Editing Keres language (section)

===== Argument role =====
Languages encode two main types of actions: those in which the main participant initiates an action that produces change in an object (e.g. ''kick <u>a ball</u>, buy <u>a gift</u>, cook <u>a dish</u>, read <u>a book</u>'');  and those in which the action produces no (perceived) change in the world or that have no object (''sneezing, breathing, growing, diving'', etc.).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Syntax : an introduction. Volume 1|author=Givón, Talmy|date=2001|publisher=J. Benjamins|isbn=1588110656|edition= Rev.|location=Amsterdam|oclc=70727915}}</ref>  Actions that take an object are encoded by [[transitive verbs]], whereas those that take no object are expressed via [[intransitive verb]]s.

====== Intransitive verbs ======
In [[Indo-European languages]] like English, all intransitive verbs behave similarly (‘They sneeze/breathe/dive/think’/etc.). In Keresan, actions that take no object are conceptualized in two distinct ways depending on how the initiator of the action is implicated. More active-like intransitive verbs (e.g. ‘to sneeze’) are coded through one set of morphemes, whereas actions conceptualized as involving the initiator at a lesser degree (e.g. ‘to believe’) are coded using a separate set of prefixes.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Degrees of involvement of the initiator in Keres<ref name=":4" />
!
!Actions
!Intransitive verb type
|-
|'''More'''
|''to write'' (-dyàatra), ''to steal as a thief'' (-chʼáwʼa), ''to have diarrhea'' (-ushchʼi), 
''to leave'' (-mi), ''to whistle'' (-srbiitsa), ''to sweat'' (-shdyuwàan’i)
|Active
|-
|'''Less'''
|''to believe'' (-hima), ''to be born'' (-dyá), ''to sleep (''-bái), 
''to be afraid'' (-tyishu), ''to forget'' (-dyúmidruwi)
|Inactive
|}

Ideas expressed in Indo-European languages with adjectives are most often encoded by verbs in Keresan. That is, in Keresan one express the idea in the sentence ‘He is selfish’ by saying something along the lines of ‘He ''selfishes''’. In such “actions”, the entity that is characterized by them is not implicated in the action directly (i.e. it's beyond their control), and thus belong in the Inactive intransitive category. The different sets of prefixes are shown below:

{| class="wikitable"
|+
Intransitive Prefixes by Verb Type
!
! colspan="3" |Active intransive
! colspan="3" |Inactive intransitive
|-
!
!Prefix
! colspan="2" |Example
!Prefix
! colspan="2" |Example
|-
|First
|'''s(i)-'''
|sudyàatra
|''I write''
|'''srk-'''
|srkuhima
|''I believe''
|-
|Second
|'''sr-'''
|srúuchʼáwʼa
|''you steal''
|'''kɨdr-'''
|kɨdrâidyá
|''you were born''
|-
|Third
|'''k-'''
|kashdyuwàanʼi
|''s/he sweats''
|'''dz-'''
|dzíibái
|''he is sleeping''
|}

====== Transitive verbs ======

{| class="wikitable"
|+Transitive verb - Indicative mood (''-ukạchạ'' 'to see')
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="5" |[[Object (grammar)|Direct object]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
| colspan="5" |'''Singular'''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="9" |[[Subject (grammar)|'''Subject''']]
|
|'''First''' ('me’)
|'''Second''' (‘you’)
|'''Third''' (‘her’/‘him’)
|'''Fourth'''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="2" |'''First'''
(‘I’)
| rowspan="2" | -
|'''srà-'''ukạchạ
|'''sì-'''ukạchạ
| rowspan="4" | -
|- style="text-align:center;"
|''I see you''
|''I see her/him''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="2" |'''Second'''
(‘you’)
|'''dyù'''-ukạchạ
| rowspan="2" | - 
|'''srù'''-ukạchạ
|- style="text-align:center;"
|''you see me''
|''you see her/him''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="2" |'''Third'''
(‘she’/‘he’)
|'''srgù'''-ukạchạ
|'''kudrù''' -ukạchạ
|'''g-'''ukạchạ
|'''gù-'''ukạchạ
|- style="text-align:center;"
|''s/he sees me''
|''s/he sees you''
|''s/he sees her/him''
|''s/he sees something''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| rowspan="2" |'''Fourth'''
(‘one’)
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | -
|'''dzì-'''ukạchạ
| rowspan="2" | -
|- style="text-align:center;"
|''one sees it''
|}