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| == ..... Note ..... ==
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| Stuff discarded before 28th Mar 2013 is in chapter XX
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| Stuff discarded after 28th Mar 2013 is in this chapter.
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| == ..... Pronouns ==
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| In this section we discuss pronouns and also introduce the S, A and O arguments.
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| '''béu''' is what is called an ergative language. About a quarter of the world languages are ergative or partly ergative. So let us explain what ergative means. Well in English we have 2 forms of the first person singular pronoun ... namely "I" and "me". Also we have 2 forms of the third person singular male pronoun ... namely "he" and "him". These two forms help determine who does what to whom. For example "I hit him" and "He hit me" have obviously different meanings (in English there is a fixed word order, which also helps. In '''béu''' the word order is free).
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| '''timpa''' = to hit ... '''timpa''' is a verb that takes two nouns (LINGUISTIC JARGON ... a transitive verb).
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| '''pás ò timpari''' = I hit him
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| '''pà ós timpori''' = He hit me ... OK in this case the protagonist marking in the verb also helps to make things disambiguous. But this will not always help, for example when both protagonists are third person and of the same number.
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| So far so good. And we see that English and '''béu''' behave in the same way so far. But what happens when we take a verb that takes only one noun (LINGUISTIC JARGON ... a transitive verb). For example '''doika''' = "to walk". In English we have "he walked". However in '''béu''' we don't have '''*ós doikori''' but '''ò doikori''' (equivalent to saying "*him walked" in English). So this in a nutshell is what an ergative language is.
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| It is the convention to call the doer in a intransitive clause the S argument. For example '''ò<sub>S</sub> fomporta''' = She has tripped
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| It is the convention to call the "doer" in a transitive clause the A argument and the "done to" the O argument For example '''ós<sub>A</sub> timpori jene<sub>O</sub>''' = He hit Jane
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| The S was historically from the word "Subject" and the O historically from the word "Object", but it is best just to forget about that. In fact when I use the word "subject" I am talking about either the S argument or the A argument.
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| If you like you can say ;-
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| In English "him" is the "done to"(O argument) : "he" is the "doer"(S argument) and the "doer to"(A argument).
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| In '''béu''' '''ò''' is the "done to"(O argument) and the "doer"(S argument) : '''ós''' is the "doer to"(A argument).
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| Below the form of the '''béu''' pronouns is the given for when the pronoun is the A argument.
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| {| border=1
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| |align=center| I
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| |align=center| '''pás'''
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| |align=center| we (includes "you")
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| |align=center| '''yúas'''
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| |-
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| |align=center|
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| |align=center|
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| |align=center| we (doesn't include "you")
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| |align=center| '''wías'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| you
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| |align=center| '''gís'''
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| |align=center| you (plural)
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| |align=center| '''jés'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| he, she
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| |align=center| '''ós'''
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| |align=center| they
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| |align=center| '''ús'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| it
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| |align=center| '''ʃís'''
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| |align=center| they
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| |align=center| '''ʃís'''
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| |}
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| [[Image:TW_68.png]]
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| However these pronouns are never written out as above. There is a recognized "shorthand" method of writing them. This is shown below.
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| [[Image:TW_161.png]]
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| This method is based on the fact that all the pronouns have a different vowel sound (the ones that refer to humans anyway). A look at a béu vowel chart might let you work out what is happening here.
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| [[Image:TW_146.png]],
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| In fact these pronouns are usually dropped when possible, so it might be better to translate the above as "I myself", "you yourself" etc. etc.
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| Below the form of the '''béu''' pronouns is the given for when the pronoun is the S or O argument. When they are used as S arguments it might be better to translate these pronouns as "I myself", "you yourself" etc. etc.
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| {| border=1
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| |align=center| me
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| |align=center| '''pà'''
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| |align=center| us
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| |align=center| '''yùa'''
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| |-
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| |align=center|
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| |align=center|
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| |align=center| us
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| |align=center| '''wìa'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| you
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| |align=center| '''gì'''
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| |align=center| you (plural)
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| |align=center| '''jè'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| him, her
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| |align=center| '''ò'''
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| |align=center| them
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| |align=center| '''ù'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| it
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| |align=center| '''ʃì'''
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| |align=center| them
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| |align=center| '''ʃì'''
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| |}
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| The above table is for S and O arguments, it fact we have another pronoun but this one only occurs as an O argument. When a action is performed by somebody on themselves we use '''tí''' to represent the O argument.
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| Just as in English, we do not say "*I hit me", but "I hit myself" ... in '''béu''' we do not say '''*pás pà timpari''', but '''pás tí timpari'''.
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| [[Image:TW_162.png]]
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| The table above shows the shorthand form for these non-ergative pronouns.
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| '''tí''' does not have to immediately<sup>*</sup> follow the ergative pronoun but it usually does. There is a recognised way to write the ergative pronoun plus the reflexive particle (i.e. we have one symbol to represent two words). These are shown below.
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| [[Image:TW_163.png]]
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| LINGUISTIC JARGON ... "myself" is what is called a "reflexive pronoun". In English there are many reflexive pronouns (i.e. "myself", "yourself", "herself", etc. etc.) : in '''béu''' only one.
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| Pronouns can just be set down beside each other if they both make up the same argument in a clause. Unlike normal nouns which must have '''é''' ( "and" ) between them and any other component.
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| <sup>*</sup>It is a rule that '''tí''' must follow the A argument.
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| The possessive form of these pronouns
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| {| border=1
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| |align=center| my
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| |align=center| '''pàn'''
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| |align=center| our
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| |align=center| '''yùan'''
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| |-
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| |align=center|
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| |align=center|
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| |align=center| our
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| |align=center| '''wìan'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| your
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| |align=center| '''gìn'''
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| |align=center| your (plural)
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| |align=center| '''jèn'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| his, her
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| |align=center| '''òn'''
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| |align=center| their
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| |align=center| '''ùn'''
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| |-
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| |align=center| its
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| |align=center| '''ʃìn'''
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| |align=center| their
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| |align=center| '''ʃìn'''
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| |}
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| And we also have '''tín''' which is used if the possessor is the same as the subject of the clause.
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| ==Index==
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| {{Béu Index}}
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