Béu : Chapter 2

From FrathWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

..... Some fundamentals of the grammar

..

This is an ergative language. The ergative marker is -s (-os for words ending in a vowel).

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

(é and è also code for indefiniteness ... maybe they are only necessary in oblique NP and subclauses ... maybe not necessary for S, A and O in main clauses)

..

..... Noun phrases

..

fandauza = a noun phrase (or just a noun) .... explain ??

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

..

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

..

From now on I will not refer to "noun phrases", but will use the béu term 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 I will be using fandaunyo from now on and the meaning is "a noun or a noun phrase".

..

... The countable nouns fandaunyo

..

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

Also the above can be preceded by the emphatic particle and followed by a relative clause.

..

.. The determiners

..

The set of possible determiners is very small in béu. Only three ... "this", or "that" or nái "which".

In the Western Linguistic tradition "which" is not usually thought of as a determiner. It is however in the béu linguistic tradition. When nái is used you of course have a question.

..

.. The adjectives

..

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.

..

.. The head

..

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 ...

=> adi = "this one"

=> ade = "that one"

nái => anai = "which one"

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

..

.. The specifiers

..

The specifiers = nandau.a koiʒi or just koiʒia

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

Immediately before the core you can have a specifier.

There consist of the following ...

..

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

..

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 is a noun (meaning "number") as well as a particle that denotes plurality. In the béu mathematical tradition, 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 ...

..

é glà = some woman

è glà = some women ... not *è gala

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

..

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 ...

..

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

..

.. Specifiers X determiners

..

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

..

1 ú 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

..

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

..

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" ú.

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.)

..

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

..

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

..

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 ???)

..

1 ú 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

..

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

..

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.

..

.. The emphatic particle

..

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.

..

.. The relative clause

..

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.

..

... The uncountable nouns fandaunyo

..

This is the most common type of NP. In fact it is what people usually think of when they hear the phrase "NP".

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


..

... The pronoun fandaunyo

..

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

..

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


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.

Below the form of the béu pronouns is the given for when the pronoun is the S or O argument. When they are used as an S arguments (i.e. with an intransitive verb), it might be better to translate these pronouns as "I myself", "you yourself" etc. etc.


me us yùa
us wìa
you you (plural)
him, her ò them
it ʃì them ʃì

..

The above table is for S and O arguments, it fact we have another pronoun but this one only occurs as an O argument. When a action is performed by somebody on themselves we use 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.

It is a rule that 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.

..

The possessive form of these pronouns are ...

..

my pàn our yùan
our wìan
your gìn your (plural) jèn
his, her òn their nùn
its ʃìn their ʃìn

..

And we also have tín which is used if the possessor is the same as the subject of the clause.

Actually the n suffix is the locative. In the grammar, location and possession are marked identically.

This is similar to Scotch Gaelic. Consider Scotch Gaelic ... "Taigh agam" = "My house" (lit. "A house at me") *

Basically if n is appended to a noun that refers to a person, then the n indicates possession.

And if n is appended to a noun that refers to a place, then the n indicates location.

Sometimes the same affix can be used twice on the same word. For example cavia is a male first name.

Now in the béu lands it is quite common for small eateries and drinking establishments to be named after their owner, so cavian is, in the first instance an adjective meaning "belonging to cavia ". But in the second instance it can be a noun meaning "the place of cavia ". Then to indicate "at the place of cavia " you would have the word cavianon.**


*And in a similar way to Gaelic, béu has no possessive verb (i.e. it has no verb "to have")

Compare Gaelic ... "Tha taigh agam" — "I have a house" (lit. "A house is at me")

and béu ... twor nambo pàn — "I have a house" (lit. "Exists a house at me" or "There exists a house at me")

** Note the linking vowel o between the two n's. béu uses o as a linking vowel for nouns and e as a linking vowel for verbs.

..

... The sandaunyo

..

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 ...

..

somno 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

..

..... 72 Adjectives

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

..

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.

..

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

..

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

..

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

... 54 of which serve as transitive verbs

..

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

..

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

..

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)


..

... Antonym phonetic correspondence

..

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



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.


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

..

..... Simple arithmetic

..

noiga = arithmetic

TW 69.png

TW 70.png

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.

TW 77.png

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 ;-

TW 71.png

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

TW 73.png

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

..

..... 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