Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".
The syntactical word classes are verbs, adjectives, nouns, quantity words, and particles. However, to avoid confusion, syntactical verbs, adjectives, and nouns will be referred to as finite forms, attributive forms, and case-marked forms.
A phrase consists of a case-marked or finite form preceded by any number of attributive forms. Any of these may be a pronominal or content word stem. However, the least marked order (in terms of lexical classes) for case-marked phrases is:
| RelativeClause | Pronominal | Quantity | Verbs | Noun |
If any quantity word appears, an indefinite pronominal is omitted.
Most finite phrases consist of only a verb, but for those that don't, the above applies.
The phrase may be preceded by a genitive phrase representing a possessor. The possessor of a verbal noun is the descriptee, patient, or theme of the original verb, depending on whether it's univalent, bivalent, or trivalent.
A phrase containing a pronominal is always referential; other phrases are non-referential unless modified by a genitive or containing a relative clause, in which case they're definite.
The argument of a verb appearing within a phrase is always interpreted as non-referential and can't have its own modifiers. In order to modify such an argument, a relative clause must be used.
A partitive construction specifies the cardinality of a part selected from some whole; it's always indefinite. It consists of a partitive-case phrase specifying the whole followed by a quantity word for the part.
| lo so shiilor duzi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | s-o | shiil-or | duz-i |
| 3-Att | P-Att | fish-Par | "3"-Erg |
| "3 of the fish" | |||
An ordinal construction consists of a partitive-case phrase as above followed by an ordinal number, which may be accompanied by a quantity word specifying some non-singular cardinality. Alternately, an ordinal number may be used without the partitive, if the cardinality of the whole isn't to be specified. Ordinal constructions are automatically definite.
| lo vimo kuchor sovo yavathokh | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | vim-o | kuch-or | sov-o | yav-ath-okh |
| 3-Att | "8"-Att | boy-Par | "2"-Att | "1"-Ord-Dat |
| "the 1st 2 of the 8 boys" | ||||
An unmodified non-referential word taking the combining form final (-au -Com) may precede a verb as if incorporated or a noun as if acting as the modifier of a compound. The interpretation may be lexical. Any preceding modifiers apply to the phrase, not the modifier or incorporated word.
| izho shakmau soprai | ||
|---|---|---|
| izh-o | shakm-au | sopr-ai |
| 3-Att | book-Com | house-Loc |
| "at this library" | ||
| lo fogo shiilau beshesho taiki | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | fog-o | shiil-au | besh-esh-o | taik-i |
| 3-Att | old-Att | fish-Com | eat-Hab-Att | cat-Erg |
| "the old fish-eating cat" | ||||
All but the last component of a compound phrase ends in either the aggregative or the alternative final (-an Agg and -el Alt, respectively).
A clause contains, at minimum, a phrase ending in a finite form and any number of argument phrases ending in case-marked forms, excluding genitive and partitive phrases. The finite phrase tends to be last.
The following table summarizes the usage of the adverbial cases:
| Tag | Name | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| -Abs | Absolutive | subject, descriptee, patient, theme |
| -Erg | Ergative | actor, descriptee (voluntary), agent, donor |
| -Dat | Dative | recipient, destination, purpose |
| -Abl | Ablative | source, origin |
| -Ins | Instrumental | instrument, route, degree |
| -Loc | Locative | location, time when |
| -Voc | Vocative | addressee(s) |
The following table summarizes the usage of the adnominal cases:
| Tag | Name | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| -Gen | Genitive | possessor, location |
| -Par | Partitive | whole set or mass entity |
Besides modifying phrases, the genitive case is also used to specify the location argument of a relational verb (whose descriptee can be absolutive or ergative). Note that a genitive argument must immediately precede its verb.
The absolutive argument of a verb such as dob- "sleep" specifies a location while the ergative case is used for the actor.
The following table summarizes the core case usage:
| Class | Abs | Erg | Dat | Gen | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1- | Univalent | Descriptee | - | - | |
| -R- | Relational | Descriptee | - | Location | |
| -2- | Bivalent | Patient | Agent | - | - |
| -3- | Trivalent | Theme | Donor | Recipient | - |
A jussive mood clause is hortative when the actor, agent, or donor is inclusive person.
The absolute present medial can appear only in a context that's not already absolute present tense, such as a main clause.
The usage of each aspect is shown in the following table:
| Tag | Name | As Aspect | As Tense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stative | current state | present state | |
| -Hab- | Habitual | current series of actions | present series of actions |
| -Prg- | Progressive | current action | present action |
| -Aor- | Aoristic | action taken as a whole | definite past |
| -Prf- | Perfect | prior situation | indefinite past |
| -Pro- | Prospective | subsequent situation | future |
The following table gives the usage of the unmarked aspect for each class:
| Class | Aspect | |
|---|---|---|
| A- | Scalar | Stative |
| V-S | Static | Stative |
| V-H | Habitual | Habitual |
| V-D | Dynamic | Aoristic |
The arguments of a reciprocal clause that affect each other are combined into a single compound aggregate phrase, always in the ergative case if the verb is bivalent or trivalent. The reciprocal pronoun yos· Rec appears in the appropriate case for the object, absolutive if bivalent and dative if trivalent. Note that relationals don't usually use this syntax as they're either inherently reciprocal or non-reciprocal.
| botaaman bojaani yosa khajale. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| bo-taam-an | bo-jaan-i | yos-a | khaj-al-e |
| N-Tom-Agg | N-John-Erg | Rec-Abs | angry-Aor-Fin |
| "Tom and John were angry at each other." | |||
| lo chadan lo dashi yosokh shakma base. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | chad-an | l-o | dash-i | yos-okh | shakm-a | bas-e |
| 3-Att | man-Agg | 3-Att | woman-Erg | Rec-Dat | book-Abs | give-Fin |
| "The man and the woman gave each other books." | ||||||
In an imperative mood clause, no ergative argument may appear, since the imperative implies a 2nd person (no number) ergative. The time of an imperative action is immediate future.
| jipake! |
|---|
| ji-pak-e |
| Imp-run-Fin |
| "Run!" |
In an existence clause, only the finite phrase (typically containing a noun) appears as a predicate, while in a definition or identity clause, an absolutive phrase also appears as a subject. The predicate of a definition clause must be non-referential while both phrases of an identity clause must be referential. Clauses with non-referential subjects and referential predicates don't occur.
The polar (yes/no) question medial PQ may appear only once per sentence. This is normally on the finite form of the predicate of a main clause, but may be moved to another word in order to focus that word or phrase.
The first phrase of a relative clause must be an instance of the relative pronominal k- Rel, whose case specifies the role of the containing phrase within the relative clause. The relative clause is terminated by an instance of the subordinate clause terminator pronominal d- SCT. Otherwise, the relative clause is internally like other clauses. If the relative clause appears last in the phrase, such as when it's a headless relative clause, the subordinate clause terminator takes either a case or a conjunctive final; otherwise it's attributive.
A complement clause is used as the object of the following matrix clause. The complement clause terminated by an instance of the subordinate clause terminator pronominal d- SCT, which takes the absolutive case. Otherwise, the complement clause is internally like other clauses.
The K-verbs are used as tense, modal, and evidential auxiliaries, following main clauses (no subordinate clause terminator is needed). The implicit agent (where semantically applicable) of each is the K person. The 2 K-verbs described as tense markers are used to construct compound tenses, such as future perfect.
| lo shiila o taiki beshuke foi. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | shiil-a | '-o | taik-i | besh-uk-e | foi |
| 3-Att | fish-Abs | Ind-Att | cat-Erg | eat-Prf-Fin | Fut |
| "Some cat will have eaten the fish." | |||||
The che form of the polar question marker PQ can be appended to a K-verb:
| lo kuchi bore lo jiraffa rothche? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | kuch-i | bor-e | l-o | jiraff-a | roth-che |
| 3-Att | boy-Erg | see-Fin | 3-Att | giraffe-Abs | DP-PQ |
| "Is the boy permitted to see the giraffe?" | |||||
Other polarity marking must be marked in the main clause, with negation causing a swap of necessity and possibility for the epistemic, deontic, and volitive modals.
| Necessity | Possibility | Modality | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| der | EN | gut | EP | Epistemic |
| jak | DN | roth | DP | Deontic |
| thas | VN | fin | VP | Volitive |
In the following example, deontic necessity has been used for deontic possibility due to the negation:
| lo taiki shiila beshene jak. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | taik-i | shiil-a | besh-en-e | jak |
| 3-Att | cat-Erg | fish-Abs | eat-Neg-Fin | DN |
| "The cat isn't permitted to eat fish." | ||||
The scalar verb translated as an adverb of manner appears as the predicate of a matrix clause, with the action clause appearing as its complement clause.
| izho taiki pakeshe da zufe. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| izh-o | taik-i | pak-esh-e | d-a | zuf-e |
| Prox-Att | cat-Erg | run-Hab-Fin | SCT-Abs | fast-Fin |
| "This cat runs fast." | ||||
Coordinate clauses are conjoined using one of the coordinating conjunctions. An instance of the conjunction precedes each of the conjoined clauses. Common constituents may be "factored out", appearing before the first instance of the conjunction, provided that they're the same in each clause. If not, a single constituent may be factored out and coreferenced by a 3rd person pronominal within the clause(s).
| Word | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| sok | Seq | sequential conjunction |
| shin | Sim | simultaneous conjunction |
| meth | Ctr | contrastive conjunction |
| yan | Dis | disjunction |
| bel | Ior | inclusive or |
| lo taiki sok lo shiila beshe sok dobale. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | taik-i | sok | l-o | shiil-a | besh-e | sok | dob-al-e |
| 3-Att | cat-Erg | Seq | 3-Att | fish-Abs | eat-Fin | Seq | sleep-Aor-Fin |
| "The cat ate the fish and then slept." | |||||||
There are different kinds of adjunct clauses. One specifying purpose is terminated by an instance of the subordinate clause terminator pronominal SCT taking the dative case (dokh). One specifying means is terminated by an instance of the subordinate clause terminator pronominal SCT taking the instrumental case (dis). One specifying cause is terminated by an instance of the subordinate clause terminator pronominal SCT taking the ablative case (dak).
A temporal adjunct clause specifies the time of some situation represented by the host clause relative to the situation represented by the adjunct clause using the aspect of the adjunct's finite form. The temporal adjunct clause is terminated by an instance of the subordinate clause terminator pronominal SCT taking the temporal case (doi). The temporal relationships are shown in the following table:
| Tag | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Prf | Perfect | host after adjunct |
| Pro | Prospective | host before adjunct |
| Prg | Progressive | host during adjunct |
| Hab | Habitual | host whenever adjunct |
| Aor | Aoristic | adjunct during host |
The conjunction uz Top precedes the adjunct clause if any common elements are to be "factored out".
| lo taiki uz lo shiila beshime doi lo dashi la borale. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| l-o | taik-i | uz | l-o | shiil-a | besh-im-e | doi | l-o | dash-i | l-a | bor-al-e |
| 3-Att | cat-Erg | conj | 3-Att | fish-Abs | eat-Prg-Fin | SCT-Tmp | 3-Att | woman-Erg | 3-Abs | see-Aor-Fin |
| "While the cat was eating the fish, the woman saw him." | ||||||||||
page started: 2017.Jan.03 Tue
current date: 2017.Jan.15 Sun
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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