Some specific or generic suffix must be added to each independent noun. The suffixes are also added to pronouns and may be added to certain particles such as the logical operators if no pronoun is there (alternately, the suffix is added to a null pivot pronoun, to which the particle is proclitic).
Pronouns use the designations given in the following table; where two are given, the upper case is for kinds and the lower case for entities.
| Key | Affix | Description | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| k- | ki (kya:) | denotes the speaker in statements
and the addressee in commands and questions. |
personal |
| l- | li (lya:) | denotes the addressee in statements
and the speaker in commands and questions. | |
| m- | me (mya:) | denotes the aggregate of speaker and addressee. | |
| o- | de (dya:) | = anaphoric (obviative). | |
| p- | ci (ca:) | = anaphoric (proximative). | |
| s-, S- | to, te: | refers to the preceding proposition. | subordinating |
| t-, T- | za, ze: | refers to the following proposition (= auxiliary complementizer). | |
| r-, R- | go, ge: | = definite relative | restrictive |
| n-, N- | no, ne: | = indefinite relative | |
| q-, Q- | fi, fye: | indicates the information requested in content question. | other |
| w-, W- | wa, we: | = generic noun | |
| x- | xa | = reflexive coreference | other |
| y- | o | = pivot coreference (after logical operator) |
Negation and sentence-type marking are accomplished using proclitic particles. These are:
| Key | * | Description | Glosses | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | *pu | marks the sentence as a statement; it precedes any negation particle. | sentence-type | |
| ! | *sa | marks the sentence as a command; it precedes any negation particle. | ||
| ? | *ze | marks the sentence as a polar question;
the negation particle can't be used with it. | ||
| ^ | * | marks the absence of the next relation at the time in question. | "not" | logical modifier |
| & | *du | = logical conjunction | "and" | logical operator |
| | | *bi | = logical disjunction | "and/or" | |
| # | *he | = logical exclusion | "or" | |
| + | * | = set union (noun phrase aggregation) | "and" | set operator |
The generic suffixes are given in the following table. The pronominals given under Imp are the ones implied when no word with that suffix is omitted (assuming it's relevent to the clause).
| Tag | Imp | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| -Don | k | Donor | provider of entity, information, or service |
| -Agt | k | Agent | entity performing action |
| -Prc | k | Perceiver | entity possessing mental state |
| -Sub | k | Subject ? | entity identified, defined, or located |
| -Rcp | l | Recipient | recipient of entity, information, or service |
| -Pat | l | Patient | entity undergoing process |
The auxiliary suffixes are added to s and t pronouns, which both delimit and coreference complement sentences. Both the auxiliary clause and the complement sentences contain at least one word; for the auxiliary this is the pronoun-auxiliary suffix word and for the complement sentence, it's a word called the gubernator, which usually has a specific suffix. The auxiliary clause potentially has another word.
There are 5 classes of auxiliaries: physical, emotional, social, logical, and evidential; each has its own rules, except that the rules for the evidentials are the same as those for the logicals.
When the arguments for the 1st Case and 2nd Case are not present, the Person Hierarchy determines which pronoun is implied for each.
| Noun Role | Class | 1st Case | 2nd Case | Person Hierarchy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| theme | transfer | -Don | -Rcp | k > l > p |
| agent | action | -Pat | k > p | |
| patient | process | -Agt | ||
| stimulus | quality | -Prc | ||
| location | relation | -Sub | ||
| complement | copula | -Sub | ||
| set ? | quantity | -Sub | r > k | |
| demonstrative ? | deixis | -Sub |
The most basic components of syntax are the words: particles and composites. One or more semantically linked composites may be used together (along with any appropriate particles) to form a basic clause.
A clause functions either as a semantically restrictive attributive clause or as a semantically assertive predicative clause (note that questions and commands are considered as special kinds of assertions here).
The logical modifier is placed in front of a basic clause to denote its logical negation.
| ^ | Basic_Clause |
One or more semantically linked attributive clauses may be used together (along with any appropriate particles) to form phrases, while a sequence of predicative clauses may be conjoined.
An attributive clause contains a composite whose noun-part is one of the restrictive pronouns, while a predicative clause doesn't (except as part of a contained phrase).
Two or more clauses may be conjoined into a compound clause by placing one of the logical operators before each clause but the first; the operator used in a given sentence must be the same for each clause. The first word after each operator may be one whose noun-part is the pivot pronoun, which corefers the corresponding entity in the previous clause.
| Clause | & | Clause | (& | Clause)* |
| Clause | | | Clause | (| | Clause)* |
| Clause | # | Clause | (# | Clause)* |
Either a simple clause or a compound clause can be made into a sentence by placing one of the sentence-type particles in front of it.
| . | Simple_or_Compound_Clause |
| ! | Simple_or_Compound_Clause |
| ? | Simple_or_Compound_Clause |
A basic phrase consists of either a pronoun-composite or a noun-composite preceded by zero or more restrictive composites. Of the last, the determiner, if any, appears first and the quantifier, if any, appears next.
| (r-Det) | (r-Quant) | (r-Case)* | Noun-Case |
A partitive phrase consists of a basic phrase whose noun takes the genitive (-Gen) case followed by a restrictive quantifier and then a terminal composite whose case is that which would've been on the basic phrase. A restrictive determiner may appear in place of or preceding the restrictive quantifier.
| .... | Noun-Gen | r-Quant | w-Case | |
| .... | Noun-Gen | r-Det | (r-Quant) | w-Case |
A superlative phrase is like a partitive phrase except that a restrictive quality word appears in place of or following the restrictive quantifier.
| .... | Noun-Gen | (r-Quant) | r-Qual | w-Case |
An ordinal phrase is also like a partitive phrase except that a restrictive ordinal number appears in place of or following the restrictive quantifier.
| .... | Noun-Gen | (r-Quant) | r-Ord# | w-Case |
Two or more phrases may be conjoined into a compound phrase by placing the set operator before each phrase but the first.
| Phrase | + | Phrase | (+ | Phrase)* |
page started: 2010.Jun.03 Thu
current date: 2010.Jun.26 Sat
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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