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Merico language
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<h2 id="grammatical-features">Grammatical features</h2> <p>Plurals are unmarked, as in <i>rak</i> "rock", "rocks", or marked with a <i>-dɛ̃</i> <a href="/facts/Suffix/Nlnft3NK">suffix</a>, as in <i>rak-dɛ̃</i> "rocks". The <a href="/facts/Copula_(linguistics)/nFkAhQhL">verb expressing "to be"</a> is <i>sʌ</i>, as in <i>shi sʌ smo</i> "she is small", but adjectives may be used without it, as in <i>hi big</i> "he is big". Verbs are not inflected for past tense.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p>Separate particles are used to indicate some verb tenses:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p> <ul><li><i>ɛ̃</i> for negation (<i>ai ɛ̃ æs di chææ</i> "I didn't ask the child"),</li> <li><i>dɘ</i> or <i>lɛ</i> for continuing action (<i>hi dɘ spiish</i> "he is talking at great length", <i>shi lɛ kræ</i> "she is crying"),</li> <li><i>wu</i> for future (<i>wi wu kʌ̃</i> "we will come"),</li> <li><i>dɔ̃</i> or <i>nɔ̃</i> for completed action (<i>de dɔ̃ go dædɘdwe</i> "they have gone that way", <i>lilpis nɔ̃ lɛf</i> "not a little piece was left")</li></ul> <p>The pronouns include:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>Subject: <i>ai</i>/<i>a</i>, <i>yu</i>/<i>yɔ</i>/<i>yo</i>, <i>hi</i>/<i>i</i>, <i>shi</i>, <i>wi</i>, <i>de</i>/<i>dɛ̃</i></li> <li>Object: <i>mi</i>, <i>yu</i>, <i>hi</i>/<i>hĩ</i>, <i>hɔ</i>, <i>wi</i>/<i>ɔs</i>, <i>dɛ̃</i>'</li> <li>Possessive: <i>mʌ</i>/<i>mi</i>, <i>yu</i>/<i>yo</i>, <i>hi</i>/<i>i</i>, <i>shi</i>/<i>hɔ</i>, <i>ou</i>, <i>dɛ</i></li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul> <li>Language portal</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Krio_language/mzzSTMBE">Krio language</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Hancock, Ian F. (1975). "Some aspects of English in Liberia". In Dillard, Joey Lee (ed.). Perspectives on Black English. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 249–251. ISBN 978-90-279-7811-0. Retrieved 17 June 2022. <a href="978-90-279-7811-0" target="_blank">978-90-279-7811-0</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Hancock, Ian F. (1975). "Some aspects of English in Liberia". In Dillard, Joey Lee (ed.). Perspectives on Black English. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 249–251. ISBN 978-90-279-7811-0. Retrieved 17 June 2022. <a href="978-90-279-7811-0" target="_blank">978-90-279-7811-0</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Hancock, Ian F. (1975). "Some aspects of English in Liberia". In Dillard, Joey Lee (ed.). Perspectives on Black English. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 249–251. ISBN 978-90-279-7811-0. Retrieved 17 June 2022. <a href="978-90-279-7811-0" target="_blank">978-90-279-7811-0</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Hancock, Ian F. (1975). "Some aspects of English in Liberia". In Dillard, Joey Lee (ed.). Perspectives on Black English. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 249–251. ISBN 978-90-279-7811-0. Retrieved 17 June 2022. <a href="978-90-279-7811-0" target="_blank">978-90-279-7811-0</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Hancock, Ian F. (1975). "Some aspects of English in Liberia". In Dillard, Joey Lee (ed.). Perspectives on Black English. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 249–251. ISBN 978-90-279-7811-0. Retrieved 17 June 2022. <a href="978-90-279-7811-0" target="_blank">978-90-279-7811-0</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Hancock, Ian F. (1975). "Some aspects of English in Liberia". In Dillard, Joey Lee (ed.). Perspectives on Black English. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 249–251. ISBN 978-90-279-7811-0. Retrieved 17 June 2022. <a href="978-90-279-7811-0" target="_blank">978-90-279-7811-0</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>