1. Overview
Verbs in Blaken do not encode time directly. Instead, they encode whether a concept (morpheme) manifests as an event, and how that event unfolds (aspect). Temporal interpretation arises from context, not from obligatory tense marking.
Any free morpheme is a root. By itself, it can express a concept and may function nominally or verbally depending on context. When speakers wish to profile that concept as an event, they attach an event modifier to the root.
- Root alone: concept, quality, capacity, state
- Root + event modifier: event, process, functioning
This distinction is ontological, not temporal.
| Root | Event Modifier Morphemes |
|---|---|
| Monosyllabic lexical root (e.g. blin “love”, kwom “walk”) | Event modifiers specify how the event unfolds |
There is no person agreement on the verb. All participant roles are expressed externally through alignment markers (blum / prum), which follow the event predicate. However, verbs can also be zero-valency and lack an explicit subject. In such cases, blum / prum indicate whether the event is construed as volitional or non-volitional. With perception and acquisition roots, the same contrast also marks attentional stance: blum profiles directed awareness, while prum profiles receptive or accidental contact.
2. Event Modifiers
Blaken does not encode time directly. Instead, it encodes how an event unfolds and its evidentiality. Event modifiers are monosyllabic morphemes that are attached to lexical morphemes. Orthographically, verbs and event modifiers form a single unit, a word. There are two main aspects: perfective and imperfective, each of which can take one evidential form: direct evidential or inferential evidential. Event modifiers are mutually exclusive within a single morpheme.
2.1. Imperfective
This is the base form for imperfective events. It is built by attaching the ken suffix to a morpheme. This form commonly covers:
- General statements
- Present events
- Ongoing actions
- Timeless truths
Absence of further marking implies present relevance.
2.1.1. Direct Evidential: Root + ken
This form denotes direct evidence (obtained through the senses). It constitutes the highest commitment: events accepted as true by both the community and the speaker.
| Blaken | Meaning | Direct Evidentiality Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| kwomken senblum | She/he walks intentionally | I see she/he walk intentionally |
| blinken woblum nas | I love you | I am aware I love you |
| sɒko trjom tin, drifken senblum krifpol | These times, she/he read many books | I have seen them reading books |
| mimken iɸønblum nas | The man observes you / looks at you attentively | I see the man is watching you |
| pønko trjom tin, krifken woblum blapol | When a kid (lit. in young time), I used to write stories (I know it) | I know it from my personal experience I used to write book when a kid |
| blaken ɸønprum | Humans inadvertently speak | I have seen / heard how humans speak, even unconsciously |
| keken senpolblum pinko trwøʂ | They make one house | I have seen them making a house |
2.1.2. Inferential Evidential: Root + bu
This is an indirect abductive evidential. It conveys the assumed possibility of an event; the speaker is unsure about the event. It is formed by attaching the bu suffix to any root:
| Blaken | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| mimbu iɸønblum nas | The man must be observing you / looking at you attentively |
| drifbu senblum krifpol | They (singular) must be mindfully reading books |
| blabu senprum | They (singular) must be speaking unintentionally |
| afbu afprum tanko jam | Fire could burn the whole mountain (the speaker already saw a fire and infers its consequences) |
2.2. Perfective
2.2.1. Direct Evidential: Root + tan
This is the base form for perfective events. It conveys completion: the event is construed as closed. Past interpretation arises pragmatically. It is formed by attaching the -tan suffix to verbs.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| blintan blum | (I saw) loved once |
| kwomtan blum | (I saw) walked once |
| srjɒχtan prum | (I saw) broke once by accident |
| lɒko trjom tin, tutan (wo)prum wo to ɲom | At that moment, I lost my friend without wanting it |
Temporal past interpretation arises pragmatically.
2.2.2. Inferential Evidential: Root + tu
It is formed in the same way it is in the imperfective aspect.
| Blaken | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| blintu pu blimprum blel | I assume you did not love be |
| bljomdom tin, wowo, kwomtu senblum | I assume, like all of us, he once walked in the park |
| krjombu prɒχtu prum | I assume (someone) was running and fell |
2.3. Reportative: Root + bla
In ancient times, there existed a reportative evidential that was formed by attaching the bla morpheme to a root. This form has almost fallen out of oral use and nowadays is not used as systematically as the other evidential markers. It is mainly used in verse and formal texts.
| Blaken | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| pinko trjom tin, domtan syko ken | Once, this happened |
| pinko trjom tin, dombla syko ken | Once, I heard this happened |
2.4. Exhortative: root + blum
Imperative meaning is expressed by attaching the volitional morpheme blum directly to the bare root, without -ken. In this use, imperative -blum is a verbal form and should not be confused with the noun-phrase-level volitional subject marker written after nouns.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| kwomblum! | walk (intentionally)! |
| blinblum wo! | love me! |
2.5. Prospective / Interrogative Uncertainty: Root + ra
It is used to express doubt about the development of an action. Since it encodes uncertainty, it can also support interrogative readings. This is the bound verbal use of the same morpheme that appears as free clause-scope ra in interrogatives.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ʎilra | Perhaps it rains / Will it rain? [zero valency verb] |
| gurkurra senprum | Whether she/he will come back is unknown |
| kurra woblum? | Should I go? |
3. Existential and Appearance Predicates
To declare that a thing exists or appears in a state, Blaken uses two core predicates depending on how transitory or inherent that state is construed.
3.1. Existential Predicate for Transitory States
Location and transitory states are expressed using the dom root. This root can function as an existential predicate whose state is anchored by other phrases in the clause.
| Blaken | Meaning | Lit. gloss |
|---|---|---|
| domken woblum sydom tin | I am here | I occupy this place |
| domken woblum num tin | I am in the state of being sad | I am in a state of sadness |
| domken gum vlomwor tin | The fruit is green, unripened | The fruit is in the state of the color of plants |
The same root appears with the inferential event marker as dombu. In this use, dombu does not mean only obligation. It presents the existence of the state as inferred, expected, softened, or not fully asserted. Depending on context it may be translated as "there seems to be", "I think there is", "there would be", or sometimes "there must be".
| Blaken | Meaning | Lit. gloss |
|---|---|---|
| dombu lys nasko dem tin | I think there is beauty in your hands | beauty seems to exist in your hands |
| dombu numprum mwe tin | you seem sad | sadness seems to exist in you |
| dombu orprum pheo tin | there seems to be honor in that | honor seems to exist in that |
3.2. Appearance Predicate for Inherent States
For more inherent and inalienable states, the root om can be used. It essentially expresses how something appears. When used in the imperfective aspect with a direct evidential (-ken), this form represents the highest possible assertion in Blaken. Usually it refers to inanimate entities and has a fairly limited use.
| Blaken | Meaning | Lit. gloss |
|---|---|---|
| omken andomprum narnar | The sky is blue | Sky appears bluely |
| omken tankoprum bʁirbʁir | Everything changes | All appears in a cycling way |
4. Negation: pu
To negate a verb or series of verbs, the particle pu is placed immediately after the verb or event series. The particle scopes over the verbal predicate and denies that the event took place; it does not negate properties, results, or inherent states.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| publinken blum | not love / does not love |
| pugromtu blum gum | did not eat food |
| pudomken blaɲaprum wo tin | (I) do not want to speak |
| pukenblum ! | Do not do it |
| pugromken nasblum gum | You do not eat fruits |
5. Additional Event Modifiers
5.1. Agent-Oriented Ability: blø
The morpheme blø is used here in its verbal, agent-oriented sense to express ability or the physical possibility of performing an action. This use should be kept distinct from adjectival -blø, which marks patient-oriented potential or affordance.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bløken nas blum krif | you can write |
| bløken senprum nas mim | she/he can't see you (she/he doesn't happen to perceive you) |
| bløken senblum nas mim | she/he can't see you (she/he decided she/he should not see you) |
| bløken blum Blaken | can [speak] Blaken |
5.2. Epistemic Possibility: root + bu
Meaning: may / might / possibly. This construction may also convey a possible future.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| buken blum kwom | may walk |
| buken blum blin | may love |
5.3. Inceptive Event: root + draf-
To express the “growth" or "beginning” of an action, draf- can be used.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| draftan nasblum kwom | you began walking |
| drafken kiprum tjeχkjof | The tree begins losing the leaves |
| drafbu nasprum trenko woeχ | You grow different from me |
5.4. Cessative Event: root + srjɒχ
To express “emptiness / cessation”.
| Blaken | Meaning |
|---|---|
| srjɒχken blum kwom | stops walking |
| srjɒχken prum blin | stops loving |
| srjɒχbu blum sento slɒs | I assume that willingly he/she stops [doing] his duties |
6. Voice
In Blaken, impersonal events affecting an object may be expressed with the impersonal morpheme o.
Sydom blaken oprum Blaken
Here one speaks Blaken.
A morphologically more complex construction can be formed by adjectivizing an event with the perfective modifier. In this construction, the agent may be mentioned using eχ and the object may be promoted to subject by attaching prum or blum (usually prum for inanimate objects):
Blablom frablaprum (fraɸøn eχ)
French is spoken by the French.
Lit. spoken French (by the French).