Béu : Chapter 3

From FrathWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

..... 3 ? short verb

..

In a previous lesson we saw that the first step for making an indicative, subjunctive or imperative verb form is to delete the final vowel from the infinitive. However this is only applicable for multi-syllabe words.

With monosyllabic verbs the rules are different.

For a monosyllabic verbs the indicative endings and subjunctive suffixes are simply added on at the end of the infinitive. For example ...

swó = to fear ... swo.ar = I fear ... swo.ir = you fear ... swo.or = she fears ... swo.uske = lest they fear ...... etc.

The imperative suffix is -ya for singular and plural. For example ...

swo.ya = fear !

For a monosyllabic verb ending in ai or oi, the final i => y for the indicative and subjunctive. For example ...

gái = to ache, to be in pain ... gayar = I am in pain ... gayir = you are in pain ... etc. etc.

twài = to be located, to be placed .... from tèu ???

For a monosyllabic verb ending in au or eu, the final u => w for the indicative and subjunctive. For example ...

ʔáu = to take, to pick up ... ʔawar = I take ... ʔauya = take !

..

..... 37 short verbs

..

However for the 37 monosyllabic verbs listed below the rules are different. Their vowels are completely deleted for the indicative and subjunctive verb forms. For example ...


myàr gì = I love you ........................ not * mye.ar gì

pòr nambo = he enters the house ... not *poi.or nambo


ʔái = to want
mài = to get myè = to like, to love
yái = to have
jòi = to go jwèu = to suffice, to be enough
= to know fyá = to tell flò = to eat
bái = to ascend byó = to be able to blèu = to hold bwá = to exit
gàu = to descend glà = to store gwói = to pass
= to do dwé = to come
lái = to change
cài = to use cwá = to cross
sàu = to be slè = to be under weak obligation swé = to speak, to say
= to see kyò = to show klói = to think kwèu = to turn
pòi = to enter pyói = to be under strong obligation plèu = to follow
tèu = to put twé = to meet
wàu = to lack
nàu = to give nyáu = to return
háu = to be good


The imperative suffix is -ya for singular and plural. For example ...

pà nauya = give me ... gimme

..

..... 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 bozor he/she improves kegor he/she made something worse boʒido to improve kegudo to made worse
faizai richer paugau blander faizor she developed paugau she run something down faizaido to enrich/develope paugaudo to run down
maze open nago closed mazori he opens nagori he closes mazedo to open nagodo to shut
saco fast gade slow sacori she speeds up gadori she slows down sacodo to accelerate gadedo to decelerate
fazeu empty pagoi full fazor he empties pagor he fills fazedo to empty pagodo to fill
hauʔe beautiful ʔaiho ugly hauʔor she beautifies ʔaihor she makes ugly hauʔedo beautify ʔaihodo to make ugly
ailia neat aulua untidy ailor he tidies up aulor he messes up ailido to tidy up auludo to mess up
joga wide teza narrow jogor he widens tezor he narrows jogado to broaden tezado to narrow
ái white àu black aidor he whitened audor he turned something black áido to whiten àudo to blacken
hái high ʔàu low haidor she raised ʔaudor she lowered háido to raise ʔàudo to lower
guboi deep sikeu shallow gubodor she deepens sikedor she makes shallow gubodo to deepen sikedo to make shallow
seltia bright goljua dim seltidor he brightens goljudor he dims seltido to brighten goljudo to dim
taiti tight jauju loose taitidor she tightens jaujudor she loosens taitido to tighten jaujudo to loosen
jutu big tiji small jutudor he expands tijidor he shrinks jutudo to enlarge tijido to shrink
felgi hot polzu cold felgidor she heats up polzudor she cools down felgido to heat up polzudo to cool down
baga simple kaza complex bagador she simplifies kazador she complicates bagado simplify kazado to complicate
naike sharp maubo blunt naikedor he sharpens maubodor he blunts something naikedo to sharpen maubodo to blunt
nucoi wet mideu dry nucodor she makes wet midedor she dries nucodo to make wet midedo to dry
wobua heavy yekia light wobudor he loads up yekidor he unloads wobudo to load up yekido to unload
pujia thin fitua thick pujidor he makes thin fitudor he thickens pujido to make thin fitudo to thicken
yubau strong wikai weak yubador she strengthens wikador she weakens yubado to strengthen wikado to weaken
fuje soft pito hard fujedor softens pitodor she hardens fujedo to soften pitodo to harden
gelbu rough solki smooth gelbudor she roughens solkidor she smoothes gelbudo to roughen solkido to smooth
ʔoica clear heuda hazy ʔoicador she explains heudador she confuses ʔoicado to explain heudado to muddy the waters
selce sparce goldo dense selcedor he prunes goldodor he intensifies selcedo to prune goldodo to intensify
cadai fragrant dacau stinking cadador she make fragrant dacador she makes stinky cadado to make fragrant dacado to make stinky
detia elegant cojua crude detidor he decorates/embellishes cojudor he spoils detido to decorate cojudo 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
l =========================== 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

..

..... Verb chains

..

Verb chain rules ...

1) When two (or more) infinitives come together, they are considered verb chains.

2) When one verb is separated from the first one(s) it must take the special chain form.

3) Always the initial verb, takes the indicative, subjunctive and imperative verb forms.

For example ...

jaŋkora bwá nambo dwía = he is running out the house (towards us)

joske pòi nambo = lets not let him go into the house

jaŋkaya bwá nambo dwía = run out the house (towards us)

..

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.

I work as a translator ??? ... I work sàu translator ??

"want" ... "intend" ... etc. etc. are never part of verb chains ...

..

.. out of & into

..

dwé bwá nambo = to come out of the house

jòi pòi nambo = to go into the house

dwé pòi nambo = to come into the house

jòi bwá nambo = to go out of the house

..

The above usually have the above word order.

However when another verb of motion is included, things change around a little.

jaŋka bwá nambo dwía = to run out the house (towards us)

..


.. up & down

..

bái = to ascend

gàu = to descend

These are also often inserted in verb chains to give extra information. The usually precede "go" and "come" when they are in their verb chain form (well not when "go" or "come" is acting as the "main" verb).

jòi gàu pòi nambo = to go down into the house

jaŋkora gàu pòi nambo jìa = he is running down into the house (away from us)

jaŋkora pòi nambo gìa jìa = he is running down into the house (away from us)

The two above sentences could describe the exact same event. However there is some slight connotation in the latter that the descending happened at the same time as the entering (i.e. the entrance of the house was sloping ... somewhat unusual)

..

.. across & along

..

? = road

road doika kwèu = to walk across the road

road doika cwá = to walk along the road


road kwai = across the road = across a road

road cwai = along the road = along a road

Above are 2 postpositions ... derived from the participles kwewai and cwawai

..

.. here and there

..

awata = to wonder

jaŋka awata = to run around

..

.. bring & take

..

kizu = a knife

kizu ʔáu jòi = to take the knife away

kizu ʔáu dwé = to bring the knife

ʔáu kizu jìa = to take a knife away

kizu ʔauya jòi nàu jono = take the knife and go give to John

kizu ʔauya dwé nàu jono = bring the knife and give to John


If however the knife was already in the 2nd person's hand, you would say ...


dweya nàu jono kizu = come and give john the knife ... or ...

dweya nàu kizu jonoye = come and give the knife to john


Note ... the rules governing the 3 participants in a "giving", are exactly the same as English. Even to the fact that if you drop the participant you must include jowe which means away. For example ...

nari klogau tí jowe = I gave my shoes away.

Note ... In arithmetic ʔaujoi mean "to subtract" or "subtraction" : ledo means "to add" or "addition".

Note ... when somebody gives something "to themselves", tiye = must always be used, no matter its position.

..

... for and against

..

senfe = to help, assist, support

gompo = to hinder, to be against

??? = to fight

??? jonotu = to fight with john ......... john is present and fighting

??? senfe jono = to fight for John ... john is present but maybe not fighting

??? jonoji = to fight for John ........... john not fighting and not present

??? gompo jono = to fight against John

..

.. to change

..

lái = to change

kwèu = to turn

lái sàu = to change into, to become

kwèu sàu = to turn into

The above 2 mean exactly the same

Note ...

paintori pintu nelau = he has painted a blue door

paintori pintu ʃìa nelau = he has painted a door blue

..

..... Some fundamentals of the grammar

..

This is an ergative language. The ergative marker is -s or -os for words ending in a vowel or 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 ... Vs, O Va or Va O.

(Vs represents a verb marked for the person and number of the S argument and Va represents a verb marked for the person and number of the A argument)

..... Noun phrases

..

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

5) The noun phrase for places

..

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".

..

... The countable nouns fandauza

..

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)

..

.. The question words

..

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".

..

.. The determiners

..

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

..

.. 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"

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 ...

..

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 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

..

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" 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.)

..

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 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

..

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 noun fandauza

..

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" 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 could be pressed into service if needed ??? )

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

..

... The pronoun fandauza

..

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".

..

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

..

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.

..

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 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 "they" occurring with the allowed specifiers. yùa, wìa, 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" ??)

..

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 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.

..


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

..

... 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 ...

..

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

..

..... The hipeza

..

A hipeza could be translated as "infinitive phrase"

Now a hipe is a type of nouns. So when determiners etc. etc. are added on they must conform to the rules for regular NP's.

However they differ in that they never take plurals and are never possessed (that is followed by ).

A hipeza is any phrase with a hipe at its heart.

Now on occasion S, O and A arguments must appear in a hipeza.

béu is quite strict on how these arguments can be added.

They must all follow the infinitive.

1) If in the indicative or subjunctive, an argument takes the ergative affix s, in the infinitive, while having no affix, must be preceded by .

2) The O argument always comes before the A argument.

3) Other argument relating to time, place and manner come after the S, O and A arguments.


English has quite a number of different ways of including S, O and A arguments with the infinitive. See below ...

1) Attila's destruction of Rome

2) Rome's destruction (by Attila)

3) The destruction of Rome (by Attila)


Tie in the participle phrase (equivalent to Dixon's complement clause)  ???

..

..... 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