Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, «apa», -Tags-, and "Glosses".
A clause denotes a situation and consists of, at minimum, a content word whose syntactical initial is either Imp (imperative) or Pri (primary predicate). The latter may be preceded by a conjunction and/or temporal adverbials and followed by argument phrases (note that any scalar constituents are covered in a later chapter). Any conjunction appears first. The former may also be followed by argument phrases.
The argument phrases of a clause may be followed by a secondary predicate (with initial Sec), which may have its own argument phrases. However, an implicit argument of the secondary predicate coreferences the argument phrase immediately preceding it. A secondary predicate is either resultative, denoting a situation resulting from some action, or depictive, denoting a situation current when an action takes place. If resultative, the implicitly coreferenced phrase must denote the entity affected by the action of the clause.
A phrase denotes a set of entities and may be a pronoun, a determiner phrase, a relative phrase, or a compound phrase.
A determiner phrase consists of a function word (excluding pronouns, conjunction words, and the relative determiner RD) followed by any number of attributive words. Each attributive word may be followed by pronouns acting as the word's arguments. The last argument of the last attributive word may be a phrase.
A compound phrase is either aggregative, specifying the union of component sets, or alternative, specifying that one component set is used for the compound referent. There must be at least 2 components, each of which is a non-compound phrase. The first component phrase takes the case of the compound; each subsequent component phrase takes either Agg for aggregative or Alt for alternative.
Each argument of has its own semantic role, which is determined by the case of the argument phrase as well as the content word's argument structure class. With certain exceptions, the argument phrases can appear in any order.
An imperative denotes an immediate direct command and is either explicitly or implicitly dynamic. If an imperative clause has no 2nd person ergative Erg pronoun, the ergative argument is implicitly 2nd person with number unspecified.
The 1st case for an attribute or secondary predicate has priority, meaning that the implicit coreferential argument takes that role unless an explicit argument phrase with that case appears. When that happens, the implicit argument takes the 1st case. An attribute or secondary predicate can't take explicit arguments for both these cases.
A static attribute can only be marked passive Pas while a dynamic attribute can be either passive or active Act (except that actional words have no passive forms). This determines which pair of cases apply above.
A static secondary predicate uses the static pair of cases while a dynamic one uses the active pair if actional or transitive and the passive pair otherwise.
A primary predicate, having no implicit arguments, has no such restrictions.
| Label | Name | Static | Passive | Active | Examples | Case Roles | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | Absolutive | Ergative | Locative | Instrumental | |||
| _1 | Univalent | Abs | - | - | - | - | - | "cat", "mother" | Entity | - | - | - |
| _2 | Bivalent | Abs | Ins | Abs | Ins | - | - | "angry" | Undergoer | - | - | Trigger |
| _3 | Descriptive | Abs | - | Abs | Ins | Erg | Loc | "here" | Descriptee | Cause | - | - |
| "hot" | Descriptee | Cause | Location | Instrument | ||||||||
| _4 | Relational | Abs | Loc | Abs | Loc | Erg | Loc | "in", "sit" | Locatee | Cause | Location | Instrument? |
| _5 | Experiential | - | - | Abs | Ins | Erg | Loc | "break", "cook" | Patient | Agent | Location | Instrument |
| _6 | Transitive | - | - | Abs | Ins | Erg | Loc | "eat" | Patient | Agent | Location | Instrument |
| "see" | Image | Perceiver | Location | Instrument | ||||||||
| "tell" | Text | Speaker | Addressee | Language? | ||||||||
| "buy" | Item | Buyer | Seller | Price | ||||||||
| _7 | Actional | - | - | - | - | Erg | Loc | "walk", "jump" | - | Actor | Route | Instrument |
| (1a) | m-us-onẑa | t-ê | l-ukĉi | n-ô | l-orku | n-a | l-eŝpu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-Prf-eat | 3-Erg | Pas-child | Ind-Ins | Pas-fork | Ind-Abs | Pas-pie | |
| "The child has eaten a pie with a fork." | |||||||
| (1b) | m-uqda | t-ê | l-ukĉi | n-a | l-uqdi | l-us-onda | t-um-au | n-ê | l-aŝti |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-read | 3-Erg | Pas-child | Ind-Abs | Pas-book | Pas-Prf-give | 3-Anim-Loc | Ind-Erg | Pas-woman | |
| "The child is reading a book that the woman gave him/her." | |||||||||
A vocative phrase identifies the current addressee. It consists of a vocative word (including modifier) and may appear before or after any clause.
| (2) | s-aski | s-ukĉi |
|---|---|---|
| Imp-here | Voc-child | |
| "Come here, child!" | ||
A relative phrase begins with the relative determiner RD and ends with a relative clause, which ends with the relative pronoun RP. The relative pronoun coreferences the relative phrase but takes its case according to its role within the relative clause. The relative determiner takes its case according to its role in its matrix clause. The attributes, if any, appearing between the relative determiner and the primary predicate of the relative clause constitute the head of the construction.
| (3) | m-uk-aili | t-ê | l-ukĉi | c-a | l-orku | m-us-onẑa | h-ê | n-a | l-eŝpu | p-ô |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-Cul-clean | 3-Erg | Pas-child | RD-Abs | Pas-fork | Pri-Prf-eat | 4-Erg | Ind-Abs | Pas-pie | RP-Ins | |
| "The child cleaned the fork he'd eaten a pie with." | ||||||||||
The referent of a phrase may be the possessum of a possessor, which is denoted by a phrase taking the genitive case Gen and appearing at the end of the possessum phrase (but if the possessor is a pronoun, it may appear elsewhere within the phrase).
A partitive selects some subset of a referent termed the whole. The whole is denoted by a phrase taking the genitive case Gen and appearing at the end of the partitive phrase. Any attributes of the partitive phrase specify the cardinality of the part, which is 1 if none appear.
Identity is when the 2 phrases of a clause have the exact same referent while definition is when one phrase's referent is a non-empty subset of the other phrase's referent. The copula i Cop can be used as primary predicate for both types. The absolutive phrase in a definition clause is used for the term defined (the subset) while the locative phrase is used for the definition. In an identity clause, which is which doesn't matter, except that the absolutive is preferred for pronouns.
If the definition consists of a single attribute with an existential determiner, the copula + locative phrase can be replaced by converting the attribute to a primary predicate (without the copula or the determiner).
The anaphoric pronoun 3 agrees with its antecedent in gender. If possible, it matches the derivational medial; otherwise, it matches the phrase according to the semantics of the antecedent's referent. For a clause antecedent, the anaphoric pronoun takes the situational medial. A proximate pronoun matches an ergative phrase while an obviative pronoun matches an absolutive or locative phrase. In all cases, the most recent eligible antecedent is coreferenced, noting that 4th person antecedents are not eligible.
See also Temporal Adjunct Clauses.
Tense is relative to some temporal reference point. For the first clause of a sentence (main clause), this is the time of utterance, unless overridden by a temporal adverbial. A past or future main clause predicate changes the temporal point of reference for the following clauses.
A clause may be subordinate to the preceding matrix clause, or clauses may be coordinate.
A complement clause represents a situation as an argument of its matrix clause rather than a participant. The matrix predicate may be one denoting a mental state or mode of perception or be a speech act word, so the matrix argument replaced is the image or text. Complement clauses don't mark aspect or mood.
| ( ) | m-elba | t-ê | l-itki | m-onẑa | h-ê | t-a | l-axni |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-VN | 3-Erg | Pas-cat | Pri-eat | 4-Erg | 3-Abs | Pas-fish | |
| "The cat wants to eat the fish." | |||||||
| ( ) | m-ann-espa | t-ê | l-axni | m-onẑa | h-a | t-ê | l-itki |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-Neg-VP | 3-Erg | Pas-fish | Pri-eat | 4-Abs | 3-Erg | Pas-cat | |
| "The fish doesn't want the cat to eat it." | |||||||
| ( ) | m-ann-ôb-idyu | m-onẑa | t-ê | l-itki | naf-a | l-axni |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-Neg-Hab-DP | Pri-eat | 3-Erg | Pas-cat | Exi-Abs | Pas-fish | |
| "The cat is not permitted to eat any fish." | ||||||
| ( ) | m-ôb-oŝlu | m-uk-aili | t-ih-ê | l-ukĉi | taf-a | l-utfi | ŝ-avi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-Hab-DN | Pri-Cul-clean | 3-Pl-Erg | Pas-child | Uni-Abs | Pas-foot | Rfx-Gen | |
| "The children are required to clean their feet." | |||||||
A temporal adjunct clause, like other adjunct clauses, represents a situation which isn't an argument of the matrix clause. It's preceded by the temporal conjunction C-Adv.
The temporal relationship beteen the adjunct clause and the matrix clause is determined by the aspect of the adjunct clause's predicate. If the predicate is perfect, the adjunct situation precedes the matrix situation. If the predicate is prospective, the adjunct situation follows the matrix situation. If the predicate is culminating or inceptive, the adjunct situation occurs within the time span of the matrix situation. If the predicate is progressive or stative, the matrix situation occurs within the time span of the adjunct situation.
| ( ) | m-uk-aili | t-ê | l-ukĉi | n-a | l-orku | z-ai | m-us-onẑa | h-ê | t-uq-ô | n-a | l-eŝpu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pri-Cul-clean | 3-Erg | Pas-child | Ind-Abs | Pas-fork | C-Tmp | Pri-Prf-eat | 4-Erg | 3-Inst-Ins | Ind-Abs | Pas-pie | |
| "The child cleaned a fork after eating a pie with it." | |||||||||||
The other adjunct clauses are those of reason (Rat), purpose, and means (By). A purpose is either for a situation (For) or against one (Anti). These kinds of clauses are preceded by the appropriate conjunctions. Note that each conjunction has a corresponding question adverbial.
A main clause can be followed (not always immediately) by any number of coordinate clauses. Each such series is either conjunctive or disjunctive. Any main or coordinate clause may be the matrix for a subordinate clause.
A conditional sentence consists of a conclusion followed by a condition. Both of these have main clauses, so the condition should use tai AT-Adv if cotemporal with the conclusion.
page started: 2022.Dec.24 Sat
current date: 2022.Dec.29 Thu
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