User:Bukkia/sandboxIII

The verbal cluster

The verbal cluster is placed at the end of the sentence. Its core is the verb itself, which conveys only the meaning of the action or the state and its intrinsic qualities, like transitivity, intransivity, etc.

The verbal cluster is usually considered as composed of these elements:

Negation

-

Time

-

Verb

-

Aspect

-

Mode

-

Evidentiality

The categories negation, time, aspect, mode, and evidentiality are expressed by grammatical particles. None of these particles is absolutely necessary, and none of this is mandatorily present, except for the verb itself.

Negation is usually considered part of the verbal cluster but it will be analysed separately, because of its different behaviour in the sentence.

Use of temporal particles

Temporal particles express the time at which the action of the verb takes place. Three periods are considered, present, past and future. The perception of what exactly is present, past, or future is very subjective but it depends on how broad is considered "present".

For example, the entire period of time taken in consideration can be considered as present if the action covers the entire period of time and still ongoing.

Ul tyk rok o jy mar sty: I'm working hard this year

English usually shares the same perception of present time.

The absence of time particles, quite common, indicates that the time is the present or that the action or the state is always true or that the information about time is not considered as relevant by the speaker. Only the context can disambiguate which idea the speaker wants to transmit.

Temporal particles are placed just before the verb and after the negation particles.

Ta locates the action in the past, every moment before the present.

• Tȳn la dōm ta bim fa, they went home
• Tȳn la dōm ta bim sty, they were going home
• Tȳn la dōm ta bim ǵa, he has already gone home

Rā locates the action in the remote past, that is a past that we feel remote and far from us; it is therefore very used in history reports, tales, fairytales, and almost for every event that took place before the speaker's birth. Its use may vary from speaker to speaker, as it can be very subjective, when referring to non historical events.

• Tȳn la dōm rā bim fa, they went home (speaking about history, or in a tale)

Mo locates the action in the present; it is usually omitted, but when it is expressed, it conveys the meaning of a precise present moment, like the English adverb "right now" (which is usually translated with).

• Tȳn la dōm mo bim sty, they are going home right now

Fut locates the action in the future, every moment after the present.

• Tȳn la dōm fut bim fa, they will go home
• Tȳn la dōm fut bim sty, they will be going home

Fu ta locates the action in the future in the past, which is a moment located in the future of a past time, but still in the past for the speaker.

• Tȳn ta kāǵ fa tȳn la dōm fu ta bim fa ā, he said they would went home

Time particles are routinely omitted because their information is often considered unimportant or irrelevant. Expecially in direct speech, when the time can be easily inferred by the real context, they are less used than in the written form.

In a long text, with many sentences, the time particle is usually placed in the first main sentence and then omitted in the following one, only to be placed again if the time changes. If ambiguity arises, the time particle is added again, expecially if the text is very long and the time need to be reasserted to keep the correct time location.

Use of aspectual particles

Aspectual particles express the verbal aspect, that is how the action or the state extends over time, how it is performed over the time, for example if the action is completed or still ongoing, if it is a habitual action or it is repeated over time. Aspect is not directly related to time and differently from English and other European language, it is expressed in the past, in the present and in the future.

The absence of time particles, quite uncommon, indicates that the aspect of the verb is not considered as relevant for the information by the speaker, for example if the action is simply cited for itself, with no relevance for its real happening.

Fa conveys the idea of a completed action, with no regard for its effects or results; the speaker wants to trasmit the idea that the action or the state is completed and without any mention to possible effects on the time he is talking about. This is called perfective aspect:

ǵa: perfect, it marks a completed action which results are still affecting the moment we are talking about, (= English perfect tenses)
sty: continous, it marks an uncompleted ongoing action in the moment we are talking about (= English continuous tenses)
rē: repetitive, it marks an action which is repeated many times (= doing again, keep on doing again)
sōl: habitual, it marks an action which is routinely or habitually performed (usually, used to)
pyr: prospective, it marks an action which is about to start in the moment we are talking about (= to be about to)
maj: experiencial, it marks the fact we have have or never have had experience of the action in the moment we are talking about (ever, never)

Use of modal particles

Modal particles express verbal modality, describing a quality about the action or the state expressed by the verb. English has only two modes (or moods) and it relies on modal verbs to express the same meaning of Qihep modal particles.

The absence of any modal particles conveys the basic idea of an action or a state, the reality form, without any added information about wish, obligation, possibility, etc.

Modal particles are placed after the aspectual particles and before the evidential particles. Since it is possible for more that one modal particles to be present in a verbal cluster, they can be added in the following order.

Vol conveys an idea of will, intent, intention or the idea for a planned action

• Tȳn lāoh ta lā vol: He wanted to write a text (the subject had the intention to write the text, and it is almost sure he wrote it)
• Tȳn lāoh fut lā vol: He is going to write a text (he has the intention and has planned to write the text)

Des conveys the idea of wish, desire, crave or hope, but it doesn't give any information about intention or planning

• Tȳn lāoh fut lā des: He would like to write a text (the subject has the wishes to write the text, but we have no information if he has planned to do so)
• Tȳn lāoh ta lā des: He wished to write a text (the subject has the wishes to write the text, but it seemed unlikely that he wrote it)

Without any specific subject or with a subject that cannot feel wish, it can express a general hope for the action to get real (something like the English subjunctive with may):

• Dōb lāoh ā le fut lā fa des: May a good text be written (we hope that it will be this way)

Pos conveys an idea of ability, capability, that the subject knows how to do something, both an innate or a learnt capability.

• Tȳn nat lā pos: He cannot write (for example, because the subject is too young, and still does not know how to write)

Kra conveys an idea of a momentaneous ability, something that the subject can do in this moment, not a forever real capability.

• Tȳn nat lā kra sty: He cannot write (for example, the subject is too excited to write, too cold or too frightened, a momentaneous condition, but he knows how to write)

Ro conveys an idea of possibility, likelihood, potentiality of the action

• Tȳn lāoh fut lā ro: He may write a text (it will be possible for the subject to perform the action and likely will do it)
• Tȳn lāoh ta lā fa ro: He might have written a text (it was possible for the subject to perform the action and very likely has done it)

Da conveys an idea of allowance, permission, consent, approval

• Tȳn lāoh fut lā da: He can write a text (the subject has received permission to do it)
• Tȳn lāoh ta lā fa da: He was allowed write a text (the subject received permission to write, and very likely has done it)

Ōb conveys an idea of obligation, assigned duty or task, requirement

• Tȳn lāoh fut lā fa ōb: He has to write down a text (the subject has the obligation to write, not doing it on his own initiative)
• Tȳn lāoh ta lā ōb: He was compelled to write a text (the subject feto the obligation to write )

Nec conveys an idea of necessity, need, must

• Tȳn lāoh lā nec: He must write a text (the subject feel the need, on his own initiative, to write)
• Tȳn lāoh fut lā fa ōb: He needed to write down a text (the subject had the need to write the text, and likely has done it)

Vā conveys a causative sense, indicating that a subject causes someone or something to perform an action which was non-voluntarily (normally expressed in English by the auxiliary verbs let, make, get or have). Since a new performer of the action is introduced, the syntax of the sentence is reorganized. This will be analysed separately.

• Tȳn wa lāoh rȳs in ta lā fa vā: She made him write a text

Kōm conveys an incohative action, marking a beginning action

• Tȳn lāoh lā fa kōm: He began to write a text (the subject begin to perform the action)

Since the beginning action is inherently imperfective, aspectual particles with this modal particles refer to the aspects of the action of beginning, not the main action itself. Fōr conveys an idea of hypothesis. It usually translate the concept of if, in the case that, maybe

• Tȳn lāoh ta lā fa fōr: In the case he could have written a text (we express the hypothesis the subject would have performed the action)

Use of evidential particles

Evidential particles express the nature of the evidence for a statement, if evidence exists for the action stated or the attitude of the speaker in relation to the reported information.

The absence of any evidential particle does not imply that the speaker has actually witnessed the reported action, but only that this information is not relevant for the speech. There is however no evidential particle to express eye-witness of the action and this must be deduced by the context or lexically expressed.

Evidential particles are placed after the aspectual and modal particles and are always the last element of the verbal cluster.

Nah conveys the idea of reported action, with a stress on the fact that the information is reported by someone else, and that the speaker (and not the subject of the action) has not personally witnessed the action.

• Ńikvran sluh ta krāx fa nah: I was told that someone broke the vase (The speaker has not seen the action nor the broken vase, but someone else has told him about what happened)

Box conveys an idea of doubt about the tale. The action is reported by someone else, and the speaker (and not the subject of the action) has not eye-witnessed either the action or any evidence about it and according to him/her the action is doubtful.

• Ńikvran sluh ta krāx fa box: It seems/I was told that someone might have broken the vase (The speaker has not seen the action nor the broken vase, someone else has told him about what happened, but he express a serious doubt about the reported action)

Kap conveys an idea of deduction, since the speaker (and not the subject) has not personally seen the action, but he/she has seen some evidences about the action and he/she deduces the action from these evidences.

• Ńikvran sluh ta krāx fa kap: Someone has broken the vase (The speaker has not seen the action, but he has found and seen the broken vase, and makes his own deduction about what happened)