Tigrinya Clausal Prefixes [Cac25]

[Pol89] [Riz97]

Lexical entries for Tigrinya's four clause-initial morphemes, as Complementizer-schema entries with the Tigrinya-specific fields (gloss, clauseType, circumfixal suffix_).

The four prefixes

Prefix	Gloss	Clause type
zɨ-	REL	relative / general subordination
kɨ-	SBJV	subjunctive / irrealis
kəmzi-	COMP	factive complementizer
ʔay-...-n	NEG	negative (circumfix)

Key empirical facts

1. Mutual exclusion: The four prefixes are in complementary distribution (no stacking of zɨ- + kɨ-, etc.)
2. Fixed position: All precede the verbal complex
3. Agreement: kɨ- and ʔay-...-n take agreement suffixes; zɨ- does not
4. Discontinuity: Only ʔay-...-n is discontinuous (circumfix)
5. Selection: Matrix verb class determines which prefix appears (knowledge → kəmzi-, desiderative → kɨ-, etc.)

[Cac25]'s cartographic head assignment (zɨ- = Rel, kɨ- = Fin, kəmzi- = Force, ʔay- = Neg in a [Riz97] split CP) is paper-specific and lives as the headCat projection in Studies/Cacchioli2025.lean.

inductive Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.TigrinyaClauseType : Type

Clause types in Tigrinya, determined by the clausal prefix.

• relative : TigrinyaClauseType
• subjunctive : TigrinyaClauseType
• factive : TigrinyaClauseType
• negative : TigrinyaClauseType
• matrix : TigrinyaClauseType

@[instance_reducible]

instance Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instDecidableEqTigrinyaClauseType : DecidableEq TigrinyaClauseType

Equations

• Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instDecidableEqTigrinyaClauseType x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

@[instance_reducible]

instance Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprTigrinyaClauseType : Repr TigrinyaClauseType

Equations

• Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprTigrinyaClauseType = { reprPrec := Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprTigrinyaClauseType.repr }

def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprTigrinyaClauseType.repr : TigrinyaClauseType → ℕ → Std.Format

Equations

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structure Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.ClausePrefixEntryextends Complementizer : Type

A Tigrinya clausal prefix lexical entry: the root Complementizer schema plus the Tigrinya-specific fields. The form is the prefix half; the discontinuous negative also sets suffix_.

• form : String
• script : Option String
• position : Option Morphology.FormativePosition
• coding : Option Complement.Coding
• force : Option Mood.Illocutionary
• verbForm : Option UD.VerbForm
• licenser : Option Licenser
• agrees : Option Bool
• factive : Option Bool
• gloss : String

  Gloss

• clauseType : TigrinyaClauseType

  Clause type selected

• suffix_ : String

  Suffix form for circumfixes (empty if not discontinuous)

def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprClausePrefixEntry.repr : ClausePrefixEntry → ℕ → Std.Format

Equations

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@[instance_reducible]

instance Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprClausePrefixEntry : Repr ClausePrefixEntry

Equations

• Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprClausePrefixEntry = { reprPrec := Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instReprClausePrefixEntry.repr }

def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instBEqClausePrefixEntry.beq : ClausePrefixEntry → ClausePrefixEntry → Bool

Equations

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• Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instBEqClausePrefixEntry.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false

@[instance_reducible]

instance Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instBEqClausePrefixEntry : BEq ClausePrefixEntry

Equations

• Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instBEqClausePrefixEntry = { beq := Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instBEqClausePrefixEntry.beq }

def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instDecidableEqClausePrefixEntry.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : ClausePrefixEntry) : Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

Equations

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@[instance_reducible]

instance Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instDecidableEqClausePrefixEntry : DecidableEq ClausePrefixEntry

Equations

• Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instDecidableEqClausePrefixEntry = Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.instDecidableEqClausePrefixEntry.decEq

def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.zi : ClausePrefixEntry

zɨ- : relativizer / general subordinator. Does not take agreement. "zɨ-mäs'ə" = REL-come = "who came"

Equations

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def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.ki : ClausePrefixEntry

kɨ- : subjunctive / irrealis marker. Takes an agreement suffix. Selected by desiderative/manipulative verbs. "kɨ-mäs'ə" = SBJV-come = "to come"

Equations

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def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.kemzi : ClausePrefixEntry

kəmzi- : factive complementizer. Selected by knowledge/commentative verbs. "kəmzi-mäs'ə" = COMP-come = "that (he) came" (factive)

Equations

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def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.ay_n : ClausePrefixEntry

ʔay-...-n : negative circumfix. The verbal stem is wrapped: ʔay-mäs'ə-n = NEG-come-NEG = "did not come". Discontinuous exponence derived from V-to-Neg head movement.

Equations

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def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.allPrefixes : List ClausePrefixEntry

All four clausal prefix entries.

Equations

• Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.allPrefixes = [Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.zi, Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.ki, Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.kemzi, Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.ay_n]

def Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.negCircumfix (verbStem : String) : Morphology.Word.Tree (Morphology.Morph × String)

The negative circumfix as word structure over glossed morphs: the verb stem wrapped by ʔay- and -n (an inflectional circumfixation, [Has20]'s prefix-plus-suffix construction reading).

Equations

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theorem Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.neg_circumfix_example : String.join (List.map (fun (x : Morphology.Morph × String) => x.1.form) (negCircumfix "mäs'ə").toList) = "ʔay-mäs'ə-n"

The negative circumfix surfaces correctly.

theorem Tigrinya.ClausePrefixes.neg_circumfix_not_concatenative (s : String) : ¬(negCircumfix s).IsConcatenative

Discontinuous exponence: the circumfixed word is not concatenative — the circumfix is a construction, not a morph ([Has20]).