A computational grammar and lexicon for Maltese

P3 Sg Fem pparkjat tipparkja –
P1 Pl pparkjajna nipparkjaw –
P2 Pl pparkjajtu tipparkjaw pparkjaw
P3 Pl pparkjaw jipparkjaw –
Mifsud (1995) identifies four classes of loan verbs (types A to D), of which types C and D
are not integrated into the Semitic root-and-pattern system. These represent the non-integrated
verbs of Romance origin (e.g. ppretenda ‘he expected’) and English loan verbs (e.g. iffitja ‘he
fitted’). Despite Mifsud’s distinction, we treat these two classes of loan verbs with the same
paradigm in the resource grammar.
Participles
Maltese verbs may also have participle forms. Most verbs have a past/passive participle which
is often indistinguishable from the adjective. Examples include miktub (‘written’) from kiteb (‘he
wrote’) and misruq (‘stolen’) from seraq (‘he stole’). Very few verbs also have a present/active
participle; they are generally intransitive and describe actions, for example ħiereġ (‘going out’)
from ħareġ (‘he went out’) and rieqed (‘sleeping’) from the verb raqad (‘he slept’).
A part participle may be shared by verbs of different derived formed, such as mwaqqaf
(‘stopped’) for both waqaf (‘he stopped’) (form I) and waqqaf (‘he stopped [s.t.]’) (form II). An
analysis of participles of all the verbs in the LexiconMlt module can be found in appendix B.2.
Enclitic pronouns
Maltese verbs can take suffixed enclitic pronouns to indicate direct objects, indirect objects,
and both combined together. Table 2.6 displays how this works. Refer to appendix C for an
exhaustive example of these combinations. The implementation of enclitic pronouns in the
grammar is explained further in section 2.3.3.
Table 2.6: Different combinations of suffixed enclitic pronouns to the verb xtara (‘he bought’)
D.O. I.O. Construction Final form English gloss
- - xtara + Ø xtara ‘he bought’
P3 Sg Fem - xtara + hija xtaraha ‘he bought it/her’
- P3 Pl xtara + lilhom xtaralhom ‘he bought for them’
P3 Sg Fem P3 Pl xtara + hija + lilhom xtarahielhom ‘he bought it/her for them’
Implementation
Record type
The record type for the verb in the resource grammar is defined as follows:
oper
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