Kankanaey content roots Kankanaey content roots divide the Kankanaey lexicon into different categories to define their usage and word type. The categories are class roots, property roots, stative roots, perception-stative roots, physical roots, and action roots. Word charts and definitions taken from Janet Allen's
Kankanaey: A Role and Reference Grammar Analysis. Class roots Class roots are a class of nouns that are defined by physical or other sensory characteristics.
Property roots Property roots point out a characteristic like size, taste, color, etc.
Stative roots Stative roots point out a temporary physical condition. Result-stative roots are states that are changed by an outside source.
Perception-stative roots Perception-stative roots point out a perception by a living being, such as physical, emotional and mental perception-states. Living beings are able to actively perceive with control and content, so these roots form predicates of a wider range than those formed from simple stative roots.
Physical roots Physical roots point out movements and position such as natural movements, body movements, and positions, but not bodily functions. They may denote location, direction, or manner of movement.
Action roots Action roots point out an activity by a living and sometimes intentional participant. Some action roots indicate the direction of that action with respect to another participant; others denote a participant as involved with the action but not the end receiver. Rather than having the action root modified, Kankanaey roots are very specific as to what the action is. Many roots indicate the receiver of the action.
Reduplication Multiple types of
reduplication are used when forming words in Kankanaey. Unaffixed or affixed roots may experience reduplication, and have their first CV, CVC, or CV(C)CV of the base form copied, with each type of base executing different functions. Kankanaey has many roots that have canonical shapes that appear to possess reduplication. These irreducible roots can contain one syllable that is repeated such as and , but other roots can contain a repeated syllable with a
prefix or
infix such as and . All of these irreducible roots are not examples of reduplication as a word-building process.
Prefixes Many Kankanaey
affixes are normal prefixes that come directly before the root such as the in , "seat-mate," from . A lot of reduplicative affixation is used before the prefixation such as the
CV- and
na- in , 'was drunk', from , 'drunk'. However, some CVC reduplication is applied after the prefix is added to the beginning of the stem such as the
ma- and
CVC- in , 'ticklish', from , 'to tickle'. Some roots lose their first vowel when they are prefixed such as the
e in , 'sweet, tasty', when prefixed to , 'sweet, tasty'. This is because the glottal
metathesizes with the second consonant under phonological constraints. If the root is one-syllable or if it is vowel reduced, then the reduplication is applied after the predicative affixation such as the
ma- and
CVC- in , 'dying', from , 'dead'.
Suffixes According to Janet Allen's
Kankanaey: A Role and Reference Grammar Analysis, only "two predicating affixes are suffixes, -
en and -
an. Some roots drop their last vowel when suffixed, as in (come upon, find) from (arrive)."
Infixes To change , 'flow down', to , 'flows down', the predicating affix
-om- is infixed after the first consonant of the root word. In , 'removed', the perfective affix
-in- is infixed after the first consonant of , 'to remove'. , 'was repeatedly hitting/slapping', is formed by first reduplicating the word , 'hit with slapping sound', into , and then the predicating infixation and aspect infixation are added. This is because reduplication usually precedes both the predicating infixation and aspect infixation. However, in this example, vowel reduction occurred when the infixes were added before the vowel, causing the infixes -
in- and -
om- to become -
inm-. When forming , 'were exploding', from , 'explode', the reducible vowel and reduplication steps were re-ordered so no vowel reduction was experienced. Some highly marked affixes have an infixed
glottal stop leading the second vowel such as when forming , 'little old pots, toy pots', from , 'pot'.
Circumfixes A lot of affixes consist of a prefix or an infix, which is also followed by a suffix. These are called
circumfixes and have their own unique meanings, not a combination of the two parts.
Predicate formation The Kankanaey vocabulary is arranged by root
morphemes, and points out the important semantic properties of each root. Kankanaey roots deeply rely on the combination with their affixes to determine their meaning in phrases and clauses. The predicates that form are determined by the interaction of the affixation to the semantic properties of the root that are relevant in its context.
Aktionsart is a way to categorize event semantics, proposed by Vendler (1967), by if they are "happening" or are static, and it distinguishes them by their temporal properties and its dynamicity. According to Janet Allen's
Kankanaey: A Role and Reference Grammar Analysis, "VVLP (1997) and Van Valin (2005) expanded the list of categories to reflect resultant situations, adding semelfactives and complex predicates–active accomplishments and causatives." == Orthography ==