Ainu Morpheme Explorer

Browse the Ainu morpheme database — composition, valency, and how each morpheme combines.

Morphemes: 3,081
Lexemes: 19,968
Curated: 349
Families: 63

Try examples

About & stats

Browse the Ainu morpheme database — composition, valency, and how each morpheme combines.

Morphemes: 3,081
Lexemes: 19,968
Curated: 349
Families: 63

Composition

lemma

input: ci' tokens: ci-

etymology

grammaticalisation

Possibly grammaticalized from the 1PL.EXC agent clitic ci= — an impersonal 'we' use bleaching into middle-voice marking (internal hypothesis 2026-07-09, unverified).

100%

swipe to pan · pinch to zoom drag to pan · ⌘/ctrl-scroll or pinch to zoom · shift-scroll = horizontal · double-click a node to centre it

Composition · tokens

input: ci'

tokens: ci-

computation warnings

ci-: internalize missed target (role=agent)

ci-

prefix · prefix morpheme curated bound Corpus ↗ review

MID, RES

中動態、結果相

Valency -1

local rules

internalize → agent · absorbed / demoted
Middle/resultative ci-: suppresses the agent and profiles the affected object/result as subject (ci-cari 'be scattered', ci-koyki-p 'prey/game animal').

Combinatorics

Attaches to: transitive verb

Also: verb

Notes

Middle/resultative prefix, not the same category as AUTOC/ANTIC or ANTIC. It backgrounds/deletes the original agent and promotes the affected participant to subject; in the grammar this is restricted to third-person subjects. Diachrony from the 1PL.EXC remains plausible but not settled, so the database treats synchronically as MID/RES.

Sources

Lexemes using this morpheme →