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Ken Safir, Director
Afranaph Project

18 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 732.932.7289
Fax: 732.932.1370
safir@ruccs.rutgers.edu



National Science Foundation
Home Glossing Conventions

Afranaph Glossing Conventions – Revised October, 2011

This is a list of the most commonly used glosses in the Afranaph database. Although our glossing practices follow the general guidelines of the Leipzig Glossing Rules [http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php], we have found it useful to and necessary to add some glosses and modify others to find conventionalized morphemes that play an important role in constructions of grammar. The gloss list includes all of the conventionalized gloss words that we use crosslinguistically and what they stand for, with a bit of explication where we think it will help our users (and our data-enterers). Some of the glosses we have added reflect distinctions that are found in the languages we have studied but that are not so obviously found outside of those languages in a fashion that would be glossed the same.

Content words are glossed with the best-guess English translation. All conventional glosses should be drawn from the list below, although departures from standard notation have sometimes been judged appropriate by consultants and/or analysts in order to convey relevant language-specific information. Words are separated by spaces on original text, morpheme breakdown and gloss lines. A single morpheme in the morpheme breakdown is bounded on either side by an empty space (at the beginning or end of a word) or by a dash or dashes if it is word internal, and if an indivisible morpheme expresses a combination of glosses, then the glosses corresponding to the single morpheme are separated by a period, as in the example below.

English:  Bill saw girls

Bill saw        girl-s

Bill see.PST girl-pl

We expect that we will add to this list or reassign some glosses from time to time, as long as no data is lost or misrepresented as a result. We have separated the person, number and gender glosses from the rest so that the contrast with glossing in noun class languages, common in Africa, could be highlighted. Be sure to consult the additional notes at the end of this document.

Person, Number and Gender – See the notes directly below this chart if you speak a noun class language, as all the Bantu languages are.

Gloss Meaning Usage notes

1st

1st person

1st.pl

1st person plural

1st.sg

1st person singular

2nd

2nd person

2nd.F.sg

2nd person, feminine,

Singular

2nd.M.sg

2nd person, masculine,

Singular

2nd.pl

2nd person, plural

2nd.sg

2nd person singular

3rd

3rd person

3rd.F.sg

3rd person, feminine,

Singular

3rd.M.sg

3rd person, masculine,

Singular

3rd.pl

3rd person, plural

3rd.sg

3rd person, singular


If you speak a noun class language, then do not use glosses for number unless they are noun class neutral singular or plural markers. Instead, just indicate the noun class. Sometimes noun class languages distinguish first and second person for c1 and c2. For example, a subject marker (SM) with class 1 agreement would be rendered SM.c1, and if c1 and/or c2 is distinguished for person, then gloss SM.c1.1st (I) or SM.c2.1st (we). We do not mark Bantu languages for 3rd person, insofar as all forms not marked for 1st or 2nd are understood to be 3rd.

All other glosses

For all of the glosses below marked with an asterisk (*), please consult the additional notes at the end.

Gloss                                   Meaning                               Usage notes

ABL

Ablative

ABS

Absolutive

ACC

accusative

ADJ

adjective

ADV

adverbial

AGR*

agreement

This is only to be used if the agreement is unspecified, or you are not sure how to gloss it in terms of features or noun class.

ALL

allative

AM

associative marker

This is typically used for a morpheme that would correspond to ‘of’ in English nominals.

ANTIP

antipassive

APPL

applicative

ART

article

ASP

aspect

Use this when you don’t know which particular aspect is involved and you want to indicate the correspondence between the gloss and the morpheme breakdown.

AUX

auxiliary

BEN

benefactive

cX

noun class marker

X = a class number

E.g.: PRN.c2.1st = ‘we’

CAUS*

causative affix

CAUS1*

long causative affix

Cf. Hyman (2003),

Good (2006)

CAUS2*

short causative affix

Cf. Hyman (2003),

Good (2006)

COM

comitative

COMP

complementizer

Sometimes also glossed as ‘that’

COMPL

completive

We are not sure that we need this gloss – please consult us if you want to use it.

COND

conditional

CONJ

conjunction

If the morpheme used to mean ‘and’ can also have other meanings, consult us about the best gloss.

COP

copula

If your language has more than one verb paradigm that could be translated ‘be’, consult us about the best gloss.

DAT

dative

DECL

declarative

DEF

definite

DEFAGR

default agreement

Do not use this unless you consult with us.

DEM

demonstrative

DET

determiner

DIST

distal

DISTR

distributive

du

dual

DUR

durative

ERG

ergative

EMPH

emphatic

E.g. EMPH.PRN = emphatic pronoun

EXCL

exclusive

F

feminine

F.sg

feminine, singular

FUT*

future

fv

final vowel

(lower case)

GEN

genitive

HAB

habitual

IMP

imperative

INCL

inclusive

IND

indicative

INDF

indefinite

INF*

infinitive

If your language has a special noun class marker for infinitives, gloss the noun class marker (e.g., Bantu uses c15).

INS

instrumental

INTR

intransitive

Only use this if there is a specific morpheme that indicates intransitivity.

IPFV

imperfective

IRR

irrealis

LK

linker particle

Consult with us if you choose to use this term.

LOC

locative

Only use this if your language does not have noun classes corresponding to the sort of location in question.

LOG

logophoric

Morpheme or pronoun indicates the perspective of the reported speaker or addressee.

M

masculine

MALF

malefactive

MID

middle voice

See notes on polysemy.

M.sg

masculine, singular

N

neuter

Nx

non-

e.g. Nsg = non-singular

NPST = non-past

NEG

negation

NMLZ

nominalizer

See ‘additional notes’ below before using this gloss.

NOM

nominative

OBJ*

object agreement (Amharic),

objective case (Lokaa)

We are reviewing our use of this gloss. Consult with us before using it. See OM.

OBL

oblique

OM*

object marker

Verbal affix that corresponds to the object. See additional notes.

PART

partitive

PASS*

passive

See added note on polysemy

PFV

perfective

pl

plural

POSS

possessive

PRN

pronoun

E.g. PRN.1st.M.sg = 1st person masculine singular pronoun.

PRS

present

PRED

predicative

PREP

preposition

Use this when the preposition in question has no plausible English translations, or too many plausible ones.

PROG

progressive

PROH

prohibitive

PROX

proximal/proximate

PST*

past

Be sure to consult added notes on tense.

PTCP

participle

PURP

purposive

Q

question particle/marker

This is not to be used for wh-marking of pronouns, but only for sentence particles.

QUOT

quotative

RCM*

reciprocal marker

Only use this for a verbal affix that indicates reciprocity.

RECP*

reciprocal

Only use this if the form is not an affix and has no non-anaphoric use with an independent meaning.

RED

reduplication

Only use this when you do not know what role morphological reduplication plays with respect to its interpretation. Otherwise, use a more standard gloss.

REFL*

reflexive

REFL should only be used for a morpheme that is not attached to the verb (e.g. it is, or is part of, a nominal anaphor and it has no other meaning except for its use to form reflexive meanings).

REL

relative

Only use this if the form is not an affix and has no non-anaphoric use with an independent meaning.

RES

resultative

RFM*

reflexive marker

Only use this for a verbal affix that indicates reflexivity.

SA or SBJ

subject agreement

Do not use these unless you consult with us.

SBJV

subjunctive

sg

singular

SM*

subject marker

Use this whenever the subject agreement is expressed with a special affix on the verb.

TAM*

tense/aspect marker

Be sure to look at the added notes.

TNS*

tense

Be sure to look at the added notes.

TOP

topic

TR

transitive

Use this only if there is a special morpheme to indicate transitivity.

VOC

vocative

WH*

Interrogative form

E.g. WH.PRN.3rd.sg = 3rd person singular Wh-pronoun

Additional notes and conventions

CAUS: The distinction between CAUS, CAUS1 and CAUS2 is included because there are Bantu phenomena of particular interest in this respect. Searching for CAUS will find all three glosses, but the distinction between CAUS1 and CAUS2 is included because many Bantu languages have two affixes that have been characterized (by some) as causative, although their effects differ in interesting ways (and ways that interact with patterns of anaphora). In languages where both affixes are present, we have classified them according to morphological and (to a lesser degree) semantic effects that distinguish them. For languages that have only one causative affix, CAUS is used exclusively. Just use CAUS if you are not sure how to distinguish them.

INF: For noun class languages, when the infinitival marker is a noun class marker, use the class marker, e.g., the infinitive of the verb ‘say’ would be glossed c15-say in most Bantu languages. Only use INF if there is no noun class marker that expresses this meaning or you are not sure how the morpheme that indicates the infinitive should be otherwise glossed.

NMLZ: Do not use this if your language has noun classes, but instead indicate the noun class (e.g., ‘c15-walk’ for ‘walking’, or perhaps c5-walk, for whatever noun class marker is involved) unless the nominalizing affix is distinct from the noun class system.

OM and SM: These are affixes on the verb that show the person, number, and/or gender of the syntactic object or the syntactic subject of the verb, respectively. We use these forms for both agreement forms and clitic pronouns and leave it as a matter of analysis as to whether the forms in question should be pronominal or not in any given case.

PRN: Use this to indicate pronominal status. All agreement or class marking comes after (e.g. PRN.1st.sg or PRN.c1.1st). For pronouns that are formed off a distinct root morpheme, these would be PRN-1st.sg and PRN-c1, etc. The classes of pronouns determined by use, such as EMPH, WH and LOG should precede PRN, e.g., LOG.PRN.3rd for a third person logophoric pronoun.

RCM/RFM vs. RECP/REFL: Do not use RECP/REFL for a verbal affix that requires a reciprocal or reflexive interpretation. For verbal affixes use RCM/RFM as appropriate, but if the reciprocal/reflexive is a full phrase or word independent of the verb, and there is no independent meaning for the word or morpheme in any other context, use RECP/REFL, but consult us about the best choice of gloss. It is more typical that the root form for forming a reflexive or a reciprocal direct object nominal, for example, is a root form that has an independent meaning. In such cases, we want you to make up a new gloss in upper case letters that indicates what the word means. For example, in Lubukusu, the form ba-b-eene, which is glossed c2-c2-OWN, since the morpheme eene can have the meaning ‘owner’ when it is not used in a reflexive construction (and the c2 morpheme has two parts). In particular, do not gloss reflexives as ‘self’ unless there is an independent usage in your language where the non-affixal reflexive form really means ‘self’, as in English, where it can mean the essence of a personality (e.g., The psychologist presented a theory of the self). Here are some examples of language-specific glosses we have used for some of the languages in the project (in Amharic, it would appear both morphemes are related to the root that means ‘head’).

RS

lexical reciprocal base

Amharic

RAS

lexical reflexive base

Amharic

NYENE

lexical reflexive base

Kirundi

RFM/RCM and polysemy: Sometimes a single marker can have more than one potential gloss, e.g. the form that is used for reflexive may be identical to the form that is used for passive, reciprocal, middle, intransitive etc. When there are overlaps of this kind, consult with us. We may advise that the gloss simply be a capitalization of the shape of the form, so that we do not have to make analytic decisions. Our database will permit specifications of other sorts that will permit examples of the form used for different functions to be found in the database.

TAM/TNS/ASP:Tense-aspect marker/Tense. Use this when you do not know how to characterize the tense or aspect, but you want to preserve the place in the morpheme breakdown. See the discussion of PST and FUT.

TNS: Languages that have more than one kind of a specific tense (e.g. two or more future tenses or past tenses), a number goes after the tense gloss (e.g. FUT2 or PST2). Use the higher number for tenses that are more remote from the present, e.g., if the past tense is distinguished between a form that means earlier today vs. a form that means a time before that, they should be glossed as PST1 and PST2, respectively, and this should be extended to PST3 if there are further such distinctions about more remote times.

WH: When it is not clear how to specify the person, number and gender features, e.g., for a word like English which, then gloss as ‘WH.which’, which permits someone searching for Wh-words to find it.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 15:31