Content area
Abstract
This work is in the general area of the structure of the lexicons of morphologically rich languages, in particular that of the polysynthetic verb of Navajo, each form of which normally includes a large amount of morphological material.
A level of the generative constructive of the Navajo verb is identified: that of the verb theme. Eight major groupings of verb themes are revealed. Three groupings are of the active verbs: motion, processive, manipulative. Five are of neuter verbs: classificatory stative, stative, dimensional, extension, and positional. Each of these verb theme categories is discussed: the themes are listed, and semantic, derivational, and inflectional characteristics are described.
A second major section describes a design for a relational database to be used to examine the verb theme category problem in greater detail. Five relations are described: Verb Bases Relation, Prefixes Relation, Prefix Combinations Relation, Roots/Stems Relation, and Verb Themes Relation. The fields of the records of each relation are presented and explained. The uses of the database for the verb theme category and other problems are discussed.
