Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".
The syntax tends to be modifier-head.
A phrase is either a noun phrase, a superlative phrase, and ordinal phrase, a partitive phrase, or a pronoun.
A noun phrase ends with a noun, which may be preceded by a determiner or genitive phrase, any number of participles, and any number of appositive nouns, in that order. If the noun is possessed, it's either marked as such or the genitive phrase appears, but not both.
Appositive nouns are often compound nouns, with the combination of appositive and head noun used for translating the noun-noun compounds used in other languages. For example, "catfish", a fish that obviously preys on cats, would be rendered as "cat-eater fish".
A partitive phrase consists of a partial noun whose status and number is used for denoting the cardinality of the part, along with a representation of the whole from which the part is selected. That representation is either a possessor prefix or a preceding genitive phrase.
A superlative phrase contains a superlative form of the scalar verb used to select a part from the whole, along with a representation of the whole. The representation of the whole is either a possessor prefix or a preceding genitive phrase.
An ordinal phrase contains either "first" or "last", along with a representation of the whole. The representation of the whole is either a possessor prefix or a preceding genitive phrase.
The proximal, medial, and distal demonstratives, along with the interrogative determiner, are related to the locational verbs. There are also satisfactive and relative determiners. All of these are used with nouns whose status is indefinite.
| Word | Tag | Description | Glosses | Verb Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 'ísbí | Prox | proximal | "this/these" | "here" |
| 'ískú | Medi | medial | "that/those" | "there" |
| 'íslá | Dist | distal | "yon" | "yonder" |
| 'ístá | Q | interrogative | "which" | "where" |
| 'ísdæk | Sat | satisfactive | "such" | "appropriate" |
| sé | Rel | relative | - | - |
A clause ends with a verb, which may be preceded by various kinds of argument phrases, adverbial consistuents, and possible a vocative phrase.
Vocative phrases, which identify the addressee(s), may be inserted before or after a clause constituent.
The absolutive phrases are the core arguments; both patient and agent take the absolutive case. The oblique arguments are the instrumental, benefactive, and malefactive phrases. Locative phrases are core arguments for relational verbs and are oblique arguments for other verbs.
If the person agreement on the verb is 3rd person explicit (3E), a corresponding phrase must appear in the clause. If the person agreement is 3rd person coreferential (3C) or unspecified (U), no corresponding phrase may appear. Otherwise, a corresponding phrase may appear. With some verb forms, an additional phrase may appear. However, no more than 2 absolutive phrases can appear in a clause.
The former of 2 absolutive phrases in a clause corresponds to the person argument (%) on the verb while the latter corresponds to the additional argument (A). Oblique phrases may appear in any order relative to the core phrases.
There are a number of ways a verb can be trivalent (besides adding an oblique argument to the clause).
Relational verbs can have 3 core arguments: the location has locative case while the locatee and cause have absolutive case.
An applicative promotes an oblique argument to patient. To avoid having more than 2 absolutive phrases, the original patient can't be expressed unless:
In the following example, the applied patient is the jaguar (b).
| kanbá 'ynbøto lílsælgóspá'y | ||
|---|---|---|
| [kɑ̃.mɑ˦] | [ʔɜ̃.mɚ.to] | [li˦l.sæl.go˦s.pɑ˦.ʔɜ] |
| k-anbá | '-ynbø-t-o | l-íl-sæl-g-ós-p-á-'y |
| 2-mother | U-water-NA-Sg | 3E-JPat-give-Inv-ABen-Prf-PQ-Hrs |
| "Has your mother given the jaguar any water?" | ||
Verbs have adverbial forms which are used either alone or as postpositions. The latter have a single argument which appears as either an absolutive phrase or a personal prefix; these are like oblique phrases. The former, which include the degree adverbs, usually appear immediately before the verb.
| Word | Tag | Glosses |
|---|---|---|
| tá | Q | "how" |
| dæk | Sat | "so", "enough", "too" |
Comparative and equative constructions compare a subject of comparison to a standard of comparison with respect to a scale of comparison, which is represented by some form of a scalar verb. A comparative is concerned with whether the subject of comparison is greater than the standard while an equative is concerned with whether they're equal. In either case, the standard may be either explicit or implicit.
An explicit comparative standard is followed by the adverbial form of the verb "exceed" (Cmp) while an explicit equative standard is followed by the the adverbial form of the verb "match" (Equ). The scale of comparison is represented by a scalar verb, adverb, or the status and number of a noun. In this usage, plural marking signifies "more" while paucal marking signifies "less". The subject of comparison is the phrase preceding the standard of comparison.
In an implicit comparative construction, the verb "increase" is used and in an implicit equative construction, the verb "continue" is used. The scale of comparison is represented by the action noun of a scalar verb whose patient possessor is the subject of comparison.
In definition and identity clauses, the finite copula form is used in place of the verb. The agent is used for the subject and the patient is used for the complement. In a definition clause, the complement must be non-referential while in an identity clause, the complement must be referential (usually definite if not marked on the verb).
The following is an example of identity:
| kanbá lǽpæn'ok | |
|---|---|
| [kɑ̃.mɑ˦] | [læ˦.pæ̃.ʔok'] |
| k-anbá | l-ǽ-p-æn-'ok |
| 2-mother | 3E-Infl-Prf-Neg-KAgt |
| "I'm not your mother." | |
The following is an example of definition:
| 'ísban 'élarku lokpá'y | ||
|---|---|---|
| [ʔi˦z.bɑ̃] | [ʔe˦.lɑʢ.ku] | [lok'.pɑ˦ʔɜ] |
| '-ís-ban | '-élar-ku | l-ok-p-á-'y |
| U-Ptc-large | U-cat-NR | 3E-JAgt-Prf-PQ-Hrs |
| "Is the jaguar a large cat?" | ||
A clause may contain a focus; this can be a core or an oblique argument. The appropriate verb agreement for a focal core argument is 3rd person explicit.
A clause may contain a topic (which is marked like a case). When a personal pronoun is used as a topical core argument (i.e. the verb is marked with the same person and number), the verb agrees with it, with the 3rd person coreferential person 3C used for 3rd person topics.
The hierarchy is J > K > % > A, where J is the jaguar, K is the K-person, % is the marked person, and A is an additional argument. The additional argument is either 3rd person explicit or unspecified.
The following table shows the valid combinations of the agreement markers. An equals sign (=) before a direction tag means that the direction is marked only if an applicative is present; otherwise, that direction is implied.
| # | J Role | K Role | % = | % Role | A Role | Direction | Applies to | Phrases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | Agt | Pat | U | - | - | =Dir | K role | 0 |
| 1b | Agt | Pat | other | Patient * | - | =Dir | K role | 0 - 1 |
| 2a | Pat | Agt | U | - | - | =Inv | J role | 0 |
| 2b | Pat | Agt | other | Patient * | - | =Inv | J role | 0 - 1 |
| 3a | Agt | mode | U | - | - | =Dir, Rfx | - | 0 |
| 3b | Agt | mode | other | Applied | Patient * | =Dir | % role | 0 - 2 |
| 4a | other | Agt | U | - | - | =Dir, Rfx | - | 0 |
| 4b | other | Agt | other | Applied | Patient * | =Dir | % role | 0 - 2 |
| 5a | Pat | mode | U | - | - | =Inv | J role | 0 |
| 5b | Pat | mode | other | Agent | Patient * | =Inv | J role | 0 - 2 |
| 6a | other | Pat | U | - | - | =Inv | K role | 0 |
| 6b | other | Pat | other | Agent | Patient * | =Inv | K role | 0 - 2 |
| 7a | other | mode | other | Agent | - | Dir, Rfx | - | 0 - 1 |
| 7b | other | mode | other | Agent | Applied | Dir | A role | 1 - 2 |
| 8a | other | mode | other | Patient | - | Inv | - | 0 - 1 |
| 8b | other | mode | other | Applied | Agent | Inv | % role | 1 - 2 |
The K-person is the addressee, so the hierarchy is J > 2 > %.
| # | J Role | K Role | % = | % Role | A Role | Direction | Applies to | Phrases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2a | Pat | Agt | U | - | - | =Inv | J role | 0 |
| 2b | Pat | Agt | other | Patient * | - | =Inv | J role | 0 - 1 |
| 4a | other | Agt | U | - | - | =Dir, Rfx | - | 0 |
| 4b | other | Agt | other | Applied | Patient * | =Dir | % role | 0 - 2 |
The implicit argument always acts on the explicit argument.
The hierarchy is relativized argument > explicit argument, so the direct forms denote agents while the inverse forms denote patients or applied objects. For action nouns, this means that the direct noun is used when the possessor is the patient and the inverse noun is used when the possessor is the agent.
When a relational verb takes the locative applicative, the agent is replaced by the original patient, so that the core roles are patient and location rather than agent and location (in some instances this may be construed as the agent acquiring the patient role in addition to the agent role). The following table shows the modified entries:
| # | J Role | K Role | % = | % Role | A Role | Direction | Applies to | Phrases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7b | other | mode | other | Patient | Location | Dir | A role | 1 - 2 |
| 8b | other | mode | other | Location | Patient | Inv | % role | 1 - 2 |
The hierarchy is relativized argument > explicit argument, so the direct forms denote patients while the inverse forms denote locations. For action nouns, this means that the direct noun is used when the possessor is the location and the inverse noun is used when the possessor is the patient.
A subordinate clause appears before its host clause (usually immediately). Its verb must be finite and it must have the form of a statement. Whenever a subordinate clause coreferences a host clause argument, the phrase appears in the subordinate clause. The kinds of subordinate clauses are adjunct, complement, and relative clause.
Each adjunct clause is followed by one of the subordinating conjunction, shown in the table below. For the temporal conjunctions (Aft, Bef, and Tmp), the 1st gloss is appropriate for telic clauses and the 2nd for non-telic clauses.
| Word | Tag | Gloss or Description |
|---|---|---|
| - | Aft | "after", "when no longer" |
| - | Bef | "before", "when not yet" |
| - | Tmp | "when", "while (during)" |
| - | - | purpose |
| - | - | means |
| - | - | cause, reason |
A complement clause precedes its host clause, whose patient or theme argument is replaced by the complement clause. The person agreement on the host clause verb is marked as unspecified (unless the verb is trivalent). The complement clause verb often has future mode.
Like other subordinate clauses, relative clauses are preposed, not embedded. The first phrase of a relative clause begins with the determiner Rel, which marks the head phrase of the relative clause. Since the head phrase appears within the relative clause, it doesn't appear in the host clause. The relative determiner Rel defines the 3rd person coreferential person 3C.
The verb of a final clause may be marked polar question PQ provided that the verb isn't imperative or jussive and the clause isn't a content question. Coordinate clauses are always followed by coordinating conjunctions. A coordinate clause verb is imperative iff the final clause verb is imperative.
| Word | Tag | Name |
|---|---|---|
| - | - | - |
A conditional sentence consists of a condition and a conclusion, both of which may be clause sequences. The condition is followed by the conjunction If. While the conclusion can have any final clause, the final clause of the condition is similar to a subordinate clause in that it must be a statement.
A satisfactive sentences consists of a satisfactive clause and a result sentence. The satisfactive clause is a subordinate clause that contains a satisfactive word, such as the satisfactive degree adverb dæk Sat or the satisfactive determiner. It states or questions the sufficiency of something for the effect or purpose represented by the result. Note that it's the subordinate verb that's marked for polar questions. The result sentence may include a condition. The final verb of the result is either actual, imagined, or potential.
page started: 2017.Apr.04 Tue
current date: 2017.Apr.11 Tue
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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