Ampkohlaš –  A Constructed Language

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Ampkohlaš Syntax

Note: The letters æ, œ, and y stand for the harmonizing vowels (low, mid, and high/zero, respectively); N stands for the homorganic nasal.

Temporal Syntax

• The evidential prefixes, other than those specifically future, indicate definite non-future time.
• The definite temporal distance prefixes indicate definite non-present time.
• The relative temporal distance prefixes indicate relative time.
• The lack of both temporal distance and evidentiality also indicates relative time.

Tense Marking

Tense	Temporal	Evidential	Pronominal
Past	absolute	evid/epist	non-k-person*
		0	k-person*
Present	0	evid/epist	any
Future	absolute	Fut-	any
Relative	0	0	any**
	relative	evid/epist
Imperative	absolute	0	imperative
	0

* The k-person is 1st person singular (1S) in statements and 2nd person singular (2S) in questions.

** One of the verb's pronominals must be coreferential.

Agreement Syntax

There can be at most two noun phrases per verb, one new information and the other old. If both appear, the old information appears first.

Noun Phrases

A noun phrase consists of a noun plus any number of attributive verbs, each of which has coreferential order, the noun itself having noun order.

Complement Construction

The complement construction consists of a complement clause and an auxiliary clause. The auxiliary verb has a zero-marked theme and usually has independent order or imperative order (rarely coreferential order). The complement verb has either the independent order or the coreferential order, in which case one of its arguments coreferences one of auxiliary verb's arguments; this must be the subject unless the auxiliary verb is trivalent.

Secondary Predicates

A secondary predicate is an addition to a host clause (although possibly semantic complements) and its verb has coreferential order. There are two kinds: resultative and depictive. A resultative indicates that the secondary situation results from the host situation and always coreferences the host's patient argument. A depictive indicates that the secondary situation depicts one of the host's arguments at the time of the situation; it may coreference any of the host's arguments.

Adjunct Clauses

An adjunct clause, like a secondary predicate, is an addition to a host clause. There are several kinds, each being introduced with some specific conjunction.

Polarity

The interrogative (zel Int), negative (faN Neg), and affirmative (hoq Aff) polarity markers are proclitic particles.

page started: 2010.Jul.04 Sun
current date: 2010.Jul.05 Mon
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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