Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Sample>, <Text>, «apa», -Tags-, and "Glosses".
A clause consists of a predicate preceded by its arguments (if any). A predicate consist of a content word optionally preceded by an adverb.
Each argument is either a non-genitive determiner phrase or a non-genitive pronoun, except that the argument of a predicate can be a complement clause. Each argument has an explicit or implicit case, which determines the role of the argument within the clause.
iPu er$ iPu er$ "I hear you."
(ml hn)et^! (ml hn)et^! "Don't eat that fish!"
(Aelft)fs@wk? (Aelft)fs@wk? "Is the girl walking fast?"
(u)[ql el]ey<? (u)[ql el]ey<?
"Who have you seen?"
Each determiner phrase consists of a determiner, an optional case, an optional quantity, and any number of attributive clauses; however, empty phrases are not useful.
Each determiner consists of an open glyph and a close glyph; the rest of the phrase appears between these.
| Open | Close | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ( | ( | ) | ) | Definite |
| [ | [ | ] | ] | Indefinite |
| { | { | } | } | Non-referential |
The case marker immediately follows the open glyph. But if the case marker is X, Y, Z, or L, a relational word (relational words are a subset of content words) may appear between the open glyph and the case marker.
A quantity is either a cardinal number, a scalar quantity, or the plural marker # #. The plural marker appears immediately after the case while other quantities may appear any where between the case marker and the close glyph.
An attributive clause consists of either a genitive construction or an attribute preceded by its arguments (if any). An attribute consists of a content word optionally preceded by an adverb. A genitive construction is either a phrase whose case is genitive or a pronoun taking the genitive case.
One argument of an attributive clause is relativized; its role is specified by the content word (the relativized role of a genitive construction is always patientive).
(inXdw.lc) (inXdw.lc) "into the house"
[#blk kat] [#blk kat] "some black cats"
{Akat} {Akat} "any cat(s)" (agentive)
(LGi dw.lc) (LGi dw.lc) "at my house"
A partitive construction specifies the cardinality of some subset of a whole. It consists of an indefinite phrase with a quantity and a genitive phrase specifying the whole.
An ordinal construction specifies the subset of a whole according to its position. It consists of an definite phrase with an ordinal number, an optional quantity, and a genitive phrase specifying the whole (or just an attribute if no cardinality of the whole is specified).
Examples:
[2(G5kat)]blk$ [2(G5kat)]blk$
"2 of the 5 cats are black."
((G5kat)3o)pl$ ((G5kat)3o)pl$
"Here is the 3rd of the 5 cats."
For coinjoined phrases, the case of each adjacent phrase but the last is one of the logical conjunctions (the case of the last phrase is the common role in the clause or attribute). E.g.
(Wdog)(Akat)(fx)et\$ (Wdog)(Akat)(fx)et\$
"Either the dog or the cat ate the meat."
Scalar measurement will be covered in the Scalar Morphosyntax chapter.
Some referents can't be counted; for these, a mass quantity attribute is used. It consists of a non-referential phrase with case Q Q, a quantity, and a content word specifying a unit of measurement. E.g. [{Q3kup}ww] [{Q3kup}ww] "3 cups of water".
A duration adverbial consists of a referential phrase with case T T, a quantity, and a content word specifying a temporal unit word (either a period or a phase of a period). E.g. #i[T5day]wk\$ [{#i[T5day]wk\$ "We walked for 5 days."
The number of occurrences is constructed the same way, except that oc oc is used as the temporal unit word. E.g. i(blk kat)[T4oc]ey<$ i(blk kat)[T4oc]ey<$ "I've seen the black cat 4 times."
A time-when adverbial consists of a referential phrase with case L L, an optional ordinal number (possibly reverse), a deictic content word, and a content word specifying a temporal unit word (either a period or a phase of a period).
The deictic words used are
pl pl "this",
dl dl "that", and
ql ql "what?".
If no ordinal number appears, the period specified or implied by the phase contains the temporal reference point; otherwise, it's displaced from the temporal reference point by a number of periods (specified by the numeric value of the ordinal).
A reverse ordinal makes the period prior while a forward ordinal makes the period subsequent.
Examples:
u(elme)(Lpl day)ey/? u(elme)(Lpl day)ey/?
"Will you see the old man today?"
i[dog](Lpl ngt1h)er\$ i[dog](Lpl ngt1h)er\$
"I heard a dog last night."
(kat)(Ldl day3o)fnd$ (kat)(Ldl day3o)fnd$
"The cat was found 3 days later."
(#elma)[Lql oc]bc/? (#elma)[Lql oc]bc/?
"When will the men sing?"
page started: 2026.Jan.28 Wed
current date: 2026.Feb.01 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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