TIAL morphemes and examples
Eng English glosses
dfn terms defined in this chapter
ref terms defined in other chapters
Tag interlinear tags
The argument structure of a verb specifies the number of subjects and objects a verb can have and what kind of things each can refer to. In TIAL these are fairly simple: in the majority of cases, there's exactly one subject (never more) and there can be up to two objects. The valence of a verb is one (for the subject) plus the number of objects. Each verb also has a maximum valence (also from one to three for most verbs).
When an object is expressed, it appears after the verb. The verb form used when no objects appear is the e-form already given. When an object does appear, the verb must take the a-form, where the final e of the e-form is replaced by a. We now can have sentences of the form
Subject(o) Verb(a) Object(o)
such as
viro manja pomo.
"The man ate the apple."
as well as
Subject(o) Verb(e).
Note: In the example sentence, viro could be translated as "The men and pomo could be translated as "the apples. I'll generally pick one of the possible translations arbitrarily.
In TIAL, the object pronouns are identical to the corresponding subject pronouns:
| Word | Tag | Gloss | Notes | Word | Tag | Gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| me | 1S | me | 1st person Singular | nas | 1XP | us | 1st person Exclusive Plural |
| os | 1NP | us | 1st person Inclusive Plural | ||||
| te | 2S | you | 2nd person Singular | vas | 2P | you | 2nd person Plural |
| se | Rfx | himself herself itself |
3rd person Reflexive | se | Rfx | themselves | 3rd person Reflexive |
me vida vas.
"I see you (plural)."
A reflexive pronoun is one that has the same referent as the verb's subject. For the 1st and 2nd persons, the reflexive pronoun is identical to the subject pronoun. With 3rd person subjects, the reflexive pronoun is se (Rfx).
me vida me.
"I see myself."
Janno no auda se.
"John didn't hear himself."
| auda | hear | kaso | house |
| gatto | cat | manja | eat |
| ina | in | pomo | apple |
| kano | dog | vida | see |
Translate into English:
1. yo kano ina kaso.
Translate into TIAL:
1. The dog won't eat the apple.
page started: 2010.Jun.26 Sat
current date: 2012.May.07 Mon
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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