Béu : Chapter 10 : Gerund Phrase

... Introducing Verb Chains

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béu has a technique that integrates two clauses even further. It is called the "verb chain".

In certain situations it is considered unnecessary to include person-tense information on an active verb. If there are a number of verb concepts that can be thought of as partaking in sort of "composite" activity, then only the initial verb gets person-tense-evidentiality information. The non-initial verbs have the final verb of their base form deleted and the vowel i added. For example ... slanje (to cook) => slanji. If the verb only has one syllable, then the final verb of their base form (the only vowel) is replaced with a schwa and the word looses its tone. For example ... flò (to eat) => flə.

Below are three verb chains ... each one having a different time structure.

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... Similtaneous Time

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John walked along the road whistling => jono doikori komwe plə wiʒi^*

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to whistle = wiza

to walk = doika

to follow = plèu

road = komwe

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We can also say ...

"John walked along the road whistling" => jonos komwe plori doiki wiʒi.

In fact there are six ways in which the three verbs can be arranged. The meaning of the sentence would be exactly the same in all six cases.

Note that "John" appears "naked" or in his "s-marked" form depending on whether the first verb is transitive or intransitive. The first verb has the full verb train ( it is "r-form" however later verbs in the chain are in their reduced form (i.e. their "i-form")

^*Actually this sentence is more likely to be expressed as jono doikori komwewo wiʒi

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... Interleaved Time

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All afternoon I was writing reports and answering the telephone => falaja ú kludari fyakas sweno nyauʒi

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afternoon = falaja

to write = kludau

report(noun) = fyakas

telephone(noun) = sweno

to answer = nyauze

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Note .... in the first example the times of the different verbs were similtaneous, in this example the times of the different verbs are randomly interleaved throughout the afternoon.

It would also be possible to render the above as falaja ú sweno nyauzari kludi fyakas ... means the same thing.

Notice that in this example we have two verb-object-pairs, (kludau, fyakas) and (sweno, nyauze). While an object must stay next to its verb, there is a tendency for it to precede the verb when it is definite and to follow it when indefinite).

[ And with a change of tense ... "All afternoon I have been writing reports and answering the telephone" => falaja ú kludar fyakas sweno nyauʒi ]

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... Sequential Time

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Yesterday John caught, cooked and ate three fish => jana jonos holdori slanji flə léu fiʒi

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yesterday = jana

to catch = holda

three = léu

fish = fiʒi

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In this example, the three verb concepts happened in a definite order, and must be expressed in that order.

A verb chain must be contained in one clause. However the verb form used in a verb chain (the i-form ... both slanji and flə are considered the i-forms of the verbs slanje and flò ... even though there is no "i" in the form flə) can be used over multiple clauses. For example ...

"Yesterday John caught three fish, then cooked then and then ate them" => jana jonos holdori léu fiʒi _ slanji _ flə .... actually, is this a good idea (i-form over multiple clauses) ???

You can continue adding "i-form" verbs indefinitely. However if the subject changes, you have to go back to an "r-form". Also if the internal time structure of the composite action was to change, then one must revert to an "r-form". jana jonos holdori léu fiʒi _ slanji _ flə is definitely three clauses because of the mandatory intonation breaks. The object of the last two clauses is the same as the object of the first clause. However this need not be the case ( I can not think of a good example at the moment ??? ).

[ Note ... Although the verb chain is the common way to express when two actions happen at the same time, another method is possible. That is to make one of the verbs into an adjective. And then by placing this directly behind another verb you get an adverb. For example ... wizari doikala = I whistled while I walked] .... ???

Note that in these three examples, that the internal time structure of the composite action (i.e. simultaneous, interleaved and sequential) are never formally stated. Rather they are known due to the listeners knowledge of the situation being described.

The internal time structure of a situation is not always clear. But if it is thought necessary to clarify it one can always fall back to conjoining clauses with conjunctions.

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... Motion Verb Chains

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Verb chains are used a lot for verbs of motion. In certain languages (for example Cantonese, verbs do the job that prepositions do in European languages. Now béu does have a set of prepositions (the pilana). So for defining exactly what non-core NP's are doing in a sentence (that is everything that is not S, A or O) ... in béu this task is shared about equally between prepositions and minor verbs.

The rules are the same as stated in the previous section.

Now as you would expect, there are preferred orders. The diagram below shows the order that would probably be used for a future tense situation. Also this order would be preferred if someone was narrating a story and wanted to keep everything in sequence. For example ...

jene corua doiki pofe jwə london də => "Jane intends to walk through the forest to London" (from here)

jene cori doiki pofe jwə london də => "Jane walked through the forest to London" (from here)

However in other situations*, the actual sequence of individual events might be deemed less relevant, and there might be a tendancy to place the most important/surprising** event to the left. (No example)

kulua is leftmost, if present.

*For a verb chain that was ongoing. There would be a tendency for the first verb of unrealised part of the verb chain to take be in its base form with an n affix (perhaps preceded by gò). For example ...

jene core doiki gò pofe jwèn london də => "Jane has left on foot, she was intending to go through the forest and then on to London" ... [ there are actually two verb chains in this sentence ]

**This basically means that the elements most commonly used in verb chains appear towards the right (such as jò and té) and less common elements are towards the left ... types of locomotion would qualify here (actually doika is quite a common element, but maybe because it is deemed to be the same class as pyà, liwai, etc., it tends to be expressed quite early)

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All the "Directional" verbs, "Types of locomotion" verbs and the "Haste" verb are intransitive.

All the "Relative motion" verbs are transitive (it sometimes looks like cùa "depart" and nyáu "return" are intransitive, they are actually transitive but the object ... has been dropped as it is obvious ... often "here").

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The subject takes its ergative form or its naked form, depending on whether the first verb of the chain is transitive or intransitive. For example ...

ós byor (gò) kuluan nambo tə = He must hurry home .............................. ós as byó is transitive

ò kulor nambo tə = He hurries home ........................................................ ò as kulua is intransitive

ós london corua nambo tə = He will leave London and come home ......... ós as cùa is transitive

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Now, just as in a non verb chain clause (i.e. if a noun appears to the left of the verb it is definite, if it appears to the right of the verb, it is indefinite), if a motion reference object is to the left of a relative motions verb it is definite, if it is to the right of a relative motions verb it is indefinite. This is demonstrated below ...

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nambo féu tə	to come out of the house	féu nambo tə	to come out of a house
nambo pòi jə	to go into the house	pòi nambo jə	to go into a house
nambo féu jə	to go out of the house	féu nambo jə	to go out of a house
nambo pòi tə	to come into the house	pòi nambo tə	to come into a house

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The directionals

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Often jə or tə / bə or kə are tagged on at the end of a motion clause. Like a sort of afterthought. They give the utterance a bit more clarity ... a bit more resolution. For example ...

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.............................. jaŋkori tə = "he ran towards us"

Note ... in the script the schwa is simply left out, so if you see a consonant standing by itself, you know that you have part of a verb chain.

If two directionals were to be used, jə or tə would follow bə or kə.

Obviously these 4 verbs often occur independently. In which case they are in their r-form.

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this section is nothing to do with verb chains, just a bit to do with the usage of té and jò----

té is always intransitive. jò can be transitive or intransitive. For example ...

I am going to London => (pás) jar london ... however if the destination is not immediately after the verb í london (pás) jar

"I am going" or "I will go" => (pà) jaru

By the way ... if you go to meet somebody, jò and twá form a verb chain. For example ...

jò twə jono => to go and meet John

ojo twə jene => go and meet Jane (notice the irregular imperative)

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^* In contradistinction, when a origin comes immediately after the verb dwé "to come" the pilana -fi is never dropped.

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HERE---------->---------LONDON

jó london = to go to London

jonos jor london = John is going to London

jonos jori cə london = John arrived in London (having travelled from here) ???

jono jori gò cùan london

HERE----------<---------LONDON

tè londonfi = to come from London

jono tor londonfi = John comes from London ....... ( in this case, it could be 20 years since John was last in London )

jono tori cə london = John comes from London ... ( in this case, John hs just arrived from London ) ..

.. When in verb chains, these 2 verbs tend to be the auxiliary verb. They are used where "up" and "down" are used in English.

bía = to ascend

kàu = to descend

CLIMB ʔupai kə = to climb down a tree

ʔupai CLIMB kə = to climb down the tree

CLIMB ʔupai bə = to climb up a tree

THROW toili kə = to throw down a book ???

These are also often inserted in verb chains to give extra information. The usually precede "come" and "go" when "come" and "go" are auxiliary verbs in the chain.

jò kə pə nambo = to go down into the house

jaŋkor kə pə nambo jə = he runs down into the house (away from us)

jaŋkor pə nambo kə tə = he runs down into the house (towards us)

The two above sentences could describe the exact same event. However there is some slight connotation in the latter that the descending happened at the same time as the entering (i.e. the entrance of the house was sloping ... somewhat unusual)

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He is lowering John down the cliff-face to the ledge => ós gora jono cliff gìa ledgeye ??

I dragged the dog along the road ??

joske pòi nambo = let's not let him go into the house ... there are 2 verbs in this chain ... jòi and pòi

jaŋkora bwá nambo dwía = he is running out the house (towards us) ... there are 3 verbs in this chain ... jaŋka, bwá and dwé

doikaya gàu pòi nambo jìa = Walk (command) down into the house (we are in the house) ... there are 4 verbs in this chain ... doika, gàu, pòi and jòi

Extensive use is made of serial verb constructions (SVC's). You can spot a SVC when you have a verb immediately followed (i.e. no pause and no particle) by another verb. Usually a SVC has two verbs but occasionally you will come across one with three verbs.

^*Well maybe not always. For example jompa gàu means "rub down" or "erode". Now this can be a transitive verb or an intransitive verb. For example ...

1) The river erodes the stone

2) The stone erodes

With the transitive situation, the "river" is in no way going down, it is the stone. Cases where one of the verbs in a verb chain can have a different subject are limited to verbs such as erode (at least I think that now ??). Also the verbal noun for jompa gàu is not formed in the usual way for word building. Erosion = gaujompa

gaujompa or gajompa a verb in its own right ... I suppose that this would happen given time ??

I work as a translator ??? ... I work sàu translator ??

"want" ... "intend" ... etc. etc. are never part of verb chains ??

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............... across & along & through

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When in verb chains, these 3 verbs tend to be the main verb.

kwèu = to cross, to go/come over

plèu = to follow, to go/come along

cwá = to go/come through

komwe kwèu = to cross the road

komwe kwèu doika = to walk across the road

kwèu komwe doiki = to walk across a road

kwèu komwe doiki tə = to walk across a road (towards the speaker)

plèw and cwá follow the same pattern

Note ... some postpositions

komwe kwai = across the road = across a road

pintu cwai = through the door = along a road

Above are 2 postpositions ... derived from the participles kwewai and cwawai

komwe plewai = along the road

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.............. here and there

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awata = to wonder

jaŋka awata = to run around

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............. bring and take

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kli.o = a knife

kli.o ʔáu jə = to take the knife away

kli.o ʔáu tə = to bring the knife

ʔáu kli.o jə = to take a knife away

kli.o uʔau jə nə jono = take the knife and go give to John

kli.o uʔau tə nə jono = bring the knife and give to John

If however the knife was already in the 2nd person's hand, you would say ...

ute nə jono kli.o = come and give john the knife ... or ...

ute nə kli.o jonon = come and give the knife to john

Note ... the rules governing the 3 participants in a "giving", are exactly the same as English. Even to the fact that if you drop the participant you must include jowe which means away. For example ...

nari klogau tí jowe = I gave my shoes away.

Note ... In arithmetic ʔaujoi mean "to subtract" or "subtraction" : ledo means "to add" or "addition".

Note ... when somebody gives something "to themselves", tiye = must always be used, no matter its position.

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The motion termini

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día = arrive / reach

cùa leave / depart

The question about these is "how do they differ from -n and -fi ?"

The answer is that -n and -fi can sometimes mean "towards" and "away from".

día and cùa always mean "until" / "up to" / "all the way to" and "all the way from"

Also note that -n and -fi have a slightly more abstract usage ... for example -n indicated the dative for náu (to give) or bwinau (to show) etc. etc.

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... Other Verb Chains

....... for and against

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HELP = to help, assist, support

gompa = to hinder, to be against, to oppose

FIGHT = to fight

FIGHT jonotu = to fight with john ......... john is present and fighting

FIGHT HELP jono = to fight for John ... john is present but maybe not fighting

FIGHT jonoji = to fight for John ...........probably john not fighting and not present

FIGHT gompa jono = to fight against John

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.......... to change

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lái = to change

kwèu = to turn

lái sàu = to change into, to become

kwèu sàu = to turn into

The above 2 mean exactly the same

Note ...

paintori pintu nelau = he has painted a blue door

paintori pintu ʃìa nelau = he has painted a door blue

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??? How does this mesh in with clauses starting with "want", "intend", "plan" etc. etc. ... SEE THAT BOOK BY DIXON ??

??? How does this mesh in with the concepts ...

"start", "stop", "to bodge", "to no affect", "scatter", "hurry", "to do accidentally" etc.etc. ... SEE THAT BOOK ON DYIRBAL BY DIXON

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... IA and UA

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ìa	to finish, to complete
úa	to run out, to be exhausted, to be used up

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The first one being a transitive verb and the second one an intransitive verb.

Two fundamental concepts ... needed ever since humans started doing complex tasks and since humans started storing stuff for later use.

These two, as well as appearing in their "r-form" also appear as sentence final particles which could be analized as the final verb of a verb chains. Their forms are slightly irregular, but yə could be imagined as the i-form that ìa would take and wə could be imagined as the i-form that úa would take. These particles always appear to the extreme right of a sentence (but left of the @ particle). In the script, they are represented as simply y and w.

I finished building the house => (pás) nambo bundari yə

She finished off the cake => CAKE humpori wə

Notice that in the first example the object is fully formed (fully appeared) hence yə. In the second example the object has fully disappeared hence wə.

In some situations, either yə or wə would be appropriate.

For example "I finished reading the book" ... here the "pages to be read" have disappeared, but the "read pages" are at a maximum.

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=> (pás) nambo bundari yə

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There does not seem to be any diachronic connection with the two affixes (ia and ua) which turn nouns into adjectives.

kloga = shoe : klogia = shod : klogua = unshod, shoeless

So it seems that any hint of semantic familiarity is just due to co-incidence.

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yə and wə would be the i-form of the verbs yái "to have" and wòi "to think" (check this one out ???) but as these never participate in verb chains, there is no confusion.

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Actually ... what would actually constitite the O argument of ìa is worth discussing.

There is always some underlying verb being referenced by ìa even though it is not expressed.

nambo ia.iri @ = have you finished the house ? ... here the underlying verb is bunda "to build"

And as another example ...

CAKE ia.iri @ = have you finished the cake ? ... actually here we have two possible underlying verbs : gàu "to make" or humpa "to eat" ... the one which is appropriate would be known from the background knowledge of the situation.

You could analyse ìa as

1) Always having a complement clause as O argument (with the maŋɡa usually dropped because it is so predictable.

2) Sometimes having a noun as O argument, and sometimes having a complement clause as O argument.

If analysis (1) is accepted, then ìa is the only verb that doesn't ... sometimes ... take a noun as its O argument.

Using R.M.W. Dixon's terminology ... ìa would be the only SECONDARY VERB* in the language of béu.

Actually in this case I think there is no benefit in analyzing ìa as (1) or (2). I know this leaves things a bit messy ... i.e. "pehaps there is only one SECONDARY VERB in béu. But one of the characteristics of natlangs is that they ARE messy. Think of ìa as my tribute to the messiness of natural languages :-)

[ As there is no benefit in analyzing an electron as either a particle alone or a wave alone. I find it a bit baffling to hear linguists arguing at length over ... say ... what is the "head" of a prepositional phrase is. "head" is just a construct to make it easy for linguists to talk about languages ... unfortunately it is part of the human psyche to believe that if you have a name for something, then that something must exist ... but I am digressing a bit here. ]

* This term is explained in "Complementation, a cross-linguistic typology" by Dixon and Aikhenvald.

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How these two particles impinge on the "perfect" aspects is worth discussing also.

The first example I used was ...

I finished building the house => (pás) nambo bundari yə

Perhaps in English it would be more usual to say "I have built the house" rather than "I finished building the house"

Now in béu ... "I have built the house" => (pás) nambo bundare ... which should we use ?

OK ... béu is a bit more "finely-grained" than most natural languages when it comes to shades of meaning on the verb.

Try not and worry about the distinction between the perfect aspect and the use of these "completive particles" too much.

But here are some pointers to get the proper shade of meaning.

1) If you want to emphasis the state of the object ... use a "completive particle".

2) If you want to emphasize the knowledge (experience) of the subject ... use the perfect aspect.

3) If you want to show "current state" of whatever ... use the perfect aspect. Especially with intransitive verbs ... (because, of course, there is no object that you can emphasize).

Some examples ...

wiske solbori wə => "he drank the whiskey up" or "he has drunk the whiskey" ... EMPHASIS => "the whiskey is finished"

solbore wiske => "he has drunk whiskey" .... EMPHASIS => "He has experienced drinking whiskey"

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... Consequence Couplets

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These have different from verb chains .... they are semantically different and have a different form.

Semantically ...

1) The second verb is a consequence of the first verb.

2) The O argument of the first verb is the S argument of the second verb .... well they would be if it was written out the long way as two connected clauses.

The form ...

1) Whereas with a verb chain, the first verb is in its r-form and subsequent verbs are in i-form, here the second verb is in r-form ... (one can never have more than two verbs in a Consequence Couplets)* 2) The first verb ends in the schwa, whether mono-syllabic or poly-syllabic.

3) Although written as two words, they must always be adjacent ... that is, no argument can come between the two verbs.

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Example .... bla, bla, bla ....

*Although a Consequence Couplets can appear in a verb chain ... EXAMPLE ???

Note ... ia and ua that we covered in the previous section are a bit strange ... semantically they are Consequence Couplets but formally they are verb chains.

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..... Beyond the pilana

(note to self ... his chapter should follow the pilana by about 2 chapters)

This chapter shows how to express things when a finer graduation is needed than can be expressed by the pilana. It also goes into how the pilana are used in greater detail.

Previously we have mentioned the first 8 pilana which are used for specifying location. Now there are two other words that are important for specifying location, namely tài and jáu (meaning , “in front of” and “behind”).

We must be careful here. In English usage “behind” can mean “at the far side of" as well as "at the backside". The same with “in front of” (but to a lesser extent). In béu, tài and jáu can only be used with objects that have a well defined “front” and “back”. Typically these objects are humans but tài and jáu can also be used with … for example “a house”. They can not be used with object which lack a front and a back. For instance they can not be used with "mountain".

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Now no pilana can be a noun in its own right. They must always appear either suffixed on to a noun or standing in front of a NP. Now béu usually likes to drop the topic. But how can we drop the topic when we need no give a location with respect to a certain noun (which is the topic).

In English, we sometimes can have "above", "below, "in front", "behind" occurring alone. Consider ...

"They were in dire straits, in front the deep blue sea, behind the murderous viking raiders"

In the above sentence "in front" and "behind" can be considered nouns.^*

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(note to self ... I haven't decided if da can be a noun in its own right ... if it can be tài dà = "in front of the place" ... with a bit of erosion this can easily become taida ... so to avert confusion datai = "the front")

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pilana 1 - 8 occur as "prepositions to a NP" or "suffixes to a N" ... tài "in front", jáu "behind" and mù "out" occur as "prepositions to a NP or N. [ NP = noun phrase : N = noun ] These structures usually are regarded as adjectives if before the verb and adverbs if after the verb.

However they can become nouns in their own right if they are suffixed to the particle dá (place). For example …

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damu	the outside	?aumu	the exterior surface(s)	?aimu	the exterior space
dapi	the inside	?aupi	the interior surface(s)	?aipi	the interior space
damau	above	?aumau	the topside	?aimau	the space above
dagoi	underneath	?augoi	the underside	?aigoi	the space underneath
datai	the front	?autai	the front side	?aitai	the space in front
dala	the surface
dajau	the back	?aujau	the backside	?aijau	the space behind
dace	this side	?auce	near face	?aice	the volume this side of
dadua	beyond	?audua	the far side	?aidua	the volume at the far side of
dabene	the right	?aubene	the RHS face	?aibene	the volume to the right of
dakomo	the left	?aukomo	the LHS face	?aikomo	the volume to the left of

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The prefix is general extended location ... it really doesn't specify a dimension. Usually the words given in the first column are sufficient. However one can be more specific by using the words in the second and third columns.

Now all the above are absolute ... which doesn't really make sense ... everything to do with location must be relative ... we use wo plus a noun to get our bearings again.

nambowo datai = tài nambo (more or less)  : nambowo ?autai = "the frontside of the house"  : nambowo ?aitai = "the area in front of the house"

(Note to self : I once thought of nambo làu datai ... but no)

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^*An alternative analysis is to consider "They were in dire straits, in front the deep blue sea, behind the murderous viking raiders" as an abbreviation for "They were in dire straits, in front of them the deep blue sea, behind them the murderous viking raiders"

Earlier we told you that a pilana positional phrase can be considered either to be an adjective or a adverb. However using the above table we can produce nominal equivalents of them.

dapi nambo (sòr) detia = the interior of the house is elegant OR inside the house in elegant

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(??? to think about further)The above can sometimes occur as ...

dapi nambowo (sòr) detia but this is unusual. It might possibly happen if the NP is complex. For example ...

dapi wò nambo jutu dè (sòr) detia (Note wò here is not defining a roll in a sentence, but a roll in a NP) .... NNNNNNNNNNNNN

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Actually "They were in dire straits, in front the deep blue sea, behind the murderous viking raiders" can be translated into béu .... EITHER using datai and dajau OR nutai and nujau.

da is an interesting particle. It never occurs as a word it its own right. But as well as appearing as a component in the table above it appears as a suffix meaning "place" or "shop".

If béu had a history, you would speculate that it once was a noun with a meaning something like "place". But it hasn't.

Note ... the word for "here" dían and "there" dèn could also have a connection.

And compare dí "this" and dè "that" ... it is all very mysterious.

jene r yubauge dan jonowo = Jane is stronger than John

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Occasionally you get them joined to -ʔau. For example … piʔau = interior surface là can also be joined to -ʔau. For example … laʔau = on it Note ... piʔai wò nambo means exactly the same as nambopi. Invariably the terser form is used.

9) -n ... ín ... The dative. Some usage example ...

He made the prisoner sing = He give sing prisonerye

I tell jane that ... i to jane tell that .... THIS IS SIMILAR TO "TO GIVE"

glá nòr flovan beggarsn = she gives food to the beggars

nauhu toili òn = give a book to her

Note ... the béu way is similar to English. For example ... toili nauhu òn = give the book to her

This is the pilana used for marking the receiver of a gift, or the receiver of some knowledge.

However the basic usage of the word is directional.

nambon = "to the house"

í wazbo nambo = "as far as the house" ... (literally "to the distance of the house")

ín amos nambo = "up to the house" ... for objects .... [ amos = limit, border ]

doikori í face báu "he has walked up to the man" ... for people

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10) -vi ... fì ... The ablative. Some usage example ...

mari laula guardfi = I was made to sing by the guard

I hear from Jane that .... Similar to English ... you can not miss out "from", even with Jane directly behind the verb

The beggars mor flovan glavi = the beggar get food from the woman

nambovi = "from the house"

fí "direction" nambo = "away from the house"

fí "limit/border" nambo = all the way from the house

fí nambomau = from the top of the house

Note ... two appended pilana are not allowed ... so *nambomauvi is not allowed

lori sàu yemevi yé prince handsome = he changed from a frog to a handsome prince

11) -tu ... tù ... The instrumental/comitative. Some usage example ...

kli.otu = John opened the can with a knife

jenetu = John went to town with Jane

Also used when something is achieved through a certain action ...

banu = to learn

banutu = by learning

Two particles are related to this pilana

tuta = because ... when because is followed by a clause

tuwo = because ... when "because" is followed by a NP.

Note ... duva = hand, arm .... duvatu = manually

Usuage ??? mountain cloud.ia = the cloudy mountain

mountain tù many rain clouds = the cloudy mountain ??? (Note tù here is not defining a roll in a sentence, but a roll in a NP) .... NNNNNNNNNNNNN

12) -ji ... jì ... The benefactive. Usually it refers to a person. However it often also occurs with an infinitive. Some usage example ...

banu = to learn

banuji = in order to learn

jari tweji ò = I have gone (in order) to meet him ... in this case it is not stated whether the "meeting" was successful or not

jari twé ò = I have gone and met him ... this is a verb chain

13) -wo ... wò ... The respective. Some usage example ...

pà halfar = I laugh LAUGH ???

pà halfar jonowo = I laugh at John

Can be used to show motion w.r.t. something .... "I lower the boy down the cliff face" ... here "down" = wò

Used for marking the "theme" as in such sentences as ...

gala catura jonowo = the women are talking about John

Also when fronted, it gives a topic of a topic/comment sentence. For example ...

jonowo ... = as for John ....

14) -n ... nà ... The locative

at

15) -s ... sá ... The ergative

só tá ........ = that Stefen turned up drunk at the interview sank his chance of getting the job

16) -lya ... alya ... The allative. Some usage example ...

xxx yyy zzz = put the cushions on the sofa

17) -lfe ... alfe ... The delative

xxx yyy zzz = the frog jumps off the lily pad

..

... Parenthesis

..

béu has two particles that indicate the start of some sort of parenthesis. In a similar way to a mathematical formula, where brackets mean that the arguments within the brackets should be evaluated first, the two béu particles indicate that the immediately following clause should be processed (by the brain) before arguments outside of the parenthesis are considered.

..

. tà ... the full clause parenthesis particle

..

This is basically the same as "that" in English, when "that" introduces a complement clause. For example ...

"He said THAT he was not feeling well"

Notice that "he was not feeling well" is complete in itself, it is a self-contained clause.

..

... the NP with the present participle core ??

..

Now the phrase jono kludala toili is a noun phrase (NP) in which the adjective phrase (AP) qualifies the noun jono

(Notice that in the clause that corresponds to the above NP, jonos kludora toili (John is writing the book), jono has the ergative suffix and the 3 words can occur in any order : with the NP, jono does not take the ergative suffix and the 3 words must occur in the order shown.)

bwí = to see

polo = Paul

timpa = to hit

jene = Jenny

bwri polo timpa = He saw paul hitting something ... (bwri polo timpala é)

bwri pà timpa ò = He saw me hitting her

bwri tà timpara ò = He saw that I had hit her

bwri jene timpawar = He saw Jenny being hit ..... (bwri jene timpwala)

Now the question is where is this special NP used. Well it is used in situations where English would use a complement clause. For example with algo meaning "to think about",^*

1) algara jono = I am thinking about John.

2) algara jono kludau toili = I am thinking about John writing a book.

Note ... According to Dixon, the standard English translation of 2) would be "I am thinking about John's writing a book" which I find quite strange even though English is my mother tongue. I have decided to call this sort of construction in béu a special kind of NP, while Dixon has called the equivalent expression in English the "-ing" type of complement clause. I think this is just a naming thing and doesn't really matter.

^*"to think (that)" is alhu in béu. alhu also translates "to believe".

..

..... Nouns and how they pervade other parts of speech

..

nambodu

Not many nouns can be used as verbs. However when an action is associated to a certain noun, usually, with no change of form, it can be used as a verb. For example kwofas means bicycle and you get kwofasari tunheun meaning "I bicycled to the civic centre". For the infinitive, du must be affixed to the basic form.

The meaning given to the verb nambo is arrived at through metaphor, it is not so straight forward as the bicycle example.

The use of all tools can be expressed in a similar manner to lotova.

nambon

---

Sometimes in English a bare noun can be used to qualify another noun (i.e. it can act as an adjective). For example in the phrase "history teacher", "history" has the roll usually performed by an adjective ... for example, "the sadistic teacher". This can never happen in béu, the noun must undergo some sort of change. The most common change for nambo is it to change into its genitive form nambon as in pintu nambon "the door of the house". Other changes that can occur are the affixation of -go or -ka. These are used with certain nouns more than others. They are not used that much with the noun nambo so I haven't included them in the chart above. You could use the forms nambogo or namboka if you wanted tho' (they would mean "house-like"). Maybe you would use one of these terms in a joke ... it would stike the listener as slightly odd however.

nambwan

---

The form changes that produce nambia, nambua, nambuma, nambita, *nambija are *nambeba affected by deleting the final vowel (or diphthong) and then adding the relevant affix. However with this change of form this is not always possible to delete the final vowel (example). In this example it is possible. In fact it is possible if the final consonant of the base word is j, b, g, d,c, s, k, t, l or m.

By the way nambwan means domestic or domesticated. Nearly always when you come across the word it is referring to animals.

Other derivations that are not possible with nambo

---

I have already mentioned nambogo and namboka which while possible, are not at all common. Also I will mention three other derivations that are quite common however can not occur with nambo.

2) -eba is an affix that produces a word meaning "a set of something" where the base word is considered as a central/typical member of that set. For example;-

baiʔo = spoon

baiʔeba = cutlery

= chair

= furniture

nambeba could represent a set comprising (houses, huts, skyscrapers, apartment buildings, government buildings etc etc.), however this is already covered by bundo (derived from the verb bunda "to build").

báu

---

..... Number of categories

So now we can say, béu has ...

1 wepua

2 mazeba .......................... and 2 demonstratives

3 plova ......... participles ........ ʔinʔanandau or whatever words

4 teŋko ........ evidentials ........ relativizers or ʔasemo-marker

5 seŋgeba ..... modals ..... and 5 specifyana

6 ʔanandau ... question words

7 cenʔo ......... subject marked on the verb

9 ??? .............. personal pronouns

12 pilana (noun cases),

15 "specified"

16 gwoma (tense/aspect verbal affixes).

best to have 10 ??? conjunctions ???

---

The complement clause construction ???

wí = to see polo = Paul timpa = to hit jene = Jenny

wori polo timpa andai = He saw paul hitting something

wori pá timpana ó = He saw me hitting her

wori jene bwò timpa = He saw Jenny being hit

wori polo timpa jene = He saw Paul hitting Jenny

wori pà timpa jene = He saw me hitting Jenny.

In the above constructions the word order must be as shown above.

..... TO BE SORTED

..

The three types of Verb

..

Some concepts are naturally intransitive. Like "to shave". Well at least in béu it is very unusual to shave another.

Some concepts are naturally transitive. Like "to hit". It is worth remarking on when somebody hits themselves.

And there are also some concepts that appear in both manifestations. For example ... "turn", "spread", "rise/raise"

These three types of concept are represented in beu by three different types of verb.

V1) té = to come ... this is a intransitive verb

(Always accompanied by a naked noun)

V2) timpa = to hit ... this is a transitive verb

(Always accompanied by an s-marked noun and a^* naked noun)

^*Although sometimes the naked noun can be dropped for lack of interest. For example ...

jenes solbori = Jane drank (something)

V3) kwèu = to turn

Now this sometimes behaves like V1 and sometimes like V2.

..

A .. V1 Derivations

..

There are 5 deriuvation processes shown below ...

First from doika => doikaya This involves infixing ay before the final vowel.

Secondly from doika => doikana and doikaya => doikayana.

This involves deleting the final vowel and adding ana.

Thirdly from doika => doikala and doikaya => doikayala.

This involves deleting the second part of the final vowel if it is a diphthong, and then adding la.

Fourthly from doikaya => doikaiwai.

This involves deleting the final vowel and y and adding iwai.

Fifthly from doikaya => doikaiwau.

This involves deleting the final vowel and y and adding iwau.

..

	doskaniasi		doskanuas
	"that which has been made to walk" (N)		"that which must be made to walk" (N)
??	<============	doskan	============>	doskanla
"the melter" (N)		"to melt" ... 2P		"melting" ... 2P (A)
		^
		|
		|
doikana	<============	doska	============>	doskala
"walker" (N)		"to melt" ... 2P		"melting" (A)

Note that we have 8 word forms in total.

..

B .. V2 Derivations

..

There are 5 deriuvation processes shown below ...

First from kludau => kludawau This involves infixing aw before the final vowel.

Secondly from kludau => kludana and kludawau => kludawana.

This involves deleting the final vowel and adding ana.

Thirdly from kludau => kludala and kludawau => kludawala.

This involves deleting the second part of the final vowel if it is a diphthong, and then adding la.

Fourthly from kludau => kludwai.

This involves deleting the final vowel and adding wai.

Fifthly from kludau => kludwau.

This involves deleting the final vowel and adding wau.

..

kludawana	<============	kludawau	============>	kludawala
"computer memory" (N)		"to be written" (V2)		"being written" (A)
		^
		|
		|
kludana	<============	kludau	============>	kludala
"writer" (N)		"to write" (V1)		"writing" (A)
	kludwai		kludwau
	"written" (A/N)		"which must be written" (A/N)

..

kludwai is the passive past participle, and kludwau is the passive future participle.

..

Note that we have 8 word forms in total.

..

C .. V3 Derivations

..

haikana	<============	haika	============>	haikala
"breaker" (N)		"to break" (V3a)		"breaking" (A)
	haikwai		haikwau
	"broken" (A/N)		"that which must be broken" (A/N)

..

Note ... haikwai could very well have broken by itself. There is no connotation that an outside agent was responsible. The same with haikwau.

..

heukana	<============	heuka	============>	heukala
"breaker" (N)		"to break" (V3b)		"breaking" (A)

..

There are 4 derivational processes involved with V3a and 2 derivational processes involved with V3b. They have been already been explained in the sections on V1 and V2.

Note that we have 8 word forms in total.

kó = to see

kowa = to be seen

The subject of the active clause, can be included in the passive clause as an afterthought if required. hí is a normal noun meaning "source". However it also acts as a particle (prefix) which introduces the agent in a passive clause.

poʔau = to cook

..

When the final consonant is w y h or ʔ the passive is formed by suffixing -wa

In monosyllabic words, it is formed by suffixing -wa.

Note ... when wa is added to a word ending in au or eu, the final u is deleted.

Also note ... these operations can make consonant clusters which are not allowed in the base words. For example, in a root word -mpw- would not be allowed ( Chapter 1, Consonant clusters, Word medial)

..

... Valency ... 1 => 2

..

Now all verbs that can take an ergative argument can undergo the 2=>1 transformation.

There also exists in béu a 1=>2 transformation. However this transformation can only be applied to a handful of verbs. Namely ...

ʔoime	to be happy, happyness	ʔoimora	he is happy	ʔoimye	to make happy	ʔoimyana	pleasant
heuno	to be sad/sadness	heunora	she's sad	heunyo	to make sad	heunyana	depressing
taudu	to be annoyed	taudora	he is annoyed	tauju	to annoy	taujana	annoying
swú	to be scared, fear	swora	she is afraid	swuya	to scare	swuyana	frightening, scary
canti	to be angry, anger	cantora	he is angry	canci	to make angry	cancana	really annoying
yodi	to be horny, lust	yodora	she is horny	yoji	to make horny	yojana	sexy, hot
gái	to ache, pain	gayora	he hurts	gaya	to hurt (something)	gayana	painful *
gwibe	to be ashamed/shame/shyness	gwibora	she is ashamed/shy	gwibye	to embarrass	gwibyana	embarrassing
doimoi	to be anxious, anxiety	doimora	he is anxious	doimyoi	to cause anxiety, to make anxious	doimyana	worrying
ʔica	to be jealous, jealousy	ʔicora	she is jealous	ʔicaya	to make jealous	ʔicayana	causing jealousy

ʔoimor would mean "he is happy by nature". All the above words take this sense when the "a" of the present tense is dropped.

The above words are all about internal feelings.

The third column gives a transitive infinitive (derived from the column two entry by infixing a -y- before the final vowel).

The fourth column gives an adjective of the transitive verb (derived from column three entry by affixing a -ana ... the active participle).

When the final consonant is ʔ j c w or h the causative is formed by suffixing -ya.

Also when the verb is a monosyllable, the causative is formed by suffixing -ya.

Note ... when ya is added to a word ending in ai or oi, the final i is deleted.

Note ... when y is infixed behind t and d : ty => c and dy => j

..

Normally in béu, to make a nominally intransitive verb transitive, it doesn't need the infixing of -y. All it needs is the appearance of an ergative argument. For example ...

doika = to walk

doikor = he walks

doikanor the pulp mill = he runs the pulp mill

doikandoi = management

..

^*You would describe a gallstone as gayana. However you would describe your leg as gaila (well provided you didn't have a chronic condition with your leg)

..

................... To be looked into

The words kyò "show" and fyá "tell" follow the same pattern as 1) and 2) ... at least when the object is a noun and not a complement clause.

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helga = life, helgai = alive, helgais = finite verb (i.e. the one that is alive), helkas = a clause (helkas <= helgaiskas ), swefan = a sentence

---

In béu we have live clauses and dead clause.

The head of a live clause is a verb in its declarative form.

The head of a dead clause is a verb in its declarative form.

A live clause has its main elements in any order, the S term is marked as the ergative. The A and O terms are unmarked.

A dead clause has word order VS or VAO, the O term being marked as the dative. The A and S terms are unmarked.

If the subjects (that is S or A) of two clauses are different then they can be conjoined timewise by using one of the above stand-alone particles. For example ...

1) jenes bwori jono ʔéu jonos fori nambo tí = Jane saw John as he was leaving his house.

Also ... as in English we can have the two clauses in the other order ...

2) ʔéu jonos fori nambo tí_jenes bwori ò = As John was leaving his house, Jane saw him

Notice that in this sentence, the second jono has been replaced by the pronoun ò ... in actual fact ... in 1) the chances are that jonos would be replaced by ós ... but this makes the sentence ambiguous.

John whistled as he left his house = jono wizori ʔéu ò fori nambo tí = *jono wizori ʔéu féu í nambo tí

---

Now if the subjects of two clauses are the same, one of the clauses can becomes a dead clause. Only a very short and simple clause can become a dead clause ... both ...

A) Any time,place or manner adjuncts will stop a clause collapsing to a dead clause.

B) An O argument that is longer than a single word.

When the above requirements are met ....

A) S or A is dropped completely.

B) The linker word is appended to the infinitive.

C) if there is an O it immediately follows the infinitive and has the dative marker -n affixed.

..

1) S while S ................... jono wizori ʔéu ò huzori ... (pronoun used in second clause) => jono wizori huzuaspi = John whistled while smoking

2) A/O while A/O ..... jonos timpori jene ʔéu ós huzori ʃiga ... (pronoun used in second clause) => jonos timpori jene pi huzuas ʃigan ... (must drop A, the linker must be appended to the infinitive. O must be a single word)

3) A O while S .......... jonos timpori jene ʔéu ò huzori ... (pronoun used in second clause)

=> jonos timpori jene huzuaʔeu ... (must drop S, the linker must be appended to the infinitive)

4) S while A O ........... jono huzori ʔéu ós timpori jene .... (pronoun used in second clause)

=> jono huzori timpaʔeu jenen .... (must drop A, the linker must be appended to the infinitive. O must be a single word)

John left his house whistling = Jonos fori nambo tí ʔéu wiʒia

wiʒia = to whistle

koʔia = to cough

huzua = to smoke

---

TO THINK ABOUT

---

Now we have said before that béu has free word order, however this really only applies to the verb in R-form (R) and the S argument in an intransitive clause, and the R, A and O in a transitive clause. When you have a verb in gomia-form (G), in the subjunctive form (Sub) or in the imperative form (Imp), you must have these elements in the following order ;-

S G : S Sub ... the last of these (S -S ) is quite unusual. Maybe can have S I ... but then S must be in vocative case

A G O : A Sub O : Imp O ... expand this and make it look good. Maybe can have A I O ... but then A must be in vocative case

---

In the béu linguistic tradition, a clause that has one R verb in it, or one N verb, or one I verb is called aʒiŋko baga or a simple clause. Any clause that has an R verb plus an G or N, verb is called a aʒiŋko kaza or a complex clause.

To think about ..........

Further uses of the "s" form of the verb. That is the subjunctive.

Also used in dependent clauses with the meaning ...

that xxx should yyy.

Used after "want/hope/believe ?" if the subject is different. If subject is the same then the verb is in the gomia form.

---

hear, see, think, like, remember, know, believe | use tà + full verb with FACT complements.

hear, see, like, remember | use gomia with ACTION complements (English would use "-ing")

Sometimes when English would use the "to" construction, béu would use the -u participle | remember

Some rubbish ........

gwói = to jump (involuntarily), to give a start

gwóin = to make somebody jump, to give somebody a start

doika = walk

doikan = to manage, to run ......... doikandoii = "the management" or "the managers"

poma = leg

poman = to kick, pomanari = I kicked

pomaswan = liable to kick, fond of kicking

pomonda = good to kick

klonda = worth seeing

To fix up this bit.....Of course we can make two clauses, and have the second clause one element inside the first clause. To do that you must use the particle tà. Equivalent to one of the uses of "that" in English. tà basically tells you that the following clause should be treated like a single element, like a single noun.

I should mention sá tà ...

---

solbe = to drink

heŋgo = to live (or it could mean "a life")

soŋkau = to die (or it could mean "death")

glabu = person

moze = water

moʒi = steam

heŋgola = alive, living

soŋki = dead

..... Examples of prepositions

nambopi = in the house

pi nambo jutu = in the big house

muda nambo jutu = outside the big house

ilai = between, among

ilai bàu lé glà = between the man and the woman

ilaida = no man's land, borderland, the marches

geka = without ..... mutu = important ? : tumu = stupid ?

mú = outside of

mumo = outerspace

muda = outside

muka = outside surface

pika = inside surface

---

pòi = to enter or to put in

poihu nambo = go into the house

wi.a toilia di toilicoipi = put these book in the bookcase ... wi.a toilia di toilicoin ... yeah, I like the second version

toilia di TAKE.ia poi.a nambo = take these book into the house

toilia di TAKE.ia nambo.pia jene.kye.a = take these book into the house and give to Jane

TAKE.iya toilia di nambo pireu jene kyireu = take these book into the house and give to Jane

---

méu = to exit or to take out ... I guess cat must be mèu

miwa nambo báin = come out of the house, get out of the house

.... -GO

pronounced	operation	label	example
-go	noun => adjective, plus adjective => adjective, plus verb => adjective	"ish"	gla.go = effeminate, hia.go = reddish, bla.go = quarrelsome

-go

gó = to resemble, to be like

gó dó = to be the exact image of

gla.go = effeminate, hia.go = reddish, bla.go = quarrelsome

Sometimes the -go derived words have negative connotations, as in gal.go

There is a suffix -ka (notice it is not considered a pilana), that often has a positive connotation, sometimes making a couplet with a -go derived word. For example ;-

gla.ka = womanly

kài = to appear, to seem

kò = appearance

Index

1. Introduction to Béu
2. Béu : Chapter 1 : The Sounds
3. Béu : Chapter 2 : The Noun
4. Béu : Chapter 3 : The Verb
5. Béu : Chapter 4 : Adjective
6. Béu : Chapter 5 : Questions
7. Béu : Chapter 6 : Derivations
8. Béu : Chapter 7 : Way of Life 1
9. Béu : Chapter 8 : Way of life 2
10. Béu : Chapter 9 : Word Building
11. Béu : Chapter 10 : Gerund Phrase
12. Béu : Discarded Stuff
13. A statistical explanation for the counter-factual/past-tense conflation in conditional sentences