Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".
Every complete sentence contains a final clause, which may be preceded by a number of foreground clauses; this comprises the main sequence. A conditional sentence also contains a condition clause, which also may be preceded by a number of foreground clauses; this comprises a conditional sequence. The conditional sequence, if present, usually precedes the main sequence.
Each final, condition, or foreground clause may be preceded by background clauses, which are used as complement clauses, adjunct clauses, and correlative clauses.
Certain kinds of background clauses lack a clause-terminating particle. The clause-terminating particles are shown in the following table:
| ASCII | Tag | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| .f | Fin | neutral | Final |
| .q | PQ | polar question | |
| .m | Imp | imperative | |
| .j | Imp | jussive | |
| .w | Wit | direct evidential | |
| .h | Hrs | indirect evidential | |
| .n | EN | epistemic necessity | |
| .p | EP | epistemic possibility | |
| .x | Mir | mirative | |
| .i | Con | conditional | Condition |
| .s | Seq | sequential conjunction | Foreground |
| .c | Sim | simultaneous conjunction | |
| .d | Dis | disjunction | |
| .t | Tmp | temporal adjunct | Background |
| .r | Rat | cause or purpose |
The neutral particle .f (Fin) is used in final clauses when no other particle applies.
| 2:^Run.m |
|---|
| 2-:-^-Run .m |
| 2-P-Neg-run=Imp |
| "Don't run!" |
| "fish"~ 9:Eat.j | |
|---|---|
| "fish" ~ | 9-:-Eat .j |
| fish=NR | 2-P-eat=Jus |
| "Let's all eat fish!" | |
| "giraffe"& 1See).x | |
|---|---|
| "giraffe" & | 1-See-) .x |
| giraffe=Ind | 1-see-Pst=Mir |
| "I saw a giraffe!" | |
| Dog! 2"hear").q | |
|---|---|
| Dog ! | 2-"hear"-) .q |
| dog=Dist | 2-hear-Pst=PQ |
| "Did you hear that dog?" | |
Clauses terminated by the sequential or simultaneous conjunction particles are logically conjunct with the next clause in the sequence while clauses terminated by the disjunction particle are logically disjunct with the next clause in the sequence.
| "child"$5 "pie"& "eat".s "fork"$ 5"wash".f | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "child" $ 5 | "pie" & | "eat" .s | "fork" $ | 5-"wash" .f |
| child=Def=3C | pie=Ind | eat=Seq | fork=Def | wash=Fin |
| "The child ate a pie and washed the fork." | ||||
Jul23/C6 lacks embedded relative clauses; correlative background clauses are used instead. Besides being non-embedded, correlative clauses are internally-headed: the phrase to be modified appears within the correlative clause intead of in the matrix clause. That phrase must be assigned an index which is then referenced by the matrix clause.
| Cat&3 "fish"$ "eat" "woman"$ th3.f | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cat & 3 | "fish" $ | "eat" | "woman" $ | th-3 .f |
| cat=Ind=3A | fish=Def | eat | woman=Def | have-3A=Fin |
| "The cat that ate the fish belongs to the woman." | ||||
A complement clause functions as the patient or theme (direct or secondary object) of the matrix clause, which references it using the anaphoric localizer Ana ({).
| "woman"$ "giraffe"$ See "child"$ "want"{.f | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "woman" $ | "giraffe" $ | See | "child" $ | "want"-{ .f |
| woman=Def | giraffe=Def | see | child=Def | want-CC=Fin |
| "The child wants the woman to see the giraffe." | ||||
The complement clause may coreference an argument of the matrix clause; in this case, the phrase appears not the matrix clause, but in the complement clause, where it's assigned an index to be referenced by the matrix clause.
| Cat&4 "fish"$ Eat 4"want"{.f | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Cat & 4 | "fish" $ | Eat | 4-"want"-{ .f |
| cat=Ind=3B | fish=Def | eat | 3B-want-CC=Fin |
| "There's a cat that wants to eat the fish." | |||
There are multiple kinds of adjunct clauses, including temporal ones. In all cases, argument coreference is handled as with complement clauses.
A temporal adjunct clause is terminated by the conjunction .t (Tmp) and specifies the temporal relationship between a background situation and a foreground or independent situation (denoted by the host clause). This specification is denoted by the relative tense or aspect marking of the adjunct clause's head predicate.
| Tense or Aspect | Relation |
|---|---|
| Past or Perfect | host after adjunct |
| Future or Prospective | host before adjunct |
| Stative, Progressive | host while adjunct |
| Aoristic | adjunct while host |
| "child"$5 "pie"& "eat"].t "fork"$ 5"wash".f | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "child" $ 5 | "pie" & | "eat"-] .t | "fork" $ | 5-"wash" .f |
| child=Def=3C | pie=Ind | eat-Prf=Tmp | fork=Def | 3C-wash=Fin |
| "The child washed the fork after eating a pie." | ||||
A purpose clause is terminated by the conjunction .r (Rat) with the relative tense of the adjunct clause's head predicate being future. If the relative tense is other than future, the background clause is one of cause.
| "child"$5 "pie"& "eat"[.r "fork"$ 5"wash".f | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "child" $ 5 | "pie" & | "eat"-[ .r | "fork" $ | 5-"wash" .f |
| child=Def=3C | pie=Ind | eat-Pro=Rat | fork=Def | 3C-wash=Fin |
| "The child washed the fork in order to eat a pie." | ||||
page started: 2015.Jul.31 Fri
current date: 2015.Aug.13 Thu
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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