Hive4 –  A Constructed Language

Hive4 Morphosyntax

Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, [IPA], -Tags-, and "Glosses".

Overview

The morphological word classes are numbers, scalar quantities, scalar verbs, non-scalar verbs, nouns, and particles.

The syntactical word classes are identifiers, specifiers, associationals, relationals, medials, quantities, determiners, predicate indicators, evidentials, and miscellaneous.

Some Definitions

The syntax of Hive4 uses a number of terms requiring definitions:

Some Definitions
Term Definition
Construction constituent replacing phrases and clauses
Modifier word or clitic appended to a construction with the result also a construction
Argument construction + case marker or the previous portion of the construction
Predicate construction + conjunction or time-when marker
Product Role suffix specifying which of a relational's roles the product set has
Implicit Role which of a specifier's roles the product set has
Identifier a form that can be used as the basis of a construction
may be a pronoun, an impersonal verb, a locational, or some other specifier
Specifier construction modifier specifying a subset of the current construction referent
the construction's initial referent is universal
Associational construction modifier specifying a superset of the current construction referent
Relational construction modifier taking arguments and producing a set related to the arguments
the product set and each argument has a semantic role
Medial construction modifier specifying a subset of the previous referent but taking an argument
the reflexive marker makes a verb a medial
Quantifier construction modifier specifying the cardinality of the construction
either scalar or computational; has both cardinal and nominal forms
"many-much/few-little", "3"
Determiner enclitic construction modifier indicating definite semantics and marking number
Noun root, stem, or form with implicit gender
the possible roles are possessum and possessor
"cat", "mother"
Verb root, stem, or form that may be marked for aspect
used as specifier, medial, or relational, depending on marking; multiple classes
"rain", "walk", "in", "cook", "see", "give"
Scalar verb or quantifier that may be marked for direction
also able to be modified by a scalar adverb
"hot/cold"
Direction prefix indicating whether a scalar is positive, negative, normative, or absolute
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Stems and Forms

Stem Structure

If the verb stem is not compound (i.e. there's only 1 root), the spatial or scalar root is the head root.

Verb Stem Structure
Order Name Description
1. Scalar Direction (as above)
2. Modifier Root mainly spatial or scalar if compound
3. Head Root required verb root

Noun Stem Structure
Order Name Description
1. Scalar Direction if modifier is scalar
2. Modifier Root verb or noun root
3. Head Root required noun root

The scalar quantity word "many-much/few-little" has the following structure:

Scalar Quantity Stem Structure
Order Name Description
1. Scalar Direction (as above)
2. Root required
3. Nominalizer null = cardinal

Form Structure

Verb Form Structure
Order Name Description
1. Verb Stem required
2. Polarity null = positive
3. Aspect null = stative
4. Product Role null = specifier

Noun Form Structure
Order Name Description
1. Noun Stem required
2. Polarity null = positive
3. Product Role null = specifier

I'm not sure if this is correct!

Scalar Quantity Form Structure
Order Name Description
1. Scalar Quantity Stem required
2. Polarity null = positive

Polarity

The polarity of a word is the truth-value for either the proposition denoted by the whole predicate or some attributive proposition denoted by the modifier. Negative polarity is marked by the suffix -am, -an -Not while positive polarity is unmarked.

Role-related Morphosyntax

Role Markers

Roles are marked by suffixes.

Role Suffixes
Suffix Tag Name Description
-mo -T Theme inanimate patient/locatee/possessum or theme Relational
-or -R Recipient animate patient/locatee/possessum or recipient
-in -D Donor animate donor, agent, or actor
-la' -I Instrument inanimate instrument
-kei -L Location inanimate location or animate comitative or possessor
- -X Reflexive = other animate argument Medial
Specifier

Case Markers

Cases are marked by clitics following the construction:

Case Clitics
Clitic Tag Name Description
Theme inanimate patient/locatee/possessum or theme
- =Obl Recipient animate patient/locatee/possessum or recipient
Donor animate donor, agent, or actor
- =Ins Instrument inanimate instrument
- =Loc Location inanimate location or animate comitative or possessor
- =Cpr Comparand standard of comparison

Precedence for determining the role of the non-case-marked argument is

Theme > Donor > Location > Recipient

minus the product role; all other arguments are case-marked.

Non-predicate Conjunctions

These conjoin the preceding construction with what follows.

Non-predicate Conjunctions
Clitic Tag Name Description
- =Agg Aggregation union of referent sets
- =Alt Alternation selection of 1 referent set

Argument Structure Classes

Verb roots are divided into a number of classes according to their argument structures. Scalar verbs have an additional case role: comparand.

Argument Structure Classes
Label Name Implicit Role Case Roles
V_1 Impersonal ? -
V_2 Intransitive Actor Instrument
V_3 Spatial Locatee Location
V_4 Inverse Transitive Patient Agent, Instrument, Reflexive
V_5 Direct Transitive Agent Patient, Instrument, Reflexive
V_6 Ditransitive Theme Recipient, Donor, Instrument, Reflexive

Compound verb stems have additional role combinations.

Aspect and Action Types

Aspect Marking

Aspect Suffixes
Suffix Tag Name Description Applies to
.Sta Stative state or resulting state, depending on type all verbs
-te, -t- -Cul Culminative completion of a process and entry to a state
-si, -x- -Pro Prospective-progressive prospective or progressive, depending on type
-ku, -kw- -Exp Experiential indefinite relative past
-us, -us- -Eve Eventual indefinite relative future
-you, -yob- -Ctu Continuative continuation of a state or process, depending on type
-daa, -dah- -Inc Inceptive start of a process process verbs
- -Pau Pausative interuption of a process
- -Rsm Resumptive resumption of a process
- -Sem Semelfactive a single step of a process unitizable verbs

Action Types

Each verb root, stem, or form has an action type.

Action Types
Label Name Description Aspect Usage Group
.Sta -Pro -Ctu
VS_ Scalar can be scale of comparison either progressive state State
VB_ Binary other stative prospective state
VH_ Habitual multiple occasions or long-term stative progressive state Habitual
VU_ Unitizable can be divided into steps perfect progressive process Process
VC_ Culminating terminates in transition into state perfect progressive process
VE_ Event treated as single transition perfect prospective state Event

Definite and Indefinite

A definite construction may be used as the basis for a partitive or superlative construction or may be complete and followed by a case marker or predicate indicator. An indefinite construction may be continued by appending additional modifiers.

Determiners

The following clitics convert an indefinite construction into a definite one:

Determiner Clitics
Clitic Tag Name Description
- =S Definite Singular precludes partitive syntax
- =P Definite Plural also used for mass entities

Partitives and Superlatives

A partitive construction consists of a plural definite construction to which a quantifier is appended.

A superlative construction consists of a plural definite construction to which a scalar verb form is appended, usually as a specifier. A quantifier may follow the scalar verb.

Semantics

The following table shows the syntactical symbols used with the corresponding semantic symbols:

Symbols Used
Syntax Semantics Description
# start of construction
—> becomes
& intersection
^ set complement
== equivalence
<> non-equivalence
() empty set
a A argument
c C any construction
d D definite construction
e E indefinite construction
i I identifier
k case marker
n determiner
p predicate
q Q quantifier
r R relational
s S specifier
t predicate indicator

Definite and indefinite constructions have different semantics. The following table shows the resulting set or proposition for each syntactical sequence:

Syntax & Semantics
Syntax Result Notes
i —> e I -
s —> e S but see superlative
c k —> a A -
a* c r —> c e R(C, A*) -
e1 e2 —> e E1 & E2 -
e q —> e E cardinality determined
e n —> d D -
e d —> d E & D -
d q —> e ? partitive
d s n —> d ? superlative; s must be scalar
# c t —> p C <> () existence
# d e t —> p D & ^E == () definition
# d1 d2 t —> p D1 == D2 identity ... not sure if this works!
- - -

Pronouns, Associationals, and Locationals

Pronouns

Except for ???, pronouns are definite.

Pronouns
Word Tag Name Description Group
- 1 1st person singular speaker Local
- 2 2nd person singular addressee
- 2P 2nd person plural addressees
- ND Inclusive person dual speaker + addressee
- NP Inclusive person plural speaker + addressees
- 3R 3rd person animate singular - 3rd person
- 3RP 3rd person animate plural -
- 3T 3rd person inanimate singular -
- 3TP 3rd person inanimate plural -
- CQ Interrogative - Other
- - - -

Associationals

One of the associationals, =H, denotes the hive of some definite entity set. There are other associationals.

Locationals

The locationals are specifiers; they don't have any middle or relational forms.

Locationals
Word Tag Name Description
- LCon Contextual other non-anaphoric definite
- LDem Demonstrative what's pointed to
- LQ Question interrogative
- LSpk Proximal at the speaker's location
- LUni Universal all in the category

Particles

The polar question particle PQ indicates that a main construction is a polar question. It appears immediately before the predicate indicator.

Predicate Indicators

Predicate Indicators
Word Tag Name Description Group
- Now Absolute Present - Main
- Pst Definite Past -
- Fut Definite Future -
- QPst Interrogative Past -
- QFut Interrogative Future -
- Jus Jussive -
- Cpl Complementizer - Complement
- Aft Time After host situation occurs after adjunct situation Adjunct
- Bef Time Before host situation occurs before adjunct situation
- Dur Time During host situation occurs during adjunct situation
- Tmp Time When adjunct situation occurs during host situation
- By Means -
- For Purpose -
- Rat Reason -
- If Conditional -
- Sim Simultaneous conjunction, at same time as the next construction Coordinating
- Seq Sequential conjunction, preceding the next construction in the list
- Dis Disjunct disjunction, exclusive to the other constructions in the list

Construction Chains

The coordinating conjunctions are used to make construction chains.

Evidentials

The evidential particles follow the main construction predicate indicator.

Evidentials
Word Tag Name Description
- EN Epistemic Necessity -
- EP Epistemic Possibility -
- - - -

Scalar Morphosyntax

Positive and negative scalars are relative to a norm which is appropriate to the kind of entity denoted by the preceding construction.

Scalar extension and scalar precision are adverbials that follow the scalar word but are considered to be part of the same syntactical unit. When scalar extension and/or scalar precision is present, the scalar's polarity applies to the adverbial, e.g. "not very hot".

Scalar Direction

Scalar Direction Prefixes
Prefix Tag Name Description
Absolute a computational value must also be given
xu- EQ- Normative the scalar value is the norm for that kind of entity
ba- GT- Positive the scalar value is greater than the norm....
ni- LT- Negative the scalar value is less than the norm....

Scalar Extensions

The maximal and interrogative extensions are not used with scalar precision.

Scalar Extensions
Word Tag Name Description Applies to Glosses
- SQ Interrogative asks what the value is absolute "how"
- Sat Satisfactive the value is sufficient for some particular effect non-absolute "enough", "so"
- Max Maximal highest/lowest value for the kind of entity positive/negative "as X as possible"

Scalar Precision

The unmarked precision is medium. Scalar precision can also be a computational value specified by a numeric expression. This consists of a unit word followed by a cardinal number.

Scalar Precision
Word Tag Name Description Glosses
- TP Tight the scalar norm is narrowly defined "slightly", "precisely", "by a little"
- LP Loose the scalar norm is widely defined "very", "roughly", "by a lot"

Explicit Comparisons

An explicit comparison is made when a standard of comparison (case-marked as comparand) appears. The subject of comparison is the set of entities denoted by the construction preceding the scalar modifier, which specifies the scale and direction of comparison and may be followed by the precision of comparison. Note that there can be no scalar extension here.

page started: 2019.Jan.21 Mon
current date: 2019.Jan.25 Fri
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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