Verb Consonant Mutations

Thri kreen uses an Austronesian-style focus system: the verb is marked for which semantic role (Agent, Patient, Locative, Instrumental, Temporal) is in focus. This is done by mutating the first segment(s) of the verb root, and the

Agent focus: vowel mutation (ablaut) of the root vowel.

Patient focus: consonant lenition of the root-initial consonant.

Locative focus: consonant fortition

Instrumental focus: nasalization (adding a homorganic nasal cluster).

Temporal focus: labialization (adding a /w/ or rounding effect).

Only the first verb in a clause (or in a serial verb chain) normally carries focus mutation; subsequent verbs appear in base form.

The focused noun is marked with lenition mutation on the last consonant of the stem, ignoring vowels and suffixes (if there are any).

Vowel Mutation (Agent Focus)

Agent focus uses vowel mutation of the main root vowel (usually the first full vowel of the root).

ben "to cook" => bin

Vowel Mutations

[*Base Vowel*], [*Agent mutation*],

[*a*], [e],

[*e*], [i],

[*i*], [y],

[*o*], [u],

[*y*], [a],

[*u*], [o]

)

== Consonant Mutation: Patient, Locative, Instrumental, Temporal

Patient, Locative, and Instrumental focus are realized as mutations of the root-initial consonant.

Base ben “to cook”:

Patient focus: lenited initial → if initial were /b/, → /w/: wen =

Locative focus: k’ogeŋok (k→k’) “to fall in (place-focus)”,

Instrumental focus: ŋkogeŋok (ŋk-) “to fall using/with/by X”.

Temporal focus is used when time of the event is the primary topic. It is realized by labialization: