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Béu : Chapter 2 : The Noun: Difference between revisions

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== ..... The 7 types of word==
== ..... The 5 basic word types==


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All words belong to one of the following 7 categories ...
All words are derived from these 5 basic types. Actually the '''fengi''' "particle" have so many subtypes (often single particles are a subtype to themselves) that it is a bit of a fudge to say that '''béu''' has 5 basic types. Maybe more honest to say that '''béu''' has 4 groups of words and the behaviour (syntactically) of any word in these 4 groups depends on which group it is in.


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1) '''feŋgi''' = particle ... this is a sort of "hold-all" category for all words (and affixes) that don't neatly fit into the other categories. Interjections, numbers,  pronouns, conjunctions, determiners and certain words that would be classed as adverbs in English, are all classed as '''feŋgi'''.
1) '''fengi''' = particle ... this is a sort of "hold-all" category for all words (and affixes) that don't neatly fit into the other categories. Interjections, numbers,  pronouns, conjunctions, determiners and certain words that would be classed as adverbs in English, are all classed as '''fengi'''.


An example is '''Í''' .. the preposition indicating the dative.
By the way ... all affixes are counted as a type of '''fengi'''.


..
An example is '''wò''' .. the preposition indicating the oblique case.
 
[[Image:TW_517.png]]


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2) '''seŋko''' = object
2) '''kenʒi''' = an object


An example is '''bàu''' ... "a man"
An example is '''bàu''' ... "a man"
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5) '''maŋga''' ...  It is the basic form of the verb. Not considered or a noun or a verb (however the verbs built up from it by adding suffixes ARE considered full verbs.  
5) '''manga''' = a verb in its base form (citation form). When used "actively" it will take its '''r'''-form, '''u'''-form or '''i'''-form.


An example is '''twá''' ... "to meet" or "meeting" (That is the concept of "meet" disassociated from arguments, tense, aspect or whatever).  
An example is '''twá''' meaning  "to meet" or "a meeting" (the concept of "meet" disassociated from any arguments, tense, aspect or whatever).  


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6) '''maŋgas''' = Not considered or a noun or a verb (although more of a noun than a '''maŋga'''). Derived from a  '''maŋga''' by suffixing -'''s'''. The  '''maŋgas''' means one instance of the activity denoted by the  '''maŋga'''.  For example ...
[[Image:SW_062.png]]
 
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'''twás''' = "a\the meeting"
== ..... Kenʒi==


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7) '''saidaus''' = a noun derived from an adjective. A  '''saidaus''' is derived from a  '''saidau''' just by suffixing an -'''s'''. The  '''saidaus''' means one object possessing the property denoted by the '''saidau'''.
'''kenʒi''' can mean "noun". It can also mean "noun phrase" (NP).
 
.
 
Probably the most "basic" of the basic 5 ... tangible and discrete.


An example is  '''nelaus''' = a/the dark blue one .......  '''nò nelaus''' = a/the dark blue ones
The noun can take six types of modifiers. These six types must come in a certain order ...


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[[Image:TW_516.png]]
[[Image:SW_070.png]]


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The '''maŋgas''' and  '''saidaus''' are transparently derived from the  '''maŋga''' and '''saidau''' so there is no need to list them ... in a dictionary say. However they are important in the grammar of '''béu''', particularly the '''maŋgas'''.
In the above diagram, an descending arrow followed by a bar indicates a closed set. A descending arrow by itself indicates an open set. Branching arrows indicate multiple possibilities.
 
The head of the NP can be referred to as '''kenʒita'''. Usually it is called this by lay people and by linguists when the concept is first brought up. However, thereafter it is usually referred to as '''húa''' meaning "head".
 
'''kenʒita''' is '''kenʒi''' plus the diminutive suffix. '''kenʒi''' can also take the augmentative suffix -'''uma'''. '''kenzuma''' "extended noun phrase" is a normal '''kenʒi''', with either a relative clause (RC) appended to the right or a partitive appended to the left hand side
 
The words highlighted in red convert the noun phrase (or indeed the sentence in which the NP is embedded) into a question. A blue circle indicates the only mandatory element. But even these elements can be dropped on occasion ... when they are understood from context or the preceding conversation. When we have one adjective, and the head is understood, '''ɘ''' can be substituted for the head, '''kɘ''' if the head is plural.
 
'''ɘ gèu''' = a/the green one : '''kɘ gèu''' = a/the green ones
 
These two particles can also be used with other noun modifiers, however not always mandators with non-adjective modifiers.
 
'''ɘ nái''' = which one : '''kɘ nái''' = which ones
 
'''kɘ dí''' = these ones : '''ɘ dè''' = this one
 
However '''nái''', '''dí''' and '''dè''' can constitute NP's by themselves.  A bit like English
 
Looking at the chart above might give you a false impression of '''béu''' noun phrases. The number of modifiers within a noun phrase is usually only one or two. When there is two, they must occur in a certain order, hence the necessity of the chart above. I don't think it would be easy to process a noun phrase with six modifiers, probably some of them would be shunted off into a RC with an initial copula. A noun phrase can take multiple RC's. They can stand beside each other in a sort of apposition.
 
I should make one further point here. The particles '''ú''' "all" and '''jù''' "no" can appear to the left of the head. They can also appear in the quantity slot.


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== ..... Saidaus==
=== ... Quality===


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'''saidaus''' =>  noun OR noun phrase derived from a adjective.
More than one adjective is allowed in this slot. For example ... '''bàu gèu tiji''' = the little green man
 
'''kái''' meaning "what type" can also appear in this slot. In which case it turns the whole noun phrase (or sentence) into a question. For example ...


'''saidaus baga''' => noun
'''bàu gèu kái''' = what kind of green man ? ... (NP question)


'''saidaus kaza''' => noun phrase
'''há bàu gèu kái glà timpori''' = what kind of green man hit the woman ? ... (sentence question)


'''saidaus kaza''' can have 8 possible elements.
Now when you have multiple adjectives they will have a certain order depending upon their sub-category.


These elements are exactly the same'''*''' as the ones detailed in the '''seŋko''' section below, except the third element is '''saidaus baga''' instead of '''seŋko baga'''.
This is the same as English ... for example, you always say "the third big black dog" and never "the black third big dog".


Actually '''saidaus''' can be derived from "locatives" and "genitives" as well as from '''saidau'''. For example ...
'''béu''' uses the exact same order as in English but the other way around.


'''pobomaus''' = the one on top of the mountain
'''béu''' has two adjectives that come in this slot that are worth mentioning. They might have claims to particle-hood, but I guess their appearance in this slot marks them as adjectives. No reason that they can't be both.


'''yós jene''' = the one belonging to Jane
1) ... '''ló''' = "other"


'''*''' Actually there is one small difference. '''sowe''' can be an adjective to a '''saidaus''' but not to a '''seŋko'''. '''sowe''' is an adjective intensifier ( i.e. "very). So ...
The semantics of this word remind me of the semantics of '''tuge'''/'''jige'''. With the relative quantifiers the speech participants have agreed on the number/amount relevant to the situation. '''tuge'''/'''jige''' are used to change this value. Similarly '''ló''' is used in a situation where the speech participants have agreed on the population (of whatever noun category) under consideration but one of them wants to expand this population.  


'''gèu''' = green, '''gèus''' = a/the green one, '''gèus sowe''' = a/the very green one,
2) ... '''laubo''' = enough


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== ..... Maŋgas==
=== ... Quantity===


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Note .... In English there are various means to derive a pure noun from a verb. For example ... "discover" + "y" => discovery ... "destroy" + "?tion" => destruction ... "run" + ∅ => a/the run
This slot is very interesting ...


In '''béu''' there are no method for constructing pure nouns from verbs. However the  '''maŋgas''' is close enough to a pure noun for MOST intents and purposes. Also it is 100% productive ... that is EVERY verb in '''béu''' has a '''maŋgas'''.
[[Image:SW_071.png]]


English is very untidy when it comes to verbal nouns. Consider ...
The above chart is split into ''definite'' and ''vague'' sections. All the items under ''definite'' represent an integer (or "the empty set" or "the full set"). The items under ''vague'' represent an approximate number/amount. This section is further divided into ''discrete'' and ''non-discrete'' (i.e. countable.non-countable).


1) The killing of the president was an atrocious crime.
'''yè''' modifies both discrete and non-discrete. It means a moderate amount ... some value between zero and "all". It does NOT mean "indefinite" ... "some man" is '''bàu èn''', not '''*bàu yè'''.


2) Killing the president was an atrocious crime.
This word can be used to mark plurality (together with '''iyo''' and '''hài''') for those nouns that can not be pluralized in themselves. For example ... '''húa''', "head" : '''húa yè''', "heads".


You can see that one form "killing" is used in 2 different constructions. By the way ... "killing" in (1) is considered more noun-like.
'''jí jí''' and '''jía''' are about equally common and mean the same thing. However '''jía''' tends to be used in more formal situations and '''jí jí''' in less formal.


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'''maŋgas''' =>  verbal noun OR verbal noun phrase
'''láu''' (how many) can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the NP (and hence the clause containing the NP) into a question. For example ...
 
'''bàu jutu láu''' = "How many men are big ?" or "How many big men ?" ???????????
 
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'''maŋgas baga''' => verbal noun
The chart above shows only the terms used for ''absolute'' quantity ????????????????? It does not cover, what I call ''relative'' quantity. Let me explain ...


'''maŋgas kaza''' =>verbal noun phrase
Imagine the speaker and the hearer both have an idea of the number/amount relevant to a situation but one of them wants to change this number/amount. The amount he wants to change this agreed number/amount by, I call the ''relative quantity''. It can be positive or negative. When positive we use the word '''tuge''' "more" ... when negative we use the word '''jige''' "less" '''*'''. For example ...


The order for building up '''maŋgas kaza''' is ...
'''turi waudo tuge''' = more dogs came
{|
|-
!  t-u-r-i  || waudo || tuge
|-
|  come-{{small|3PL-IND-PST}}  || dog || more
|}


1) ... a numerative
These to particles can be modified by some (most) of the terms given in the chart above. They can be modified by any of the terms hi-lighted in orange.


2) ... the '''maŋgas''' (mandatory)
[[Image:Sw_060.png]]


3) ... a determiner    ('''dí''' '''dè''' '''lò''' or '''nái''') ... but actually these are quite uncommon elements in '''maŋgas kaza'''.
For example ... '''bía tuge ima''' = two more beers please"


4) ... the A argument (if it exists) marked for the ergative.
Note : actually '''jía''' and '''tundu''' are not applicable to '''kenʒi'''. They are only applicable to '''olus'''


5) ... the S or O argument next in its unmarked form (of course if you have an S arguments ... there was no A argument in step 2)
..


6) ... other clausal elements (for example time, adverb'''*''', instrument, reason, purpose ) can be added now.
'''*''' These words might be derived somehow from '''jutu''' "big" and '''tiji''' "small" ... along with the comparative suffix -'''ge''' '''**'''.  


[ actually an emphatic particle can be put at the front of all this lot and a relative clause put at the end ... but these usages are so uncommon, that I decided not to list them ]
The comparative suffix can be appended to any adjectives. For example ... '''jini''' "clever" => '''jinige''' "cleverer" : '''hau?e''' "beautiful" => '''hau?ege''' "more beautiful"


'''*'''If an adverb ending in -'''we''' finds itself up against the '''maŋgas''', the -'''we''' affix will be dropped.
There is also a superlative suffix ... -'''mo'''. So '''jinimo''' "cleverest" amd '''hau?emo''' "most beautiful"


..
'''**''' There is an independant word '''gé''' which might be related to the comparative suffix. It is a particle that always comes in twos. For example ... '''gé tundu ... gé bói''' "the more the merrier".


One '''pilana''' can be appended to '''maŋgas''', and that is -'''pi'''.
Sometimes you coma across '''bù tuge''' "no more". This should be analysed as a contraction of '''bù ?ár tuge''' "I don't want more".


The usuage is actually exactly the same as the English ... "while ''verb''ing"
'''***''' Perhaps '''wóin''' is related to the verb '''gwói''' "to pass by" plus the past participle -'''in'''.


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== ..... Maŋga==
=== ... Ownership===


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This corresponds to what is called "infinitive" or "masDar" in other languages.
Basically you can just stick a personal name, a pronoun or any NP in here and the head noun will be considered owned by the object inserted here.
 
Sometimes, the particle '''yó''' precedes the object inserted.
 
For example '''jwado gèu yó jene''' = Jane's big green bird
 
Note that the particle '''yó''' is usually dropped when the possessor is next to the head. However as other elements intervene, the likelihood that '''yó''' is used increases.
 
If '''mín''' (who) is stuck in this slot ... then we have a question. For example ...
 
'''jwado gèu yó mín''' = Whose big green bird ? = Whose's the big green bird ?


But in certain circumstances '''maŋga''' can be thought of as a noun. (Actually '''maŋgas''' has a better claim to nounhood ... after all it is discrete).
There can be ambiguity with some '''kenʒi''' possessing a genitive. For example ...


For instance they can be the S O or A argument in a clause. I guess that is their biggest claim to nounhood.
Does '''waudo bàu dí''' mean "the dog of this man" or "this dog of the man" ?


Another place they appear is as complements'''*''' of active verbs (live verbs).  Two examples of this usage are given below ...
To get around this, we have a special rule ...


1) ... '''blèu''' = to hold ..... '''laila''' = to sing, singing ..... '''jenes blor laila bòi''' = Jane can sing well.
"If anything is in the ownership slot, '''dí''' and '''dè''' never appear in the determiner slot. Instead they appear as '''dían''' "here" and '''dene''' "there" in the locative slot"


2) ... '''cùa''' = to depart ... '''timpa''' = to hit, hitting ...  '''jonos cori timpa jene''' = John stopped hitting Jane
Note ... sometimes ownership as such is not what is of interest, it is if a person has actual physical possession. In this case '''yó''' is not used. But the object takes '''pila?o''' 2.


'''*''' Since all live transitive verbs in '''béu''' are capable of taking a noun complement (object), this usuage can not be said to make them appear any less noun-like, however restrictions/differences in the elements comprising '''maŋga baga''' compaired to '''seŋko baga''' plus there inability to take all the 17 '''pilana''' do make them appear less noun-like .... Actually I prefer not to talk about nouns, verbs and what have you but to stick to the 7 word types'''**''' which I have devised for '''béu'''. However out of pity for the reader (yes ... you) I quite often revisit the terminology of the Western Linguistic Tradition.
'''jwado gèu là''' ''Long John Silver'' '''catora''' = The big green bird (on Long John's shoulder presumably) is chatting away.


'''**''' Namely ... '''feŋgi  seŋko olus saidau maŋga maŋgas''' and '''saidaus'''
Actually segments showing actually physical possession like the example above, go in the locative slot which we will cover next.


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'''maŋga''' =>  infinitive OR  infinitive phrase
=== ... Location===


'''maŋga baga''' => infinitive
..


'''maŋga kaza''' => infinitive phrase
Ordinal numbers appear in this slot. The ordinal numbers are ...


The order for building up '''maŋgas kaza''' is ...
[[Image:SW_066.png]]


1) ... the '''maŋga''' always comes first
You will notice that there are two words for first ... '''da?a''' and '''dahua'''. They are both equally common, but '''da?a''' tends to occur in the presence of '''dima''' or '''duya''' while '''dahua''' tends to occur in the presence of '''dauci'''.


2) ... the A'''*''' argument (if it exists) will immediately follow marked for the ergative.
..


3) ... the S'''*''' or O'''*''' argument next in its unmarked form (of course if you have an S arguments ... there was no A argument in step 2)
Proper locatives comprise a noun plus one of the 9 '''pila?oi''' ....  '''pi la mau goi ce do bene komo ni'''. For example ...


4) ... other clausal elements (for example dative object, time, adverb'''**''', instrument, reason, purpose) can be added now.
'''duzu pobomau''' = The oryx on the mountain


'''*'''When talking about these arguments we are thinking as if the '''maŋga''' has been brought to life. And we have a verb in its r-form, n-form, i-form or u-form. Then the A O and S arguments would live up to their name. However the A O and S arguments we are talking about here are merely elements in a noun phrase (or infinitive phrase if you will), as opposed to arguments in a clause.
Also '''pila?o''' 14 turns up in this slot. These items are strictly not giving information about "location" but rather "origin". They are classed as a locatives nevertheless. For example ...


'''**'''If an adverb ending in -'''we''' finds itself up against the '''maŋga''', the -'''we''' affix will be dropped.
'''bàu glazgofi''' = a/the man from Glasgow


..
If the location consists of more than one word, the usual rule applies and the '''pila?o''' appears as a preposition ...


Two '''pilana''' can be appended to '''maŋga''' ...  these are -'''tu''' and -'''la'''
'''duzu máu pobo jutu''' = The oryx on the big mountain


The -'''tu''' usuage is actually exactly the same as the English ... "by ''verb''ing"
There is a tendance that  the longer the locative item, the more likely the locative item will be shunted into a relative clause ...


The -'''la''' usuage produced an adjecting meaning " ''verbing'' at the moment of speach". As with all adjectives it can either be part of a NP or it can be a copular complement. For example ...
'''duzu nài r máu pobo hau?e jutu''' = The oryx on the big beautiful mountain


'''bàu doikala''' = a/the walking man
'''nài r máu pobo hau?e jutu''' is a relative clause. We will cover RC's in a bit.


'''bàu r doikala''' = a/the man is walking
All prepositions that are not '''pila?o''' lead to the location being shunted into a relative clause. For example ...


Note ... '''bàu r doikala''' = '''bàu doikora''' ... exactly the same.
'''polga?o nài r fiagan gwai''' = "the sailing boat which is among the islands" or simply "the sailing boat among the islands"


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== ..... Saidau==
Also '''dá''' "where" can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the noun phrase into a question. For example ...
 
'''bàu gèu dá''' = where is the green man ?


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The '''saidau''' has two uses in the '''béu'''. It can either be part of a NP or it can be a copular complement. For example ...
Addendum ... To keep things simple I refrained from mentioning this before but time can also be expressed in this slot. For example "the turmoil '''jé''' 1300's". Actually location AND time can both be in this slot at the same time. For example "the anger '''pí''' Iceland '''jé''' 1950's ...".


'''bàu gèu''' = a/the green man
..


'''bàu r gèu''' = a/the man is green
'''*''' Probably derived from '''uci''' "tail".


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== ..... Olus==
=== ... Determiner===


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The '''olus kaza''' has the same stucture as '''seŋko kaza''' (see the next section) except for the second element
There are five of these ... '''dí ''' (this), '''dè''' (that), '''nái''' (which),  '''èn''' (some) and '''ín''' (any) . For example ...
 
'''dí''' and '''dè''' are called demonstratives in the WLT. They will be covered in the section after next.


The second element is replaced with three elements ... call them elements (9), (10) and (11)
'''nái''' turns the whole noun phrase into a question. For example ...


(9) is a numerative, (10) is called "holder" and (11) is the particle '''yó'''
'''bàu gèu tiji nái''' = which little green man ? ... noun phrase question


we have come across '''yó''' before. it indicates possession, in this case no actual possession but a sort of "extention" of possession. For example ...
And of course, if a NP represents a question, any clause containing this NP will also be a question. For example ...


'''iva hoŋko yó ʔazwo pona''' = two cups of hot milk
'''bàu gèu tiji nái glà timpori ''' = which little green man hit the woman ? ... a clause AND a question


where element (9) is '''iva''' "two", element (10) is '''hoŋko''' "cup" and element (11) is '''yó'''
'''èn''' "some" appear in this slot ...  '''bàu gèu tiji èn''' = "some little green man" ...... indefinite


Note ... just as '''yó''' is often dropped from '''seŋko kaza''', (11) is often dropped if '''olus kaza''' is short. For example ...
'''ín''' "any" appear in this slot ... '''bàu gèu tiji ín''' = "any little green man" .............. super indefinite


'''iva hoŋko ʔazwo''' = two cups of milk
There is one little rule to remember ...


Nouns denoting quality are '''olus''' through derived originally from '''saidau'''. For example ...
"Only one item is allowed in this slot, so if you want an indefinite as well as a demonstrative, the demonstrative is shunted off to the locative slot and given the form '''dían''' or '''dene'''."


'''nelaumi''' = blueness (from '''nelau''' "dark blue") and '''geumai''' = greenness (from '''gèu''' "green")
I guess this is logical in a way. '''dí''' and '''dè''' were originally associated with pointing. But when the object is indefinite, how can you point ? "here" or "there" is about as definite as you can get.


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== ..... Seŋko==
=== ... Side-note re demonstratives===


..
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'''seŋko''' =>  noun OR noun phrase
'''dí''' "this" and '''dè''' "that" are two words that orientate and focus the hearer's attention on an object (or location '''*''') in the speech situation. These words are called demonstratives in the WLT.


'''seŋko baga''' => noun
According to Holger [ Diessel (1999:57) ] ...


'''seŋko kaza''' => noun phrase
i) A demonstrative can be construed as an argument in its own right. That is, it can constitute a NP without any additional elements.


'''seŋko''' can have upto 8 elements.
ii) A demonstrative can co-occur with a noun in a NP. That is, it can be a noun modifier.


Below is shown the order in which they must occur.
iii)'''*''' A demonstatives can function as a verb modifier. It specifies (the) location (where something happens **).


..
'''*''' Perhaps in a more earlier version of the WLT "location" and (iii) would not be included in the definition of determiner. English and '''béu''' conform to this earlier version of the WLT. However I think it is a good idea when considering all the world's languages, to use this wider definition of "demonstrative".


[[Image:TW_569.png]]
"**" Perhaps in a language where a copula is not routinely used "where something happens" would not necessarily be appropriate.


..
And here are examples of the above three functions (in English) ...


Elements 1, 2, and 7 have restricted membership, if fact element 1 has only one possibility, the word '''hù'''. The words with red background convert the noun phrase (or indeed the sentence in which the NP is embedded) into a question. A blue circle indicates the only mandatory element. Branching arrows indicate multiple possibilities.
a) ''This'' is excellent.


=== ... The head===
b) ''That'' guy is an idiot.


3) ... the head \ '''seŋko baga'''  
c) ''Here'' we do things differently.


=== ... The adjective===
Diachronically, these three functions can run into each other. Function (a) and function (b) are particularly close. They have the exact same form in English, but no confusion can occur, because "this/that:b" can be deduced to be inside a NP by the rules of English grammar. Most languages in the world (70%) have identical forms for "this/that:a" and "this/that:b". Of the languages that do not have identical forms, the difference can be quite subtle. For example in Thai นี่ [ '''nii''' falling tone ] is "this:a" and นี้  [ '''nii''' high tone ] is "this:b". ........... [see WALS 42A]


4) ... the adjective
Some languages lack (a). For example, in Korean, to express "this:a" you must say "ce il" meaning "this thing". So (b) used instead of (a)


More than one adjective is allowed. For example ... '''bàu gèu tiji''' = the little green man
Some languages lack (b). They would say something like "the guy here" instead of "this guy". So (c) instead of (b)


'''kái''' "what type" can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the whole noun phrase (or sentence) into a question. For example ...
Some languages lack (c). They would say something like "this place we do things differently" instead of "here we do things differently". So (b) instead of (c.)


'''bàu gèu kái''' = what kind of green man ? ... noun phrase question
[ And while we are talking on this area, perhaps we should mention 3rd person pronouns (see WALS 43A). Some languages lack 3rd person pronouns. They cover this function by saying something like "this" or "that guy" ...  A further point of interest (well, I find it interesting anyway) is that the English ''he'' and ''here'' are cognates. Going back to a P.I.E. form meaning (a) or (b). ''-r'' was a ProtoGermanic adverbial suffix. ]


'''bàu gèu kái glà timpori''' = what kind of green man hit the woman ? ... sentence question
'''béu''' patterns pretty much like English (and the pattern of English is not atypical of the world's languages) ...


=== ... The locative===
'''dí''' = "this:a" : '''dè''' = "that:a"


5) ... the locative. For example ... '''bàu gèu tiji pobomau''' = the little green man on top of the mountain
'''dí''' = "this:b" : '''dè''' = "that:b"


A locative comprises of a noun plus a locative '''pilana''' ... also the '''pilana''' meaning "from" ... so in total "noun" + '''pi la mau goi ce dua bene komo ?e fi'''
'''dían''' = "this:c" (i.e. "here") : '''dene''' = "that.c" (i.e. "there")


'''dá''' "where" can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the whole noun phrase (or sentence) into a question. For example ...
I was originally thinking of just appending the '''béu''' adverbial suffix -'''is''' to produce (c). But rejected that idea in order to get more phonological contrast between ...


'''bàu gèu dá''' = where is the green man ?
(A) "this:c" and "that.c", (B) "this/that:a/b" and "this/that:c"


=== ... The genitive===
With '''dían''' there is a hint that it might be derived from '''dí''' plus '''pila?o''' 15. And also with '''dene''' ... a hint that it might have the same origin. But who can tell. These things are lost in the mists of time.


6) ... the genitive. For example '''jwado gèu nambomau yó jene''' = Jane's big green bird on top of the house
..


Note that the particle '''yó''' is usually dropped when the possessor is next to the head. However as other elements intervene, the likelihood that '''yó''' is used increases.
=== ... Further uses of '''dí''' and '''dè''' ===


If '''mín''' (who) is used instead of '''jene''' in the above ... then we would have a question ...
..


'''jwado gèu nambomau yó mín''' = Whose big green bird on top of the house ? = Whose's the big green bird on top of the house ?
If we first hear a plural noun articulated in a conversation, the most likely meaning we would assigned to it would be the universal set. For example '''moltai.a'''. There is a more explicit means to express the universal set. For example ... '''kài moltai''' = "doctor.kind" but this construction is seldom used.


=== ... The determiner===
An example of usage is ... '''moltai.a súr jini''' = "doctors are clever"


7) ... the determiner
OK ... now lets zoom in a bit. To zoom in we need to take in or give out some narrative. So now we hear the following ....


There are two determiners ... '''dí ''' (this)  and '''dè''' (that). For example ...
<b>Next week British junior doctors will withhold many services in protest against the long hour expected of them</b>


'''bàu gèu tiji pobomau dé  ''' = that little green man on top of the mountain.
OK ... after hearing that ... '''moltai.a dè''' would be taken to mean "British junior doctors"


The primary meaning is for comparing two objects that can be seen. Perhaps accompanied by gestures, '''dé ''' will be appended to the further of the two objects and by way of distinction, '''dí ''' will be appended to the nearer one.
OK ... lets hear a further bit of narrative ...


'''nái''' (which) can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the whole noun phrase (or sentence) into a question. For example ...
<b>Much to the disgruntlement of the senior doctors who will have a hard week ahead of them making up for the short fall. </b>


'''bàu gèu tiji nái''' = which little green man ? ... noun phrase question
OK ... after hearing that ...  '''moltai.a dè''' would be taken to mean "British senior doctors". So, what '''dè''' refers to doesn't persist long, Our perspective is continually changing.


'''bàu gèu tiji nái glà timpori ''' = which little green man hit the woman ? ... sentence question
[ I can't help thinking that the proximate/obviate system existing in Plains Cree would be very useful. You could keep track of two protagonists through a discourse without reverting to full NPs. But I guess there are cognative reasons why it is difficult to use. Well, if it was easy to use, it would be far more wide-spread. It must be very useful. ]


Also '''lò''' "other" appear in this slot ...  '''bàu gèu tiji lò''' = "the other little green man" or "another little green man"
This is in normal discourse. However if some objects are physically pointed out '''*''' when first introduced (and presumably they stay in sight for the duration of the discourse) what '''dí''' and '''dè''' referred to would persist.


Note ... '''dían''' => here, '''dèn''' => there ... not '''*dà dí''' and '''*dà dè'''
So we can see that '''dè''' points back in time. It brings to the top of consciousness, the last set of doctors talked about.


Note ...  '''dí '''  '''dè''' never appear independently as they do in English and many other languages. For example "this is good" => '''nèn dí r bòi''' .... literally "this THING is good"
..


Actually the above expression usually amalgamate to one word ... '''nendi r bòi''' "this is good" ... '''nende r bòi''' "that is good"
In a narrative many objects are encountered. If a newly introduced object is marked by '''dí''' it means that the object is important to the narrative and you will shortly be getting more information about it. The process is not exactly the inverse of '''anaphora'''. But one is compatible with "information given in the past leading to easy identification of which object in particular we are talking about. The other is compatible with "in the near future I will give you information about this object and you will be able to identify which object in particular I am talking about as well as I can"


Note  ... '''nò nendi''' is further contracted to => '''ndi''' and '''nò nende''' => '''nde''' .... these are syllabic nasals ... the only occurance of this sound in '''béu'''
'''béu''' and English are exactly the same in this respect.


[[Image:TW_560.png]]
'''*''' Not necessarily by using a finger ... a gesture with the head ... or even the orientation of the eyes can suffice.


Note that there is a short hand way to write these four words (shown on the RHS of the above diagram). Actually the long hand versions (shown on the LHS of the above diagram) are never used.
..


=== ... The numerative===
== ..... Kenzuma==


2) ... the numerative
..


Any number can go in here ... also '''jù''' "no"  and '''nò''' "plurality particle".
'''béu''' also has what I call an extended noun phrase. An extended noun phrase is a normal NP with either a partitive appended to the LHS, or a RC appended to the RHS.


'''láu''' (how many) can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the whole sentence into a question. For example ...
The example below shows an extended noun phrase '''kenzuma''' with both a partitive AND an RC ...


'''láu bàu r pobomau''' = How many men are on top of the mountain ?
..


With more complex '''seŋko baga''' it is usual to break it up in order to specify exactly which element is being questioned. For example ...
[[Image:SW_090.png]]


'''láu bàu gèu tiji pobomau nài doikura''' = " How many little green men on the  mountain that are walking? " ... would be re-phrased as ...


'''wò bàu gèu tiji pobomau _ láu doikura''' = w.r.t. the little green man on top of the mountain, how many are walking ? ... or ...
{|
|-
! || uya ||  wì  || yiŋkai  || ofa || nài || tunheu-h || doik-u-r-a
|-
| ..... ||three  ||  of   || girl || five || {{small|REL}}  || townhall-{{small|DAT}} || walk-{{small|3PL-IND-PRES}}
|}
..... Three of the five girls that are walking to the townhall.


'''wò bàu tiji pobomau nài doikura _ láu r gèu''' = w.r.t. the little man on top of the mountain who are walking, how many are green ?
..


=== ... The relative clause===
=== ... The relative clause===


8) ... the relative clause
..


Relative clauses "RC" work pretty much the same as English relative clauses. The relativizer is '''nài''' (that, who). Here are some examples ...
The '''béu''' relative clause is pretty similar to the English relative clause. However not exactly so.


'''yiŋkai nài doikore''' = the girl that has walked
A relative clause is a clause that modifies a NP of course. I think the best way to explain how the '''béu''' RC  works is to give three examples. Each example will demonstrate a subtype of RC. In each example I will reconstitute the plain clause (PC) underlying the RC by looking at the NP and the RC.


'''bàu nài glás timpore''' = the man whom the woman has hit
(1)


'''glá nàis bàu timpore''' = the woman who has hit the man
{|
|-
! yiŋkai || ofa ||nài  || doik-u-r-a
|-
| the girl || five ||  {{small|REL}}  || walk-{{small|3PL-IND-PRES}}
|} => the five girls who are walking


'''bàu nàin glás fyori yiŋkaiwo''' = the man to whom the woman told about the girl
NP = '''yiŋkai ofa''' : RC = '''nài doikura''' => PC = '''yiŋkai ofa doikura''' "five girls are walking" ....... notice that '''nài''' is binned.


'''glá naiji bàus bundore nambo''' = the woman for whom the man has built a house
In the above PC  '''yiŋkai''' is absolutive.


All the '''pilana''' can be appended to the relativizer to specify what roll the noun would have in the relative clause if it was a simple clause.
(2)


=== ... The emphatic particle===
{|
|-
! bàu || nài-h  || glá-s || fy-o-r-i || yiŋkai-wo
|-
| the man ||  {{small|REL-DAT}}  || women-{{small|ERG}}  || tell-{{small|3SG-IND-PAST}}  || girl-{{small|ABOUT}}
|} => the man to whom the woman told about the girl


1) ... the emphatic particle is '''só'''.
NP = '''bàu''' : RC = '''nàih glás fyori yiŋkaiwo''' => PC = '''bàuh glás fyori yiŋkaiwo''' ............ notice that '''nài''' is again binned. Also -'''h''' has to find some other word to stick on to.


'''só''' is used where we would use what is called  "right dislocation" in English. For example ...
In the above PC '''bàu''' is dative.  


'''bàus só glán nori alha''' = It is the woman to whom the man gave flowers.
(3)


'''bàus só glán nori alha @''' = Is it the woman to whom the man gave flowers ?
{|
|-
! gwai.a || nài  || polg-ai-r-a || fía || ?ode
|-
| the islands ||  {{small|REL}}  || sail-{{small|1PL.INC-IND-PRES}}  || between || them
|} => "the islands that we are sailing between"


'''só''' might be used in exasperated when somebody can not see something. For example ...
NP = '''gwaia''' : RC = '''nài polgaira fía ?ode''' => PC = '''polgaira fía gwaia''' ...................... '''nài''' is again binned. Also '''?ode''' is discarded. The NP must be positioned behind '''fía''', the preposition that governs it.


{|border=1
In the above PC '''gwaia''' is not absolutive, also not adorned by a '''pila?o'''. Instead it exists in a prepositional phrase. For this reason, a pronoun '''?ode''' is needed in the RC to represent the NP
|align=center| '''só nendi'''
|align=center| "this one !"
|align=center| '''só nende'''
|align=center| "that one !"
|-
|align=center| '''só ndi '''
|align=center| "these ones!"
|align=center| '''só nde'''
|align=center| "those ones !"
|}


This can also used as a sort of vocative case ... not obligatory but can be used before a persons name when trying to get their attention. For example ...
..


'''só jene''' = Hey, Jane
I believe that Arabic structures its RC in a similar way to the above.


'''só gì''' = Hey, you
..


There is also an ajective intensifier '''sowe''', which is no doubt related to the above.
OK ... you should all be experts in RC's now. You just run backward the 3 NP + RC => PC processes.


..
..


== ..... Feŋgi==
This is discussed in greater detail in CH5.


..
..


The '''feŋgi''' or particles are too diverse to say anything meaningful about them here. We will learn them one by one as we go though the ten chapters.
=== ... The partitive===


..
..


But just to fill out this section a bit, I will give you two sets of pronouns. One set being the pronouns in their unmarked form'''*''' and the other ... the pronouns in their ergative form'''**'''.
A few sections back I mentioned '''ló''' ... the '''béu''' equivalent to "other/others/the other/another/the others".
 
'''ló''' is used where the speech participants have agreed on the population (of whatever noun category) under consideration but one of them wants to expand this population.
 
This expansion is a bit like "a shot in the dark", the speech participant requesting additional items usually is in the dark as to that additional items are available. Because of this, there is only one word '''ló'''. I mean, if the speech participant requesting additional items had an idea about what additional items were available, he could add more detail along with his request. Perhaps we would have '''donu''' meaning "another with a bell", '''doni''' meaning "another with a whistle" ... well O.K. I am being a bit facetious ... but you understand what I am getting at.
 
Now '''ló''' is used to expand the population under consideration ... to increase the scope of the conversation ... to sort of "zoom out".
 
Now sometimes it is necessary to "zoom in". For instance suppose you heard "three of the doctors decided to stop off at the pub on the way home" within  larger narrative. After this point, these three doctors could be referred to as ''they''. The main-protagonists/subject/topic have been reduced from eight to three. Zooming in is not a shot in the dark. The population under consideration is a known concept. The usual method is to specify the "new scope" plus the "original scope" in some sort of construction. The languages of the world all have methods for zooming in ... usually some quite simple construction, often involving a particle which has evolved from "from"/"out of". '''wì''' is the particle used in '''béu'''. Some examples of its use ...
 
'''ú wì moltai''' = all of the doctors
 
'''yè wì moltai''' = some of the doctore = several of those doctors = a number of those doctors
 
'''jù wì moltai''' = none of the doctors
 
'''tontu wì moltai dí''' = the majority of these doctors
 
'''a?a lú tuge wì moltai dè''' more = one or more of those doctors


Here, for a transitive clause, "that which initiates the action" is called the A argument, and "that which is affected by the action" the O argument. Also, for an intransitive verb, the noun is called the S argument. It is convenient to make a distinction between all three cases. I follow RMW Dixon in using this terminology.
'''hài wì moltai dè''' = many of those doctors


In most languages the S argument is marked the same way as the A argument. However in some languages the S argument is marked the same way as the O argument. These are called ergative languages. '''béu''' is one of these ergative languages. About a quarter of the world languages are ergative or partly ergative.
'''ima ín wì moltai dè''' = any two of those doctors


Below are the '''béu''' pronouns for the S and O arguments. This form can be considered the "unmarked form".
'''moltai wì bawa dí''' = the doctors out of these men


[ Note ... '''ú wì moltai''' = "all of the doctors" is pretty similar to '''ú moltai''' and '''moltai ú''' ... similarly these expressions with '''jù'''. Nothing really to worry about. You have similar flexibility in many languages (including English). Perhaps '''ú wì moltai''' stresses that no "zooming" is happening. Perhaps '''ú moltai''' is used for generic statements such as '''ú moltai r jini''' "all doctors are clever". Perhaps '''moltai ú''' is used in non-generic statements such as '''moltai ú ture tìa pà''' "all the doctors came to my home this morning" ]
..
..


{| border=1
I suppose the nearest equivalent of '''wì''' is "of". However '''wì''' has not so many functions as "of". For "belonging to", '''yó''' is used. For "relating to"/"connected with". '''wò''' is used.
  |align=center| me
 
  |align=center| '''pà'''
[Still thinking if '''wì''' should be involved with "a glass of milk"/"a heart of gold"]
  |align=center| us
  |align=center| '''wìa'''
  |align=center| inclusive
  |-
  |align=center|
  |align=center|
  |align=center| us
  |align=center|  '''yùa'''
  |align=center| exclusive
  |-
  |align=center| you
  |align=center| '''gì'''
  |align=center| you
  |align=center| '''jè'''
  |-
  |align=center| him, her
  |align=center| '''ò'''
  |align=center| them
  |align=center| '''nù'''
  |-
  |align=center| it
  |align=center| '''ʃì'''
  |align=center| them
  |align=center| '''ʃì'''
    |}


..
..


NOTE ... Pronouns  differ from nouns in that their tones change between the ergative and the unmarked form. For a normal noun it is sufficient that -'''s''' is suffixed. For example ...
Pronouns are used in partitives in the same way as NP's.
 
'''a?a wì pài''' = "one of us"
 
'''ima wì onde''' = "two of them"
 
'''há ima wì onde glá timpura''' = "two of them are hitting the woman"
 
[ I guess English is a bit stange w.r.t. plural pronoun. I mean ... why not "*two of they are walking" {following the pattern "they are walking"} instead of "two of them are walking" ]
 
----
 
Two other numeratives that we haven't mentioned yet are '''tontu''' "the majority"/"most" and '''tonji''' "the minority".
 
'''ton''' = bit/part/section ... '''tontu''' <= '''ton jutu''' ... '''tonji''' <= '''ton tiji''' ... '''toŋko''' = to seperate ???


..
..


{|
== ... 16 useful little words==
|-
! bàu-s ||align=center| glá || timp-o-r-e
|-
| man-{{small|ERG}} |align=center|woman||align=center| hit-{{small|3SG-IND-PRF}}
|} ==> The man hit the woman


..


{|  
{| border=1
|-
  |align=center| '''jupu'''
! bàu ||align=center| glá-s || timp-o-r-e
  |align=center| nobody
|-
  |align=center| '''upu'''
| man ||align=center| woman-{{small|ERG}}|| hit-{{small|3SG-IND-PRF}}
  |align=center| everybody
|} ==> The woman hit the man
  |-
  |align=center| '''juku'''
  |align=center| never
  |align=center| '''uku'''
  |align=center| always
  |-
  |align=center| '''juda'''
  |align=center| nowhere
  |align=center| '''uda'''
  |align=center| everywhere
  |-
  |align=center| '''jufen'''
  |align=center| nothing
  |align=center| '''ufen'''
  |align=center| everything
|}


..
..


Below are the pronouns in the ergative form.
The above are obviously eroded forms of '''jú pú''', '''ú pú''', ...  etc. etc.


..
..


{| border=1
{| border=1
  |align=center| I
   |align=center| '''pu.en'''  
   |align=center| '''pás'''
   |align=center| somebody
   |align=center| we
   |align=center| '''pu.in'''
   |align=center| '''wías'''
   |align=center| anybody
  |-
   |- 
   |align=center|  
   |align=center| '''kyu.en'''  
   |align=center|
   |align=center| sometime
  |align=center| we
   |align=center| '''kyu.in'''
   |align=center| '''yúas'''
   |align=center| any time
  |-
  |- 
   |align=center| you
   |align=center| '''da.en'''  
   |align=center| '''gís'''
   |align=center| somewhere
   |align=center| you
   |align=center| '''da.in'''
   |align=center| '''jés'''
   |align=center| anywhere
  |-
  |- 
   |align=center| he, she
   |align=center| '''fenen'''  
   |align=center| '''ós'''
   |align=center| something
   |align=center| they
   |align=center| '''fenin'''
   |align=center| '''nús'''
   |align=center| anything
  |-
|}
   |align=center| it
   |align=center| '''ʃís'''
   |align=center| they
  |align=center| '''ʃís'''
    |}


..
..


'''jè''' and '''jés''' are the second person plural forms.  
The above are obviously eroded forms of '''pú èn''', '''pú ín''' etc. etc. They are all two syllable words, and of course as two syllable words lack tone.
 
The words in the first column above can be made plural by adding '''yè'''  ... '''pu.in yè''' = some people, '''kyu.en yè''' = sometimes, etc. etc.


There is one other pronoun ... the reflexive pronoun '''tí'''. This is always an O argument. Notice that it is the only O argument with a high tone.
..


'''*''' In the Western Linguistic Tradition, these "forms" are called "cases". The English word case used in this sense comes from the Latin casus, which is derived from the verb cadere, "to fall", from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱad-.  The Latin word is a calque of the Greek πτῶσις, ptosis, "falling, fall". The sense is that all other cases are considered to have "fallen" away from the nominative (considered the unmarked form in Latin).  
'''upu''' and '''ufen''' can be followed by '''uwe''' to show that the group is acting (or undergoing an action) collectively.  


'''**''' By the way, there are 17 marked forms in '''béu''' ... the ergative being just one of these 17.
'''a?awe''' can be added to show that the group is acting (or undergoing an action) individually.


..
..


== ..... Word order==
== ..... Olus==


..
..


In English it is the order of the verb and the arguments that shows who is the doer and what is the "done to". Namely the A and S argument come before the verb and the O argument after.  
'''olus''' can mean "noun". It can also mean "noun phrase" (NP).


[ English is a non-ergative language and hence the A and S argument get treated in the same way. ]
Whereas '''kenʒi''' refers to countable nouns, '''olus''' is the term used for uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns).


In '''béu''', to show who is the doer and what is the "done to", the suffix -'''s''' is appended to the A argument. For example ...
The expansion of '''olus''' by various modifiers is quite similar to '''kenʒi''' ...




'''glás bàu timpore''' => The woman has hit the man ..... (with "the man" being the O argument)
[[Image:SW_091.png]]


'''glá bàus timpore''' => The man has hit the woman ...... (with "the man" being the A argument)
Of course numbers, '''iyo''' and '''hài''' are not appropriate (quantity slot)


'''bàu doikora''' => The man is walking ........................... (with "the man" being the S argument)
Also the items in the determiner slot are a bit "iffy". For example '''moze dí''' is perhaps '''kài moze dí''' with '''kài''' elided.


..


[ '''béu''' is an ergative language and hence the O and S argument have the same form. ]
So ... an example of an  '''olus''' ...


'''hoŋko ima wì ?azwo pona''' =  "two cups of warm milk"


But even though '''béu''' doesn't use word order  to show who is the doer and what is the "done to", it does use word order for another purpose. Namely to show if an argument is definite'''*''' or not. For example ...
..


A few hundred words have a dual existence ... in one guise '''olus''' in another guise  '''kenʒi'''.  With final vowel '''e u a o''' or '''i''' (the last one is especially common) they have a collective meaning. For example ...


'''bàu doikor''' = The man walks
..


'''doikor bàu''' = A man walks
{|
! bodi ||align=center|  ng-o-r
|-
| birds || fly-{{small|3SG-IND}}
|} =>small birds fly ................. [notice the third person singular agreement on the verb]


..


So we see ... an argument coming before the verb is definite and one coming after the verb is indefinite.
However with a change of the final vowel to '''ai''' these concepts become countable.


In English only 2 orders are found. Namely ... SV and AVO ...  (V = verb). However in '''béu''' you have what is called "free word order". This means that you can come across the following eight orders ... SV, VS, AVO, AOV, VAO, OVA, OAV and VOA.  
..


But actually in a piece of discourse, it is most likely that the S or A argument are old information and probably the topic (the thing that you have been going on about for some time). In '''béu''' an established  topic is usually dropped and so the eight sentence orders shown above collapse to 3. Namely ...  V(s)'''**''' , O V(a) and V(a) O
{|
! bodai ||align=center|  lail-o-r-a
|-
| a small bird || sing-{{small|3SG-IND-PRES}}
|} => a small bird is singing


'''*''' And when I say definite, I mean that <U>the person being spoken to</U> can identify X as one particular X instead of some X or any X ... if X was a person, then <U>the person being spoken to</U> could put a face to X.
..


'''**''' V(s) represents a verb marked for the person/number of the S argument and V(a) represents a verb marked for the person/number of the A argument.
Which can be made plural by putting a number in front (or one of the other numeratives).


..
..


== ... The Case system==
{|
!  bodai ||align=center| uya || lail-u-r-a
|-
|  small bird || three || sing-{{small|3PL-IND-PRES}}
|} => three small birds are singing


..
..


We have just mentioned the ergative form. In total there are 17 cases of course (if you were to include the unmarked case as well you have 18 different forms). They are called the '''pilana'''.
Here are some more of these concepts treated in this way ...
 
..


These are attached to a noun and show the relationship of that noun with respect to the rest of the sentence.
{| border=1
  |align=center| '''yinki'''
  |align=center| crumpet
  |align=center| '''yinkai'''
  |align=left| a young unmarried woman, an attractive girl, a virgin
  |-
  |align=center| '''toti'''
  |align=center| children
  |align=center| '''totai'''
  |align=left| a child
  |-
  |align=center| '''wazbo'''
  |align=center| distance
  |align=center| '''wazbai'''
  |align=left| 3,680 m  (the unit of distance ... the '''béu''' km or mile)
  |-
  |align=center| '''malkufa'''
  |align=center| cabbages
  |align=center| '''malkufai'''
  |align=left| a cabbage
  |-
  |align=center| '''alha'''
  |align=center| flowers
  |align=center| '''alhai'''
  |align=left| a flower
  |}


The word '''pilana''' is built up from ;-
.. [[Image:TW_793.png]]


'''pila''' (v) = to place, to position
..


'''pilana''' (a, n) = positioning, the positioner
Words derived using the suffixes '''mi'''/'''mai''' also pattern with these dual identity words. For example ... '''beumai''' = "somebody with knowledge of the '''béu''' language and/or culture" : '''beumi''' = "the entire body of people with knowledge of the '''béu''' language and/or culture"


..
..


[[Image:TW_450.png]]
Remember that all collectives take singular pronouns and, if they are A or S arguments, produce an -'''o'''- in slot 1 of the verb (as opposed to -'''u'''-).


..
..


The '''pilana''' are either realized as affixes or as prepositions.  
There is a particle '''k+''', that when put in front of a '''saidau''' or a '''kenʒi''' gives an '''olus'''
 
You hear it a lot prefixed to animal names ... like when talking about characteristics which are common to an entire species. For example ...
 
'''sadu''' "elephant" ... '''k+ sadu''' "the elephants" or "elephants" ... as in '''k+ sadu r jodo jini''' "the elephant is an inteligent animal"
 
'''gèu''' "green" .......... '''k+ gèu''' "the green ones"
 


Whether the '''pilana''' appears as an suffix or a preposition depends on '''seŋko''' '''*''' ... if '''seŋko baga''', then the affix is used ... if '''seŋko kaza''', then the preposition is used.  For example ...
{|
|-
! k+ sadu || r || jodo || jini
|-
| elephant-kind || {{small|COP}} || animal || clever
|}


'''nambodua''' = beyond the house
Note ... '''k+''' is in free variation with '''kài''' "sort/type/kind"


'''dùa nambo yó yinkai hauʔe''' = beyond the house of the pretty girl


'''*''' or in other words, if the NP is only one word one uses the suffix, and if the NP is more than one word one uses the preposition }
'''**''' Birds smaller than pidgeons are '''bodai'''. Birds that are pidgeon size and above are '''jwado''' ... '''jwado''' is '''kenʒi'''.


..
..


[[Image:TW_563.png]]
== ..... Saidau==


[[Image:TW_565.png]]
..


[[Image:TW_570.png]]
The '''saidau''' (adjective) has two uses in '''béu'''. It can either be part of a NP or it can be a copular complement. For example ...


[[Image:TW_567.png]]
'''bàu gèu''' = a/the green man


[[Image:TW_568.png]]
'''bàu r gèu''' = a/the man is green


'''gèu''' above is a simple adjective. Adjective phrases exist as well.


An important particle that increases the degree of an adjective is  '''sowe'''. For example ... '''gèu sowe''' "very green"


Note on the script ... If they are realized as affixes then, in the '''béu''' script uses a sort of shorthand. That is the affix is represented as one letter.
..


These adjectives can become nouns by froning them with '''ə''',  '''kə''' and '''kuwai'''.


.. As parts of speech
'''ə gèu''' = a/the green one


..
'''kə gèu''' = a/the green ones


'''pilana''' of location phrases (i.e. nouns with 1 -> 8 or 15) can be considered adjectives if they come after a noun and adverbs if they come after a verb. They must come after a noun or a verb. Sometimes they come after the copula<sup>*</sup>. In this case they are adjectives. Now often the copula is dropped ... but if this dropping results in any ambiguity it can be readily "undropped".
'''kuwai gèu''' = greenness


'''pilana''' of motional phrases (i.e. nouns with 13, 14, 16 or 17) can be considered adverbs. They can come in any position because it is understood that they are qualifying the verb.


'''pilana''' phrases defining sentence rolls (i.e. nouns with 9, 10, 11 or 12) can come anywhere. They are considered nouns.
[ NOTE : I don't think the schwa is visually distinct enough. From now on I will use a plus sign to depict the schwa ]


<sup>*</sup> [ Notice that in English, you can either say ... "a bird is in the tree" or "in the tree is a bird"


In '''béu''' only '''jwado r ʔupaiʔe''' is valid ... also note that in this case '''jwado''' is not definite because it is left of the verb. That rule doesn't work with the copula. ]
'''+ gèu''' = a/the green one


..
'''k+ gèu''' = a/the green ones


== ... Questions==
'''kuwai gèu''' = greenness


..


English is quite typical of languages in general and has 8 content question words ... "which", "what", "who", "whose", "where", "when", "how" and "why".  
OK ... that's better.


[ Note ... there was also a "whom" until quite recently ]


These are the most profound words in the English language. (When I say "profound" I am talking about "time depth" ... these words are very very old)
'''+''' and '''k+''' are historically derived from '''?à''' "one" and '''kài''' "type". Actually they are in free variation with their historical counterparts ... a bit like "either" in English can have two pronounciations. When you want to emphasize, you would of course use the phonetically heavier version.


However these question words have over the mellenia been sequestered to support other functions. For example "who" can be used to ....
'''kuwai''' is a word meaning property/characteristic.


1) Solicit a response in the form of a persons identity
Actually these 3 words are also productive with "locatives" and "genitives" as well. For example ...


2) As a relativizer particle ... for example ... "The man who kicked the dog"
'''+ pobomau''' = the one on top of the mountain


3) As a complement clause particle ... for example ... "She asked who had kicked the dog"
'''+ yó jene''' = the one belonging to Jane


4) In the compound "whoever" which is an indefinite pronoun.
..


Only in the first example is "who" asking a question.
[[Image:TW_918.png]]


..
..


'''béu''' has 10  question words ...  
The above chart shows the main derivational pathways in '''béu'''. Only pathways 2, 3, 4 are relevent to this section.


..
..


{| border=1
Note ... '''+ gèu sowe''' = "a/the very green one" ...  '''sowe''' never modifies a '''senko'''.
  |align=center| '''nén nós'''
 
  |align=center| what
By the way ... determiners and relative clauses can also stand by themselves, but they are unmodified when they do so. (Note to self : are you sure about this ?)
  |-
  |align=center| '''mín mís'''
  |align=center| who
  |-
  |align=center|  '''láu'''
  |align=center| "how much/many"
  |-
  |align=center| '''kái'''
  |align=center| "what kind of"
  |-
  |align=center| '''dá'''
  |align=center| where
  |-
  |align=center| '''nái'''
  |align=center| which
  |-
  |align=center| '''kyú'''
  |align=center| when
  |-
  |align=center| '''sái'''
  |align=center| "why"
  |-
  |align=center|  '''ʔai?'''
  |align=center| "solicits a yes/no response"
  |-
  |align=center|  '''ʔala'''
  |align=center| which of two
  |}


..
..


If you hear any of these words you know you are being solicited for some information. That is these words have no other function apart from asking questions.
== ..... Pila?o==


..
..


'''nós''' and '''mís''' are the ergative equivalents to '''nén''' and '''mín''' (the unmarked words). The dative forms are '''í nén''' and '''í mín'''.
In total there are 17 cases plus the unmarked case (the absolutive case). The absolutive is not called a case in the '''béu''' linguistic tradition : instead it is called "noun base"


These 17 cases are called '''pila?o'''.


These are attached to a noun and show the relationship of that noun with respect to the rest of the sentence.


English is among the 1/3 of world languages which fronts a question word. '''béu''' fronts 4 of its 10 question words ... '''nén mín sái''' and '''kyú'''.
..


Now '''láu kái dá''' and '''nái''' are stuck within'''*''' their NP  (refer back to the diagram in the section titled '''Seŋko''') and the elements in a NP are fixed. Well it is possible that '''láu''' could come sentence initial but not '''kái dá''' and '''nái''' as they are positioned to the right of the mandatory head.
The word '''pila?o''' is built up from ;-


As for the other 2 question words ... '''ʔai?''' always come sentence final ...  and '''ʔala''' comes between two elements of the same class (these elements subject to the usual ordering rules)
'''pila''' (v) = to place, to position, to correctly align


Here are some examples of these words in action ...
'''pila?o''' (n) = the positioner


..
..


Statement ... '''bàus glán nori alha''' = the man gave the woman flowers
Probably the most important case is the ergative (the 11th case). In English it is the order of the verb and the arguments that shows who is the doer and what is the "done to". Namely the A and S argument come before the verb and the O argument after ...  [ English is a non-ergative language and hence the A and S argument get treated in the same way.]


Question 1 ... '''mís glán nori alha''' = who gave the woman flowers ?
In '''béu''', to show who is the doer and what is the "done to", the suffix -'''s''' is appended to the A argument. For example ...


Question 2 ... '''í mín bàus nori alha''' = the man gave flowers to who ?
..


Question 3 ... '''nén bàus glán nori''' = what did the man give the woman ?
'''glás bàu timporI''' => The woman hit the man ............... (with "the man" being the O argument)


Question 4 ... '''í glá nái bàus nori alha''' = the man gave the flowers to which woman ?
'''glá bàus timporI''' => The man hit the woman ................. (with "the man" being the A argument)


Question 5 ... '''á bàu nái glán nori alha''' = which man gave the woman flowers ?
'''bàu tìah doikori''' => The man walked home ........................... (with "the man" being the S argument) ... [ '''béu''' is an ergative language and hence the O and S argument have the same form.]


Question 6 ... '''alha kái bàus glán nori''' = what type of flowers did the man give the woman ?
..


Question 7 ... '''láu alha bàus glán nori''' = how many flowers did the man give the woman
[[Image:SW_063.png]]


Question 8 ... '''bàus glán nori alha ʔala cokolate''' = Did the man gave the woman flowers or chocolate ?
..


Question 9 ... '''bàus glán nori alha ʔai?''' = Did the man gave the woman flowers ?
There is a regular relationship between preposition and affix, apart from (11) which is highly irregular, (16) which is irregular and (17) which is very slightly irregular. When suffixes they all are usually written using a single consonant. No confusion can arise as normally consonants are illicit word finally. However there is no abbreviated forms for (15) and (17). Of the 17 consonants, ? and n are not involved in these abbreviations.


..
..


Occasionally you hear '''nenji''' instead of '''sái'''. This is just '''nén''' + the tenth '''pilana''' ... so it means "for what".
The '''pila?o''' are either realized as either affixes or as prepositions.
 
Whether the '''pila?o''' appears as an suffix or a preposition depends on whether you have a N (noun) or a NP (noun phrase). If you have N the affix is used, if you have NP the preposition is used.


"how" is expressed as '''wé nái''' which means "which way" or "which manner"
'''tiadua''' = beyond the house


'''*''' These 4 words often stand alone. But when they do, they are still considered within a NP ... only that the rest of the NP has been dropped.
'''dùa tìa yó yinkai hauʔe''' = beyond the house of the pretty girl


..
..


Polar Questions
[[Image:TW_940.png]]


..
[[Image:SW_092.png]]


A polar question is a question that can be answered with "yes" or "no".
[[Image:SW_093.png]]


To turn a normal statement into a polar question the particle '''ʔai?''' is stuck on at the very end.
[[Image:SW_094.png]]


It has its own symbol (and I transcribe it as '''ʔai?''') because it possesses its own tone contour.
[[Image:TW_568.png]]


I have mentioned this particle in chapter 1 (if you look back you can see its exact tone contour). Here is its symbol again ... [[Image:TW_399.png]]


And here is an example of it in action ...


[[Image:TW_492.png]] ... '''jono jaŋkori ʔai?''' = Did John run ?
Note on the script ... If they are realized as affixes then, in the '''béu''' script uses a sort of shorthand. That is the affix is represented as one letter.


..
..


'''ʔai?''' is neutral as to the response expected ... well at least in positive questions.
Earlier we have seen that when 2 nouns come together the second one qualifies the first.
 
However this is only true when the words have no '''pila?o''' affixed to them.  If you have two contiguous nouns suffixed by the same '''pila?o''' then they are both considered to contribute equally to the sentence roll specified. For example ...


To answer a positive question you answer '''ʔaiwa''' "yes" or '''aiya''' "no" (of course if "yes" or "no" are not adequate, you can digress ... the same as any language).
'''jonos jenes solbur moze''' = "John and Jane drink water"


Here is an example of a positive question ...
In the absence of an affixed '''pila?o''', to show that two nouns contribute equally to a sentence (instead of the second one qualifying the first) the particle '''lé''' should be placed between them. For example ...


'''glá r hauʔe ʔai?''' = Is the woman beautiful ?
'''jono lé jene maumur''' = "John and Jane sleep"


If she is beautiful you answer '''ʔaiwa''', if not you answer '''aiya'''<sup>*</sup>.
Compare the above two examples to '''jono jene maumor''' = "Jane's John sleeps" ... that is "the John that is in a relationship with Jane, sleeps".


..
..


To answer a negative question it is not so simple. '''ʔaiwa''' and '''aiya''' are deemed insufficient to answer a negative question on their own. For example ...
.. As parts of speech


'''glá bù r hauʔe ʔai?''' = Is the woman not beautiful ?
..


If she is not beautiful, you should answer '''bù hauʔe'''<sup>**</sup>, if she is you can answer either '''hù hauʔe''' or '''glá r hauʔe'''
'''pila?o''' of location phrases (i.e. nouns with 1 -> 8 or 15) can be considered adjectives. They must come after a noun or a verb. 


I guess a negative question expects a negative answer, so a positive answer must be quite accoustically prominent (that is a short answer ("yes" or "no") is not enough)
'''pila?o''' of motional phrases (i.e. nouns with 13, 14, 16 or 17) can be considered adverbs. They can come in any position because it is understood that they are qualifying the verb.


..
'''pila?o''' phrases defining sentence rolls (i.e. nouns with 9, 10, 11 or 12) can come anywhere. They are considered clause arguments.


We have mentioned '''só''' already ... in the above section about '''Seŋko'''. This is the focus particle. It has a number of uses. When you want to emphasis one word in a clause, you would stick '''hù''' in front of it<sup>***</sup>.
----


Another use for '''só''' is when hailing somebody .... '''só jono''' = Hey Johnny
(Note to self : move the below to a different section)


You can also stick it in front of someone's name when you are talking to them. However it is not a "vocative case" exactly. Well for one thing it is never mandatory. When used the speaker is gently chiding the listener : he is saying, something like ... the view you have is unique/unreasonable or the act you have done is unique/unreasonable. When I say unique I mean "only the listener" hold these views : the listener's views/actions are a bit strange.
<sup>*</sup> [ Notice that in English, you can either say ... "a bird is in the tree" or "in the tree is a bird"


When stuck in front of a non-multi-syllable verb you get an imperative. For example ... '''só nyáu''' = Go home
In '''béu''' only '''jwado r ʔupaiʔe''' is valid ... also note that in this case '''jwado''' is not definite because it is left of the verb. That rule doesn't work with the copula. ]
 
'''só''' can also be used to highlight one element is a statement or polar question. For example ...


Statement ... '''bàus glán nori alha''' = the man gave flowers to the woman
----


Focused statement ... '''bàus só glán nori alha''' = It is the woman to whom the man gave flowers.<sup>****</sup>
'''jenes solbori moʒi lé ʔazwo''' = "Jane drank water and milk"


Unfocused question ... '''bàus glán nori alha ʔai?''' = Did the man give flowers to the woman ?
'''jonos jenes hecuri sadu ima lé ʔusfa uya''' = John and Jane saw two elephants and three giraffes.


Focused statement ... '''bàus só glán nori alha ʔai?''' = It is to the woman that the man gave flowers ?
This word is that is never written out in full but has its own symbol. See below ...


..
..


Any argument can be focused in this way.
== ..... Maŋga==


..
..


<sup>*</sup>These words have a unique tone contour as well ... at least when spoken in isolation. I suppose I should have given these two words a symbol each ... if I wanted to be consistent.  
These are verbs. In particular '''maŋga''' = "the infinitive form of the verb" or "verbal noun". They call it "maSdar" in Arabic.
 
I shall call it "base verb".


<sup>**</sup>Mmm ... maybe you could answer '''ʔaiwa''' here ... but a bit unusual ... not entirely felicitous.
In the BLT ('''béu''' linguistic tradition) the base verb is considered "dead" or "inactive". Only when a suitable "tail" is added does it become "alive" or "active".  


<sup>***</sup>In English, when you want to emphasis a word, you make it more accoustically prominent : you don't rush over it but give it a very careful articulation. This is iconic and I guess all languages do the same. It is a pity that .....there is no easy way to represent this in the English orthography apart from increasing the font size or adding exclamation marks.
So "finite verb" is called '''maŋga ?algu'''. The infinitive form of the verb is simply  '''maŋga'''


<sup>****</sup>English uses a process called "left dislocation" to give emphasis to an element in a clause.
(By the way ...  '''?algu''' = alive) ... the next Chapter is all about  '''maŋga ?algu'''.


..
..


== ... Introducing 6 particles==
In '''béu''' the base verb is a noun. This is different to most languages in the world. In most languages, verbal nouns are derived from verbs. For example ... destroy => destruction : verb => noun whereas in '''béu'''. For example ... '''twá''' : "a/the meeting" => '''twarua''' : "I intend to meet".


..
..


{| border=1
English is very chaotic as to the various means it derives nouns from verbs. For example ... "discover" + "y" => the discovery ... "destroy" + "tion" => the destruction ... "run" + '''∅''' => a/the run. Whereas '''béu''' is as orderly as it is possible to get.
  |align=center|  '''làu'''
  |align=center| as
  |-
  |align=center| '''kài'''
  |align=center| like
  |-
  |align=center| '''dà'''
  |align=center| where
  |-
  |align=center| '''kyù'''
  |align=center| when
  |-
  |align=center| '''sài'''
  |align=center| because
  |-
  |align=center| '''gò'''
  |align=center| in order to
  |}


OK ... lets get started ...


'''nèn''' = thing
'''solbe''' = "to drink"


'''mìn''' = person
Now the '''manga''' can amalgamate with other elements. For example ...


'''nài''' = "relativizer"
'''solbe saco''' = "to drink quickly" or "drinking quickly"


...and adding more elements ...


..
'''solbe moze sacois*''' = "to drink the water quickly" or "drinking the water quickly"


The above table is very interesting. The first column has generic nouns. You can see the relationship to the question words'''*''' in the previous section. Now these words in the first column are both lexical words and function words (i.e. particles). The second column gives their lexical word equivalent in English and the third column gives their functional word equivalent in English.
'''solbe moze sacois''' and  '''solbe saco''' are examples of '''maŋguma''' ('''maŋga''' plus the augmentive  -'''uma''')


Now you might think ... wouldn't this cause some confusion ?  I think not ( I guess I will see when I start to do translations :-)  )
Actually a  '''maŋguma''' can get as involved as a clause can. With arguments to the left of the head considered definite and arguments to the right, indefinite. But there is one difference. The ergative argument is marked by the particle '''hí''' rather than '''há''' or -'''ta''' or -'''s'''.


For one thing, the generic nouns have such a wide meaning that they are not used that much. For example, if you tell somebody "this is a thing" you are not actually giving them a lot of information, are you ?
so adding even more elements ...


For another thing,  when these words are used lexically, often they have some qualification that blocks their functional interpretation. For example '''gò (yó) pà''' = "my intention", '''kài dè''' = "that kind", etc. etc.
'''hí jono solbe moze sacois hí jono''' = "John drinking the water quickly" or "for John to drink the water quickly".


When they are used as functional words, they introduce a Generic Phrases (GP from now on) [my terminology] and the GP has the continous intonation pattern typical of a phrase.
This is as involved as I will go. But note that other clausal elements ( dative object, time, adverb, instrument, reason, purpose) can be added. As in normal clauses there is a tendancy to add them to the RHS.  


Below are examples of these GP's.
Now the '''maŋguma''' is basically a noun ... as is '''kenʒi''' and '''olus'''. And as with '''kenʒi''' and '''olus''' more modifiers can be added.


..
..


'''jene r wò hái làu jono''' = Jane is as tall as John .............................................. adjective
[[Image:SW_095.png]]I don't know the '''béu''' name for this. Actually I don't know the English name for this.


'''jene r kài jono wò hái''' = Jane is as tall as John .............................................. adjective
The items in the determiner slot are quite rare compared to  '''kenʒi''', but they are licit. There can be nothing in the quantity slot or the ownership slot.


'''pà utwa dà yildos twairi''' = meet me where we met in the morning ................ adverb
The "number + '''wì'''" modifier is quite rare. It means "so many iterations of the action". For example ...


'''toili gìn naru kyù twairu''' = I will give you the book when we meet ................. adverb
'''uya wì hí pà solbe moze''' = (the) three times I drank water


'''toili òn nari sài ò klár''' = I gave her the book because I like her ...................... reason clause (past)
..


'''pà dîan tare gò náu toili gìn''' = I come here to give you a book ...................... reason clause (future)
Adjectives can be a bit confusing. For example '''saco''' "quick" would be used immediately after '''maŋga'''. But if not immediately after '''maŋga''' but within the '''maŋguma''', it should take the form '''sacois''' (-'''is''' being the adjective => adverb suffix). But is it is outwith the '''maŋguma''' in the quality slot it will be '''saco'''. Got it ?


..
..


'''*'''In the previous section I only mentioned 10 question words. Actually there is one more but it is rarely used ... '''gó'''. Let me digress a little. Nearly all the languages of the world have a question word directly equivalent to the English word "who". However languages having a plural of "who" are very very rare. The reason is not difficult to figure out. When you ask "who", you are asking about something that is unknown to you ... the plurality of that "something" is also unknown. (Not only would a singular-plural distinction for "who" be unnecessary ... it would be asocially awkward ... If in asking a question you picked the wrong plurality (i.e. "who".singular when the answer is plural or "who".plural when the answer is singular) the person answering would have to set you right ... would have to contradict you.
In the example we are using '''sacois''' "quickly" can be taken out of the heart, and placed in the '''senko''' phrase as '''saco'''. In the adjective slot of course.
OK ... in a similar way the word "why" could be split in two ... into "why".future and "why".past. "why".past would ask about a state or action that existed/happened previously and lead to a current state or action. "why".future would ask about a state or action desired in the future and the current state or action exists in order to bring about.
 
Well the two "why"s are rare for exactly the same reason that the two "who"s are rare. But actually in some cases you DO know that it is a future state or action. '''sái''' is the normal word for "why", but in about 10 % of times you come across a '''gó''' "why".
In a similar vain you have a choice as to where to put a locative. A locative can be placed in the locative slot or it can be placed in '''maŋguma'''. No change of form for the locative ...


'''solbe moze sacois tiapi hí jono''' = '''solbe moze sacois hí jono tiapi''' = "John drinking the water quickly in the house" = "for John to drink the water quickly in the house".


{| border=1
OK ... so much for '''maŋguma'''.
  |align=center| '''làus'''
  |align=center| amount
  |-
  |align=center| '''kàin'''
  |align=left| kind, sort, type
  |-
  |align=center| '''dàn'''
  |align=center| place
  |-
  |align=center| '''kyùs'''
  |align=center| occasion, time
  |-
  |align=center| '''sàin'''
  |align=center| reason
  |-
  |align=center| '''gòs'''
  |align=center| goal, aim, intention
  |}


..
..


More about relative clauses ( considered a type of GP in the '''béu''' linguistic tradition ....
Now we have already introduced the  '''pila?o'''. The '''pila?o''' are totally compatible with '''kenʒi'''. Nearly totally compatible with '''olus'''. However only two '''pila?o''' fit in with '''maŋga'''. These are '''pila?o''' 2 and 9 ... '''là''' and '''tú'''. When fitted to '''maŋga''' they produce an adjective and an adverb respectively.


..
..


In English, one of the functions of "who" is as a relativizer ... a particle that introduced a relative clause. For example ....
We'll talk about and adverbial construction first ...


"The man who ate the chicken got sick"
'''tore doikatu''' = "he/she came on foot" or  "he/she came by walking"


Also in English, one of the functions of "that" is as a relativizer. For example ....
'''tore tú doika saco''' = "he/she came by walking quickly"


"The chicken that was eaten must have been off"
Notice that the particle '''tú''' acts as it normally does and appends to the end of a single word, but stands alone to the left of a multi-word phrase.


..
..


In '''béu''' there is only one relativizer ... '''nài'''. For example ...
And the adjectival constuction ...


'''glà nài bàus timpori_sòr hauʔe''' = The woman that the man hit, is beautiful.
..


..
..


'''nài''' takes case affixes the same way that a normal noun would. For example ...
{|
|-
! bàu || doika-la
|
| man || walk-{{small|1SG-IND-PRES}}
|}
 
{|
|-
! bàu || r  ||doika-la
|
| man || {{small|COPULA} ||walk-{{small|P2}}
|}
 
Also '''là''' appears often in conjunction with '''manga'''
 
The '''là'''-constuction acts as an adjective. An adjective meaning "XXX-ing" at the (relevant ???) moment of speech". As with all adjectives it can either be part of a NP or it can be a copular complement. For example ...
 
'''bàu doikala''' = a/the walking man
 
'''bàu r doikala''' = a/the man is walking .... [Note ... '''bàu r doikala''' means exactly the same as '''bàu doikora''']
 
'''là''' differs from most other '''pila?o''' in that, with a '''manga''', it never stands alone. For example ...
 
'''bàu doikala sacois''' = a/the quickly walking man .... [Note ... the affix -'''is''' is appended to '''saco''' to show it is connected to '''doika''' and not '''bàu'''] instead of '''*bàu là doika saco'''
 
In a '''là'''-constuction, everything has the same order as a MP ... the only difference is that -'''la''' is appended to the '''manga''' and '''hí''' XXX is dropped. Well  '''hí''' XXX represents the A argument and the A argument is the thing being described by the '''là'''-constuction, so no need to exist inside the construction.
 
This '''là'''-constuction can be called the present participle. The present participle has the meaning "in the process of XXXing".For example ...
 
'''doika''' "to walk" =>  '''doikala''' "in the process of walking"
 
'''kata''' "to cut" => '''katala''' "in the process of cutting".
 
When derived from a transitive verb the object can be included as well. For example '''katala lazde''' "in the process of cutting the grass".
 
[ Note ... '''bàu katala lazde''' "the man cutting the grass" means the same as '''bàu nàis katora lazde''' "the man who is cutting the grass" ... however the first is nearly always preferred ... well it is shorter ]
 
[ Also note ... '''pà r katala lazde''' means the same as '''(pás) katara lazde''' ... however the second is nearly always preferred ... well it is shorter ]
 
O arguments (in an equivalent active clause) can be modified by the '''là'''-construction as well. For example ... '''lazde jwola kata''' "grass being cut" ... '''jwola kata''' being classed as an adjective phrase ('''jwòi''' meaning "to undergo").
 
..


pi ... the basket '''naipi''' the cat shat was cleaned by John.
'''maŋga''' ... as well as appearing as arguments in a clause. That is S, A, O, CS and CO, also appear as complements to auxiliary verbs.


la ... the chair '''naila''' you are sitting was built by my grandfather.
One such auxilliary is '''tuma''' meaning "to squeaze" or "to force". [ when it means "to squeaze" it is followed by a '''kenʒi''' and is acting as a normal verb, when it means "to force" it is followed by a '''manga''' and is acting as an auxiliaryl verb ]


mau


goi
In these constructions, there is a very strong tendency (almost a rule) that the '''maŋga''' is on RHS of  '''maŋguma'''. However if an ergative (A) argument is present, that element can instead be on RHS. Also a very strong tendency fot the O aurgment to directly follow the '''maŋga'''. There is a fairly strong tendency for the S argument to directly follow the '''maŋga'''.


ce
So ...


dua
Thomas forced John to hit Jane => '''tomos tumori timpa jene hí jono''' or '''tomos hí jono timpa jene'''


bene
Thomas forced Jane to walk => '''tomos tumori doika jene'''


komo
[By the way ... as an example of '''tuma''' being a normal verb ... '''tomos jwuba komo jene tumori''' = Thomas squeazed Jane's left buttock ]


tu ... '''báu naitu ò''' is going to market is her husband = the man with which she is going to town is her husband ... '''kli.o naitu''' he severed the branch is rusty
..


ji ... The old woman '''naiji''' I deliver the newspaper, has died.
Two other examples of '''maŋga''' with auxilliary verbs (why not) ...


-s ... '''báu nàis timpori glá_sòr  ʔaiho''' = The man that hit the woman is ugly.
1) ... '''mbe''' = to hold ..... '''lelpa''' = to sing, singing ..... '''jenes mbor lelpa bòi''' = Jane can sing well. ['''lelpai''' = a song ?]


wo ... The boy '''naiwo''' they are all talking, has gone to New Zealand.
2) ... '''glù''' = to depart ... '''timpa''' = to hit, hitting ... '''jonos glori timpa jene''' = John stopped hitting Jane


-n ... the woman '''nàin''' I told the secret, took it to her grave.
..


fi ... the town '''naifi''' she has come is the biggest south of the mountain.
One notable use of the '''maŋga''' is emphasis, where the '''manga''' is used right next to the same word in '''r'''-form. For example ...


?e ... '''nambo naiʔe''' she lives is the biggest in town = the house in which she lives is the biggest in town
{|
|-
! daw-o-r-u || dàu
|-
| die-{{small|3SG-IND-FUT}} || death
|} = He/she will die a death => He/she will die for sure


-lya ... the boat '''nailya''' she has just entered is unsound
..


-lfe ... the lilly pad '''nailfe''' the frog jumped was the biggest in the pond.
{|
|-
! lay-o-r-i || lái
|-
| live-{{small|3SG-IND-PAST}} || life
|} = He/she lived a life => He/she had a full life


..
..


Now '''nài''' usually follows a noun. A relative clause can any noun ... or almost any noun. There are 2 nouns that can not take a relative clause. They are ... '''nèn''' and '''mìn'''.
{|
|-
! maum-a-r-i || mauma
|-
| sleep-{{small|1SG-IND-PAST}} || sleep
|} = I slept a sleep => I had a deep and satisfying sleep


'''*nèn nài''' =>  '''ʃì nài'''


'''*mìn nài''' => '''ò nài''' ... or  '''nù nài'''
Now '''maumori mauma''' and '''daw.oru dàu''' are strange. Normally both verbs are strictly intransitive. But here there are transitive. Seemingly sometimes '''béu''' allows


In English we have what is called a headless relative clause. '''béu''' does not have this. The nearest '''béu''' has to a headless relative clause would be '''ʃì nài''' ....
a) intransitive => transitive
b) A argument => absolutive form
c) O argument = '''maŋga'''  


For example "what you see is what you get" would be rendered  '''ʃì nài bwír sòr ʃì nài mìr'''  
'''pà maumari mauma''' is the answer to '''mìn maumari mauma'''  


..
..
..


'''kyù nài''' and '''dà nài''' introduced full relative clauses. These relative clauses are quite rare though. Much more common is ...
'''*''' Another way to say this is '''solbe saco moze**'''
 
'''**''' If '''saco''' doesn't immediately follows the  '''manga''', it must be explicitly tagged as an adverb by the -'''is''' suffix. The exact same rule as for (finite)clauses.
 
----
Note ... "I saw a man cutting the grass" is an English clause. I think Dixon analyses "the man cutting the glass" as a complement clause ??? This sees a bit strange to me. The '''béu''' equivalent .... '''hecari bàu katala lazde''' is just analyzed as Verb '''hecari''' ... Object '''bàu''' and Adjective Phrase '''katala lazde'''
 
----
 
== ..... Feŋgi==


However '''kyù''' and '''dà''' by themselves can intoduced deranked clauses.
..


These deranked clauses have the same form as GO CC. Except that '''kyù''' or '''dà''' take the place of '''gò'''
The '''feŋgi''' or particles are too diverse to say anything meaningful about them here. We will learn them one by one as we go though the ten chapters.


..
..
But just to fill out this section a bit,  I will give you two sets of pronouns. One set being the pronouns in their unmarked form'''*''' and the other ... the pronouns in their ergative form'''**'''.
Here, for a transitive clause, "that which initiates the action" is called the A argument, and "that which is affected by the action" the O argument. Also, for an intransitive verb, the noun is called the S argument. It is convenient to make a distinction between all three cases. I follow RMW Dixon in using this terminology.
In most languages the S argument is marked the same way as the A argument. However in some languages the S argument is marked the same way as the O argument. These are called ergative languages. '''béu''' is one of these ergative languages. About a quarter of the world languages are ergative or partly ergative. The ergative system ...
..
..


'''nài''' by itself is used to qualify a situation rather than a noun.
{|
|-
! bàu || lé || glá || maum-u-r-i
|-
| man || and || woman||align=center| sleep-{{small|3PL-IND-PAST}}
|} ==> The man and the woman slept
 
 
{|
|-
! bàu-s ||align=center| glá || timp-o-r-i
|-
| man-{{small|ERG}} || align=centre|woman|| hit-{{small|3SG-IND-PAST}}
|} ==> The man hit the woman
 
 
{|
|-
! bàu ||align=center| glá-s || timp-o-r-i
|-
| man ||align=centre| woman-{{small|ERG}}|| hit-{{small|3SG-IND-PAST}}
|} ==> The woman hit the man


For example "John hit a woman, which is bad" would be rendered '''jonos timpori glá_nài r kéu'''
..


Note that there is a pause between '''jene''' and '''nài'''. If there was not this gap, the sentence would mean "John hit the woman who is bad"
Below are the '''béu''' pronouns for the S and O arguments. This form can be considered the "unmarked form".


..
..
[[Image:SW_119.png]][[Image:SW_108.png]]
..
..


'''mpau''' includes the listener in the "we", '''pài''' excludes the listener from the "we" and '''jè''' indicates a plural "you".
The proper way to use '''?o''' is to use it for all non-humans. But in actually practice, some people might "elevate" the status of a family pet and call it '''òn''' or '''ʃì'''.
'''onde''' is used for "they" when they are all male, '''ʃide''' is used for "they" when they are all female, '''ʃinde''' is used for "they" when they are mixed, and '''?ode''' is used for "they"when they are all non-human.
..


Below are the '''béu''' pronouns for the A argument  ... the "ergative form".


??? what about relativizing  '''kài'''  and  '''làu''' ... '''làu bòi kài jono wò solbe''' =>  "as good as John as to drinking"


??? what about non-restrictive relative clauses.
[[Image:SW_120.png]]


..
..
NOTE ... Pronouns differ from nouns in that their tones change between the ergative and the unmarked form. For a normal noun it is sufficient that -'''s''' is suffixed. For example ...
From now on I will call the ergative form the '''s'''-form, and the unmaked form the base form.
..
..


There is one other pronoun ... the reflexive pronoun '''tí'''. This is always an O argument. Notice that it is the only O argument with a high tone.
..


I shot '''waulo è waulo yana fyakasori pà pulison''' = the man whose dog I shot reported me to the police.
'''*''' In the Western Linguistic Tradition, these "forms" are called "cases". The English word case used in this sense comes from the Latin casus, which is derived from the verb cadere, "to fall", from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱad-.  The Latin word is a calque of the Greek πτῶσις, ptosis, "falling, fall". The sense is that all other cases are considered to have "fallen" away from the nominative (considered the unmarked form in Latin).  


I shot '''waulo è yana fyakasori pà polison''' = the man whose dog I shot reported me to the police.
'''**''' By the way, there are 17 marked forms (cases) in '''béu''' ... the ergative being one of these.


..
..

Latest revision as of 22:00, 26 June 2020

TW 415.png

..... The 5 basic word types

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All words are derived from these 5 basic types. Actually the fengi "particle" have so many subtypes (often single particles are a subtype to themselves) that it is a bit of a fudge to say that béu has 5 basic types. Maybe more honest to say that béu has 4 groups of words and the behaviour (syntactically) of any word in these 4 groups depends on which group it is in.

..

1) fengi = particle ... this is a sort of "hold-all" category for all words (and affixes) that don't neatly fit into the other categories. Interjections, numbers, pronouns, conjunctions, determiners and certain words that would be classed as adverbs in English, are all classed as fengi.

By the way ... all affixes are counted as a type of fengi.

An example is wò .. the preposition indicating the oblique case.

..

2) kenʒi = an object

An example is bàu ... "a man"

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3) olus = material, stuff

An example is moze ... "water"

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4) saidau = adjective

An example is nelau ... "dark blue"

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5) manga = a verb in its base form (citation form). When used "actively" it will take its r-form, u-form or i-form.

An example is twá meaning "to meet" or "a meeting" (the concept of "meet" disassociated from any arguments, tense, aspect or whatever).

..

SW 062.png

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..... Kenʒi

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kenʒi can mean "noun". It can also mean "noun phrase" (NP).

.

Probably the most "basic" of the basic 5 ... tangible and discrete.

The noun can take six types of modifiers. These six types must come in a certain order ...

..

SW 070.png

..

In the above diagram, an descending arrow followed by a bar indicates a closed set. A descending arrow by itself indicates an open set. Branching arrows indicate multiple possibilities.

The head of the NP can be referred to as kenʒita. Usually it is called this by lay people and by linguists when the concept is first brought up. However, thereafter it is usually referred to as húa meaning "head".

kenʒita is kenʒi plus the diminutive suffix. kenʒi can also take the augmentative suffix -uma. kenzuma "extended noun phrase" is a normal kenʒi, with either a relative clause (RC) appended to the right or a partitive appended to the left hand side

The words highlighted in red convert the noun phrase (or indeed the sentence in which the NP is embedded) into a question. A blue circle indicates the only mandatory element. But even these elements can be dropped on occasion ... when they are understood from context or the preceding conversation. When we have one adjective, and the head is understood, ɘ can be substituted for the head, kɘ if the head is plural.

ɘ gèu = a/the green one : kɘ gèu = a/the green ones

These two particles can also be used with other noun modifiers, however not always mandators with non-adjective modifiers.

ɘ nái = which one : kɘ nái = which ones

kɘ dí = these ones : ɘ dè = this one

However nái, dí and dè can constitute NP's by themselves. A bit like English

Looking at the chart above might give you a false impression of béu noun phrases. The number of modifiers within a noun phrase is usually only one or two. When there is two, they must occur in a certain order, hence the necessity of the chart above. I don't think it would be easy to process a noun phrase with six modifiers, probably some of them would be shunted off into a RC with an initial copula. A noun phrase can take multiple RC's. They can stand beside each other in a sort of apposition.

I should make one further point here. The particles ú "all" and jù "no" can appear to the left of the head. They can also appear in the quantity slot.

..

... Quality

..

More than one adjective is allowed in this slot. For example ... bàu gèu tiji = the little green man

kái meaning "what type" can also appear in this slot. In which case it turns the whole noun phrase (or sentence) into a question. For example ...

bàu gèu kái = what kind of green man ? ... (NP question)

há bàu gèu kái glà timpori = what kind of green man hit the woman ? ... (sentence question)

Now when you have multiple adjectives they will have a certain order depending upon their sub-category.

This is the same as English ... for example, you always say "the third big black dog" and never "the black third big dog".

béu uses the exact same order as in English but the other way around.

béu has two adjectives that come in this slot that are worth mentioning. They might have claims to particle-hood, but I guess their appearance in this slot marks them as adjectives. No reason that they can't be both.

1) ... ló = "other"

The semantics of this word remind me of the semantics of tuge/jige. With the relative quantifiers the speech participants have agreed on the number/amount relevant to the situation. tuge/jige are used to change this value. Similarly ló is used in a situation where the speech participants have agreed on the population (of whatever noun category) under consideration but one of them wants to expand this population.

2) ... laubo = enough

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... Quantity

..

This slot is very interesting ...

SW 071.png

The above chart is split into definite and vague sections. All the items under definite represent an integer (or "the empty set" or "the full set"). The items under vague represent an approximate number/amount. This section is further divided into discrete and non-discrete (i.e. countable.non-countable).

yè modifies both discrete and non-discrete. It means a moderate amount ... some value between zero and "all". It does NOT mean "indefinite" ... "some man" is bàu èn, not *bàu yè.

This word can be used to mark plurality (together with iyo and hài) for those nouns that can not be pluralized in themselves. For example ... húa, "head" : húa yè, "heads".

jí jí and jía are about equally common and mean the same thing. However jía tends to be used in more formal situations and jí jí in less formal.

..

láu (how many) can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the NP (and hence the clause containing the NP) into a question. For example ...

bàu jutu láu = "How many men are big ?" or "How many big men ?" ???????????

..

The chart above shows only the terms used for absolute quantity ????????????????? It does not cover, what I call relative quantity. Let me explain ...

Imagine the speaker and the hearer both have an idea of the number/amount relevant to a situation but one of them wants to change this number/amount. The amount he wants to change this agreed number/amount by, I call the relative quantity. It can be positive or negative. When positive we use the word tuge "more" ... when negative we use the word jige "less" *. For example ...

turi waudo tuge = more dogs came

t-u-r-i waudo tuge
come-3PL-IND-PST dog more

These to particles can be modified by some (most) of the terms given in the chart above. They can be modified by any of the terms hi-lighted in orange.

Sw 060.png

For example ... bía tuge ima = two more beers please"

Note : actually jía and tundu are not applicable to kenʒi. They are only applicable to olus

..

* These words might be derived somehow from jutu "big" and tiji "small" ... along with the comparative suffix -ge **.

The comparative suffix can be appended to any adjectives. For example ... jini "clever" => jinige "cleverer" : hau?e "beautiful" => hau?ege "more beautiful"

There is also a superlative suffix ... -mo. So jinimo "cleverest" amd hau?emo "most beautiful"

** There is an independant word gé which might be related to the comparative suffix. It is a particle that always comes in twos. For example ... gé tundu ... gé bói "the more the merrier".

Sometimes you coma across bù tuge "no more". This should be analysed as a contraction of bù ?ár tuge "I don't want more".

*** Perhaps wóin is related to the verb gwói "to pass by" plus the past participle -in.

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... Ownership

..

Basically you can just stick a personal name, a pronoun or any NP in here and the head noun will be considered owned by the object inserted here.

Sometimes, the particle yó precedes the object inserted.

For example jwado gèu yó jene = Jane's big green bird

Note that the particle yó is usually dropped when the possessor is next to the head. However as other elements intervene, the likelihood that yó is used increases.

If mín (who) is stuck in this slot ... then we have a question. For example ...

jwado gèu yó mín = Whose big green bird ? = Whose's the big green bird ?

There can be ambiguity with some kenʒi possessing a genitive. For example ...

Does waudo bàu dí mean "the dog of this man" or "this dog of the man" ?

To get around this, we have a special rule ...

"If anything is in the ownership slot, dí and dè never appear in the determiner slot. Instead they appear as dían "here" and dene "there" in the locative slot"

Note ... sometimes ownership as such is not what is of interest, it is if a person has actual physical possession. In this case yó is not used. But the object takes pila?o 2.

jwado gèu là Long John Silver catora = The big green bird (on Long John's shoulder presumably) is chatting away.

Actually segments showing actually physical possession like the example above, go in the locative slot which we will cover next.

..

... Location

..

Ordinal numbers appear in this slot. The ordinal numbers are ...

SW 066.png

You will notice that there are two words for first ... da?a and dahua. They are both equally common, but da?a tends to occur in the presence of dima or duya while dahua tends to occur in the presence of dauci.

..

Proper locatives comprise a noun plus one of the 9 pila?oi .... pi la mau goi ce do bene komo ni. For example ...

duzu pobomau = The oryx on the mountain

Also pila?o 14 turns up in this slot. These items are strictly not giving information about "location" but rather "origin". They are classed as a locatives nevertheless. For example ...

bàu glazgofi = a/the man from Glasgow

If the location consists of more than one word, the usual rule applies and the pila?o appears as a preposition ...

duzu máu pobo jutu = The oryx on the big mountain

There is a tendance that the longer the locative item, the more likely the locative item will be shunted into a relative clause ...

duzu nài r máu pobo hau?e jutu = The oryx on the big beautiful mountain

nài r máu pobo hau?e jutu is a relative clause. We will cover RC's in a bit.

All prepositions that are not pila?o lead to the location being shunted into a relative clause. For example ...

polga?o nài r fiagan gwai = "the sailing boat which is among the islands" or simply "the sailing boat among the islands"

..

Also dá "where" can appear in this slot. In which case it turns the noun phrase into a question. For example ...

bàu gèu dá = where is the green man ?

..

Addendum ... To keep things simple I refrained from mentioning this before but time can also be expressed in this slot. For example "the turmoil jé 1300's". Actually location AND time can both be in this slot at the same time. For example "the anger pí Iceland jé 1950's ...".

..

* Probably derived from uci "tail".

..

... Determiner

..

There are five of these ... dí (this), dè (that), nái (which), èn (some) and ín (any) . For example ...

dí and dè are called demonstratives in the WLT. They will be covered in the section after next.

nái turns the whole noun phrase into a question. For example ...

bàu gèu tiji nái = which little green man ? ... noun phrase question

And of course, if a NP represents a question, any clause containing this NP will also be a question. For example ...

bàu gèu tiji nái glà timpori = which little green man hit the woman ? ... a clause AND a question

èn "some" appear in this slot ... bàu gèu tiji èn = "some little green man" ...... indefinite

ín "any" appear in this slot ... bàu gèu tiji ín = "any little green man" .............. super indefinite

There is one little rule to remember ...

"Only one item is allowed in this slot, so if you want an indefinite as well as a demonstrative, the demonstrative is shunted off to the locative slot and given the form dían or dene."

I guess this is logical in a way. dí and dè were originally associated with pointing. But when the object is indefinite, how can you point ? "here" or "there" is about as definite as you can get.

..

... Side-note re demonstratives

..

dí "this" and dè "that" are two words that orientate and focus the hearer's attention on an object (or location *) in the speech situation. These words are called demonstratives in the WLT.

According to Holger [ Diessel (1999:57) ] ...

i) A demonstrative can be construed as an argument in its own right. That is, it can constitute a NP without any additional elements.

ii) A demonstrative can co-occur with a noun in a NP. That is, it can be a noun modifier.

iii)* A demonstatives can function as a verb modifier. It specifies (the) location (where something happens **).

* Perhaps in a more earlier version of the WLT "location" and (iii) would not be included in the definition of determiner. English and béu conform to this earlier version of the WLT. However I think it is a good idea when considering all the world's languages, to use this wider definition of "demonstrative".

"**" Perhaps in a language where a copula is not routinely used "where something happens" would not necessarily be appropriate.

And here are examples of the above three functions (in English) ...

a) This is excellent.

b) That guy is an idiot.

c) Here we do things differently.

Diachronically, these three functions can run into each other. Function (a) and function (b) are particularly close. They have the exact same form in English, but no confusion can occur, because "this/that:b" can be deduced to be inside a NP by the rules of English grammar. Most languages in the world (70%) have identical forms for "this/that:a" and "this/that:b". Of the languages that do not have identical forms, the difference can be quite subtle. For example in Thai นี่ [ nii falling tone ] is "this:a" and นี้ [ nii high tone ] is "this:b". ........... [see WALS 42A]

Some languages lack (a). For example, in Korean, to express "this:a" you must say "ce il" meaning "this thing". So (b) used instead of (a)

Some languages lack (b). They would say something like "the guy here" instead of "this guy". So (c) instead of (b)

Some languages lack (c). They would say something like "this place we do things differently" instead of "here we do things differently". So (b) instead of (c.)

[ And while we are talking on this area, perhaps we should mention 3rd person pronouns (see WALS 43A). Some languages lack 3rd person pronouns. They cover this function by saying something like "this" or "that guy" ... A further point of interest (well, I find it interesting anyway) is that the English he and here are cognates. Going back to a P.I.E. form meaning (a) or (b). -r was a ProtoGermanic adverbial suffix. ]

béu patterns pretty much like English (and the pattern of English is not atypical of the world's languages) ...

dí = "this:a" : dè = "that:a"

dí = "this:b" : dè = "that:b"

dían = "this:c" (i.e. "here") : dene = "that.c" (i.e. "there")

I was originally thinking of just appending the béu adverbial suffix -is to produce (c). But rejected that idea in order to get more phonological contrast between ...

(A) "this:c" and "that.c", (B) "this/that:a/b" and "this/that:c"

With dían there is a hint that it might be derived from dí plus pila?o 15. And also with dene ... a hint that it might have the same origin. But who can tell. These things are lost in the mists of time.

..

... Further uses of dí and dè

..

If we first hear a plural noun articulated in a conversation, the most likely meaning we would assigned to it would be the universal set. For example moltai.a. There is a more explicit means to express the universal set. For example ... kài moltai = "doctor.kind" but this construction is seldom used.

An example of usage is ... moltai.a súr jini = "doctors are clever"

OK ... now lets zoom in a bit. To zoom in we need to take in or give out some narrative. So now we hear the following ....

Next week British junior doctors will withhold many services in protest against the long hour expected of them

OK ... after hearing that ... moltai.a dè would be taken to mean "British junior doctors"

OK ... lets hear a further bit of narrative ...

Much to the disgruntlement of the senior doctors who will have a hard week ahead of them making up for the short fall.

OK ... after hearing that ... moltai.a dè would be taken to mean "British senior doctors". So, what dè refers to doesn't persist long, Our perspective is continually changing.

[ I can't help thinking that the proximate/obviate system existing in Plains Cree would be very useful. You could keep track of two protagonists through a discourse without reverting to full NPs. But I guess there are cognative reasons why it is difficult to use. Well, if it was easy to use, it would be far more wide-spread. It must be very useful. ]

This is in normal discourse. However if some objects are physically pointed out * when first introduced (and presumably they stay in sight for the duration of the discourse) what dí and dè referred to would persist.

So we can see that dè points back in time. It brings to the top of consciousness, the last set of doctors talked about.

..

In a narrative many objects are encountered. If a newly introduced object is marked by dí it means that the object is important to the narrative and you will shortly be getting more information about it. The process is not exactly the inverse of anaphora. But one is compatible with "information given in the past leading to easy identification of which object in particular we are talking about. The other is compatible with "in the near future I will give you information about this object and you will be able to identify which object in particular I am talking about as well as I can"

béu and English are exactly the same in this respect.

* Not necessarily by using a finger ... a gesture with the head ... or even the orientation of the eyes can suffice.

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..... Kenzuma

..

béu also has what I call an extended noun phrase. An extended noun phrase is a normal NP with either a partitive appended to the LHS, or a RC appended to the RHS.

The example below shows an extended noun phrase kenzuma with both a partitive AND an RC ...

..

SW 090.png


uya wì yiŋkai ofa nài tunheu-h doik-u-r-a
..... three of girl five REL townhall-DAT walk-3PL-IND-PRES

..... Three of the five girls that are walking to the townhall.

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... The relative clause

..

The béu relative clause is pretty similar to the English relative clause. However not exactly so.

A relative clause is a clause that modifies a NP of course. I think the best way to explain how the béu RC works is to give three examples. Each example will demonstrate a subtype of RC. In each example I will reconstitute the plain clause (PC) underlying the RC by looking at the NP and the RC.

(1)

yiŋkai ofa nài doik-u-r-a
the girl five REL walk-3PL-IND-PRES

=> the five girls who are walking

NP = yiŋkai ofa : RC = nài doikura => PC = yiŋkai ofa doikura "five girls are walking" ....... notice that nài is binned.

In the above PC yiŋkai is absolutive.

(2)

bàu nài-h glá-s fy-o-r-i yiŋkai-wo
the man REL-DAT women-ERG tell-3SG-IND-PAST girl-ABOUT

=> the man to whom the woman told about the girl

NP = bàu : RC = nàih glás fyori yiŋkaiwo => PC = bàuh glás fyori yiŋkaiwo ............ notice that nài is again binned. Also -h has to find some other word to stick on to.

In the above PC bàu is dative.

(3)

gwai.a nài polg-ai-r-a fía ?ode
the islands REL sail-1PL.INC-IND-PRES between them

=> "the islands that we are sailing between"

NP = gwaia : RC = nài polgaira fía ?ode => PC = polgaira fía gwaia ...................... nài is again binned. Also ?ode is discarded. The NP must be positioned behind fía, the preposition that governs it.

In the above PC gwaia is not absolutive, also not adorned by a pila?o. Instead it exists in a prepositional phrase. For this reason, a pronoun ?ode is needed in the RC to represent the NP

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I believe that Arabic structures its RC in a similar way to the above.

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OK ... you should all be experts in RC's now. You just run backward the 3 NP + RC => PC processes.

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This is discussed in greater detail in CH5.

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... The partitive

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A few sections back I mentioned ló ... the béu equivalent to "other/others/the other/another/the others".

ló is used where the speech participants have agreed on the population (of whatever noun category) under consideration but one of them wants to expand this population.

This expansion is a bit like "a shot in the dark", the speech participant requesting additional items usually is in the dark as to that additional items are available. Because of this, there is only one word ló. I mean, if the speech participant requesting additional items had an idea about what additional items were available, he could add more detail along with his request. Perhaps we would have donu meaning "another with a bell", doni meaning "another with a whistle" ... well O.K. I am being a bit facetious ... but you understand what I am getting at.

Now ló is used to expand the population under consideration ... to increase the scope of the conversation ... to sort of "zoom out".

Now sometimes it is necessary to "zoom in". For instance suppose you heard "three of the doctors decided to stop off at the pub on the way home" within larger narrative. After this point, these three doctors could be referred to as they. The main-protagonists/subject/topic have been reduced from eight to three. Zooming in is not a shot in the dark. The population under consideration is a known concept. The usual method is to specify the "new scope" plus the "original scope" in some sort of construction. The languages of the world all have methods for zooming in ... usually some quite simple construction, often involving a particle which has evolved from "from"/"out of". wì is the particle used in béu. Some examples of its use ...

ú wì moltai = all of the doctors

yè wì moltai = some of the doctore = several of those doctors = a number of those doctors

jù wì moltai = none of the doctors

tontu wì moltai dí = the majority of these doctors

a?a lú tuge wì moltai dè more = one or more of those doctors

hài wì moltai dè = many of those doctors

ima ín wì moltai dè = any two of those doctors

moltai wì bawa dí = the doctors out of these men

[ Note ... ú wì moltai = "all of the doctors" is pretty similar to ú moltai and moltai ú ... similarly these expressions with jù. Nothing really to worry about. You have similar flexibility in many languages (including English). Perhaps ú wì moltai stresses that no "zooming" is happening. Perhaps ú moltai is used for generic statements such as ú moltai r jini "all doctors are clever". Perhaps moltai ú is used in non-generic statements such as moltai ú ture tìa pà "all the doctors came to my home this morning" ] ..

I suppose the nearest equivalent of wì is "of". However wì has not so many functions as "of". For "belonging to", yó is used. For "relating to"/"connected with". wò is used.

[Still thinking if wì should be involved with "a glass of milk"/"a heart of gold"]

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Pronouns are used in partitives in the same way as NP's.

a?a wì pài = "one of us"

ima wì onde = "two of them"

há ima wì onde glá timpura = "two of them are hitting the woman"

[ I guess English is a bit stange w.r.t. plural pronoun. I mean ... why not "*two of they are walking" {following the pattern "they are walking"} instead of "two of them are walking" ]

Two other numeratives that we haven't mentioned yet are tontu "the majority"/"most" and tonji "the minority".

ton = bit/part/section ... tontu <= ton jutu ... tonji <= ton tiji ... toŋko = to seperate ???

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... 16 useful little words

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jupu nobody upu everybody
juku never uku always
juda nowhere uda everywhere
jufen nothing ufen everything

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The above are obviously eroded forms of jú pú, ú pú, ... etc. etc.

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pu.en somebody pu.in anybody
kyu.en sometime kyu.in any time
da.en somewhere da.in anywhere
fenen something fenin anything

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The above are obviously eroded forms of pú èn, pú ín etc. etc. They are all two syllable words, and of course as two syllable words lack tone.

The words in the first column above can be made plural by adding yè ... pu.in yè = some people, kyu.en yè = sometimes, etc. etc.

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upu and ufen can be followed by uwe to show that the group is acting (or undergoing an action) collectively.

a?awe can be added to show that the group is acting (or undergoing an action) individually.

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..... Olus

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olus can mean "noun". It can also mean "noun phrase" (NP).

Whereas kenʒi refers to countable nouns, olus is the term used for uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns).

The expansion of olus by various modifiers is quite similar to kenʒi ...


SW 091.png

Of course numbers, iyo and hài are not appropriate (quantity slot)

Also the items in the determiner slot are a bit "iffy". For example moze dí is perhaps kài moze dí with kài elided.

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So ... an example of an olus ...

hoŋko ima wì ?azwo pona = "two cups of warm milk"

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A few hundred words have a dual existence ... in one guise olus in another guise kenʒi. With final vowel e u a o or i (the last one is especially common) they have a collective meaning. For example ...

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bodi ng-o-r
birds fly-3SG-IND

=>small birds fly ................. [notice the third person singular agreement on the verb]

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However with a change of the final vowel to ai these concepts become countable.

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bodai lail-o-r-a
a small bird sing-3SG-IND-PRES

=> a small bird is singing

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Which can be made plural by putting a number in front (or one of the other numeratives).

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bodai uya lail-u-r-a
small bird three sing-3PL-IND-PRES

=> three small birds are singing

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Here are some more of these concepts treated in this way ...

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yinki crumpet yinkai a young unmarried woman, an attractive girl, a virgin
toti children totai a child
wazbo distance wazbai 3,680 m (the unit of distance ... the béu km or mile)
malkufa cabbages malkufai a cabbage
alha flowers alhai a flower

.. TW 793.png

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Words derived using the suffixes mi/mai also pattern with these dual identity words. For example ... beumai = "somebody with knowledge of the béu language and/or culture" : beumi = "the entire body of people with knowledge of the béu language and/or culture"

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Remember that all collectives take singular pronouns and, if they are A or S arguments, produce an -o- in slot 1 of the verb (as opposed to -u-).

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There is a particle k+, that when put in front of a saidau or a kenʒi gives an olus

You hear it a lot prefixed to animal names ... like when talking about characteristics which are common to an entire species. For example ...

sadu "elephant" ... k+ sadu "the elephants" or "elephants" ... as in k+ sadu r jodo jini "the elephant is an inteligent animal"

gèu "green" .......... k+ gèu "the green ones"


k+ sadu r jodo jini
elephant-kind COP animal clever

Note ... k+ is in free variation with kài "sort/type/kind"


** Birds smaller than pidgeons are bodai. Birds that are pidgeon size and above are jwado ... jwado is kenʒi.

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..... Saidau

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The saidau (adjective) has two uses in béu. It can either be part of a NP or it can be a copular complement. For example ...

bàu gèu = a/the green man

bàu r gèu = a/the man is green

gèu above is a simple adjective. Adjective phrases exist as well.

An important particle that increases the degree of an adjective is sowe. For example ... gèu sowe "very green"

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These adjectives can become nouns by froning them with ə, kə and kuwai.

ə gèu = a/the green one

kə gèu = a/the green ones

kuwai gèu = greenness


[ NOTE : I don't think the schwa is visually distinct enough. From now on I will use a plus sign to depict the schwa ]


+ gèu = a/the green one

k+ gèu = a/the green ones

kuwai gèu = greenness


OK ... that's better.


+ and k+ are historically derived from ?à "one" and kài "type". Actually they are in free variation with their historical counterparts ... a bit like "either" in English can have two pronounciations. When you want to emphasize, you would of course use the phonetically heavier version.

kuwai is a word meaning property/characteristic.

Actually these 3 words are also productive with "locatives" and "genitives" as well. For example ...

+ pobomau = the one on top of the mountain

+ yó jene = the one belonging to Jane

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TW 918.png

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The above chart shows the main derivational pathways in béu. Only pathways 2, 3, 4 are relevent to this section.

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Note ... + gèu sowe = "a/the very green one" ... sowe never modifies a senko.

By the way ... determiners and relative clauses can also stand by themselves, but they are unmodified when they do so. (Note to self : are you sure about this ?)

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..... Pila?o

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In total there are 17 cases plus the unmarked case (the absolutive case). The absolutive is not called a case in the béu linguistic tradition : instead it is called "noun base"

These 17 cases are called pila?o.

These are attached to a noun and show the relationship of that noun with respect to the rest of the sentence.

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The word pila?o is built up from ;-

pila (v) = to place, to position, to correctly align

pila?o (n) = the positioner

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Probably the most important case is the ergative (the 11th case). In English it is the order of the verb and the arguments that shows who is the doer and what is the "done to". Namely the A and S argument come before the verb and the O argument after ... [ English is a non-ergative language and hence the A and S argument get treated in the same way.]

In béu, to show who is the doer and what is the "done to", the suffix -s is appended to the A argument. For example ...

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glás bàu timporI => The woman hit the man ............... (with "the man" being the O argument)

glá bàus timporI => The man hit the woman ................. (with "the man" being the A argument)

bàu tìah doikori => The man walked home ........................... (with "the man" being the S argument) ... [ béu is an ergative language and hence the O and S argument have the same form.]

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SW 063.png

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There is a regular relationship between preposition and affix, apart from (11) which is highly irregular, (16) which is irregular and (17) which is very slightly irregular. When suffixes they all are usually written using a single consonant. No confusion can arise as normally consonants are illicit word finally. However there is no abbreviated forms for (15) and (17). Of the 17 consonants, ? and n are not involved in these abbreviations.

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The pila?o are either realized as either affixes or as prepositions.

Whether the pila?o appears as an suffix or a preposition depends on whether you have a N (noun) or a NP (noun phrase). If you have N the affix is used, if you have NP the preposition is used.

tiadua = beyond the house

dùa tìa yó yinkai hauʔe = beyond the house of the pretty girl

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TW 940.png

SW 092.png

SW 093.png

SW 094.png

TW 568.png


Note on the script ... If they are realized as affixes then, in the béu script uses a sort of shorthand. That is the affix is represented as one letter.

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Earlier we have seen that when 2 nouns come together the second one qualifies the first.

However this is only true when the words have no pila?o affixed to them. If you have two contiguous nouns suffixed by the same pila?o then they are both considered to contribute equally to the sentence roll specified. For example ...

jonos jenes solbur moze = "John and Jane drink water"

In the absence of an affixed pila?o, to show that two nouns contribute equally to a sentence (instead of the second one qualifying the first) the particle lé should be placed between them. For example ...

jono lé jene maumur = "John and Jane sleep"

Compare the above two examples to jono jene maumor = "Jane's John sleeps" ... that is "the John that is in a relationship with Jane, sleeps".

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.. As parts of speech

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pila?o of location phrases (i.e. nouns with 1 -> 8 or 15) can be considered adjectives. They must come after a noun or a verb.

pila?o of motional phrases (i.e. nouns with 13, 14, 16 or 17) can be considered adverbs. They can come in any position because it is understood that they are qualifying the verb.

pila?o phrases defining sentence rolls (i.e. nouns with 9, 10, 11 or 12) can come anywhere. They are considered clause arguments.

(Note to self : move the below to a different section)

* [ Notice that in English, you can either say ... "a bird is in the tree" or "in the tree is a bird"

In béu only jwado r ʔupaiʔe is valid ... also note that in this case jwado is not definite because it is left of the verb. That rule doesn't work with the copula. ]

jenes solbori moʒi lé ʔazwo = "Jane drank water and milk"

jonos jenes hecuri sadu ima lé ʔusfa uya = John and Jane saw two elephants and three giraffes.

This word is that is never written out in full but has its own symbol. See below ...

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..... Maŋga

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These are verbs. In particular maŋga = "the infinitive form of the verb" or "verbal noun". They call it "maSdar" in Arabic.

I shall call it "base verb".

In the BLT (béu linguistic tradition) the base verb is considered "dead" or "inactive". Only when a suitable "tail" is added does it become "alive" or "active".

So "finite verb" is called maŋga ?algu. The infinitive form of the verb is simply maŋga

(By the way ... ?algu = alive) ... the next Chapter is all about maŋga ?algu.

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In béu the base verb is a noun. This is different to most languages in the world. In most languages, verbal nouns are derived from verbs. For example ... destroy => destruction : verb => noun whereas in béu. For example ... twá : "a/the meeting" => twarua : "I intend to meet".

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English is very chaotic as to the various means it derives nouns from verbs. For example ... "discover" + "y" => the discovery ... "destroy" + "tion" => the destruction ... "run" + ∅ => a/the run. Whereas béu is as orderly as it is possible to get.

OK ... lets get started ...

solbe = "to drink"

Now the manga can amalgamate with other elements. For example ...

solbe saco = "to drink quickly" or "drinking quickly"

...and adding more elements ...

solbe moze sacois* = "to drink the water quickly" or "drinking the water quickly"

solbe moze sacois and solbe saco are examples of maŋguma (maŋga plus the augmentive -uma)

Actually a maŋguma can get as involved as a clause can. With arguments to the left of the head considered definite and arguments to the right, indefinite. But there is one difference. The ergative argument is marked by the particle hí rather than há or -ta or -s.

so adding even more elements ...

hí jono solbe moze sacois hí jono = "John drinking the water quickly" or "for John to drink the water quickly".

This is as involved as I will go. But note that other clausal elements ( dative object, time, adverb, instrument, reason, purpose) can be added. As in normal clauses there is a tendancy to add them to the RHS.

Now the maŋguma is basically a noun ... as is kenʒi and olus. And as with kenʒi and olus more modifiers can be added.

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SW 095.pngI don't know the béu name for this. Actually I don't know the English name for this.

The items in the determiner slot are quite rare compared to kenʒi, but they are licit. There can be nothing in the quantity slot or the ownership slot.

The "number + wì" modifier is quite rare. It means "so many iterations of the action". For example ...

uya wì hí pà solbe moze = (the) three times I drank water

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Adjectives can be a bit confusing. For example saco "quick" would be used immediately after maŋga. But if not immediately after maŋga but within the maŋguma, it should take the form sacois (-is being the adjective => adverb suffix). But is it is outwith the maŋguma in the quality slot it will be saco. Got it ?

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In the example we are using sacois "quickly" can be taken out of the heart, and placed in the senko phrase as saco. In the adjective slot of course.

In a similar vain you have a choice as to where to put a locative. A locative can be placed in the locative slot or it can be placed in maŋguma. No change of form for the locative ...

solbe moze sacois tiapi hí jono = solbe moze sacois hí jono tiapi = "John drinking the water quickly in the house" = "for John to drink the water quickly in the house".

OK ... so much for maŋguma.

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Now we have already introduced the pila?o. The pila?o are totally compatible with kenʒi. Nearly totally compatible with olus. However only two pila?o fit in with maŋga. These are pila?o 2 and 9 ... là and tú. When fitted to maŋga they produce an adjective and an adverb respectively.

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We'll talk about and adverbial construction first ...

tore doikatu = "he/she came on foot" or "he/she came by walking"

tore tú doika saco = "he/she came by walking quickly"

Notice that the particle tú acts as it normally does and appends to the end of a single word, but stands alone to the left of a multi-word phrase.

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And the adjectival constuction ...

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bàu doika-la man walk-1SG-IND-PRES
bàu r doika-la man COPULA} walk-P2

Also là appears often in conjunction with manga

The là-constuction acts as an adjective. An adjective meaning "XXX-ing" at the (relevant ???) moment of speech". As with all adjectives it can either be part of a NP or it can be a copular complement. For example ...

bàu doikala = a/the walking man

bàu r doikala = a/the man is walking .... [Note ... bàu r doikala means exactly the same as bàu doikora]

là differs from most other pila?o in that, with a manga, it never stands alone. For example ...

bàu doikala sacois = a/the quickly walking man .... [Note ... the affix -is is appended to saco to show it is connected to doika and not bàu] instead of *bàu là doika saco

In a là-constuction, everything has the same order as a MP ... the only difference is that -la is appended to the manga and hí XXX is dropped. Well hí XXX represents the A argument and the A argument is the thing being described by the là-constuction, so no need to exist inside the construction.

This là-constuction can be called the present participle. The present participle has the meaning "in the process of XXXing".For example ...

doika "to walk" => doikala "in the process of walking"

kata "to cut" => katala "in the process of cutting".

When derived from a transitive verb the object can be included as well. For example katala lazde "in the process of cutting the grass".

[ Note ... bàu katala lazde "the man cutting the grass" means the same as bàu nàis katora lazde "the man who is cutting the grass" ... however the first is nearly always preferred ... well it is shorter ]

[ Also note ... pà r katala lazde means the same as (pás) katara lazde ... however the second is nearly always preferred ... well it is shorter ]

O arguments (in an equivalent active clause) can be modified by the là-construction as well. For example ... lazde jwola kata "grass being cut" ... jwola kata being classed as an adjective phrase (jwòi meaning "to undergo").

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maŋga ... as well as appearing as arguments in a clause. That is S, A, O, CS and CO, also appear as complements to auxiliary verbs.

One such auxilliary is tuma meaning "to squeaze" or "to force". [ when it means "to squeaze" it is followed by a kenʒi and is acting as a normal verb, when it means "to force" it is followed by a manga and is acting as an auxiliaryl verb ]


In these constructions, there is a very strong tendency (almost a rule) that the maŋga is on RHS of maŋguma. However if an ergative (A) argument is present, that element can instead be on RHS. Also a very strong tendency fot the O aurgment to directly follow the maŋga. There is a fairly strong tendency for the S argument to directly follow the maŋga.

So ...

Thomas forced John to hit Jane => tomos tumori timpa jene hí jono or tomos hí jono timpa jene

Thomas forced Jane to walk => tomos tumori doika jene

[By the way ... as an example of tuma being a normal verb ... tomos jwuba komo jene tumori = Thomas squeazed Jane's left buttock ]

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Two other examples of maŋga with auxilliary verbs (why not) ...

1) ... mbe = to hold ..... lelpa = to sing, singing ..... jenes mbor lelpa bòi = Jane can sing well. [lelpai = a song ?]

2) ... glù = to depart ... timpa = to hit, hitting ... jonos glori timpa jene = John stopped hitting Jane

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One notable use of the maŋga is emphasis, where the manga is used right next to the same word in r-form. For example ...

daw-o-r-u dàu
die-3SG-IND-FUT death

= He/she will die a death => He/she will die for sure

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lay-o-r-i lái
live-3SG-IND-PAST life

= He/she lived a life => He/she had a full life

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maum-a-r-i mauma
sleep-1SG-IND-PAST sleep

= I slept a sleep => I had a deep and satisfying sleep


Now maumori mauma and daw.oru dàu are strange. Normally both verbs are strictly intransitive. But here there are transitive. Seemingly sometimes béu allows

a) intransitive => transitive b) A argument => absolutive form c) O argument = maŋga

pà maumari mauma is the answer to mìn maumari mauma

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* Another way to say this is solbe saco moze**

** If saco doesn't immediately follows the manga, it must be explicitly tagged as an adverb by the -is suffix. The exact same rule as for (finite)clauses.

Note ... "I saw a man cutting the grass" is an English clause. I think Dixon analyses "the man cutting the glass" as a complement clause ??? This sees a bit strange to me. The béu equivalent .... hecari bàu katala lazde is just analyzed as Verb hecari ... Object bàu and Adjective Phrase katala lazde

..... Feŋgi

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The feŋgi or particles are too diverse to say anything meaningful about them here. We will learn them one by one as we go though the ten chapters.

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But just to fill out this section a bit, I will give you two sets of pronouns. One set being the pronouns in their unmarked form* and the other ... the pronouns in their ergative form**.

Here, for a transitive clause, "that which initiates the action" is called the A argument, and "that which is affected by the action" the O argument. Also, for an intransitive verb, the noun is called the S argument. It is convenient to make a distinction between all three cases. I follow RMW Dixon in using this terminology.

In most languages the S argument is marked the same way as the A argument. However in some languages the S argument is marked the same way as the O argument. These are called ergative languages. béu is one of these ergative languages. About a quarter of the world languages are ergative or partly ergative. The ergative system ...

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bàu lé glá maum-u-r-i
man and woman sleep-3PL-IND-PAST

==> The man and the woman slept


bàu-s glá timp-o-r-i
man-ERG woman hit-3SG-IND-PAST

==> The man hit the woman


bàu glá-s timp-o-r-i
man woman-ERG hit-3SG-IND-PAST

==> The woman hit the man

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Below are the béu pronouns for the S and O arguments. This form can be considered the "unmarked form".

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SW 119.pngSW 108.png

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mpau includes the listener in the "we", pài excludes the listener from the "we" and jè indicates a plural "you".

The proper way to use ?o is to use it for all non-humans. But in actually practice, some people might "elevate" the status of a family pet and call it òn or ʃì.

onde is used for "they" when they are all male, ʃide is used for "they" when they are all female, ʃinde is used for "they" when they are mixed, and ?ode is used for "they"when they are all non-human.

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Below are the béu pronouns for the A argument ... the "ergative form".


SW 120.png

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NOTE ... Pronouns differ from nouns in that their tones change between the ergative and the unmarked form. For a normal noun it is sufficient that -s is suffixed. For example ...

From now on I will call the ergative form the s-form, and the unmaked form the base form.

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There is one other pronoun ... the reflexive pronoun tí. This is always an O argument. Notice that it is the only O argument with a high tone.

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* In the Western Linguistic Tradition, these "forms" are called "cases". The English word case used in this sense comes from the Latin casus, which is derived from the verb cadere, "to fall", from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱad-. The Latin word is a calque of the Greek πτῶσις, ptosis, "falling, fall". The sense is that all other cases are considered to have "fallen" away from the nominative (considered the unmarked form in Latin).

** By the way, there are 17 marked forms (cases) in béu ... the ergative being one of these.

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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
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