Wendat Project
Schema and guidelines for encoding lexical data
Martin Holmes
2019–2024

Table of contents

20. Notes on Jesuit conjugations

The Jesuits classified Wendat verbs and nouns into conjugation classes. Furthermore, they created ‘infinitives’ as citation forms in the dictionary. The faux infinitives are composed of a third person singular feminine-zoic/neuter agent (3fz/n.sg.agt) pronominal prefix, the verb base, and a stative aspect-mood suffix. In vowel-initial verb bases, the form of this pronominal prefix (either w- or i-) is lost. Below is a list of the conjugation classes with details about what the beginning of the faux infinitive will look like.

a-stem
no overt pronominal prefix (begins with a)
C-stem
begins with ɩa (pronominal prefix)
e-/en-stem
no overt pronominal prefix (begins with e or en)
i-stem
sometimes begins with i, sometimes begins with ɩen (the latter being a combination of the pronominal prefix and i)
o-/ou-/on-stem
no overt pronominal prefix (begins with o, ou, or on)
Martin Holmes. Date: 2024-01-09