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8-2.25 Subjects and complements of verb roots, stems,

and themes

As indicated in 6-3, verbs in Aymara are inflected
for tense, subject person, and complement person, in nine
unitary suffixes for each tense. (Defective verbs created
by verbalization with -ka- or -:- take only four inflectional
suffixes, all with 3p complements.) In these tense/person
suffixes (as in the case of personal possessive suffixes) 3p
subjects and complements are unmarked for human/nonhuman,
while 1p, 2p, and 4p subjects and complements are human or
anthropomorphized. A complement expressed in a tense/person
suffix may be further specified in a sentence by a noun
marked by one of the Aymara complement/relational (case)
suffixes (5-3.31). These nouns are referred to by these
suffixes as -ru, -ta, -mpi, -na, or -taki complements. Some
verbs also select other nouns which are marked with case
suffixes but do not reflect complements expressed in the
tense/person suffixes; these case-marked nouns are called
relationals. In addition to selecting subjects, complements,
and relationals, most verb roots and stems select zero
complements (5-3.33).

Aymara verb roots and stems (roots plus derivational
suffixes) belong to covert classes according to the semantic
features of the subjects, complements, relationals, and zero

complements they may take. The human/nonhuman distinction