Béu : Chapter 10

..... Beyond the pilana

• • This 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.^*

pilana 1 - 8 plus tài and jáu only occur in front of a NP or suffixed to a noun.

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

pida	the interior
mauda	above, topside
goida	the underneath
taida	the front
jauda	the backside, the back
lada	the surface
ceda	this side
duada	the far side
beneda	the right
komoda	the left

^*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.

Note ... pilana 15 does not combine with da-. However there is a particle dan : it is equivalent to the English word "than". For example ...

jene (sòr) yubauge dan jono = Jane is stronger than John

Again ... all very mysterious.

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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) -ye ... yé ... 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 beggarsye = she gives food to the beggars

nauya toili oye = give a book to her

Note ... the béu way is similar to English. For example ... toili nauya ò = 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.

namboye = "to the house"

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

yé limit/border nambo = "up to the house" ... for objects

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

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

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..... Some valency changing operations

THE 37 SPECIAL VERBS MUST COME BEFORE THIS.

... Valency ... 2 => 1

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The passive is normally formed by infixing -w- just before the final vowel. For example ...

kó = to see

(pás) kár gì = I see you

pás kár gì = I myself see you

(pà) kowar = I am seen

(pà) kowar hí gì = I am seen by you

pà kowara = I myself am being seen

kowari = I have been seen

kowaru = I have not yet been seen

taiku kowar = I was seen

jauku kowar = I will be seen

etc. etc.

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.

the infinitive		perfect		infinitive of passive		perfect of passive		passive participle
kludau	to write	kludori	he has written	kludwau	to be written	kludwori	it has been written	kludwai	written
kó	to see	kori	she has seen	kowa	to be seen	kowori	she has been seen	kowai	seen
timpa	to hit	timpori	he has hit	timpwa	to be hit	timpwori	he has been hit	timpwai	hit
poʔau	to cook	poʔori	she has cooked	poʔawa	to be cooked	poʔawori	it has been cooked	poʔawai	cooked

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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)

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... Valency ... 1 => 2

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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

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There is one other word that follows the same paradigm as the 10 words above.

jùa

to know

jor

he knows

juya

to tell

juyori

she has told

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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 walk

ós doikor the pulp mill = he runs the pulp mill

doikyana = management ???

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^*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)

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... Concatenation of the valency changing derivations ... 1 => 2 => 1 and 2 => 1 => 2

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ʔoime

= to be happy

ʔoimye

= to make happy

ʔoimyewa

= "to be made to be happy" or, more simply "to be made happy

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fàu

= to know

fa??

= to tell

fa ??

=

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timpa

= to hit

timpawa

= to be hit

timpawaya

= to cause to be hit

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Semantically timpa is direct action (from agent to patient). Whereas timpawaya is indirect, possibly involving some third party between the agent and the patient and/or allowing some time to pass, between resolving on the action and the action being done unto the patient.

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... Parenthesis

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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.

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. tà ... the full clause particle

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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.

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. ʔà ... the gap clause particle

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This is basically the same as "what" in English, in such sentences as ...

"WHAT you see is WHAT you get"^*

Notice that "you see" and "you get" are not complete clauses, there is a "gap" in them.

The phase "WHAT you see", (to return to the mathematical analogy again) may be thought of as a "variable". in this case, the motivation for using a "variable", is to make the expression "general" rather than "specific". (Being general it is of course more worthy of our consideration). Other motivations for using a "variable" is that the actual argument is not known. Yet another is that even though the particular argument is known, it is really awkward to specify satisfactorily.

EXAMPLE

Another way to think about the ʔà construction, is to think of it as a "nominaliser", a particle that turns a whole clause into a noun. To use the example from just above ....

"see" is an intransitive verb with two arguments. To replace one of these arguments by ʔà is like defining the missing argument in terms of the rest of the clause i.e. it changes a clause into a constuction that refers to one argument of that clause.

. Gap clause particles in other languages

There is no generally agreed upon term for the type of construction which I am calling "gap clause" here. Dixon calls it a "fused relative", Greenberg calls it a "headless relative clause". I don't like either term. A fused relative implies that a generic noun (i.e. "thing" or "person") somehow got fused with a relativizer. This certainly never happened although this type of clause can be rewritten as a generic noun followed by a relativizer. As for "headless" relative clause ... well I think the type of clause that we are dealing with is in fact more fundamental then a relative clause, so I would not like to define it in terms of a relative clause.

My thoughts on this type of clause are ...

Well "what" was firstly a question word. So you have expressions like "Who fed the cat"

Then of course it is natural to have an answer like "I don't know who fed the cat"

Now the above sentence is similar to "I don't know French" or "I don't know Johnny".

Now you see the expression "who fed the cat" fills the slot usually occupied by a noun in an "I don't know" sentences.

So "who fed the cat" started to be thought of as a sort of noun.

Now from the "know (neg)" beachhead^*, the usage would have spread to "know" and also the such words that have "knowing" as an essential part of their meaning. Words such as "remember", "report" etc. etc.

^*I call "know (neg)" a "beachhead"^**. A beachhead is a usage(and/or the act or situation behind that usage) that facilitates the meaning of a word to spread. Or the meaning of an expression to spread. A beachhead can be defined simply as an expression, but sometimes some background as to the speakers environment has to be given. For example suppose that one dialect of a language was using a word to mean "under", but this same word meant "between/among" in all other dialects. Now suppose you did some investigating and found that all other dialects of this language was spoken on the steppes and their speakers made a living by animal husbandry. However the group which diverged from the others had given up the nomadic life and settled down in a lush river valley. In this valley their main occupation was tending their fruit orchards.

It could be deduced that the change in meaning came about by people saying ... "Johnny is among the trees". Now as the trees were thick on the ground and had overspreading branches, this was reanalysed to mean "Johnny is under the trees". Hence I would say ...

The beachhead of word "x" = "between" to word "x" = "under" was the expression "among the trees" (and in this case a bit of background as to the "culture" of the speakers would be appropriate). ... OK ? ... understood ?

For an expressing to become a beachhead, it must, of course, be used regularly.

ASIDE ... I have thought about counting rosary beads as a possible beachhead that changed the meaning of "have", in Western Europe, from purely "possession" to a perfect marker. This is just (fairly ?) wild conjecture of course. (The beachhead expression being "I have x beads counted" with "counted" originally being a passive participle)

I am digressing here ... well to get back to "who fed the cat". We had it being considered a sort of noun. Presumably it was at one time put directly after a noun in apposition (presumably with a period of silence between the two) and qualified the noun. Then presumably they got bound closer together, the gap was lost, and this is the history of one form of relative clause in English.

^**Actually I would have liked to use the term pivot here. However this term has already been taken.

From the dictionary

Beachhead (dictionary definition) = 1. A position on an enemy shoreline captured by troops in advance of an invading force

Beachhead (dictionary definition) = 2. A first achievement that opens the way for further developments.

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There are 4 relativizers ... ʔá, ʔái, ʔáu and ʔaja. (relativizer = ʔasemo-marker)

ʔasemo = relative clause.

It works in pretty much the same way as the English relative clause construction. The béu relativisers is ʔá. Though ʔái, ʔáu and ʔaja also have roles as relativisers.

The main relativiser is ʔá and all the pilana can occur with it (well all the pilana except ʔe. ʔaí is used instead of * ʔaʔe).

The noun that is being qualified is dropped from the relative clause, but the roll which it would play is shown by its pilana on the suffixed to the relativizer. For example ;-

glà ʔá bwás timpori rà hauʔe = The woman that the man hit, is beautiful.

bwá ʔás timpori glà rà ʔaiho = The man that hit the woman is ugly.

The same thing happens with all the pilana. For example ;-

the basket ʔapi the cat shat was cleaned by John.

the wall ʔala you are sitting was built by my grandfather.

the woman ʔaye I told the secret, took it to her grave.

the town ʔafi she has come is the biggest south of the mountain.

the lilly pad ʔalya the frog jumped was the biggest in the pond.

the boat ʔalfe you have just jumped is unsound

báu ʔás timpori glá rà ʔaiho = The man that hit the woman is ugly.

• nambo ʔaʔe she lives is the biggest in town.

báu ʔaho ò is going to market is her husband.

the knife ʔatu he severed the branch is a 100 years old

báu ʔán dog I shot, reported me to the police = the man whose dog I shot, reported me to the police^*

The old woman ʔaji I deliver the newspaper, has died.

The boy ʔaco they are all talking, has gone to New Zealand.

^*Altho' this has the same form as all the rest, underneath there is a difference. n marks a noun as part of a noun phrase, not as to its roll in a clause.

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As you see in above, ʔa in the form * ʔaʔe is not allowed. Instead you must use ʔaí.

The use of ʔái and ʔàu as relativizers are basically the same as the use of "where" and "when" in English. These two can combine with two of the pilana.

?aifi = from where, whence

?aiye = to where, hence

?aufi = from when, since

?auye = to when, until

The use of ʔaja basically is a relativizer for an entire clause instead of just the noun which it follows.

For example ???????

WITH SPACE AND TIME

PLURAL FORM

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

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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.)

glói = to see

polo = Paul

timpa = to hit

jene = Jenny

glori polo timpala é = He saw paul hitting something

glori pà timpala ò = He saw me hitting her

glori hà (pás) timparwi ò = He saw that I had hit her

glori jene timpwala = He saw Jenny being hit

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 kludala 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".

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The waterfall chimes

Near every habitation (well not individual houses) but every village anyway. Has a waterfall chimes. Nobody knows why they are called waterfall chimes. The chimes consist of three tubes that each produce a different note when hit. These chimes ring through out the day (especially late morning and mid afternoon) and give all hearers a feeling of supreme satisfaction. it gives them a feeling that all is well in the world.

beumeu do not like noise around their habitations. They like to hear the sound that a breeze makes as it goes through the village. The biggest sound in a béu village is the sound of children playing. All vehicles are electric, all horses have rubber shoes and cart wheels have muffled rims. All machines of industry are carefully designed for quiet operation.

The bells ring out about every 15 minutes (but impossible to predict exactly). 29 (17 consonants + 11 vowels/diphthongs + R) symbols from the alphabet are encoded by the chimes. (27 three chimes long and 2 four chimes long ??) ... (the tone mark is not encoded, but it is not necessary for decipherment). Usually short poems, a bit like a Japanese haiku, are rang out. Nearly all adults can understand the chimes. They take great delight in hearing novel "haiku". Also people take great delight in composing novel "haiku" that relate a local happening concerning local characters. An appropriate "haiku" can be the talk of the village for months (and the talk of the neighbouring villages as well).

Also the chimes are used to inform people of things like football scores, etc. etc.

It is a bit of a mystery who actually operates the chimes. In fact children are told that "water spirits" are behind it all. Anyway even though the chimes seem to know all the successes/failures/embarrassments of the local population, nothing unkind is ever in the haiku. Many very funny things are in the haiku which indicates the content of the haiku approach a limit (but never should go across this limit ... well this is the theory anyway).

The twida

The nearest translation in English is "resolution" or "a standard of behaviour that is set by the individual themself. They can involve a variety of activities, but are often to do with diet and exercise.

People often adopt one of a recognised set of these twida, called a twidaibu. For example ... the twidaibu london is to do 100 push-ups + have heartbeat above 130 BPS for 20 minutes + walk 9 km every 24 hours.

People involved in twida involving fasting often wear a head band. Some who are less ostentatious go in for a plaque worn on one of their little fingers. But actually there is no requirements to wear either.

When people first become beume they must undergo a ten day fast. This fast involves food only. There is no restriction of water. Also a few handfuls of rice grains are allowed every day ... just to counter stomach spasms. Now as you can imagine, his fast is extremely difficult to keep to. Most people doing it, wear a red headband when they are out and about. This help other people to avoid temping them with food among other things.

Many (maybe the majority) of beume fast for two days out of 7. However this fast is only lasts from sunrise to sunset. Again there is no restriction on water and a little rice grains are allowed. If the beume is above the latitude of 60 degrees (northern hemisphere) they are allowed to keep the fast times for somebody at 60 degrees. So you are limited to 19 hours of fasting in one day. It is usual to wear a white headband when out and about, doing this fast.

Another type of fast is to have a 4 day period every month involving a severely restricted food intake. It is usual to wear a light blue headband during that one.

Also some people who are cutting out salt have a grey patch on their headband.

Also some people who are cutting out sugar have a yellow patch on their headband.

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However not all twida are to do with diet and exercise. Some example of other types of twida ...

a) Every second day to walk a certain path (say 500 mtr) and to pick up every piece of litter along that path.

b) To reach out to a stranger at every opportunity. Ideally to befriend one new stranger every month and to give advice/aid/(introductions to new people) to these new acquaintances.

c) Give a bath and slap up feed to a down-and-out every second week.

etc. etc. etc.

(SideNote) ... The three examples above should be are things that you can sign up for. That is ... there should be some co-ordination given from the kasʔau

(SideNote) ... In Japanese culture, hachimaki headbands symbolise determination or devotion. h)

The mandu

In the central garden and also around the elaʔa (south of the poster huts but north of the stage) are many statues representing the mandu. The mandu are deceased people who lead exemplary lives (at least one aspect of their life was exceptional). These people in no way achieve godhood or even sainthood ... but they are publicly held up as roll models for everybody. The statues are coloured as lifelike as possible. The mandu are also represented in the stain glass windows of the elaʔa. They are also represented in bass reliefs set against the elaʔa walls (both inside and outside). Inside the building they are represented by statues and tapestries and paintings. Around the outside areas containing these images are planted pleasant bushes and hedges : flower beds small lawns and walkways. Among these bushes and hedges are semi-secluded comfortable seats where people can sit and contemplate the images and also read the tomes that record the lives of these mandu. Inside also there are some indoor plants and soft seats for this purpose. Inside there is also an attendant whose task is to give out and take back these tomes.

"keeper of the tomes" and "keeper of the statues" are highly respected positions. (the job "keeper of the statues" is nearly all gardening)

There might be between 8 and 32 mandu celebrated at the particular kasʔau. The method of choosing these mandu is hazy.

There is a lot of variation among different kasʔau. They can also change over time as well.

Some examples (i.e. possible mandu) are .... Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Winstone Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Robert Plant, Bob Marley, Paolo Maldine, Terry McDermott, Horatio Nelson, Erwin Rommel, Nadezhda (Nadia) Vasil'yevna Popova, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, JRR Tolkien, Mervyn Peake, Jack London, Michael Moorcock, Jostein Gaarder, George Orwell, William Somerset Maugham, William Makepeace Thackery, Edgar Allan Poe .... etc. etc. etc.

About 50% of the mandu are very common and one would come across these many many times if you visited many kasʔau. However the remainder are less ubiquitous ... maybe a local war hero or writer or mathematician or whatever ... or often not local at all, but a second rank figure in some field that for some reason (???) was thought worthy of recognition. Some people travel from kasʔau to kasʔau and contemplate the lives of these lesser known* mandu (they usually set up their tents in the periphery of the mandu area : they are made welcome by the "keeper of the mandu)

• most adult are familiar with the life story of the better known mandu

Coming of age

In the ‘’’béu’’’ tradition there are two parts in life. Childhood and adulthood. XXXX is a noun referring to the change of state from childhood to adulthood. It also refers to the rites associated with this transition.

The responsibility to make sure a child behaves properly lies with its parents. Hence XXXX is seen as a relief to parents. They are being freed of a bunden. They no longer have to make sure their child follows the law of the land (maybe the law of the land says that they are responsible, but in the ‘’’béu’’’ tradition they are absolved of responsibility).

After this ceremony, you are no longer innocent and is responsible for his or her own actions. After this ceremony you are allowed to participate in all areas of community life and bear their own responsibility w.r.t. the law of the land, ‘’’béu’’’ rites and ethics.

Ceremony held 3 days before the full moon.

The ceremony is never held at home, but at the public hall. Every season 2 or 3 of these ceremonies are taken. The usual (short) speech about the responsibilities of adulthood. They will be shown around the rooms that are offlimit to kids (in the town hall) … brief lessons are given in every room. A travelling rug is given to the female XXXXME. This has been made by female relatives and many meaning full or traditional patterns are incorporated in the design. The boy is given a Swiss-army knife (equivalent). The ceremony finishes late afternoon. There is usually special food that night. Maybe siight-seeing early evening (if family have travelled from afar to witnes the ceremony)

Often the new adult is given some responsibility in the ‘’’béu’’’ community life. (Usually this will last about 6 months) … it is important to get the new adult involved and try and find a roll that they will enjoy. Of course some people are more suited to this sort of thing than others. No pressure is put on people to get involved in community affairs but an effort is put in to try and find a match between the offices that are open and what an individual would enjoy. It is good to make the XXXXME a “stakeholder” in the community as soon as possible.

For the male XXXXME, usually a journey unaccompanied by adults is undertaken … to visit an uncle … or equivalent male relative living a distance away … usually 2 weeks is spent away.

Sometimes two XXXXME that underwent the same ceremony will do the trip together.

For the female XXXXME sometimes a journey is undertaken, but in this case she is always accompanied by a responsible adult.

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).

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