ra- ... -nit
they	ma∅- ... -kere	ni∅- ... -kere	... --kere	ro- ... -kere	ni- ... -kere	∅- ... -kere

• ¹ The affix mini- covers cases where I-subject and you-object occurs in transitive verbs.
• ² The 2nd person ra- prefix changes into na- after the 1st person singular stative prefix ma- due to nasalization of r after m.

Enclitics

Mandan has a number of enclitic particles which follow the verb, many of which differ depending on whether the speaker is male or female.

Some enclitics indicate the aspect, mood, or number of the verb they follow.

Indicative adressee-enclitics

Mandan has a system of allocutive agreement and so different grammatical forms may be used that depend on the gender of the addressee. Questions asked of men must use the suffix -o'sha the suffix -o'na is used to ask of women. Likewise, the indicative suffix is -o'sh to address men, -o're to address women. The same goes for the imperative: -ta (male), -na (female).

Negative

Mandan usually forms its negation by adding the prefix wáa- ("any") and the negative suffix -nix to the verbal (or nominal) root:

• Ptį́įs húuro'sh > Ptį́įs wáahuunixo'sh = The buffalo comes > The buffalo doesn't come

If the verbal root ends in a consonant, a short -i- is inserted between the consonant and the -nix ending to avoid consonant cluster:

• Ptį́įs ptą́ho'sh > Ptį́įs wáaptąhinixo'sh = The buffalo comes > The buffalo doesn't come

The negative suffix -nix becomes -xi after a short vowel ending verbal root:

• Ptį́įs hí'sh > Ptį́įs wáahixi’sh = The buffalo arrives > The buffalo doesn't arrive

The negative suffix -nix (or -xi) triggers the A-ablaut, so that any verbal root which contains the vowel -e- or -ee- in its final syllab becomes -a- or -aa-:

• Ptį́įs réeho'sh > Ptį́įs wáaraahinixo'sh = The buffalo goes away > The buffalo doesn't go away
• Ptį́įs rohé'sh > Ptį́įs wáarohaxi'sh = The buffalo sees us > The buffalo doesn't see us

Adjectives

Mandan adjectives are treated as stative verbs unless the noun they qualify are subject or object of another verb. This implies that Mandan adjectives may take stative verb prefixes and suffixes.

Examples of sentences with the adjective xté "big"

English	Mandan	Word by word
a big house	tí xté'sh	house big-is
those houses are big	tí ą́'tee xtékere'sh	house that big-PL.-are
I see a big house	tí xté wahé'sh	house big I-see
that house is not big	tí ą́'tee wáaxtenixo'sh	house that any-big-not-is
my house is big	matís xté'sh	me-house-the big-is
I see my big house	matí xtés wahé'sh	me-house big-the I-see
I am big	maxté'sh	me-big-am
if your house is big, I will come	nitís xtéki, wahúukto'sh	you-house-the big-if, I-come-may-am

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