Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".
The phrase syntax procedes from whole to part while clauses are generally PVA/VS (assuming direct voice).
Each phrase begins with a hive identifier, roughly analogous to person. Hive type 3 must be followed by the name of the hive, to complete the identifier, or the content question particle Q, except that if the name is the same as for the previous hive type 3 reference, it may be omitted.
| Word | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| oe | 0 | hiveless or unknown etc. |
| vi | 1 | the speaker's hive |
| xu | 2 | the addressee's hive (if not the speaker's) |
| zo | 3 | any other known hive |
Each hive is a heterogenous set of active and passive assets. The hive identifier is usually followed by words selecting subsets or elements of the hive's assets. These words include bivalent verbs, univalent verbs, determiners, quantity words, and names.
Where all 3 appear, quantity words follow determiners, which follow verbs. Non-hive names are used sparingly.
A univalent verb selects a subset of the referent of the preceding part of the phrase, according to the attributes of the verb. Some univalent verbs are "run", "here", "small", and "cat". In contrast, a bivalent verb is relational, using the preceding referent as input and producing an output (which is limited here to elements of the same hive identifier referent). Some bivalent verbs are "see", "acquire", "in", and "mother". A quantity word specifies the cardinality of the referent set. The quantity words include singular, "many", and "5".
If no determiner (including all the ordinal numbers) appears, universal quantification of the phrase is assumed. The following table shows the determiner particles along with approximate equivalents:
| Word | Tag | Description | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|
| mi | Prox | proximal | "this/these" |
| nu | Medi | medial | "that/those" |
| la | Dist | distal | "yon" |
| kwa | Q | interrogative | "which" |
| yo | Ind | indefinite | "a(n)", "some" |
| ne | Def | anaphoric | "the" |
| hsa | Rel | relative | |
| bun | NR | non-referential | |
| ta | Sup | superlative (ordinal) | "1st" |
| - | (ordinal) | "last" |
Unless the non-referential determiner appears (or none), a quantity word (specifying the cardinality of the phrase's referent) may follow the determiner, superlative, or ordinal number. The singular marker indicates that a single element is specified by the phrase; anything else in this position (or nothing) indicates that the phrase specifies a non-empty non-singular subset.
When speaking to an entity in a different hive, the hive identifiers vi 1 and xu 2 are used for 1st and 2nd person, respectively. However, within the hive, the proximal and medial determiners are used: vi mix 1 Prox=S is 1st person (singular) and vi nux 1 Medi=S is 2nd person (singular). They're likewise used for hiveless entities: oe mix 0 Prox=S is 1st person (singular) and oe nux 0 Medi=S is 2nd person (singular).
| oe hqan k'oehz'a nex | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʔø χɑn k'ʔøs̪ʔa nɛʑ | |||
| oe | hqan | k'oehz'a | ne=x |
| 0 | planet | Earth | Def=S |
| "the planet Earth" | |||
| vi jii dauk' ne | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| vi d͡ʑiː dauk' nɛ | |||
| vi | jii | dauk' | ne |
| 1 | small | dog | Def |
| "our small dogs" | |||
Complete phrases may be compounded by placing a phrase conjunction between them:
| Word | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ke | Coll | aggregate, collective |
| - | Dstr | aggregate, distributive |
| - | Excl | alternate, exclusive |
| - | Incl | alternate, inclusive |
| vi keqt' ke vi dauk' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| vi kɛʀt' kɛ vi dauk' | ||||
| vi | keqt' | ke | vi | dauk' |
| 1 | cat | Coll | 1 | dog |
| "all our cats and dogs (together)" | ||||
A clause consists of either a predicate followed by a subject or just a subject, the latter used for existence clauses and the former for all others. In all cases, the subject is either a phrase or a pronoun. The predicate of an identity clause is a determined referential phrase (rarely, a pronoun) whose referent identical to that of the subject. The predicate of a definition clause is a non-determined or non-referential phrase whose referent is a superset of that of the subject. The predicate of a verb-headed clause is a sequence of at least 1 univalent verb. The predicate of an auxiliary clause is a bivalent verb preceded by complement clause.
| zo kwa xu? | ||
|---|---|---|
| z̪ɔ kʷa ʑu | ||
| zo | kwa | xu |
| 3 | Q | 2 |
| "Who [/what hive] are you?" | ||
| suhw vi biz nex dil keqt'. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ʐʊxʷ vi bɪz̪ nɛʑ dɪl kɛʀt' | |||||
| suhw | vi | biz | ne=x | dil | keqt' |
| black | 1 | spaceship | Def=S | in | cat |
| "All the cats on our spaceship are black." | |||||
| oe hqan lax qou vi biz yox. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ʔø χɑŋ laʑ ʀɔu vi bɪz̪ jɔʑ | ||||||
| oe | hqan | la=x | qou | vi | biz | yo=x |
| 0 | planet | Dist=S | circular_orbit | 1 | spaceship | Ind=S |
| "One of our spaceships is in a nearly circular orbit around that planet." | ||||||
The 3rd person pronouns are:
| Word | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| - | Cat | cataphoric |
| hsi | Cor | correlative |
| va | SS | same as subject |
| li | SO | same as object |
Adverbs of manner are not classified as adverbs but are univalent verbs appearing immediately after the modified verb.
Adverbs of relative time when are also not lexical adverbs but adjunct clauses.
Other adverbs, including the oblique phrase marker Obl, are either bivalent and follow a phrase or univalent and appear by themselves. These adverbial constructions precede the predicate and subject of the clause.
The oblique phrase marker may be used to make a bivalent clause trivalent, such as with the verb "inform" (in this case, the 3rd argument is most often a complement clause or a discourse pronoun).
Note that "X gives Z to Y" is more often translated as "Y acquires Z that X gives away".
Sentences are sequences of clauses.
The anaphoric pronouns are used to coreference phrases in the preceding clause. The same subject pronoun SS coreferences that clause's subject while the same object pronoun SO coreferences that clause's object. Note that an object is either the predicate or the predicate minus the final verb of the clause.
The final and the preceding coordinate clauses form the main sequence. The anaphoric pronouns are used for coreference. The final clause may be followed by the polar question particle kwi PQ, provided that the clause isn't a content question. A modal particle may appear in the next-to-last position of a sentence. Coordinate clauses are always followed by coordinating conjunctions, which are shown in the following table:
| Word | Tag | Description |
|---|---|---|
| - | And | conjunction |
| - | Or | disjunction |
A subordinate clause appears before (usually immediately) its host clause. The kinds of subordinate clauses are adjunct, complement, and relative clause. Note that each of these uses a different method for coreference.
An adjunct clause is a preposed adverbial clause. Any coreference with its host clause is handled using anaphoric pronouns. Each adjunct clause is followed by one of the subordinating conjunctions, shown in the table below. For the relative time when conjunctions (Aft, Bef, and Tmp), the 1st gloss is appropriate for telic adjunct clauses and the 2nd for non-telic ones.
| Word | Tag | Gloss or Description |
|---|---|---|
| higo | Aft | "after", "when no longer" |
| hibe | Bef | "before", "when not yet" |
| hida | Tmp | "when", "while (during)" |
| - | - | purpose |
| - | - | means |
| - | - | cause, reason |
| we | Adv | (other) |
Depictive constructions are adjunct clauses.
| oe pohq yo kel oe rahs nex hida li duzte va. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ʔø pɔχ jɔ kɛl ʔø raʂ nɛʑ hi.da li dʊz̪.tɛ va | ||||||||||
| oe | pohq | yo | kel | oe | rahs | ne=x | hida | li | duz-te | va |
| 0 | tuber | Ind | eat | 0 | man | Def=S | when | SO | enjoy-Aor | SS |
| "While eating the tubers, the man enjoyed them." | ||||||||||
A complement clause is terminated by the subjunctive particle hi Sub and appears at the start of its matrix clause in place of a phrase modified by some (bivalent) auxiliary verb. If the subject of the matrix clause coreferences a complement clause argument, the cataphoric pronoun Cat appears in the complement clause, replacing that instance of the argument.
Resultative constructions are complement clauses.
Like other subordinate clauses, relative clauses are preposed, not embedded, and are correlative internally headed clauses (i.e. the head phrase appears within the relative clause rather than the following host clause). The determiner Rel marks the head phrase of the relative clause. The pronoun Cor appears within the host clause to mark the head phrase's role there.
A conditional sentence consists of a condition and a conclusion, which may appear in either order. The condition is formed like a non-interrogative sentence followed by the superordinate conjunction If. The conclusion is formed as a sentence (of any kind) followed by the superordinate conjunction Then.
page started: 2017.May.13 Sat
current date: 2017.May.27 Sat
content and form originated by qiihoskeh
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