CVC action roots
Ainu has a recurring class of monosyllabic C V C roots each naming a specific motion or manipulation: moy 'move', suy 'sway', tuy 'cut', car 'scatter'. The bare root is bound; the verb surfaces with the transitivizing / number suffixes (-e singular, -pa plural: suye / suypa) or -ke. The same roots feed FULL (total) reduplication for iterative, distributive, or pluractional action — suysuye, karkar(-se), kikkik — where the copy keeps the root's argument structure and a causative -ke / -e often follows (moymoyke, yupyupu). See the reduplication process.
| root | meaning | sg (-e/-ke) | pl (-pa) | reduplicated | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| suy | sway, swing 揺れる | suye | suypa | suysuyerock repeatedly | feeds the siramsuypa ponder chain |
| moy | move 動く | moymoye | — | moymoye / moymoykefiddle with, jiggle | redup + causative -ke; cf. mónak ~ moynak |
| tuy | cut, snap 切れる | tuye | tuypa | tuytuyeshake off, flick repeatedly | tuyma "far" may extend the same root |
| kar | roll (ideophone) ころ | — | — | karkar(-se)roll over and over | homophonous with kar "make"; the ideophone reduplicates |
| kik | strike 打つ | kik | — | kikkikbeat repeatedly | the HEAR/EFFECTIVE areal parallel connects kik to 効く discussions |
| yup | tighten 締める | yupu | — | yupyuputighten hard | redup + -kere in yupyupkere |
| ter | bounce 跳ねる | — | — | tetter(-ke)bounce repeatedly | ter + ter > tetter, with r → t / _t at the junction; 田村: [tet(<ter)-ter-ke]; tetterke 跳ねる · otetterke · pastetterke |
| noy | twist ねじる | noye | noypa | — | noya "mugwort" (rubbed leaves) is a possible derivative |
| car | scatter 撒く | care? | carpa | — | carse "slide down fast" may be sound-symbolic |
| cir | drip, trickle 滴る | — | — | cirirtrickle | 田村 brackets cir as a mimetic root in cirir; the scatter extension (hacir, kucir, munciro, hecirasa, ciray) and the link with Japanese 散る are すきえんてぃあ2026. Homophonous with cir "bird" |
| mak | open 開ける | maka | makpa | — | sikmaka "open the eyes wide" (sik family) |
| per | split, tear 割れる | perke | perpa | — | -ke intransitive vs -pa plural transitive |
| mos | mow; wake 刈る・覚める | mose | mospa? | — | mos "wakefulness" in mosmos, mónak discussions |
| cat | tongue-click 舌打ち | catse | — | — | expressive root; ecatke "find dirty" chain |
Rhyme-reduplicated expressive stems (C₁V C₂-V C₂)
Beside full reduplication, the expressive CVC roots copy only their rhyme: hak 'whisper' → hak-ak (知里: <hak-hak) → hakakse 'whisper', hakakse-no 'quietly'. The resulting C₁V C₂-V C₂ stems then take the expressive verbalizers -se, -ke, -atki, -natara. The Japanese senses name the sound, manner, or state encoded by the reduplicated stem; full verb meanings after the verbalizer appear in the derivatives column. Mimetic wording and root analyses follow 田村 (1996) and the Chiri entry quoted under hakak; state descriptions summarize the derivative glosses shown in each row. The rows below were mined from the lexeme bank by that shape and hand-filtered; treat membership as an unverified working list (false matches like tonon- < tono, petet- < pet-etok were removed; tetter is full reduplication ter + ter with r → t / _t at the junction, listed in the action-root table).
| stem | root | sense | derivatives | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hakak | hak | whisper, faint voice ハーハーという囁きの声 · かすかな声 | hakakse ひそひそと囁く · hakakse-no 静かに · hakak itak かすかな声 | 知里人間編I §307: hakak-itak [hak-ak (<hak-hak ハーハーという囁きの声)、itak(物言い)] |
| pakak | pak | crackle パチパチ | pakakse (火が)パチパチ鳴る | |
| teses | tes | pant; warp ハッハッ・ヒーヒー · 反ること | tesesatki ハッハッ/ヒーヒーと声をあげる · teseske 反り返る | two senses share the shape; possibly two roots |
| tusus | tus | tremble ガタガタ | tususatki (恐ろしくて)ガタガタふるえる · tususke (恐ろしくて)ふるえる | |
| kipip | kip | be spooked びくびく | kipip びくびくする · kipipkipip ざわざわする | also full-reduplicates |
| cirir | cir | trickle タラタラ・ポロポロ・チョロチョロ | cirir タラタラ/ポロポロ/チョロチョロしたたる · cirirke | cf. cir "drip" in the action-root table |
| carar | car | slide; bristle 滑るさま · とげがいっぱい出たさま | cararse 滑る · cararke (とげが)いっぱい出ている | cf. car "scatter" in the action-root table |
| cayay | cay | bristle up とげが出たさま | cayaya 〜を逆立てる · cayayke (とげが)出ている | |
| rapap | rap | fall in a scatter ポロポロ・バラバラ | rapapse ポロポロ/バラバラ落ちる · rapapsere 〜を落とす | rap "descend (pl.)" |
| tunun | tun | resound 響き渡る音 | tununatki 響き渡る · tununitara 響いている | |
| komom | kom | bend, curl 曲がったさま | komomo 〜を少し曲げる · komomnatara | kom "bent" (cf. komke) |
| yomom | yom | frizzle, pucker チリチリに | yomomke チリチリにちぢれる · yomomo あぶる | |
| herer | her | cough; glisten 咳込むさま · つやつや | hererse 咳込む · hererke つやつや光る | possibly two roots |
| makak | mak | open wide 開くさま · 張り裂けるさま | makaka 開く · makakke 張り裂ける | mak "open" in the action-root table |
| mosos | mos | wake 目覚めるさま | mososo 〜を起こす · mosospa (複) | mos "wakefulness" |
| copop | cop | plop チャポンチャポン | copopatki チャポンチャポンと音がする | |
| cawaw | caw | crack ひびが切れるさま | cawawke ひびがきれる | |
| henen | hen | bend 曲がったさま | henene 曲がる | |
| hapap | hap | subside (swelling) はれがひくさま | hapapke (はれが)ひく | 田村: [hap-ap-ke (擬態の語根)・重複・(自動詞形成)] |
| mayay | may | itch かゆいさま | mayayke かゆい | 田村: [may-ay-ke (擬態の語根)・(重複)・(自動詞形成)] |
| mewew | mew | peel off めくれたさま | mewewke めくれる | 田村: [mew-ew-ke] |
| sumum | sum | wilt しおれること | sumumke しおれる | 田村: [sum-um-ke (しおれることを表す語根)・(重複)] |
| putut | put | pop repeatedly プップッと | pututke 立て続けにプップッととびだす | 田村: [put-ut-ke (擬音擬態の語根)・(重複)] |
| cupup | cup | shrivel, pucker しぼむこと | ukocupupke しぼむ · tapewkocupupu すぼめる | 田村: [u-ko-cup-up-ke (しぼむことを表す語根)・(重複)]; homophonous with cup «sun/moon» |
| humum | hum | rumble グーグーグーグー | humumatki グーグーグーグー音が鳴っている · sir-humumatki | 田村: [hum-um-atki 音(?)・(重複)]; hum "sound" |
| yatat | yat | stomach gurgle グーグー | koyatatke (おなかが)グーグー鳴る | 田村: [ko-yat-at-ke (擬音の語根)・(重複)] |
Consonant doubling & syllable copy (incl. baby talk)
田村's brackets also make a third copying strategy explicit: doubling a single consonant or copying just the word-initial part — kakka (baby talk) copies the onset of kay 'carry on the back', totto doubles the consonant of to 'breast', and the day-count words tutko, rerko double the numeral's final consonant before to 'day'.
| form | source | meaning | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| kakka | kay おぶう | (baby talk) carry on the back | 田村: [kay《…をおぶう》の語頭の部分の重複][幼]; cf. pakkay. 萱野 records the same form (沙流) |
| totto | to 乳房 | (baby talk) breast; mama | 田村: [to-t-to 乳房・(次の子音が重ねられたもの)・(重複)] |
| tutko | tu + to 二日 | two days | 田村: [tu-t-ko 二つの・(前の音節の子音の重複)・日(<to)] |
| rerko | re + to 三日 | three days | 田村: [re-r-ko 三つの・(重複)・日(<to?)] |
| sekukke | seku ふくらます | swell up | 田村: [seku-k-ke ふくらます・(次の子音の重複)・(自動詞形成)] |
| sasuysir | san 子孫が続く | lineage, posterity | 田村: [<sasun-sir (sanに子音の重複が加わった)] |
Membership beyond the dictionary-verified rows is an internal working list (unverified — question marks flag unconfirmed forms). Each root with a curated family links to its family page; forms are clickable in the decomposer.