Verbs

In Arcádia, verb type determines sentence structure. The verb determines word order and conveys extensive grammatical information through suffixes, integrating [mood][mood], [tense][tense], [aspect][aspect], and [person][person] distinctions.

Arcádia does not categorise verbs by transitivity. The best analogy to understand the distinction is to think of verb as the director of the sentence, orchestrating different roles that the rest of the phrases can have in a sentence. Some of the roles are mandatory, while others are optional, depending on the verb type.

Roles

Before we dive into the verb types, here's a quick diagram of three different verbs.

A verb describing a transaction:

graph TB
  A@{ shape: circle, label: "**Action**<br/>_Bought_" }
  subgraph participants
    direction LR
    C([**Recipient**<br/>_Mary_])
    D([**Asset**<br/>_the ball_])
    B([**Donor**<br/>_from John_])
    E([**Compensation**<br/>_for a thousand pounds_])
  end
  A --> C
  A --> D
  A --> B
  A --> E

A verb describing an action:

graph TB
  A@{ shape: circle, label: "**Action**<br/>_Kicked_" }
  subgraph participants
    direction LR
    B([**Agent**<br/>_Mary_])
    C([**Patient**<br/>_the ball_])
  end
  A --> B
  A --> C

A verb describing a feeling:

graph TB
  A@{ shape: circle, label: "**Action**<br/>_Loves_" }
  subgraph participants
    direction LR
    B([**Experiencer**<br/>_Maria_])
    C([**Stimulus**<br/>_football_])
  end
  A --> B
  A --> C

Overloading

One other other crucial idea is the idea of overloading. Let's consider the sentence:

I am transitioning from developer to a manager.

"To transition" is a liminal verb, therefore it has two mandatory roles to assign: source and destination. Let's now consider another liminal verb, to melt:

The ice is melting.

"To melt" is overloaded, meaning that it includes the source (from solid) and the destination (to liquid), and therefore the mandatory roles cannot be assigned.

Types

Arcádia distinguishes four core verb types:

• Existential verbs
  • Stative verbs
  • Liminal verbs
• Relational verbs
  • Relationship verbs
  • Transaction verbs
• Mental verbs
  • Experiential verbs
  • Cognitive verbs
• Agentive verbs

In all verb types, the verb always comes first in the sentence structure, and is followed by its assigned roles. The pivot comes after the verb, then the other roles follow in any order, first the mandatory ones, and finally the optional ones.

Stative verbs

Existential verbs are divided into two subtypes: stative verbs and liminal verbs.

Stative verbs

Stative verbs describe states, properties, movement, existence, or natural phenomena, e.g., "The sky is blue", "My friend is sick", "I am here", "It's raining".

Stative verbs have two mandatory roles, the entity and the state. Stative verbs can be totally overloaded, meaning that they do not require any roles to be assigned, e.g., "It is raining". In such cases, the verb drops all personal and number markings.

Liminal verbs

Liminal verbs describe transitions or changes of state, e.g., "The ice is melting", "The flowers are blooming", "The boy entered the classroom".

Liminal verbs have three mandatory roles, the entity, the origin and the destination.

Relational verbs

Relational verbs are divided into two subtypes: relationship verbs and transaction verbs.

Relationship Verbs

Relationship verbs describe relationships or possession, e.g., "I have a hand", "I have a car", "She is my sister".

Relationship verbs have three mandatory roles, the relator, the correlate, and the relationship. More often than not, relationship verbs are relationship-overloaded.

Transfer Verbs

Transfer verbs describe a change of relationship through giving, receiving, selling, buying,

Experiential Verbs

or transfer (e.g., "I gave her my book", "I sold my car to John for money").

• Donor: Ergative
• Asset: Absolutive
• Recipient: Dative
• Compensation: Benefactive

Experiential Verbs

Experiential verbs describe preferences, sensations, or emotions (e.g., "I like apples", "I feel cold", "My foot itches").

Syntax

Verb – Experiencer – Stimulus

Cognitive Verbs

Experiential verbs describe preferences, sensations, or emotions (e.g., "I know mathematics", "I think of you", "He dreamt of a simple life").

Syntax

Verb – Thinker – Content

Action Verbs

Action verbs describe actions, communication, interaction, or events. (e.g., "The birds are singing", "I sold a book to Adam", "She wrote a letter").

Syntax

Verb – Actor – Patient – Recipient

Case Marking and Pivoting

Type	Role	Case	Is the default pivot?
Stative	Entity		Yes
Stative	State
Liminal	Entity		Yes
Liminal	Origin	Ablative
Liminal	Destination	Dative
Relationship	Relator	Ablative	Yes
Relationship	Correlate	Accusative
Relationship	Relationship
Transfer	Donor	Ablative	Yes
Transfer	Recipient	Dative
Transfer	Asset	Accusative
Transfer	Compensation
Experiential	Experiencer		Yes
Experiential	Stimulus	Thematic
Cognitive	Cogniser		Yes
Cognitive	Concept
Agentive	Agent	Ergative	Yes
Agentive	Patient

Reflexivity and Reciprocity

Arcádia uses prefixes to indicate reflexive and reciprocal actions. The reflexivity prefix is applied first, followed by the focus-shifting prefix, ensuring the reflexive element remains closest to the verb root.

The full set of reflexive and reciprocal markers is detailed in the [verb generation guide][generation].