Béu : Chapter 2 : The Noun Phrases

..... Pronouns

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

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me	pà	us	yùa
		us	wìa
you	gì	you	jè
him, her	ò	them	nù
it	ʃì	them	ʃì

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Below are the pronouns for the A arguments.

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I	pás	we	yúas
		we	wías
you	gís	you	jés
he, she	ós	they	nús
it	ʃís	they	ʃís

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jè and jés are the second person plural forms.

yùa and yúas are first person exclusive forms. That is they exclude the person being talked to.

wìa and wías are first person inclusive forms. That is they include the person being talked to.

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.

There is a strong tendency for it to come after the A argument. For example ...

pás tí timparu = I have not hit myself

Note ... the A argument could be omitted in the above example as this argument is expressed by the a in the verb.

This particle can be joined to the infinitive. For example ...

titimpa = to hit yourself

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..... The 4 verb forms

... The infinitive verb form

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The infinitive is called the BASE form ???

The most common multi-syllable verbs end in "a".

The less common multi-syllable verbs end in "e" or "o".

The least common multi-syllable verbs end in "au", "oi", "eu" or "ai".

To form a negative infinitive the word jù is placed immediately in front of the verb. For example ...

doika = to walk

jù doika = to not walk

The infinitive can be regarded as a noun.

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... The indicative verb form

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The indicative is called the hukəmepe

Now we introduce the indicative form of the verb.

This form of the verb is built up from the infinitive.

But first we should introduce a new letter.

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This letter has not been mentioned so far because it doesn't occur in any words as such. It only occurs in the R-form of the verb.

So if you hear "r" or see the above symbol, you know you are hearing the main verb of a clause.

1) First the final vowel is deleted.

2) Then one of the 7 vowels below is added. These show person and number.

Notice that there are 2 entries that represent the 1st person plural subject (i.e. we). The top one represents first person inclusive and the bottom one represents first person exclusive.

Note that the ai form is used when you are talking about generalities ... the so called "impersonal form" ... English uses "you" or "one" for this function.

The above defines the "person" of the verb. Then follows an "r" which indicates the word is an verb in the indicative mood.

.. Tense

In béu tense is usually shown not on the verb but is indicated by an adverb of time. This adverb can come anywhere in a clause but it has a strong tendency to come clause initial.

The one exception to the above, is the present tense which is shown by adding an "a". For example ...

solbara = I am drinking

.. Aspect

The perfect aspect is shown by adding an "i". For example ...

solbari = I have drunk

The ending "u" can be considered the opposite of the above aspect. Lets call it the "not yet" aspect. For example ...

solbaru = I have not yet drunk / I have not drunk

.. Negativeness

The indicative mood is negativized by adding ju. For example ...

solbarju = I do not drink

The present tense is negativized as above but with addition of the word kyu.i ( meaning "now"). For example ...

solbarju kyu.i = I am not drinking

Note - the "u" aspect can be considered the negative of the "i" aspect and vice versa.

.. Probability

There are two adverbs màs and lói.

As with all adverbs they can be placed almost anywhere in a sentence. However these two have a strong preference to be sentence initial.

màs solbori = maybe he drank

lói solbori = probably he drank

You could say that the first one indicates about 50 % certainty while the second indicates around 90 % certainty.

... The subjunctive verb form

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The subjunctive is called the sudəmepe

The subjunctive verb form comprises the same person/number component as the indicative, followed by "s". That is all. For example ...

solbos = Go on, let him drink.

The usage of the béu subjunctive covers the same functions as the Swahili subjunctive.

The negative subjunctive is formed by adding ke. For example ...

solboske = Best not to let him drink.

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... The imperative verb form

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The imperative is called the yeməmepe .... mepe = form

This is used for giving orders. When you utter an imperative you do not expect a discussion about the appropriateness of the action (although a discussion about the best way to perform the action is possible).

1) First the final vowel of the infinitive is deleted.

2) Then either -iya or -eya is added. iya when commanding one person, eya when commanding more than one person. For example ...

doikiya = walk !

The negative imperative is formed by putting the particle kyà before the infinitive.

kyà doika = Don't walk !

There is no distinction for number in the negative imperative.

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..... The consecutive and simultaneous tenses

TO BE PLACED 2 CHAPTERS BEHIND THE ABOVE ARTICLE

Earlier we mentioned the present tense. There are 2 further tenses in béu. However they aren't relative to NOW but relative to the last ROGER form verb.

The consecutive tense, eu, shows that the action takes place after the time of occurrence of the previous ROGER form verb. For example ...

jana doikar moʒi solbeu = Yesterday I had a walk and then drank some water

The simultaneous tense, ai, shows that the action takes place at the same time as the previous ROGER form verb. For example ...

jana doikar moʒi solbeu = Yesterday I walked about a bit while drinking water

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..... Verb chains

TO BE PLACED 2 CHAPTERS BEHIND THE ABOVE ARTICLE

When 2 (or more) actions are considered inextricably tangled up in each other, béu forms a verb chain.

In a verb chain the non-final verbs are given the ending i ( ia if they are monosyllabic ) and only the final verb takes its normal ending. The final verb can have any form. That is it can be base form, ROGER form, SIERRA form or YANKIE form.

A verb chain can only have one subject. For example ...

1) YESTERDAY FISH CATCH-I COOK-I EAT-UR = Yesterday they caught some fish, cooked the fish and then ate the fish.

A verb chain must have all the verbs contiguous. However sometimes there can be 2 (or more) objects. When 2 objects are present the noun-incorporation must be used. This is done simply by sticking the object to the front of the verb to make one word.

2) ALL EVENING CHAMPAIGN.DRINK-I CAVIAR.EAT-AIR = All day we were drinking champaign and eating caviar.

3) ALL AFTERNOON REPORT.WRITE-I PHONE.ANSWER.AR = All afternoon I was writing reports and answering the telephone.

The internal time structure of the chain must be worked out from knowledge of the situation described. For example in 1) the actions were CATCH then COOK then EAT in that order (probably). In 2) the actions DRINK and EAT happened at the same time (probably). In 3) the 2 actions wouldn't be at the same time but interspersed sort of randomly through-out the afternoon (probably).

Now all the above were examples of "one off" verb chains. These are relatively rare. More often one comes across the common verb chains. For example ...

4) CLIMB-I DESCEND TREE = to climb down a tree

5) THROW-I DESCEND BOOK = to throw down a book

6) THROW-I DESCEND-I US.COME BOOK = to throw down a book at us (it didn't hit us)

7) THROW-I DESCEND-I US.ARRIVE BOOK = to throw down a book at us (it hit us)

Note ... Another place where noun-incorporation is used a lot is with the participles. For example ...

DEER.HUNT-ANA = deerhunting, deerhunter

..... How words change class

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... Adjectives => Nouns

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gèu = green : geunai = greenness

naike = sharp : naikeni = sharpness

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Note ... béu uses a different suffix depending on whether the adjective has one syllable or more than one.

Note ... gèu can also mean "the green one". You can tell from context whether it is an adjective or a noun. All adjectives behave likewise.

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... Adjectives (and nouns) => Verbs

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gèu = green : geudo = to greenify, to turn green, to become green.

naike = sharp : naikedo = to sharpen, to become sharp

keŋkia = salty : keŋkiado = to salt, to add salt

??? = bicycle : ???do = to bicycle

For example ...

(pà) geudari = I have turned green

(pás) geudari ʃì = I have turned it green

ós geudori ʃì = She turned it green

Note ... in the above example the A argument can't be omitted. If it was the meaning would be "it turned green".

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Note ... dó by itself is a verb meaning "to do". All other monosyllabic verbs beginning with a single consonant have diphthongs for their infinitive form.

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... Verbs => Adjectives

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.. The passive participle

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The passive participle is formed by affixing -wai to the infinitive. For example ...

kludau = to write : kludwai = written

solbe = to drink : solbwai = drunk (not in the sense of intoxicated)

and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...

kludwai = the one that is written => a note

solbwai = "that which has been drunk"

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.. The active participle

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Sometimes also called the habitual participle.

The active participle is formed by affixing -ana to the infinitive. For example ...

kludau = to write : kludana = "writing" or "fond of writing"

solbe = to drink : solbana = drinking

and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...

kludana = the one who is always writing => writer/author

solbana = "he who drinks" or "a drinker"

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.. The present participle

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The present participle is formed by affixing -la to the infinitive. HOWEVER in this case the final vowel of the infinitive is not deleted. Rather it is kept but if it is a diphthong it drops its second half. For example ...

kludau = to write : kludala = "writing just now"

solbe = to drink : solbela = "drinking at this moment"

and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...

kludala = "the one writing just now" or just "the writer"

solbela = "the one now drinking" or just "the drinker"

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.. The participle of obligation

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Actually the form solbe by itself can be a participle when it qualifies a noun. For example ...

moʒi solbe = the water that must be drunk

toili kludau = the book that must be written

and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...

kludau = that which must be written => an (school) assignment

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... Verbs => Nouns

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Actually verbs in their infinitive form can be considered nouns also. For example ...

dó = to do, to make ... but it can also be translated as "deed" or "action".

If an action can result in (or be strongly connected to) some physical object. In that case the name of the physical object is derived from the verb by deleting the final vowel of the infinitive and adding "u". For example ...

dó = to make, to produce : dú = product

solbe = to drink : solbu = a drink

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... Nouns => Adjectives

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keŋko = salt : keŋkia = salty, having salt : keŋkua = not salty, lacking salt

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..... 37 common verbs

In the above two sections we have seen that the first step for making an indicative or an imperative verb form is to delete the final vowel. However this is only applicable for non-monosyllabic verbs. With monosyllabic verbs the rules are different.

For a monosyllabic verbs with a non-diphthong vowel the indicative endings are simply juxtaposed and the imperative endings are both changed to simply -ʔa. For example ...

swú = to fear ... swu.ari = I feared ... swuʔa = fear !

For a monosyllabic verbs with a diphthong vowel, the final i -> y or the final u -> w for the the indicative. The imperative endings are changed to -ʔa. For example ...

gái = to ache, to be in pain ... gayari = I was in pain ... gaiʔa = be in pain !

ʔáu = to take, to pick up ... ʔawari = I took ... ʔauʔa = take !

However for the 37 monosyllabic verbs listed below the rules are different. Their vowels are deleted for the indicative and imperative verb forms. These 17 single-initial-consonant verbs and 20 double-initial-consonant verbs have their vowels totally obliterated in the indicative and imperative verb forms For example ...

gì myar = I love you : peʔa talo = enter the house ! (when commanding two or more people)

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ʔái = to want

mìa = to get

yái = to have

jìa = to be

féu = to exit

bùa = to change

gói = to descend

dèu = to arrive

lái = to go

cía = to depart

sèu = to ascend

kói = to be able to

pòi = to enter

túa = to put

wàu = to lack

núa = to give

hàu = to be good, to be of use

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myù = to like, to love

jwà = to drink

fyùa = to do

flàu = to extract

byà = to eat

bláu = to tell

bwò = to know

glìa = to lower

gwù = to store

dwì = to follow

cwài = to use

slúa = to raise

swè = to speak, to say

kyò = to show

klòi = to see

kwèu = to cross

pyè = to be enough

plái = to insert

twìa = to meet

nyì = to return

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Note that have/lack, depart/arrive, exit/enter, ascend/descend, raise/lower and insert/extract are alphabetical opposites.

data = to come ... lái and data were not considered sufficiently opposite in meaning (well in usage) to make them alphabetical opposites.

Also túa and ʔáu were also not considered sufficiently opposite in meaning (well in usage) to make them alphabetical opposites.

Also note that there seems to be some connection between gói/glìa, sèu/slúa, pòi/plái and féu/flàu. Some derivation process productive in thousands of years ago ... or just coincidence ... who can tell.

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hemo = to be obliged

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..... SVC's

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Extensive use is made of serial verb constructions (SVC's). You can spot a SVC when you have a verb immediately followed (i.e. no pause and no particle) by another verb. Usually a SVC has two verbs but occasionally you will come across one with three verbs.

... Motion

.. to & from

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SVC's are used where "to" & "from" are used in English.

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The 3 below examples are the commonest situation ....

lái london = to go to London ... this is not a SVC..................(here)...x--------------------> London

lái pobo = to go to the forest ... this is not a SVC

lái twè jono = to go to meet John = to go to John

And the 3 examples are also common ....

data cía london = to come from london................................(here)...<--------------------x London

data cía pobo = to come from the forest

data cía jono = to come from John

The 3 examples below rare ... "to come to London" is in contrast to "to come to England" or "to come to Notting Hill" but if this distinction is not needed, then "to come" is sufficient.

data dèu london = to come to London.............................................x--------------------> London (here)

data dèu pobo = to come to the forest

data twè jono = to come to meet John

The below examples are rarer still .... in most situations, simply "to go" would be sufficient.

lái cía london = to go from London = to leave London.....................<--------------------x London (here)

etc. etc.

These SVC's always have the verbs in the above order. They can not be swapped around.

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.. out of & into

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data féu talo = to come out of the house

lái pòi talo = to go into the house

data pòi talo = to come into the house

lái féu talo = to go out of the house

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.. across & along

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? = road

doika kwèu ? = to walk across the road

doika dwì ? = to walk along the road

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.. away

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jaŋka = to run

jaŋka lái = to run away

jaŋka lái dèu London = to run away to London

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.. here and there

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awata = to wonder

jaŋka awata = to run around

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.. bring & take to

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kizu = a knife

kizu ʔáu lái = to take the knife away

kizu ʔáu data = to bring the knife

kizu ʔáu lái núa jono = to take the knife and go and give to John

kizu ʔáu data núa jono = to bring the knife and give to John

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... For or against

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senfe = to help, assist, support

gompo = to hinder, to be against

timpa = to fight ??

timpa senfe jono = to fight for John OR to fight with John

timpa gompo jono = to fight against John

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... To change

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bùa = to change

bùa jìa = to change into, to become

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... To give

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núa = to give

núa jono = to give to John

núa lái = to give away

Notice that the recipient must always come immediately after the verb. To drop the recipient, the verb form núa lái must be used.

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..... Some fundamentals of the grammar

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This is an ergative language. The ergative marker is -s or -os for words ending in a vowel or só for a multi-word NP.

In the main clause there is free word order. That is, you can have SV, VS, AVO, AOV, VAO, OVA, OAV or VOA^*

The choices VAO/VOA and AOV/OAV are made on discourse grounds.

The other choices are made according to the definiteness of S, A and O.

If definite they come before the verb, if not they come after.

(SideNote) ... é and è also code for indefiniteness ... OK they are useful for oblique NP and subclauses ... when they appear with S, A or O arguments in a main clauses they impart the notion that the argument is unknown to the speaker as well (or at least that the speaker has limited interest in the argument).

^* Actually in a piece of discourse, it is most likely that the S or A argument are old information and hence the topic. When this is the case the S or A argument is dropped and instead of the 8 sentence types ... SV, VS, AVO, AOV, VAO, OVA, OAV or VOA ... we have only the 3 sentence types ... V_s, O V_a or V_a O.

(V_s represents a verb marked for the person and number of the S argument and V_a represents a verb marked for the person and number of the A argument)

..... Definiteness

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An interesting concept ... let us think about how English handles it.

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The basic difference between "a"/"the"

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Well the person you are talking to is the person you want to impart the message to (the second person), so basically whether you use "a" or "the" will dependent on the addressee's knowledge of the relevant NP. For example ...

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	Relevant NP known to 2nd person
I bought the car	1
I bought a car	0

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In the above table I am using terminology from the subject of logic ... 1 = yes, 0 = no, X = yes or no

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So this is the BASIC difference between definite and indefinite.

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In the above example (because of the "situation") we can also say ...

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	Relevant NP known to 1st person	... when 1st person means the speaker of course
I bought the car	1
I bought a car	1*

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^* Logic makes this a "1" ... not the grammar

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We can combine the two tables above ...

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	Relevant NP known to 2nd person	...	Relevant NP known to 1st person
I bought the car	1		1
I bought a car	0		1

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Now lets change the "situation". We will change it as to its "reality" or 'realisation" ...

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	Relevant NP known to 2nd person	...	Relevant NP known to 1st person
I want to buy the car	1		1
I want to buy a car	0		X ***

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But as we said at the start, the reason for saying something is to make the hearer understand, so the X given to the speaker is perfectly logical.

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^***The question will be asked "how to make unambiguous the speakers knowledge of the NP". Some ways are shown in the table below ...

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	Relevant NP known to 1st person	... when 1st person means the speaker of course
I want to buy a certain car	1
I want to buy this car ...	1
There's a/this car (that) I want to buy.	1
I want to buy a car, any car ...	0

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Now lets introduce a 3rd person.

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	Relevant NP known to 2nd person		Relevant NP known to 1st person
She married the American	1		1
She married an American	0		X

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"She" of course being the 3rd person.

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Now let's expand the above table a bit ...

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	Relevant NP known to 2nd person		Relevant NP known to 1st person		Relevant NP known to 3rd person
She married the American	1		1		1 *
She married an American	0		X		1 *
She married some American	0		0 **		1 *

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^* Logic makes this a "1" ... not the grammar

^** Actually many connotations about the speakers attitude when "some" is used. When said "tensely" shows disapproval. When said "whistfully" shows speakers unhappyness with his lack of knowledge about the American. This is the marked case of the indefinite so I guess many many (or any ?) unusual point of view on the speakers part will be coded by "some".

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Now lets change the "situation". We will change it as to its "reality" or 'realisation" ...

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	Relevant NP known to 2nd person		Relevant NP known to 1st person		Relevant NP known to 3rd person
She wants to marry the American	1		1		1
She wants to marry an American	0		X		X
She wants to marry some American	0		0		1

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So to summarise(and simplify) the above data, I would say ...

1) "the" or "a" chosen depending on whether the addressee (2nd person) knows the NP talked about

2) "some" is chosen over "a" if you want to show unambiguously that a 3rd party knows the NP talked about

3) ... "some" also has picked up various connotations with regards to the 1st persons view of the NP under discussion.

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A bit about "this" and "that"

The original meaning for these two, was when some object is unknown to the addressee but the speaker wants to make it known to the addressee. Typically he points (or gestures) to the object as he introduces it. He will qualify the object with "this" if it is near, and with the word "that" if it is not near.

Now in English, people have started using "this" when something is not in sight. It is used to indicate that the object is known to the speaker but not known to the addressee.

Probably the commonness of the above has prompted people to start saying "this here" instead of "this" by itself.

The béu definite/indefinite

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Well the person you are talking to is the person you want to impart the message to (the second person), so basically whether you use "a" or "the" will dependent on the addressee's knowledge of the relevant NP. For example ...

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	Relevant NP known to 2nd person
I car want buy	1
I want buy car	0

And to show that the speaker does not have a particular car in mind either he would say "I want buy some car"

but of course he would have some minimum requirements, if he had no minimum requirements he would say "I will buy any car"

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The use of é is very like the use of "some" in English ... a bit of doubt as to whether it makes the NP definite for the 1st person or for the 3rd person.

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???

3) unknown to speaker but known to listener ... "that dog that bit you yesterday was put down" .... or equally valid ... "the dog that bit you yesterday was put down"

The question here is, of course, if the dog is "totally" unknown to the speaker ... why is here speaking about it ... ah, we must go deeper

Or consider this Norwegian, getting more definite in six easy steps.

5) She wants to marry a Norwegian ............. Could be any Norwegian. "She" does not even have any definite Norwegian in mind.

6) She wants to marry a Norwegian ............. Unknown to speaker and listener. But "she" has her eye on a particular Noggie.

7) She wants to marry some Norwegian ..... Not any Norwegian but the speaker known very little about him and the listener nothing.

8) She wants to marry a Norwegian^** ........ Known to speaker but unknown to listener

9) She wants to marry this Norwegian ........ Known to speaker but unknown to listener

10) She wants to marry that Norwegian ....... Known to speaker and listener

9) and 10) can be said to be "half-definite" (my own term) The Norwegian is known but as a sort of peripheral character that hasn't as yet impinged on the consciousness^* of the interlocutors that much. As/if he becomes more into focus in the interlocutors lives he will, of course, become, the Norwegian (or more probably Oddgeir or Roar or what have you).

The use of this and that for "half-definite" makes sense ... it is iconic. "This thing" is near the speaker hence seen, touched, smelt by the speaker ... known to the speaker.

"That thing" is out in the open, hence experienced/known to both speaker and listener.

^*Or the world-model that we each build up inside our heads.

^**Notice that "She wants to marry a Norwegian" is ambiguous ... it could either have the implications of either 5), 6) or 8).

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But enough of English. béu makes a noun more definite by putting it further to the left. To have an obligatory a or the in front of every noun is wasteful. However non-obligatory particles (such as "some" are fine)

Basically if a noun or noun phrase is to the left of the verb^* it is definite, if it is to the right it is indefinite. For example ;-

báus timpori glà = The man hit a woman

glà timpori báus = A man hit the woman

However this rule does not effect proper names and pronouns. They are always definite so they can wonder anywhere in the clause and it doesn't make any difference.

^*When I say verb here I am not counting the three copula's. They always have the order

Copula-subject copula copula-complement

Also dependent clauses have fixed word order ???

..... Noun phrases

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There are 4 types of noun phrase in béu ...

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1) The noun phrase for countable nouns

2) The noun phrase for uncountable nouns

3) The noun phrase for pronouns

4) The noun phrase for verbs

5) The noun phrase for places

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From now on I will not refer to a "noun phrase", but will be using the béu term fandauza or fandaunyo.

fandau = noun ... this (like many non-basic words in béu is an amalgam word). It is equivalent to nandau fanyo with nandau = "word" and fanyo = "object" or "a physical thing".

The amalgamation process gives ^*fanyodau. However in this particular word, there has been another contraction, to give fandau.

Now the suffix -za, is a suffix used to give the meaning "something more complicated than the basic non-suffixed word. So fandauza = noun phrase

Now the suffix -nyo, is a suffix used to give the meaning "something more complicated than the basic non-suffixed word or the non-suffixed word.

So fandaunyo = "a noun or a noun phrase".

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... The countable nouns fandauza

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It can consist of ... (1) the emphatic particle ... (2) a specifier koiʒi ... (3) a number ... (4) the head hua ... (5) adjectives saidau ... (6) a determiner ... (7) a question word ... (8) a relative clause. Only the head is mandatory.

Actually there are quite a few restrictions. For example (7) would never occurs with (8) .... mmmh why did I insert "would" here ??

Many restrictions between (2) and (3)

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.. The question words

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The set of possible question word (within a NP) is very small. Only three ... nái "which", láu "how much" or "how many", kái "what kind of".

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.. The determiners

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The set of possible determiners is very small. Only two ... dí "this", or dè "that".

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.. The adjectives

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Not much to say about this one, you can string together as many as you like ... the same as in English. Also genitives are put in this slot. A genitive is a word derived from a noun by the suffixing of -n (or -on) which indicates possession^*. Genitives always come after the regular adjective.

^*Actually it can also stand for a location ... where the NP is at.

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.. The head

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This is usually a noun. However it can also be an adjective. When it is an adjective it has concrete reference instead of representing a quality (as happens often in English). For instance, when talking about ... say ... a photograph, you could say "the green is too dark". In this sentence "the green" is a NP meaning the quality of being green. In béu if green is used as the head of a NP it always means "the green one" : "the person/thing that is green".

In béu, geunai would be used in a sentence such as "the green is too dark".

gèu = "green" or "the green one"

geumai = "greenness"

saco = "slow" or "the slow one"

saconi = "slowness"

Notice that the suffix has two forms ... depending upon whether the base adjective has one syllable or more than one syllable.

Sometimes the head is a determiner. In these cases the NP is understood to refer to some noun ... but it is not spoken ... it is just understood by all parties. In these cases the determiners undergo a change of form ...

dí => adi = "this one"

dè => ade = "that one"

nái => anai = "which one"

Related to dí and dè are the two nouns dían (here) and dèn (there). Although nouns, they never occur with the locative case or the ergative case.

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.. The specifiers

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The specifiers = nandau.a koiʒi or just koiʒia

koiʒi actually means "preface" as in "the preface to the book"

It also means forewarning or harbinger ... as in "that slight tremor on Tuesday night, was koizi of the quake on Friday"

Immediately before the core you can have a specifier.

There consist of the following ...

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kyà = no, í = any, é = some(for singular noun), yú = every, è = some(for plural nouns), nò = plural, ù = all, auva => ataitauta = 2=>1727, uwe = many, iyo = few, ege = more, ozo = less.

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Notice that the specifier that implies zero number has low tone, the 3 specifiers that imply singular* number have high tone and the 3 specifiers that imply plural* number have low tone.

.* Well this is true for the English translations anyway. (Side Note ... Actually I am not so sure about the "logic" of my little scheme. Also I would like to look into how a spectrum of other languages use specifiers)

Also note that nò is a noun (meaning "number") as well as a particle that denotes plurality. In the béu mathematical tradition, nò means a number from 2 -> 1727 only (of course there are expressions for expanding the concept to integers, rational numbers etc. etc.)

After a koiʒi the head is always in its base form with regard to number. For example ...

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é glà = some woman

è glà = some women ... not *è gala

í toti = any child .......... not *í totai

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The are 4 cases where you can have two koiʒi together ... é nò or when you have í followed by a number greater than one. For example ...

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é nò toti = some child or children ... this is a contraction of "é toto OR nò toti"

í auva toti = any two children

ege auva toti = two more children

ozo auva toti = two less children

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.. Specifiers X determiners

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Below is a table showing all the specifiers plus a countable noun plus the proximal determiner "this".

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1	ù báu dí	all of these men OR all these men
2	uwe báu dí	many of these men
3	iyo báu dí	few of these men OR a few of these men
4	auva báu dí	two of these men => ataitauta báu dí ... 1727 of these men
5	kyà báu dí	none of these men
6	í báu dí	any of these men OR any one of these men
7	é báu dí	one of these men
- 8 -	è báu dí	some of these men
9	yú báu dí	every one of these men
10	nò báu dí	several of these men OR several of these men here
11	é nò báu dí	one or more of these men
12	í auva báu dí ...	any 2 of these men => í ataitauta báu dí ... any 1727 of these men

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The above table is worth discussing ... for what it tells us about English as much as anything else.

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One line 1 ... I do not know why "all these men" is acceptable ... on every other line "of" is needed (to think about)

Similarly on line 3 ... I do not know why "a few" is a valid alternative.

Notice that *aja báu dí does not exist. It is illegal. "one of these men" is expressed on line 7. aja only used in counting ???

I should think more on the semantic difference between line 10 and line 8. ???

line 1 and line 9 are interesting. Every language has a word corresponding to "every" (or "each", same same) and a word corresponding to "all". Especially when the NP is S or A, "all" emphasises the unity of the action, while "every" emphasises the separateness of the actions. Now of course (maybe in most cases) this dichotomy is not needed. It seems to me, that in that case, English uses "every" as the default case (the Scandinavian languages use "all" as the default ??? ). In béu the default is "all" ù.

On line 9, it seems that "one" adds emphasis to the "every". Probably, not so long ago, "every" was valid by itself. The meaning of this word (in English anyway) seems particularly prone to picking up other elements (for the sake of emphasis) with a corresponding lost of power for the basic word when it occurs alone. (From Etymonline EVERY = early 13c., contraction of Old English æfre ælc "each of a group," literally "ever each" (Chaucer's everich), from each with ever added for emphasis. The word still is felt to want emphasis; as in Modern English every last ..., every single ..., etc.)

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This table is also valid for the distal determiner "that". For the third determiner ("which") the table is much truncated ...

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1	nò báu nái	which men
2	... auva báu nái	which two men => ataitauta báu nái which 1727 of these men

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Below I have reproduced the above two tables for when the noun is dropped (but understood as background information). It is quite trivial to generate the below tables. Apart from lines 8 and 10, just delete "men" from the English phrase and báu from the béu phrase. (I must think about why 8 and 10 are different ???)

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1	ù dí	all of these OR all these
2	uwe dí	many of these
3	iyo dí	few of these OR a few of these
4	auva dí	2 of these => ataitauta dí ... 1727 of these
5	kyà dí	none of these
6	í dí	any of these OR any one of these
7	é dí	one of these
- 8 -	è dí	some of these OR several of these
9	yú dí	every one of these
10	nò dí	these NOT several of these
11	é nò dí	one or more of these
12	í auva dí ...	any 2 of these => í ataitauta dí ... any 1727 of these

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1	nò nái	which ones
2	... auva nái	which two => ataitauta nái which 1727

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In the last section we introduced the rule, that when a determiner is the head, then the determiner changes form (an a is prefixed to it)

Now we must introduce an exception to that rule ... when you have a specifier just to the left of a determiner (in this conjunction, the determiner MUST be the head) the determiner takes its original form.

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.. The emphatic particle

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Now even before the specifiers it is possible to have an element. This is the emphatic particle á.

This is also used as a sort of vocative case. Not really obligatory but used before a persons name when you are trying o get their attention.

When this particle comes directly in front of adi, ade and anai an amalgamation takes place ( á adi etc etc are in fact illegal)

á adi => ádí = "this one!"

á ade => ádé = "that one!"

á anai => ánái = "which one!"

These three words break the rule that only monosyllabic words can have tone. These 3 words are the only exception to that rule.

By the way, emphasis is always used when contrasting two things. as in "this is wet, but that is dry" = ádí nucoi, ádé mideu

When written using the béu writing system, only the initial a is given the dot on the RHS which indicates high tone. The second syllable is unmarked.

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.. The relative clause

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béu relative clauses work pretty much the same as English relative clauses.

báu à glà timpori = the man whom the woman hit

báu às glà timpori = the man who hit the woman

The relativizer is à or às. à if the NP has an S or O role within the relative clause ... às if the NP has an A role within the relative clause ... béu being an ergative language.

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... The uncountable noun fandauza

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It can consist of ... (1) "the holder" ... (2) the head hua ... (3) adjectives saidau ... (4) a determiner didedau. Only the head is mandatory.

auva hoŋko ʔazwo pona dí = two cups of this hot milk

Note ... even though we have no word "of" ... there is no ambiguity. If the above was two fandaunyo, there would either be a pause between hoŋko and ʔazwo (for example if one was A and one was the O argument), or they would be separated by "and" wí if they were separate fandaunyo but comprised only one argument.

In this respect béu takes after Indonesian. For example ... five big bags of this black rice = lima tas besar beras hitam ini (literally ... five bag big rice black this)

Note that the "holder ???" can be a complete countable noun fandaunyo in itself.

lima tas besar beras hitam ini

(5 bag big) (rice black this) .... Usually languages have a linker, particular when the phrases are long. For example Chinese "de", English "of", Japanese "no". béu has no linker (similar to Indonesian) ... (however à or fí could be pressed into service if needed ??? )

(SideNote) ... ʔazwe = to suck ... ʔazweye = to suckle, to offer the breast

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... The pronoun fandauza

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Below the forms of the béu pronouns are the given for when the pronoun represent the S or O argument. This form can be considered the "base form" or the "unmarked form".

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me	pà	us	yùa
		us	wìa
you	gì	you (plural)	jè
him, her	ò	them	nù
it	ʃì	them	ʃì

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When they are used as an S arguments (i.e. with an intransitive verb), it might be better to translate these pronouns as "I myself", "you yourself" etc. etc.

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There is another pronoun but this one only occurs as an O argument. When a action is performed by somebody or something on themselves we use tí to represent the O argument.

Just as in English, we do not say "*I hit me", but "I hit myself" ... in béu we do not say *pás pà timpari, but pás tí timpari. ..

Below is a table with nù "they" occurring with the allowed specifiers. yùa, wìa, jè and ʃì pattern in a similar way.

1	í nù	any of them
2	é nù	one of them
3	yú nù	every one of them
4	è nù	some of them
5	kyà nù	none of them
6	ù nù	all of them
7	kyà nù	none of them
8	í auva nù	any two of them
9	ege nù	more of them
10	ozo nù	less of them

Nothing really surprising in the above. However I thought that I should lay it out in black and white. (what about emo "the most" and omo "the least" ??)

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Because the person and number of the A or S argument is expressed in the actual verb. The above are usually dropped (however the third person pronoun is occasionally retained to give the distinction between human and non-human subject) so when the pronouns above are come across, it might be better to translate them as "I myself", "you yourself" etc. etc.

It is a rule that tí must follow the A argument (if it is overtly expressed ... i.e. by a free-standing pronoun and not just in the verb)

LINGUISTIC JARGON ... "myself" is what is called a "reflexive pronoun". In English there are many reflexive pronouns (i.e. "myself", "yourself", "herself", etc. etc.) : in béu only one.

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Below the form of the béu pronouns is the given for when the pronoun is the A argument.

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I	pás	we (includes "you")	yúas
		we (doesn't include "you")	wías
you	gís	you (plural)	jés
he, she	ós	they	nús
it	ʃís	they	ʃís

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... The sandaunyo

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The sandaunyo is similar to the fandaunyo but built around a sandau as opposed to a fandau.

sandau = a verbal noun, an infinitive, a maSdar .... whatever you want to call it. Ultimately derived from the word sanyo which means "an event". (fanyo and sanyo are equivalent to the Japanese "mono" and "koto"). The word for "verb" is jaudau. Of course there is a one to one relationship between the jaudau and the sandau (as in English if you have an infinitive verb form, you are of course going to have a corresponding finite verb form).

In the sandaunyo there are fixed word orders. They are VS and VAO. If there are any adverbs or locatives they follow the S or the O. For example ...

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somwo pà = "my sleep"

timpa báu glà = the man's hitting of the woman ... Note that báu does not have the ergative suffix -s

solbe pà moze pona sacowe rì kéu = My drinking the cold water quickly was bad

timpwa glà = the woman being struck ... Note ... to form an passive, you infix w.

solbwe moze rì kéu = The drinking of the water was bad

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..... 72 Adjectives

..... 4 of which serve as intransitive verbs

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bòi *	good	boizora	she is healthy	bòis	to be healthy/health
kéu	bad	keuzora	he is ill	kéus	to be sick/illness
fái	rich **	faizora	she is interested	fáis	to be attentive/attention
pàu	bland	pauzora	he is bored	pàus	to be bored/boredom

^* Note that the adverb version of this word is slightly irregular. Instead of boiwe it is bowe. People often shout this when impressed with some athletic feat or sentiment voiced ... bowe bowe => well done => bravo bravo

Also instead of keuwe we have kewe. People often shout kewe kewe kewe if they are unimpressed with some athletic feat or disagree with a sentiment expressed. Equivalent to "Booo boo".

^**In a non-monetary sense. If applied to food it means many flavours and/or textures. If applied to music it means there is polyphony. If applied to physical design it means baroque.

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... 12 of which don't serve as any type of verbs

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igwa	equal, the same
uʒya	different, not the same
sài	young
gáu	old (of a living thing)
jini	clever, smart
tumu	stupid, thick
wenfo	new
yompe	old, former, previous
cùa	east, dawn, sunrise
día	west, dusk, sundown
lugu	right, positive
liʒi	left, negative

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(Of course you can always use a periphrastic expression if you wanted.)

... 54 of which serve as transitive verbs

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boʒi	better	kegu	worse	bozori	he improved something	kegori	he made something worse	boʒis	to improve	kegus	to made something worse
faizai	richer	paugau	blander	faizori	she developed something	paugau	she run something down	faizais	to enrich/develope	paugaus	to run down
ái	white	àu	black	aizori	he whitened something	auzori	he turned something black	áis	to whiten	àus	to blacken
hái	high	ʔàu	low	haizori	she raised something	ʔauzori	she lowered something	háis	to raise	ʔàus	to lower
guboi	deep	sikeu	shallow	gubori	she deepened something	sikori	she made something shallow	gubois	to deepen	sikeus	to make shallow
seltia	bright	goljua	dim	seltori	he brightened something	goljua	he dimmed something	seltias	to brighten	goljuas	to dim
taiti	tight	jauju	loose	taitori	she tightened something	jaujori	she loosened something	taitis	to tighten	jaujus	to loosen
jutu	big	tiji	small	jutori	he expanded something	tijori	he shrank something	jutus	to enlarge	tijis	to shrink
felgi	hot	polzu	cold	felgori	she heated something up	polzori	she cooled something down	felgis	to heat	polzus	to cool down
maze	open	nago	closed	mazori	he opened something	nagori	he closed something	mazes	to open	nagos	to shut
baga	simple	kaza	complex	bagori	she simplified something	kazori	she complicated something	bagas	simplify	kazas	to complicate
naike	sharp	maubo	blunt	naikori	he sharpened something	maubori	he blunts something	naikes	to sharpen	maubos	to blunt
nucoi	wet	mideu	dry	nucori	she made something wet	midori	she dried something	nucois	to make wet	mideus	to dry
fazeu	empty	pagoi	full	fazori	he emptied something	pagori	he filled something	fazeus	to empty	pagois	to fill
saco	fast	gade	slow	sacori	she speeded something up	gadori	she slowed something down	sacos	to accelerate	gades	to decelerate
wobua	heavy	yekia	light	wobori	he loaded something up	yekori	he unloaded something	wobuas	to load up	yekias	to unload
haube	beautiful	ʔaiko	ugly	haubori	she beautified something	ʔaikori	she made something ugly	haubes	beautify	ʔaikos	to make ugly
pujia	thin	fitua	thick	pujori	he made something thin	fitori	he made something thick	pujias	to make thin	fituas	to thicken
yubau	strong	wikai	weak	yubori	she strengthened something	wikori	she weakened something	yubaus	to strengthen	wikais	to weaken
ailia	neat	aulua	untidy	ailori	he tidied up something	aulori	he messed something up	ailias	to tidy up	auluas	to mess up
fuje	soft	pito	hard	fujori	she softened something	pitori	she hardened something	fujes	to soften	pitos	to harden
joga	wide	teza	narrow	jogori	he widened something	tezori	he narrowed something	jogas	to broaden	tezas	to narrow
gelbu	rough	solki	smooth	gelbori	she made something rough	solkori	she smoothed something	gelbus	to roughen	solkis	to smooth
ʔoica	clear	heuda	hazy	ʔoicori	she explained something	heudori	she confused somebody (intentionally)	ʔoicas	to explain	heudas	to muddy the waters
selce	sparce	goldo	dense	selcori	he pruned something	goldori	he intensified something	selces	to prune	goldos	to intensify
cadai	fragrant	dacau	stinking	cadori	she made fragrant	dacori	she made stinky	cadais	to make fragrant	dacaus	to to make stinky
detia	elegant	cojua	crude	detori	he decorated something	cojori	he decorated something BADLY	detias	to decorate	cojuas	to decorate in a gauche style

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The top 4 adjectives in the table above are actually irregular comparatives.

The standard method for forming the comparative and superlative is ... ái = white : aige = whiter : aimo = whitest

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However not quite all antonyms fall into the above pattern. For example ...

loŋga = tall, tìa = short

wazbia = far, mùa = near ... wazbo = distance, wazbai = about 3,680 mtr (the unit of distance)

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... Antonym phonetic correspondence

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In the above lists, it can be seen that each pair of adjectives have pretty much the exact opposite meaning from each other. However in béu there is ALSO a relationship between the sounds that make up these words.

In fact every element of a word is a mirror image (about the L-A axis in the chart below) of the corresponding element in the word with the opposite meaning.

ʔ
m
y
j		ai
f		e
b		eu
g		u
d		ua		high tone
u	===========================	a	============================	neutral
c		ia		low tone
s/ʃ		i
k		oi
p		o
t		au
w
n
h

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Note ... The original idea of having a regular correspondence between the two poles of a antonym pair came from an earlier idea for the script. In this early script, the first 8 consonants had the same shape as the last 8 consonants but turned 180˚. And in actual fact the two poles of a antonym pair mapped into each other under a 180˚ turn.

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An adjectives is called moizana in béu .... NO NO NO

moizu = attribute, characteristic, feature

And following the way béu works, if there is an action that can be associated with noun (in any way at all), that noun can be co-opted to work as an verb.

Hence moizori = he/she described, he/she characterized, he/she specified ... moizus = the noun corresponding to the verb on the left

moizo = a specification, a characteristic asked for ... moizoi = specifications ... moizana = things that describe, things that specify

nandau moizana = an adjective, but of course, especially in books about grammar, this is truncated to simply moizana

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..... Simple arithmetic

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noiga = arithmetic

Above right you can see the numbers 1 -> 11 displayed. Notice that the forms of 1, 3, 6, 7 and 9 have been modified slightly before the "number bar" has been added.

In the bottom right you can see 7 interesting symbols. These are used to extend the range of the béu number system (remember the basic system only covers 1-> 1727). Their meanings are given in the table below.

elephant	huŋgu
rhino	nàin
water buffalo	wúa
circle	omba
hare	yanfa
beetle	mulu
bacterium, bug	ʔiwetu

To give you an idea of how they are used, I have given you a very big number below.

Which is => 1,206,8E3,051.58T,630,559,62 ... E represents eleven and T represents ten ... remember the number is in base 12.

O.K. this number has a ridiculous dynamic range. But this is for demonstration purposes only: if you can handle this number you can handle any number.

This monster would be pronounced aja huŋgu ufaila nàin ezaitauba wúa idauja omba idaizaupa yanfa elaibau mulu idaidauka ʔiwetu elaifau dó

Now the 7 "placeholders" are not really thought of as real numbers, they are markers only. Used in the same way that we would say "point"/"decimal" when reeling off a number.

When first introduced to this system, many people think that the béu culture must be untenable, however strangely enough the béu culture has lasted many thousands of year, despite the obvious confusion that must arise when they attempt to count elephants.

One further point of note ...

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

To make a number negative the "number bar" is placed on the left. See below ;-

Also a number can be made imaginary by adding a further stroke that touches the "number bar". See below ;-

As you can see above, there is no special sign for the "addition operation". The numbers are simply written one beneath the other. Similarly with subtraction but one number would be negative this time.

There is a special sign to indicate multiplication (+), and there is an equals sign (-).

Division is the same as multiplication except that one of the numbers is in "fractional form".

There is an alternative multiplication/division notation : instead of using the + sign, the two quantities can instead be written side by side (see the example above).

-6 is pronounced ela liʒi ... liʒi means left or "negative

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

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

-4i is pronounced uga haspia liʒi

-1/10 is pronounced diapa liʒi

i/4 is pronounced duga haspia

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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