Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, «apa», -Tags-, and "Glosses".
The syntactical classes of roots are nouns, verbs, and particles.
The kinds of nouns are common nouns, proper nouns, temporal unit nouns, non-temporal unit nouns, and personal nouns. Each noun root has an implicit gender: animate, inanimate, and location. Each common noun is also either a countable noun or a mass noun; the other kinds are countable.
There are verbs for kinship and body part terms as well as words for actions, states, spatial relations, and quantities. Each verb belongs to an argument structure class and an action type class. A scalar verb is one that can be used as the basis for comparison.
A particle is either final or a conjunction.
| Order | Description | Null Usage | Part |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Determiner | anaphoric | Noun |
| 2. | Noun Stem | required | |
| 3. | Voice | required | Verb |
| 4. | Verb Stem | required | |
| 5. | Mood, Aspect, & Tense | [1] | |
| 6. | Particle | none | Particle |
[1] Mood, Aspect, and Tense is required if a particle appears. When this is unmarked, the mood and aspect depend on the verb's action type.
There are also temporal determiner usages and discourse determiner usages.
The English glosses are inadequate. A noun part is anaphoric when the referent has already been mentioned. It's contextual when the referent is a part of something already in the discourse. A noun part is indefinite when introducing a new referent. It's existential when there's no specific referent.
| Affix | Determiner | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| [ | Proximal | [cat | "this cat", these cats" |
| ] | Distal | ]cat | "that cat", those cats" |
| ; | Interrogative | ;cat | "what cat(s)?", "which cat(s)?" |
| \ | Proper | \john | "John" |
| = | Existential | =cat | "any cats" |
| / | Indefinite | /cat | "a cat", "some cats" |
| . | Contextual | .bd | "the bed" |
| Anaphoric | cat | "the cat(s)" | |
See Tense-Mood-Aspect.
| Affix | Tense | Mood | Aspect |
|---|---|---|---|
| [ | Relative | Realis | Perfect |
| ' | Absolute | ||
| ] | Relative | Irrealis | |
| ` | Absolute | ||
| \ | Relative | Realis | Non-perfect |
| = | Absolute | ||
| / | Relative | Irrealis | |
| ; | Absolute | ||
| . | Absolute | Imperative |
Auxiliary voice makes the preceding sequence of words into a complement clause.
The unspecified object of apostrophe ' or grave ` becomes the referent of a headless relative clause.
| Affix | Voice | Description | Examples | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [ | Direct | Object < Subject | ||||
| ] | Inverse | Object > Subject | ||||
| \ | Antipassive | 0 < Subject | cat\et | "the cat that is eating" | wm\ma | "the woman that has a mother" |
| / | Passive | 0 > Subject | fsh/et | "the fish being eaten" | wm/ma | "the woman that is a mother" |
| ' | DirHeadless | Referent < Subject | cat'et | "what the cat is eating" | wm'ma | "the woman's mother" |
| ` | InvHeadless | Referent > Subject | fsh`et | "whoever's eating the fish" | wm`ma | "those the woman is the mother of" |
| = | Resiprocal | Object >< Subject | ||||
| ; | Reflexive | self >< Subject | mn;si | "the man that sees himself | ||
| . | Auxiliary | ComplementClause < Subject | ||||
| Digit | As Noun |
|---|---|
| 0 | no referent |
| 1 | 1st person |
| 2 | 2nd person |
| 3 | inclusive person |
| 4 | prior subject |
| 5 | animate noun |
| 6 | inanimate noun |
| 7 | location noun |
| 8 | discourse noun |
| 9 | interrogative |
In addition, a conjunction is either major and can follow an absolute time marker or minor and can't.
| Letter | Name | Description | Syntax |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | after | marked clause precedes next clause temporally | Minor |
| b | before | marked clause follows next clause temporally | |
| d | difference | scalar difference adverbial | |
| m | means | marked clause is means to accomplish next clause | |
| p | purpose | marked clause is purpose for next clause | |
| w | while | marked clause and next clause are cotemporal | |
| z | absolute | absolute scalar adverbial | |
| c | contrary | marked clause is insufficient reason.... | Major |
| e | excessive | too much/too little WRT scalar | |
| i | if | marked clause is condition, next clause is conclusion | |
| n | inclusive OR | ||
| r | reason | marked clause is reason for or cause of next clause | |
| s | satisfactive | enough WRT scalar | |
| x | exclusive OR | ||
| f | false | (assertions, commands, and content questions) | Final |
| q | polar question | (polar questions only) | |
| t | true | (assertions, commands, and content questions) |
| Prefix | Description |
|---|---|
| indefinite time | |
| [ | time of utterance |
| ] | anaphoric time |
| ; | interrogative time |
A time-when clause consists of a temporal unit noun whose determiner specifies the temporal reference point (TRP) + the quantity verb 0. A temporal unit noun specifies either a periodical unit or a regular part of that unit. For a time-when clause, the period specified is the one containing the TRP.
The word for "when?" is ;o/0.
Temporal distance is represented by a clause consisting of a temporal unit noun whose determiner specifies the TRP + a quantity verb specifying the number of units (it must not be 0) + a conjunction specifying the temporal direction. The temporal direction is either a relative future or b relative past. For a temporal distance clause, the period specified is never the one containing the TRP.
A duration clause consists of a temporal unit noun with null determiner + a quantity verb.
The number of occurrences is represented by a clause consisting of an occurrence-type noun with null determiner + a quantity verb. The occurrence-type noun is either o "occasion" or i "iteration".
page started: 2022.Feb.18 Fri
current date: 2022.Feb.26 Sat
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
Table of Contents