Morphology

Morphology covers how words are internally structured: affixes, derivation, and the marking of grammatical categories.

Related pages: See Grammar for syntax and particles. See Building words for compounding and word-formation rules.

Core Principles

All morphological marking is agglutinative: each marker retains its identity and meaning when combined
No root mutation: adding markers never changes the phonetic form of the root
All categories are optional by default; obligations arise only from what must be distinguished, not from grammatical tradition
Markers stack rather than fuse

Tense, Aspect, and Modality

Tonesu does not use verbal suffixes for tense, aspect, or modality.

Tense — Temporal Frame Particles

Tense is expressed by the temporal particle ta and the time-reference compound family, which appear as pre-posed frame markers or post-predicate sentence markers.

Form	Meaning
`ta-ti-mi`	at the present moment (deictic now — W109)
`ti-de`	past time; previously
`ti-be`	proximate future; next
`ti-re`	next scheduled occurrence
`ti-fe`	deadline; the limiting moment

Aspect — Prefix and Compound

Two mechanisms:

re- prefix — habitual/dispositional aspect: re-{verb} = the agent characteristically performs {verb}
Inchoative -ki compound — state entry: {state-root}-ki = enter the state (see below)

All other aspect readings are inferred from context or made explicit by temporal frame markers.

Modality — Clause-Level Constructions

Modality lives entirely in clause-level constructions, not on verbs:

Modality	Construction
Capability	`{noun} be-vo` — has the quality of "can-do"
Intention / plan	`{agent} wi {clause}` — purpose frame
Non-actual / hypothetical	`to-go {proposition}` — causal frame with conditional sense
Epistemic possibility	`{agent} si {proposition}` — epistemic frame
Epistemic impossibility	`{agent} no-to {proposition}` — negated epistemic frame

Derivational Suffixes

Convert roots from one lexical role to another. Attach directly to the root.

Suffix	Role	Example
`-li`	agent — one who does	`ka-li` → doer / actor
`-mu`	device / instrument	`ka-mu` → tool for the action
`-pa`	location	`ka-pa` → site of the action
`-su`	result / product	`ka-su` → what was produced
`-to`	concept (abstract nominalization)	`ka-to` → the idea of the action
`-ge`	quality / property	`ra-ge` → energetic
`-ki`	verbal noun (ongoing process)	`be-ki` → the act of creating

Stacking limit: maximum 1 derivational suffix per lexical unit. Any concept requiring two transformations should be restructured as a compound (the design default).

Historical note: The quality suffix was renamed from -se to -ge because the form se means "perception," creating semantic ambiguity between the suffix and root in nominal position. Rule formalized: a suffix must not share form with a root whose semantic domain overlaps with the suffix's role.

Inchoative Derivation

{state-root} + ki produces an inchoative verb: the event of entering the state named by the root.

Compound	Meaning
`ne-ki`	become related / connect
`su-ki`	become organized / take form
`zo-ki`	become animate / come to life
`ko-ki`	enter / move inside
`be-ki`	begin to grow / come into being

The result is always an intransitive verb — the subject transitions from not-ROOT to ROOT. No patient is marked.

Note: This is distinct from the derivational suffix -ki (verbal noun on action roots). The inchoative applies to state roots to express state transition.

Number

Grammatically unmarked by default.

Pattern	Meaning
`{noun}`	number-neutral; singular or plural by context
`nu-{noun}`	some quantity of (non-specific)
`ru-{noun}`	one / a single
`pu-{noun}`	many / multiple
`ne-su-{noun}`	a collective / a structured group

No agreement: quantifiers do not change verb, adjective, or article forms.

Gender

Not grammatically encoded. Sex, gender, or social category are expressed only when relevant, using a modifier:

female-li   male-li   elder-li   child-li

No agreement required across sentence elements.

Definiteness

No articles. Definiteness is inferred from context. Optional definiteness markers available when disambiguation is required:

Marker	Meaning
`ko-{noun}`	known / definite reference
`ne-{noun}`	new / indefinite reference

These are modifiers, not obligatory determiners.

Possession

Expressed by a relational particle between possessor and possessed. No morphological mutation.

{possessor}  poss  {possessed}

Personal pronouns combine with the same particle:

mi  poss  device          →  my device
wi  poss  system          →  our system
na Derik  poss  tool      →  Derik's tool

Productive Prefixes

`no-`: Negation / Absence

Rule: no- + X = the absence, non-attainment, reversal, or prevention of X.

no- is a high-scope operator: it applies to the entire content of whatever it prefixes — whether that is a primitive root or a compound predicate.

Form	Base	Meaning
`no-de`	`de` (decay)	preservation; non-decay
`no-ru`	`ru` (coherence)	unstable; non-coherent
`no-fe`	`fe` (boundary)	below threshold; within range
`no-ha`	`ha` (thermal)	cold; low-thermal
`no-ne-fe`	`ne-fe` (dependency)	non-dependency; does not require

The no-ne-fe case is structurally decisive: ne-fe is a two-root compound; no- prefixes it as a unit. This confirms that no- scope is the entire predicate, not only a final root.

Contrast with lexical antonyms: no-de is not simply "the opposite of decay." It is specifically the condition of decay not occurring = preservation.

Casual Register: Colloquial Compression

Formal compounds in Tonesu can be long. Casual speech compresses them by stripping contextually recoverable qualifiers. Example: ti-past-to-si-ko-mu (formal) → to-ko (casual, meaning "past-communication-device" understood as "that old phone").