Béu : Chapter 8

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

nambo

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nambo meaning house is a fairly typical non-single-syllable noun and we can use it to demonstrate how béu generates other words from nouns.

nambodu

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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 lotova means bicycle and you get lotovarwi meaning "I used to ride my bicycle". 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

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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.

nambia

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This is a very common derivation. Nearly all nouns can take this transformation.

nambia is an adjective meaning "having a home". And its use as a noun is quite common as well, in which case it would probably be translater as "a home owner"

nambua

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Also a very common derivation. The opposite of nambia.

nambua means homeless or the homeless

Note that although ia and ua are exact opposites, the usage of the words produced from these affixes do not completely mirror each other. It all depends oner what the base word is.

For example, in this case, the form nambia is a bit rarer than nambia. Also nambua is used more often as an adjective than as a noun, while nambia is used more often as a noun than an adjective.

nambuma

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Many of the worlds languages have a suffix that has this roll. Called an "augmentative" in the Western linguistic tradition. Does not really come into play in English but quite common in béu. As well as some basic forms that appear regularly in their augmentative version, any noun can receive this affix. But of course it will stick out if it is not commonly used.

nambita

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The opposite of nambuma. Called an "diminutive" in the Western linguistic tradition. In béu it is often used to show that the speaker feels affection for the noun so transformed. There is no trace of the opposite for the augmentative : nobody would use the augmentative to show repulsion.

nambwan

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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

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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.

1) -ija is affixed to the names of animals and give a word meaning the young of that animal. For example;-

huvu = sheep

huvija = lamb

mèu = cat

meuja = kitten

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

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..... -uʒi and -go

Note that wan tends to be affixed to nouns while uzhi gets affixed to verbs.

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

If the verb is monosyllabic, then -go is used instead of -uʒi.

Sometimes it is hard to tell if a word is basically a verb or a noun.

For example eskua is the gomia of a verb which means "to be angry". However it is also a noun meaning "anger".

However we can say that it is basically a verb as eskuʒi "bad tempered" !!!

How do we say "angry" ???

..... 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 ???

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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.

..... The transitivity of verbs in béu

All languages have a Verb class, generally with at least several hundred members.

Leaving aside copula clauses, there are two recurrent clause types, transitive and intransitive. Verbs can be classified according to the clause type they may occur in: (a) Intransitive verbs, which may only occur in the predicate of an intransitive clause; for example, "snore" in English. (b) Transitive verbs, which may only occur in the predicate of a transitive clause; for example, "hit" in English. In some languages, all verbs are either strictly intransitive or strictly transitive. But in others there are ambitransitive (or labile) verbs, which may be used in an intransitive or in a transitive clause. These are of two varieties: (c) Ambitransitives of type S = A. An English example is "knit", as in "She_S knits" and "She_A knits socks_O". (d) Ambitransitives of type S = O. An English example is "melt", as in "The butter_S melted" and "She_A melted the butter_O".

English verbs can be divided into the four types mentioned above. béu verbs however can only be divided into two types, a) Intransitive, and b) Transitive. In this section it will be shown how the four English types of verb map into the two béu types. (Of course there is nothing special or unique about English ... other than the fact that a reader of this grammatical sketch will already be familiar with English)

Intransitive

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An intransitive verb in English => an intransitive verb in béu

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An example of an intransitive verb in English is "laugh". This is also an intransitive verb in béu. In a clause containing an intransitive verb, the only argument that you have is the S argument.

By the way ... some concepts that are adjectives in English are primarily intransitive verbs in béu, for example ;- to be angry, to be sick, to be healthy etc. etc.

Ambitransitive of type S=O

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	x) An intransitive in béu
An "ambitransitive of type S=O" =>	y) A pair of verbs, one being intransitive and one being transitive
	z) A transitive in béu

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x) "Ambitransitive verbs of type S=O" which have greater frequency in intransitive clauses, are intransitive verbs in béu.

For example ;- flompe = to trip, (ò)_S flomporta = She has tripped

y) "Ambitransitive of type S=O" verbs which are frequent in both transitive and intransitive clauses, are represented as a pair of verbs in béu, one of which is intransitive and one transitive. There are a few hundred béu verbs that come in pairs like this. One should not be thought of as derived from the other; each form should be considered equally fundamental. All the pairs have the same form, except the transitive one has an extra "l" before its final consonant.

For example hakori kusoni_S = his chair broke : (pás)_A halkari kusoni_O = I broke his chair :

z) "Ambitransitive of type S=O" verbs which have greater frequency in transitive clauses, are transitive vebs in béu.

For example ;- nava = to open, (pás)_A navaru pinto_O = I am going to open the door

Ambitransitive verbs of type S=A and Transitive verbs

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An "ambitransitive of type S=A"
or	=> A transitive in béu
A transitive verb in English

. .

I am taking transitive and ambitransitive of type (S=A) together as I consider them to be basically the same thing but tending to opposite ends of a continuum.

Consider the illustration below.

At the top (with the "objects easily guessed") are verbs that are normally designated "ambitransitive of type S=A".

At the bottom (with the "objects could be anything") are verbs that are normally designated "transitive".

.

.

Considering the top first. One can have "I_A eat apples_O" or we can have "I_S eat"

Then considering the bottom. One can have "I_A hit Jane_O" but you can not have "*I_S hit"

Moving up from the bottom. One can imagine a situation, for example when showing a horse to somebody for the first time when you would say "She_S kicks". While this is possible to say this, it is hardly common.

As we go from the top to the bottom of the continuum;-

a) The semantic area to which the object (or potential object if you will) gets bigger and bigger.

b) At the bottom end the object becomes is more unpedictable and hence more pertinent.

c) As a consequence of a) and b), the object is more likely to be human as you go down the continuum.

béu considers it good style to drop as many arguments as possible. In béu all the verbs along this continuum are considered transitive. Quite often one or both arguments are dropped, but of course are known through context. If the O argument is dropped it could be known because it was the previously declared topic (however more often the A argument is the topic tho', and hence dropped, represented by swe tho' as its case marking can not be dropped), it could be because the verb is from the top end of the continuum and the action is the important thing and the O argument or arguments just not important, or the dropped argument could be interpreted as "something" or "somebody", or it could be a definite thing that can be identified by the discouse that the clause is buried in.

..... Want

Maybe I should forget about the subjunctive (ends in xn, before ended in xs, maybe should end in xk) and do things another way ??

If then the

1) wár bái nambo => I want to go home ............. bái is infinitive ............ bái and nambo can not be separated

2) wár bís nambo => I want you to go home ... bís is subjunctive ........ bís and nambo can not be separated

3) wár timpis ò => I want you to hit her/him ... timpis is subjunctive ... timpis and ò can not be separated

I wish that you had hit her/him => wár tà (gìs) timpir ò  ???

I wish that you would hit him => ???

So in the above ... the construction as in 1) is used when the person doing the wanting, is also the subject (A or O) of the action required and the second action sort of "follows on" from the "wanting".

The construction as in 2) and 3) is used when the person doing the wanting is different from the subject (A or O) of the action required. The second action again sort of "following on" from the "wanting".

The construction as in 4) is used when the person doing the wanting is different from the subject (A or O) of the action required AND the second action DOES NOT "following on" from the "wanting".

TO THINK ABOUT

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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

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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.

..... Start, Stop, Try

In béu, three secondary verbs (in English) are expressed by a copula plus a pilana. They are ...

to start drinking => láu solbelke

to stop drinking => láu solbelfe

to try drinking => sàu solbewo

And just to demonstrate that the above doesn't necessary lead to confusion ...

He talks about drinking => cator solbewo

We talk about trying to drink => catair wo sàu solbewo

So in fact the gomia take 8 of the 12 pilana ... ji ge n ho la lfe lkx wo

The ergative s also occurs but only in its prepositional form sá

..... -am- as a none-productive infix

klói = to see

klamoi = to show

tàu = to know

tamau = to tell

bái = to go, to move

bamai = to drive

kàu = to come

kamau = to summon

fyu = to fly

fyamu = to throw

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

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

doika = walk

damoika = to manage, to run ......... damoikanai = "the management" or "the managers"

..... 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.

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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

poma = leg

pomas = to kick, pomari = 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 ...

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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

move these somewhere else

ilai = between

geka = without

mú = outside of

muka = outside

pika = inside

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pòi = to enter or to put in

poi.a 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

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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

..... Opposite meaning, same word class

The prefix for adjectives is "u"

taitau = many

utaitau = few

mutu = important

umutu = unimportant

The prefix for adverb is "u"

nan = for a long time

unan = not for a long time

The prefix for nouns is "u"

mezna = to fight

meznana = combatant

umeznana = non-combatant

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

However the prefix for verbs is "ku"

kunja	to fold	kukunja	to unfold
laiba	to cover	kulaiba	to uncover
fuŋga	to fasten, to lock	kufuŋga	to unfasten, to unlock
benda	to assemble, to put together	kubenda	to take apart, to disassemble
pauca	to stop up, to block	kupauca	to unstop
sensa	to weave	kusensa	to unravel
fiŋka	to put on clothes, to dress	kufiŋka	to undress
tasta	to tangle	kutasta	to untangle

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Note ... if they verbal prefix was simply u, then the same word would mean both "non-folding" and "unfolding"

kunja = to fold

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

kukunjana = "unfolding" or the "unfolder"

ukunjana = "non-folding" or "one that doesn't fold"

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... Names of religions

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klisti = chistianity ... klistime = a christian (but not necessarily a churchgoer ... a believer) ... klistiki = a minister, a priest ... klistida = christendom (archaic term)

muzlu = islam ... muzlume = a muslim

buda = buddhism ... budame = a buddhist

yuda = judism ... yudame = a jew ... yudaki = a rabbi

sai.entolo = scientology ... sai.entolome = a scientologist

Note .... None of the above take the gan suffix in the manner béu does.

Note ... The ideas conveyed by béu and béugan overlap to a great extent. Maybe beugan is first used when first introducing the concept into a conversation, but after that just béu is considered sufficient. Also as a noun qualifier, béu is the form normally used.

Note ... béu can takes the place in a persons life normally taken by a religion, however following the way of béu does not bar one from following another religion. Just as being a Buddhist doesn't necessary force one to reject the Hindu gods.

Note ... béu is one of the few words that takes both the ki suffix and the me suffix.. Usually a noun would only be augmented with one of them. For example ...

pulis = the police ... puliski = a policeman (or policewoman) ... ʔazwo = milk ... ʔazwome = a milkman

It is thought that policemen co-ordinate their activities together and hence are given the -ki suffix.

It is thought that the milkmen don't o-ordinate their activities and hence are given the -me suffix.

Of course you might come across a situation where the police fail to co-ordinate their activities and a group of milkmen co-ordinate their activities brilliantly ... nevertheless ... puliski = policemn and ʔazwome = milkman.

Note ... beuda would be a contiguous area under béu political control ... similar to Christendom ... probably will never happen

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The parish hall

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Below is shown the plan of the parish hall. This is the administrative centre of the parish and the place where the banner-rows point to.

The parish hall is referred to as kas.heu. This refers to the hexagonal main building and the ancillary buildings and the adjoining grounds. If you want to refer to the main building alone you say elaʔa (the hexagon).

The red shape at the top of the plan is the water-fountain. It must have a red tiled roof. It is to provide clean drinking water to passers by and also a sheltered place to rest. It can take a variety of forms. Some are made very fancy and have a small "hanging garden" along their centre surrounded with pools filled with beautiful fish. There must be fresh water flowing, either continuous or on demand. Also there must be seating. There is also a small banner-row of 3 banners ... in line with the "water-hut" and on the side away from the elaʔa.

There is often a tree lined avenue leading up to the front entrance of the kas.heu. In hot countries the trees are usually some sort of shade tree. In colder countries, trees with a well defined, uniform shape are favoured ... poplars ?? The two rows of trees diverge from each other as the road passes the row of three banners. They open up to encompass the "poster-huts" but don't extend beyond them.

Usually 2 or 3 other types of tree are planted around the elaʔa (maybe 5 or 6 trees in all). This makes every kas.heu unique.

The whole complex provides the following services ...

1) A clocktower

2) Public toilets

3) A post office

4) A library

5) Archives for public records

6) A place for the parish council to meet

7) Offices for the parish council members

The black part of the elaʔa is the main entrance.

You will notice to "huts" with half their roof red and half black. These are the "poster huts". These are sheltered billboards for posting important information. The red side is for official notices (that is for what the parish officers or the central government think should be posted). On the black side the general public can post whatever it wants. New notices are posted on the small "poster hut". After 9 days they are transferred to the larger "poster huts". In béu the adjective "red" can be used to refer to something pertaining to the government, and the adjective "black" to refer to something non-government.

The orange part of the elaʔa is a stage, or actually the roof over the stage. And the area in front of this stage is a fairly large green where people gather to see the various shows that are put on. There are various conserts put on by the parish members at regular times every year. Also occasionally you get wondering groups of "players" who put on a show.

Above is how the kas.heu looks from street level (the "hut" to the left is the "water hut").

The entrance has about 1.3 m of steps to climb. There are three arches at every entrance. The central one being slightly higher than the other two.

(I have probably drawn the building too high in the street level view). Usually tall stain glass windows on 4 sides of the elaʔa. There is always at least 2 storeys within the main part of the building, sometimes more. Also usually there is a separate storey in the roof (the triangular shapes seen on the plan view, are actually windows in the roof to provide light to this storey. These windows look onto the central courtyard.)

The centre of the hexagon has a pleasing garden. In the very centre is the base of the "clock tower".

The 2 kidney shaped building are public toilets. The one on the right for the use of men, the one on the left for the use of women.

Tables and chair for setting out for the various concerts are also kept in these buildings. These toilets are kept meticulously clean. In fact every parishioner must do a certain amount of duty at the toilets every year ... keeping them clean. No fit adult is exempt from this duty.

There is a single banner just outside each of these buildings ... on the opposite side from the stage.

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There are similar roof-colouring rules for other government buildings. Namely the schools have are gray-roofed and the hospitals are dark blue-roofed.

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Just as every child (person that has not yet mastered the laws) has his "enjoyment day" (i.e. his birthday) so every parish has its enjoyment day. Every parish has a different enjoyment day and people frequently visit neighbouring parishes to experience the neighbouring parishes enjoyment day. In the enjoyment day there is a parade and people from different organisations and neighbourhood enter "troops" into this parade. Everybody in a troop is flamboyantly and colourfully dressed. Also the pull bizarrely decorated wagons. Usually each troop picks a different theme every year so the dresses and the moves they perform reflect this theme. A prize is usually given to what is judged the best troop, but most people do not take that too seriously. They are just out to enjoy themselves.

At night there is tasty and abundant food available from tents that have been put up on the village green. The food is provided free of charge by the parish.

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..... Arithmetic, Algebra & Calculus

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nogau = arithmetic

One further point of note ...

If you wanted to express a number represented by digits 2->4 from the LHS of the monster, you would say auvaidaula nàin .... the same way as we have in the Western European tradition. However if you wanted to express a number represented digits 6 ->8 from the RHS of the monster, you would say yanfa elaibau .... not the way we do it. This is like saying "milli 630 volts" instead of "630 microvolts".

-6 is pronounced komo ela ... komo meaning left or negative.

By the way bene means right (as in right-hand-side) or positive.

4i is pronounced uga haspia^** ... and what does haspia mean, well it is the name of the little squiggle that touches the number bar, for one thing.

-4i is pronounced komo uga haspia

-1/10 is pronounced komo diapa

i/4 is pronounced duga haspia

^*Actually these placeholder symbols are named after 6 living things. This does not lead to confusion tho'. When you are doing arithmetic these concrete meanings are totally bleached.

^**This can also be pronounced as bene uga haspia. However usually the bene bit is deemed redundent.

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Algebra

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WHERE DOES THIS ONE GO ??

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haijogu = arithmetic

In the West we use x y and z to represent variables. In béu we have 3 special symbols to represent these three variables. The names of these symbols are haigan, jogan and gugan

Also in béu there are certain conventions to adhere to. If we are considering one dimension only, it is invariably called haigan and is represented by an up and down the page (see the diagram below).

If we are considering two dimension, then the variable jogan is added at 90 degrees to the haigan line (see the diagram below).

And if we are considering three dimension, then the variable gugan is added at 60 degrees to the haiganline and 30 degrees to the jogan line (see the diagram below)

I need a name for "i" 1/2 and sqrt 1/2 symbols ???

You will notice that instead of using brackets a horizontal line is placed over the elements that must be considered together. Also exponents are simple placed above the number that they qualify.

Note ... haigan is probably derived from the adjective hái. Likewise jogan from the adjective joga and gugan from the adjective guboi

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.... Calculus

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laigau = calculus

yyyy = straight, straight line ... both an adjective and a noun

xxxx = curvy, a curve ............. both an adjective and a noun

Now xxxx also means function. Or at least instead of talking about putting x into a function (process) and obtaining y, the tradition in béu is to talk about xxxx defined in terms of x and y (either through an equation or simply a list of x and y values)

xxxx is usually written using the sign below.

xxxx is declared to exits in the dimensions (variabes) haigan and kyugan below.

xxxx is defined in terms of an equation below.

... how spoken out ?

Now the differential of xxxx is called molgan xxxxwo and is written as .... (the image on the RHS is the second differential)

And the integral of xxxx is called fendagan xxxxwo and is written as .... (the image on the RHS is the second integral)

Note moloi = slant, slop, incline, gradient .... fenda = area

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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