Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".
TW0 texts consist of glyphs and some connecting lines arranged in a tabular format. At present, the glyphs used are the 8000 SW0 3-component ones without additional symbols; the connecting lines have only horizontal and vertical segments. Note that this system isn't logographic, since the glyphs are the words (even though a pronunciation scheme could be assigned).
To some extent, the structures used are analogous to linear language constructions, such as phrases and clauses. However, the connecting lines are used for coreference, so the need for 3rd person pronouns is eliminated.
Word classes include nouns, verbs, quantity words, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and other particles; there are also inflectional and derivational glyphs. Nouns are either relational or univalent. Verbs are either scalar or transitive and either bivalent or trivalent.
A line may connect to a univalent noun above, on the right, below, or on the left, with no semantic difference; otherwise, the connection location is significant. The connection above nominalizes the structure containing the verb or relational noun.
A verb may take a reciprocal prefix Rec-, indicating that each argument is the patient of the other, as well as agent.
There's also an inversion prefix Inv-, which swaps the left and right argument roles. It may be used with relational nouns as well as with verbs. Its effect is only syntactical, not pragmatic.
A polarity prefix may appear (before any inversion or reciprocal prefix); positive polarity is unmarked.
In certain cases, an aspect marker may be placed directly above a verb.
| Glyph | Tag | Description | Slot | |||
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Inv- | Inversion | inversion | ||
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Rec- | Reciprocal | |||
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Neg- | Negative polarity | polarity | ||
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PQ- | Polar Question | |||
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Hab | Habitual | aspect | ||
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Prf | Perfect | |||
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Pro | Prospective | |||
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These are constructed with determiners, quantity words, and nouns, arranged horizontally in that order; only the nouns are required.
| Glyph | Tag | Description | |||
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Prox | Proximal demonstrative | ||
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Medi | Medial demonstrative | ||
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Dist | Distal demonstrative | ||
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CQ | Content Question | ||
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Sat | Satisfactive | ||
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Def | Definite | ||
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Uni | Universal quantifier | ||
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NR | Non-referential | ||
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Most quantity words are cardinal numbers; a few are scalar verbs. The plural marker is a quantity word.
| Glyph | Tag | Description | |||
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P | Plural noun | ||
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A phrase conjunction is used to combine 2 or 3 phrases into a single argument. Any connection may be used. Phrase aggregation (Agg) is translated as "and" while phrase alternation (Alt) is translated as "or".
| Glyph | Tag | Description | |||
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Agg | aggregate phrases | ||
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Alt | alternate phrases | ||
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A basic clause-like structure consists of, at minimum, a verb. There may also be preceding and following arguments, arranged horizontally. Each manifest argument is either a phrase-like structure, a pronoun, or a line ultimately connecting to a noun (or verb, if the argument is a complement clause). An omitted argument has an unspecified referent.
There are pronouns for 1st, 2nd, and inclusive persons.
There's also a reflexive pronoun Rfx, which may be used instead of connecting both arguments to the same noun.
| Glyph | Tag | Description | |||
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1S | 1st person singular | ||
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1P | 1st person plural | ||
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Incl | Inclusive person | ||
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2 | 2nd person | ||
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Rfx | Reflexive | ||
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When the verb is transitive (assuming no inversion or reciprocal marking), the more agent-like argument connects to or is on the left and the more patient-like argument connects to or is on the right. Transitive verbs contrast with scalar verbs, which are treated later on.
A trivalent verb, whether basically transitive or scalar, adds a 3rd argument the noun of which is placed directly below the verb or connects to that position.
Sentences consists of vertical chains of clause-like structures.
The past tense is marked by placing the particle Now below the verb of the last clause-like structure in the chain while the future tense is marked by placing it above the verb of the 1st clause-like structure in the chain. The present tense is unmarked.
| Glyph | Tag | Description | |||
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Now | absolute tense | ||
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The types of subordinate clause-like structures are the adjunct structure, the complement structure, and the noun-modifying structure. Complement verbs and noun-modifying verbs may take aspect marking.
A noun-modifying structure has the modified noun phrase as 1 of its arguments. In some cases, the verb and noun phrase are adjacent; a univalent noun phrase can have 2 modifying structures while a relational noun phrase can have only 1. If more are needed, connecting lines must be used.
A complement structure acts as the object of a matrix clause, so a matrix argument connects to the top of the complement verb. The matrix argument is either the patient of a bivalent transitive verb or the secondary object of a trivalent transitive verb. In the latter case, the verb may be aligned below the matrix verb; otherwise, a connecting line must be used.
An adjunct structure is placed above the host clause-like structure, with a subordinating conjunction between the verbs, which are aligned.
A coordinate structure is placed above the next clause-like structure in the chain, with a coordinating conjunction between the verbs, which are aligned.
A conditional sentence consists of a condition and a conclusion, which are marked for tense independently. The condition is terminated by the conjunction If below the final verb and should not be a question of either kind.
| Glyph | Tag | Description | Group | |||
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Aft | host After adjunct | subordinating | ||
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Bef | host Before adjunct | |||
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Dur | host During adjunct | |||
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When | adjunct during host | |||
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Seq | Sequential conjunction | coordinating | ||
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Sim | Simultaneous conjunction | |||
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Dis | Disjunction | |||
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If | Condition | conditional | ||
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Indirect reporting uses the complement structure described above. Absolute past and future tense become perfect and prospective aspect, respectively. Pronouns may also need to change to reflect the different context.
Direct reporting is accomplished by placing the open quote particle Quo before the reported text and the close quote particle Unq after it without changing the text.
| Glyph | Tag | Description | |||
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Quo | open quote | ||
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Unq | close quote | ||
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The same glyph is used for both positive and negative directions of the scale. If an argument is omitted, the positive direction (indicating a greater than normal value) applies to the argument on the left while the negative direction (indicating a less than normal value) applies to the argument on the right. When both arguments appear, the verb is comparative with the left-side argument having a greater value of the scale than the right-side argument.
The reciprocal of a scalar verb is equative if both arguments appear, indicating that the arguments have the same value of the scale; otherwise, the reciprocal is normative, indicating that the sole argument has a normal or neutral value appropriate for that argument.
Unlike a transitive verb, a scalar verb with no arguments marked is meaningless.
The absolute form uses the suffix -AbsD; this is used to answer questions of degree, which are formed using the question suffix -CQD. In both cases, only the left-side argument is used.
If the right-side argument is marked with the extreme suffix -ExtD, the left-side argument has the highest value possible. If the left-side argument is marked with the corresponding prefix ExtD-, the right-side argument has the lowest value possible. This corresponds to the traditionally called "absolute superlative".
If the right-side argument is marked with the satisfactive suffix -SatD, the left-side argument has a sufficiently high value for some situation. If the left-side argument is marked with the corresponding prefix SatD-, the right-side argument has a sufficiently low value for some situation. The situation mentioned here is represented by a conditional sentence, or by just the conclusion.
| Glyph | Position | Tag | Description | |||
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right? | CQD | Interrogative degree | ||
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right? | AbsD | Absolute degree | ||
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either | SatD | Satisfactive degree | ||
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either | ExtD | Extreme degree | ||
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Adverbial constructions include adverbs of manner, which use scalar verbs, and adverbs of degree, which modify scalar verbs. The adverbial construction is placed above the modified construction, with the adverb aligned with the verb.
page started: 2016.Dec.02 Fri
current date: 2016.Dec.04 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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