Oct17A –  A Constructed Language

Oct17A Basic Syntax

Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, «apa», -Tags-, and "Glosses".

Verb Classes

Verbs are are divided into 4 classes, depending on the relationship to the participant subject. Although all verbs are formally intransitive, the 1st 3 classes in the table below have a 2nd semantic (and possibly syntactical) participant. Also, a causal participant may be added to an otherwise intransitive clause.

Verb Classes

Label	Name/Role
V_	Intransitive
V_P	Patientive
V_A	Agentive
V_L	Relational

Single-word Clauses

Since each word contains both subject and predicate, single-word clauses are possible.

( )	ikefan.		coffee=hot		"The coffee is hot."

( )	abiruš.		chair=break		"The chair broke."

( )	sëkitke.		Sg-cat=eat		"A cat is eating."

Single relational words are less useful.

( )	? ašlit.		house=contain		"The house contains."

Some Constituents

Compound Numbers

There may be multiple cardinal number words, arranged contiguously starting with the least significant place value up to the most significant (each place value can appear only once). In some instances, the one's place-value is omitted with the digit combining with the preceding subject.

( )	irabati sovali tožani zohari
	rabbit=white	"1"="3"	"10"="3"	"100"="3"
	"333 white rabbits"

( )	robati tožani zohari
	rabbit="3"	"10"="3"	"100"="3"
	"333 rabbits"

Temporal Adverbials

The kinds of temporal adverbials are the number of occurrences of a situation, its duration, and the time when the situation occurs. These follow the host word in that order.

Each temporal unit denotes either a time period (such as "week") or a regular phase of a time period (such as "Thursday").

Number of Occurrences

The number of occurrences is simply a quantity word.

( )	ukotoki iblak sovali ešō.
	cat=black	child=see	"3"	Prs=Prf
	"The child has seen the black cat 3 times."

Duration

( )	mekano horaŋi utā.
	1.Pl=walk	hour="3"	Pst=Pos
	"We walked for 3 hours."

Time When

Any temporal unit (period or phase) can be used. There are 2 kinds of time-when adverbials: where the temporal reference point occurs within the specified period (or period implied by a phase) and where the temporal reference point is outside it; in the latter case, the time is either before that period (past) or after it (future). In both cases, the determiner is either proximal (for utterance time), distal (for anaphoric time), or interrogative.

( )	ukotoki iblak tusmi utā.
	cat=black	child=see	day=Prox	Pst=Pos
	"The child saw the black cat today."

( )	uhanto kitke tesme utā.
	fish=deplete	cat=eat	day=QD	Pst=Pos
	"What day did the cat eat the fish?"

( )	uhanto kitke luh'i atī.
	fish=deplete	cat=eat	night=Prox	Pst="1"
	"The cat ate the fish yesterday night."

( )	ukotoki iblak lah'a lofavi.
	cat=black	child=see	night=Dist	Fut="3"
	"The child saw the black cat 3 nights later."

Sentences

A sentence can be thought of as being made up of clauses. A clause can be final, coordinate, or subordinate, with the last including adjunct clauses, complement clauses, and relative clauses.

The last predicate of a relative clause is treated as attributive; other predicates are predicative. E.g. irabati means "the white rabbit" as a relative clause, but "the rabbit is white" otherwise. A relative clause may be internally headed, as in this example, or preposed. E.g.

( )	ulatso irabati.
	lettuce=deplete	rabbit=white
	"The rabbit depleting the lettuce is white."

An auxiliary word has a situation as the referent of its implicit preposed complement rather than a participant. Thus, it follows a complement clause. Modal verbs are implicit auxiliaries.

( )	ribëte iblok.
	rabbit=eat	child=VN
	"The child wants the rabbit to eat."

Tense, Aspect, Mood, and Polarity

The order of the predicates is aspect, mood, polarity.

A tense subject appears only in the final word of a sentence.

( )	irabati iblak utā.
	rabbit=white	child=see	Pst=Pos
	"The child saw the white rabbit."

The auxiliary tenses make the preceding word act like an auxiliary.

( )	irabati iblak utak.
	rabbit=white	child=see	APst=Pos
	"The child saw that the rabbit was white."

Imperatives and Prohibitives

Both imperatives and prohibitives use the imperative pronouns to mark the sentence as a command; these are restricted to the final word. The syntaxes for agentive verbs will constitute a special case. In general, the imperative appends a word combining an imperative pronoun with positive polarity to the otherwise declarative sentence.

( )	igevar tuvas!
	water=hot	Im=Pos
	"Heat the water!"

The prohibitive is similar, except that negative polarity is used.

( )	abiruš tives!
	chair=break	Im=Neg
	"Don't break the chair!"

In an agentive imperative, no word is added; instead the imperative pronoun appears as the subject of the final word.

( )	otekso!
	ImPl=run
	"Run!"

In an agentive prohibitive, the negative polarity imperative word is again added, but the preceding subject is replaced by the coreference pronoun 4.

( )	ozēno tikes!
	4=run	ImPl=Neg
	"Don't run!"

Possessives

There are 2 verbs used for possession: a dependent-marked possessive _i_o DMP and a head-marked possessive _u_e HMP. Note that in possession, the possessor is the dependent and the possessum is the head.

( )	nidzo ikutiku imëvan.
	man=DMP	cat=sleep	1=see
	"I see the man's sleeping cat."

( )	nadaze kutke imëvan.
	man=old	cat=HMP	1=see
	"I see the old man's cat."

Subordinate Clauses

Except where noted, each function subject combines with the subordinating predicate Sub.

Temporal Adjuncts

If the adjunct situation precedes the matrix situation, the temporal conjugation subject Tmp combines with the perfect aspect predicate Prf. If the adjunct situation follows the matrix situation, the temporal conjugation subject Tmp combines with the prospective aspect predicate Pro. If the situations are cotemporal, no conjunction is used.

( )	kitke ehok ikutiku utā.
	cat=eat	Aft	cat=sleep	Pst=Pos
	"After eating, the cat slept."

Means

( )	suptatl doršu upattlo nidze ative.
	Sg-potato=cook	By	potato=deplete	man=eat	Pst=Pot
	"By cooking a potato, the man was able to eat it."

Purpose

( )	sëforka upattlo nidze fondu endaz afirki itū.
	Sg-fork=use	potato=deplete	man=eat	For	man=cause	fork=clean	Pst=Cul
	"In order to eat a potato with it, the man cleaned the fork."

( )	mëkirče zavine zohpu endaz afirki itū.
	NR-cockroach=eat	Aux=Pot	Anti	man=cause	fork=clean	Pst=Cul
	"So that any cockroaches wouldn't be able to eat, the man cleaned the fork."

Reason

( )	onadzu žōku baraše obreš nodze itē.
	man=heavy	Rat	chair=old	chair=on	man=sit	Pst=Neg
	"Because the man was heavy, he didn't sit on the old chair."

Conditional Sentences

The conditional subject If combines with an aspect predicate.

( )	onadzu baraše obreš nodze sipuč endaz abiruš lifū.
	man=heavy	chair=old	chair=on	man=sit	If=Cul	man=cause	chair=break	Fut=Cul
	"If the heavy man sits on the old chair, he'll break it."

If the sentence is contrary-to-fact, both clauses have contrafactual mood; otherwise, neither do.

( )	onadzu baraše obreš nodze zivun espuč endaz abiruš zivun elfū.
	man=heavy	chair=old	chair=on	man=sit	4=Cul	If=Ctf	man=cause	chair=break	4=Cul	Fut=Ctf
	"If the heavy man were to sit on the old chair, he would break it."

Coordinate Clauses

Coordinating conjunction predicates combine with tense subjects.

( )	uhamho kitke utive dīge utā.
	meat=deplete	cat=eat	Pst=Disj	dog=eat	Pst=Pos
	"Either the cat ate the meat or the dog did."

Translation Strategies

Serial Verb Constructions

Words comprising a serial verb construction must be contiguous; this means that the words modifying the subject of such a word might not be contiguous with the modified word. Note that transitive concepts are usually expressed using serial verb constructions.

( )	sirabati ulatso ribëte.
	Sg-rabbit=white	lettuce=deplete	rabbit=eat
	"A white rabbit is eating the lettuce."

page started: 2022.Oct.19 Wed
current date: 2022.Oct.25 Tue
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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