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| | {{Deletion|Staigard|Well I have moved all the data somewhere else}} |
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| == ..... To the "n"th degree ==
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| === Nouns===
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| The following 2 word are "specifiers" and come before a noun. The noun is always in the singular. The noun can be a countable or a non-countable noun.
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| '''uʒya báu''' = many men
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| '''igwa báu''' = a few men
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| '''uʒya moze''' = a lot of water
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| '''igwa moze''' = a little water
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| As compared to some idea that is in the background as to what a typical amount of "men" would be.
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| '''uzge báu''' = more men
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| '''ige báu''' = less men
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| As compared to some recently mentioned amount of "men".
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| '''ume báu''' = the most men
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| '''ime báu''' = the least men
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| === Adjectives===
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| '''gèu lùn''' = very green
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| '''gèu lín''' = a little green
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| '''gèu lùa''' = more green
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| '''gèu lía''' = less green
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| '''gèu lùas''' = most green
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| '''gèu lías''' = least green
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| === Verbs===
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| '''solbe lùn''' = to drink a lot
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| '''solbe lín''' = to drink a little
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| '''solbe lùa''' = to drink more
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| '''solbe lía''' = to drink less
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| '''solbe lùas''' = to drink most
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| '''solbe lías''' = to drink least
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| === Adverbs===
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| '''gadewe lùn''' = very slowly
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| '''gadewe lùa''' = more slowly
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| '''gadewe lùas''' = the most slowly
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| == ..... The sides of an object ==
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| sky '''nambon''' = above the house
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| '''awe (rá)''' nà''' sky '''nambon''' = the bird is above the house .... sometimes '''nà''' can be left out as well ... '''awe''' sky '''nambon''' = the bird is above the house (a phrase) the NP (the bird above the house) ....
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| '''earth nambon''' = under the house
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| '''face nambon''' = front of the house
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| '''arse nambon''' = behind the house
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| '''kà''' = side
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| '''aibaka''' = a triangle
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| '''ugaka''' = a square
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| '''idaka''' = a pentagon
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| '''elaka''' = a hexagon
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| --------------
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| '''ò atas nambo''' = he/she is above the house ... however if "house" is understood, and mention of it is dropped, we must add '''ka''' to '''atas''' ... for example ...
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| '''ò ataska''' = he/she is above
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| ---------------
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| '''daunika''' = underneath
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| '''liʒika''' = on the left hand side
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| '''luguka''' = on the right hand side
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| ------------------
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| noldo, suldo, westa, istu niaka, muaka faceside backside etc. etc.
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| == ..... The verb complex or verb phrase ==
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| Also often called the predicate. Called the '''jaudauza''' in '''béu'''
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| The predicate is made up of ...
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| 1) one of two particles that show likelihood which are optional.
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| In the béu linguistic tradition they are called '''mazebai'''. The '''mazebai''' are a subgroup of '''feŋgi''' (the particles)
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| 2) one of five particles that show modality. These are also optional.
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| In the béu linguistic tradition they are called '''seŋgebai'''. The '''seŋgebai''' are a subgroup of '''feŋgi''' (the particles)
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| 3) a '''gomua''' (a full verb)
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| === ... '''mazebai''' ===
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| These appear first in the predicate.
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| These particles show the probability of the verb occurring.
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| 1) '''màs solbori''' = maybe he drank
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| 2) '''lói solbori''' = probably he drank
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| You could say that the first one indicates about 50% certainty while the second indicates around 90 % certainty
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| === ... '''seŋgebai''' ===
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| These appear next in the predicate.
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| These particles correspond to what is called the "modal" words in English. The five '''seŋgeba''' are ...
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| 1) '''sú''' which codes for strong obligation or duty. It is equivalent to "should" in English. In English certain instances of the word "must" also carries this meaning.
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| 2) '''seŋga''' which codes for weak obligation. It is equivalent to "ought to" in English. (Note ... in certain dialects of English "ought to" is dying out, and "should" is coding weak obligation also)
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| 3) '''alfa''' which codes for ability. It is equivalent to "can" in English. As in English it means that subject has the strength or the skill to perform the action. Also as in English it codes for possibilities/situations which are not dependent on the subject. For example ... '''udua alfa solbur''' => "the camels can drink" in the context of "the caravan finally reached Farafra Oasis"
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| 4) '''hempi''' which codes for permission. It is equivalent to "may" or "to be allowed to" in English. (Note ... in certain dialects of English "may" is dying out, and "can" is coding for permission also)
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| 5) '''hentai''' means knowledge. It is equivalent to "know how to" in English. (Note ... in English certain instances of the word "can" also carries this meaning)
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| The form that these '''seŋgeba''' and the main verb take appears strange. Where as, logically, you would expect the suffixes for person, number, tense, aspect and evidential to be attached to the '''seŋgeba''' and the main verb maybe in its infinitive form, the '''seŋgeba''' do not change their form and the suffixes appear on the main verb as normal. This is one oddity that marks the '''seŋgeba''' off as a separate word class.<sup>*</sup>
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| Some examples ...
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| 1)
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| a) '''sú -er''' => you should visit your brother
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| b) '''sú -eri''' => you should have visited your brother
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| c) '''sú hamperka''' animals => you should not feed the animals
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| d) '''sú hamperki''' animals => you shouldn't have fed the animals
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| Note these are the tenses allowed in a '''jaudauza súa'''
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| 2)
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| a) '''seŋga humper''' little => you ought to eat a little
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| b) '''seŋga humperi''' little => you ought to have eaten a little
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| c) '''seŋga solberka''' brandy => you ought to not drink brandy
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| d) '''seŋga solberki''' brandy => you ought to have not drunk that brandy
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| Note these are the tenses allowed in a '''jaudauza seŋgua'''
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| 3)
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| a) '''fuà -or''' => he can swim across the river
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| b) '''fuà-ori''' => he could swim across the river
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| c) '''fuà solborka''' => he can stop drinking
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| d) '''fuà solborki''' => he could stop drinking
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| Note these are the tenses allowed in a '''jaudauza fùa'''
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| 4)
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| a) '''hempi bor festa''' => "she may go to the party" or "she can go to the party" or "she is allowed to go to the party"
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| b) '''hempi bori festa''' => she was allowed to go to the party
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| c) '''hempi borka''' school => he is allowed to stop attending school
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| d) '''hempi bori''' school => he was allowed to stop attending school
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| Note these are the tenses allowed in a '''jaudauza hempua'''
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| 5)
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| a) '''hentai bamor''' car => "she can drive a car" or "she knows how to drive a car"
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| b) '''hentai bamori''' car => she knew how to drive a car
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| c) '''hentai boikorka''' car => He has the ability not to crash the car
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| d) '''hentai boikorki''' car => He had the ability not to crash the car
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| Note these are the tenses allowed in a '''jaudauza hentua'''
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| <sup>*</sup>Two other oddities also marks off the '''seŋgeba''' as a separate word class. These are ...
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| 1) When you want to question a '''jaudauza''' containing a '''seŋgeba''' you change the position of the main verb and the '''seŋgeba'''. For example ...
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| ''' bor hempi festa''' => "may she go to the party" ... shades of English here.
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| 2) All 5 '''seŋgeba''' can be negativized by deleting the final vowel and adding '''aiya'''. For example ...
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| '''faiya -or''' ??? => he can't swim across the river
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| Note ... sometimes the negative marker on the '''seŋgeba''' can occur along with the normal negative marker on the main verb to give an emphatic positive. Sometimes it produces a quirky effect. For example ...
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| '''jenes faiya humpor cokolate''' => Jane can't eat chocolates (Jane lacks the ability to eat chocolates) ... for example she is a diabetic and can not eat anything sweet.
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| '''jenes fa humporka cokolate''' => Jane can '''not''' eat chocolates (Jane have the ability not to eat chocolates)... meaning she has the willpower to resist them.
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| '''jenes faiya humporka cokolate''' => Jane can not not eat chocolates (Jane lacks the ability, not to eat chocolates) ... meaning she can't resist them.
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| There are 5 nouns that correspond to the 5 '''seŋgeba'''
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| '''anzu''' = duty
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| '''seŋgo''' = obligation
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| '''alfa''' = ability
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| '''hempo''' = permission or leave
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| '''hento''' = knowledge
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| ---------------------
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| Note on English usuage (in fact all the Germanic languages) ... the way English handles negating modal words is a confusing. Consider "She can not talk". Since the modal is negated by putting "not" after it and the main verb is negated by putting "not" in front of it, this could either mean ...
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| a) She doesn't have the ability to talk
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| or
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| b) She has the ability to not talk
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| Note only when the meaning is a) can the proposition be contracted to "she can't talk". In fact, when the meaning is b), usually extra emphasis would be put on the "not". a) is the usual interpretation of "She can not talk" and if you wanted to express b) you would rephrase it to "She can keep silent". This rephrasing is quite often necessary in English when you have a modal and a negative main verb to express.
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| === ... '''wepua''' ===
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| We have already mentioned the two '''mazeba''' at the beginning of this section.
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| Actually there is another particle that occurs in the same slot as the '''mazeba''' and it also codes for likelihood. This is '''wepua''' and it constitutes a subgroup of '''feŋgi''' (the particles) all by itself.
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| 1) '''más solbori''' = maybe he drank
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| 2) '''lói solbori''' = probably he drank
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| 3) '''wepua solbori''' = he must have drank
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| You could say that while the first one indicates about 50% certainty while the second indicates around 90 % certainty, the third shows 100% certainty.
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| 3) Indicates that some "evidence" or "background information" exists to allow the speaker to assert what he is saying. It also carries the meaning "there is no other conclusion given the evidence".This obviously has some functional similarities to the '''-s''' evidential. However the '''-s''' evidential carries less than 100 % certainty ...
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| '''solboris''' = I guess/suppose he drunk
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| '''wepua''' never appears in front of the first two '''seŋgebai'''. This is the difference between '''wepua''' and the '''mazebai'''.
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| The word '''wepua''' is derived from '''pè''' meaning "to need". '''pòi''' means necessities.'''wepua''' can be thought of as meaning something like "being necessary" or "of necessity".
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| === .... -fa, and -inda ===
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| These all form adjectives. The first might have some connection with a '''seŋgeba'''.
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| i.e. '''solbe''' = to drink
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| '''moze''' = water
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| '''moze solbefa''' = drinkable water
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| Maybe related to '''fua''' "can".
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| '''moze solbinda''' = water worth drinking
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| There is also another suffix, but this one can be said to be unrelated to "like" '''kinda'''
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| Maybe related to '''kinda''' "to like".
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| == .... Case frames==
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| I was originally going to give the word '''klói''' "to see" the following case frames {k, ∅} {s, ∅} {∅}
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| In the first the A argument would be marked by the non-canonical -'''k''' affix and would mean "see"
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| In the second the A argument would be marked by the canonical -'''s''' affix and would mean "look at" or "observe".
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| In the third, it would mean "be visible"
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| However we would have ...
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| '''pàk nambo klori''' = I saw the house
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| '''pás nambo klori''' = I looked at the house
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| However the above 2 would be the dame if the pronoun would be dropped, so I decided against the {k, ∅} case frame and '''klói''' having the meaning "look at"
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| Also the {∅} case frame was dropped as ...
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| '''klori nambo''' could mean "the house is visible" but also "he saw the house" (I like the idea of dropping 3rd person A pronouns as well as 1st and 2 nd person A pronouns)
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| Actually is it possible to drop 3rd person A pronouns ??
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| So we are left with the case frame {s, ∅}. As with all words with the single case frame {s, ∅} it is possible to drop the either of the 2 arguments when they are known by background. If only one is given, which one it is is of course known (i.e. does it end in an '''s''' or not) ... so there should be no confusion ???
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| == ..... Index==
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| {{Béu Index}}
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