Béu : Chapter 7: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:07, 15 February 2013

-ho or hò : pilana noka ... (the ninth pilana)

"in the company of", often used with the personal pronouns ;-

with me	paho	with us	yuaho
		with us	wiaho
with you	giho	with you (plural)	jeho
with him, with her	oho	with them	nuho
with it	ʃiho	with them	ʃiho

-tu or tù pilana niapa ... (the tenth pilana)

The instrumental is used for nouns that represent the instrument ("with"), the means ("by"), the agent ("by"), the reason, or the time of an event.

Rāma writes with a pen

baru = to learn, baru.tu = by learning ... without learning ??? ... maybe, maybe

book was written patu = The book was written by me

hand.tu = manually

I work as a translator ??? ... I work sai translator ??

tù ta ...

tùa = to use, to wear ... tài a SVC meaning ?? .... then bai

-wo or wó : pilana nuata ... (the eleventh pilana)

As well as marking the topic, wo is also used for marking the "theme" ? as in such sentences as the one below.

gala caturi jonowo => The women were talking about John

Needless to say that the element jonowo can not be fronted, well not unless you want to make John the topic.

nambowo = about the house, concerning the house, with respect to the house

-n or nà : pilana najau ... (the twelfth pilana)

Note ... We can have genitives and we can have "genitive phrases". A genitive phrase has no suffix, but the particle nà must be placed immediately in front of it.

The son of the king => sonda blicon

The son of the old king => sonda nà blico gáu

A genitive or a genitive phrase can be considered an adjective. Ownership is also shown by the genitive, however note that when the head is a multi-syllable word and the owner is a stand alone pronoun, then ownership is shown by an infix in the actual head (see "Possessive Infixes").

Sticking -n on the end of a noun, is equivalent to sticking the particle "of" in front of a word in English. For example;-

fanfa = horse

sonda = son

blico = king

fanfa sondan = the horse of the son

sonda blicon = the son of the king

However the suffixed form can only be used if the genitive is a single word. Otherwise the particle na must be placed in front of the words that qualify. For example ;-

We can not say *fanfa sondan blicon. The head of the NP is fanfa and it is being qualified by two words. So we have to say;-

fanfa nà sonda blicon

However it is not allowed to use nà if a suffix can be used.

So we can not say *kyolo nà kaunu (coat collar) but must say kyolo kaunun

We can not say *kaunu na jene (Jane's coat) but must say kaunu jenen

However if any of these nouns is qualified by an adjective, then -n can not be suffixed. For example ;-

fanfa nà sonda jini blicon = "the horse of the king's clever son

fanfa nà sonda nà blico somua = "the horse of the fat king's son"

This is a special construction that relates pronouns to the geladi. For example ;-

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

wori polo timpana = He saw paul hitting

wori pà timpana ò = He saw me hitting her

wori jene sana timpi = He saw Jenny being hit

wori polo timpana jene = He saw Paul hitting Jenny

wori pás timpa jene = He saw me hitting Jenny.

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

-ji or jí : pilana najauja ... (the thirteenth pilana)

the benefactor (for) of an event. The dative form of a verb infinitive (which acts like a noun) indicates purpose.

baru = to learn, baruji = in order to learn

So we have -ji appended to single word NP's.

..... Participles

There are three participles in béu. They are known as plova in the béu linguistic tradition.

A participle is an adjective that has been derived from a verb.

Taking kludau (to write) to demonstrate these participles.

1) kludana is an adjective meaning "habitually writing"

glabu kludana = the writing person ... and following the strong tendency for adjectives to get used as nouns in béu ... kludana => author

2) kludi is an adjective meaning "written"

toili kludi = the written book ... and following the strong tendency for adjectives to get used as nouns in béu ... kludi => a thing that is written => a note

3) kludu is an adjective meaning "that must be written"

toili kludu = "the book that must be written" or "the book that should be written" ... and following the strong tendency for adjectives to get used as nouns in béu ... kludu => that which must be written => a (school) assignment

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.

5) wantara tà (gís) timporu òs => I want you to hit her ... But why would we use this ... why is 4) not good enough. ...want = wish ...OK if you have tà it means that your want is actually a wish.

HOW DOES THIS FIT IN WITH THE -ME AND THE -MI FORMS ??

I should mention sá tà ...

Note that in 2) and 4), gì would only be used if emphasis was wanted on "you".

A discussion of English participles

Now English has two participles. One, called the present participle has a meaning that extends over what we express by using 1) and 4).

The other, called the passive participle, corresponds to 3).

They appear as adjectives (of course, an adjective derived from a noun is the definition of "a participle"), they do not appear as nouns as in béu, however both are used in verb phrases to extand the shades of meaning that a basic verb can have. If you are a native English speaker and are given a clause out of context it is sometimes impossible to tell if the participle is acting as an adjective or as part of a verb phrase. We should go into this a little bit ... first the "active participle" ...

1) The writing man

2) The man is writing

3) The man is writing a book

In 1) "writing" is definitely an adjective. For instance you can substitute "green" for "writing" and the sentence makes perfect sense.

As for 2) ... well could be an adjective ... it passes the green-substitution-test.

For 3) ... No not an adjective "The man is green a book" doesn't make sense. The proper analysis of 3) is that "is writing" is a verb phrase (one that has given progressive meaning to the verb "write"). Now after we have figured this out we should have another look at 2). The proper analysis of this could be that "is writing" is a verb phrase. In fact there is no way to be sure and we would have to see the context in which 2) is embedded (and even then, there would be certain situations when either analysis could be valid. I would say that it is because of these situations in which either analysis is valid that let the original adjectival meaning spread and become a verbal meaning).

... now the "passive participle" ...

1) The piano is broken

2) The piano was broken

3) The piano was broken by the monkey

In 1) "broken" is definitely an adjective. For instance you can substitute "green" for "broken" and the sentence makes perfect sense.

As for 2) ... well could be an adjective ... it passes the green-substitution-test.

For 3) ... No not an adjective "The piano was green by the monkey" doesn't make sense. The proper analysis of 3) is that "was broken" is a verb phrase (one that has given passive meaning to the verb "break"). Now after we have figured this out we should have another look at 2). The proper analysis of this could be that "was broken" is a verb phrase. In fact there is no way to be sure and we would have to see the context in which 2) is embedded (and even then, there would be certain situations^* when either analysis could be valid. I would say that it is because of these situations in which either analysis is valid that let the original adjectival meaning spread and become a verbal meaning).

^*The five-week deadlock between striking Peugeot workers and their employer was broken yesterday when the management obtained a court order to end a 10-day sit-in at one of the two factories in eastern France, Sarah Lambert writes.

I would say either analysis is valid for the above sentence.

solbe = to drink

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

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

glabu = person

moʃi = water

heŋgana = alive, living

soŋki = dead

S-form of the verb

This form is used for giving orders. With the s-form you definitely want some action to happen (and you don't expect a discussion about it).

Up until now, 7 protagonists have been expressed in every verb. With the s-form however only two protagonists can be expressed.

doikis = walk (when talking to one person)

doikes = walk (when talking to more than one person)

Very occasionally the form doikas is heard. When somebody has difficulty preforming some task the may "order" themselves to do it.

N-form of the verb

This is the subjunctive form. You change the "r" to an "n" basically. Nothing comes after the "n". So there is no tense/aspect or evidentiality expressed on this verb form. When the n-form is used in a main clause, it is gently urging some action. For example ;-

doikain = Let's walk

ME-form of the verb and the MI-form of a verb

These tenses are often called the 'conditional', that is, they express a supposition depending on a certain condition. When referring to present time the ME-form is used ; when referring to past time and the condition has no chance of now being realised the MI-form is used.

if knowame to read buyame book => If I knew how to read I would buy a book.

if knowami to read buyami book => If I had known how to read I would have bought a book.

..... KENKO

keŋko = salt ... base form ... noun

keŋkua = salty ... adjective

keŋkia = salt-free ... adjective

keŋkari = I added salt ... verb (transitive)

keŋkos = to add salt

kenkoska = to not add salt

Fix this rubbish

poma = leg

pomadu = to kick, pomari = I kicked

pomuʒi = liable to kick, fond of kicking

to play	lento	playful	lentuʒi
to rest/relax	loŋge	lazy	loŋguʒi
to lie	selne	untruthful by disposition	selnuʒi
to work	kodai	diligent	koduʒi

..... In, enter, put in

pì is a position, a position is a state, a state is an adjective (in béu anyway)

mù is a position

pìs is a verb (to enter)

mùs is a verb (to exit)

piwai is a verb (to put in)

muau is a verb (to take out)

.... -MA, and -GO

pronounced	operation	label	example
-ma	adjective => noun	"-ness" or "-ity"	boi.ma = goodness
-go	noun => adjective, plus adjective => adjective, plus verb => adjective	"ish"	gla.go = effeminate, hia.go = reddish, bla.go = quarrelsome

gèu	green	geu.ma	greenness
juga	wide	juga.ma	width
tumu	stupid	tumu.ma	stupidity
bòi	good	boi.ma	goodness
mutu	important	mutu.ma	importance

-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

Beyond the simple clause

OK we have simple clauses such as ;-

donoru = She will walk ... intransitive

(ós) timpori pà = She hit me ... transitive

But often things are more complicated. First consider the verb "want".

When the object is a noun, we have a simple clause. But what if there is another verb in there. For example "I want to go home"

Well this would use the gelada form of "go" ;-

1) wantara dono nambye => I want to walk home .... The same as in English.

But what if we have different subjects. Well we would use the subjunctive form of the verb "to walk" ;-

2) wantara (gì) donin nambye => I want you to walk home (I have to go back and change the forms of the verb ?? subjuctive used to be "s" not "n", now "s" is imperative ??))

... notice that we do not use the infinitive as in English.

What about making things more complicated and having a transitive verb.

3) wantara timpa òs => I want to hit her ... (word order important or not ??)

4) wantara (gì) timpin òs => I want you to hit her

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 geladi-form (G), in the subjunctive form (N) or in the imperative form (I), you must have these elements in the following order ;-

S G : S N ... 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 N O : I 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.

..... Getting the opposite by adding "u"

.... A prefix for adjectives

taitau = many

utaitau = few

mutu = important

umutu = unimportant

.... and a prefix for adverb

nan = for a long time

unan = not for a long time

.... and a prefix for nouns

mezna = to fight

meznana = combatant

umeznana = non-combatant

As in English, not found that often. Sometimes found in rule books.

.... but an infix for verbs

There is a reason why we do not simply prefix u to the verbs also.

kanja = to fold

kunjana = "folding" (an adjective) or "one that folds" (a noun)

ukunjana = "one that doesn't fold"

Suppose we did simply prefix u to the verb. Then "to unfold" would be ukanja, and hence ukanjana would be a noun meaning "one that unfolds". But if you look up a bit, you can see that this form (ukanjana) already has the meaning "one that doesn't fold". This would cause confusion.

kunja	to fold	kunjua	to unfold
laiba	to cover	laibua	to uncover
fuŋga	to fasten, to lock	fuŋgua	to unfasten, to unlock
benda	to assemble, to put together	bendua	to take apart, to disassemble
pauca	to stop up, to block	paucua	to unstop
sensa	to weave	sensua	to unravel
fiŋka	to put on clothes, to dress	fiŋkua	to undress
tasta	to tangle	tastua	to untangle

Note that in any other form but the geladi, the u changes to a w. For example ;-

fiŋkwori = he undressed

The time of day

dé = day

The béu day begins at sunrise. 6 o'clock in the morning is called cuaju

The time of day is counted from cuaju. 24 hours is considered one unit. 8 o'clock in the morning would be called ajai (normally just called ajai, but cúa ajai or ajai yanfa might also be heard sometimes).

6 o'clock in the morning	cuaju
8 o'clock in the morning	ajai
10 o'clock in the morning	uvai
midday	ibai
2 o'clock in the afternoon	agai
4 o'clock in the afternoon	idai
6 o'clock in the evening	ulai
8 o'clock in the evening	icai
10 o'clock at night	ezai
midnight	okai
2 o'clock in the morning	apai
4 o'clock in the morning	atai

Just for example, let us now consider the time between 4 and 6 in the afternoon.

16:00 would be idai : 16:10 would be idaijau : 16:20 would be idaivau .... all the way up to .... 17:50 which would be idaitau

Now all these names have in common the element idai, hence the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock is called idaia (the plural of idai). This is exactly the same as us calling the period from 1960 -> 1969, "the sixties".

The perion from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock in the morning is called cuajua. This is a back formation. People noticed that the two hour period after the point in time ajai was called ajaia(etc. etc.) and so felt that the two hour period after the point in time cuaju should be called cuajua. By the way, all points of time between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. MUST have an initial cuaju. For example "ten past six in the morning" would be cuaju ajau, "twenty past six" would be cuaju avau and so on.

If something happened in the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock, it would be said to have happened idaia.pi

Usually you talk about points of time rather than periods of time. If you arrange to meet somebody at 2 o'clock morning, you would meet them apaiʔe.

But we refer to periods of time occasionally. If some action continued for 20 minutes, it will have continued nàn uvau, for 2 hours : nàn ajai (nàn means "a long time")

In English we divide the day up into hours, minutes and seconds. In béu they only have the yanfa. The yanfa is equivalent to 5 seconds. We would translate "moment" as in "just a moment" as yanfa also.

The town clock

Every town has a clocktower and the clocktower has 4 faces, which are aligned with the cardinal directions. The street pattern is also so aligned : that is the four biggest streets radiate out from the clock in the cardinal directions.

Each face displaying a clock similar to the one below.

The above figure shows the time at exactly 6 in the morning. You notice that the main (hour hand) hand is pointing to the right : it starts from the horizontal. This hand sweeps out one revolution in 24 hours and it moves anti-clockwise

Notice that secondary (minute hand) starts from the vertical and sweeps out a revolution in 2 of our hours. It moves clockwise. And actually when it passes the main hand, there is a clever mechanism to stop it being hidden. It stops 3.75 minutes at one side of the main hand, and then moves directly (2 steps) to the other side of the main hand and stops there for 3.75 minutes. After that it does a step and waits 2.5 minutes, etc. etc. ... until it encounters the main hand again.

The red and the black arms do not move continuously but move in steps. The primary arm moves 3.75 degrees every 15 minutes, and the secondary arm moves 7.5 degrees every 2.5 minutes.

The clocktower is surmounted by a green conic roof (actually not really conic ... the roof slope decreases as you get nearer the bottom). Lighting from under the roof could be provided for each face. Either that or the faces could be illuminated from within at night. The faces are not exactly vertical but the top slightly overhangs the bottom.

There is never any numbering on the face.

The clock also emits sounds. Every 2 of our hours the clock makes a deep "boing" which reverberates for some time. Also from 6 in the morning to 6 at night, the clock emits a "boing" every 30 of our minutes. The first "boing" has no accompaniment. However the second "boing" is followed (well actually when the "boing" is only .67 % dissipated) by a "sharper" sound that dies down a lot quicker : "teen". The third "boing" has 2 "teen"s 0.72 seconds apart. The fourth has 3 "teen"s. The fifth one is back to the single "boing" and so it continues thru the day.

The secondary hand and the 36 diamonds should be ...

East face => white or even better, silver

North face => light blue

West face => green

South face => dark blue

(The drawing is a bit out in this respect).