Tepa syntax
In this chapter I will discuss three aspects of the syntax of Tepa. The first is the placement of the clitics discussed in the Tepa particles, the second is the disposition of phrasal elements (extended words) within the sentence, and the third is the coordination or subordination of clauses in complex sentences.
Clitic Placement
Clitics in Tepa can appear in one of three positions: 1) at the end of nouns, 2) at the end of verbs, and 3) at the beginning of the first word of a clause. Clitics which appear at the end of verbs belong to the set of pronouns, and indicate an oblique argument of the verb.
[waðaldanɨ]
| wa- | talta | =nɨ |
| 1>3- | give:L | =3 |
‘She gave it to me.’
[naɣiyɨɨttɨ]
| 0- | naki | yɨɨ | =ttɨ |
| 3>3’- | eat | egg | =someone |
‘Someone ate the egg.’
There are several types of clitics which attach to the right edges of nouns. These are quantifiers, postpositions, and pronouns. If all three are present, they attach in the order [NOUN] =DET/Q =POST =PRON.
[čiwiðwindɨma]
| tiwitwi | =ntɨ | =ma |
| birds:DIST | =some | =with |
‘with some birds’
[naɣiiyɨyyɨŋgattɨ]
| 0- | nakii | yɨyyɨ | =nka | =ttɨ |
| 3>3’- | eat:B | eggs:DIST | =many | =someone |
‘Someone ate a lot of eggs.’
[lɨahaiɣattɨ]
| 0- | lɨa | hai | =ka | =ttɨ |
| 3- | sit | grass | =on | =someone |
‘Someone is sitting on the grass.’
Conjunctions and modal particles appear in clause-initial position, regardless of the category of the first word in the clause. Thus it is possible for a noun to have modal clitics attached to it, when that noun is fronted for focus effects (see the section <Simple Sentences>). If both conjunctions and modal particles are present, they appear in the order CONJ= MOD= [WORD].
[wasullɨaβɨwanaɣiiyɨyɨɨtɨɨri]
| wa- | sullɨ | a= | pɨ= | wa- | nakii | yɨyɨɨ | tɨɨli |
| 3>1- | ask:L | DS= | IRR= | 1>3- | eat:B | eggs:DIST | Teeli |
‘Teeli asked me if I had eaten the eggs.’
The word together with the clitics which are attached to it form the “extended word”, which is the domain for stress placement and lenition processes.
Simple Sentences
Basic Word Order
The only obligatory element in a Tepa sentence is the verb and its associated clitic-chain. When other sentence elements are present, they appear in the order V-O-IO/PP-S.
[haɣunaɣittɨ]
| ha= | ku- | naki | =ttɨ |
| != | 2>3- | eat:B | =something |
‘Eat something!’
[naɣihuɣmatiɣwiŋga]
| 0- | naki | hukma | tikwi | =nka |
| 3>3- | eat | fruit:COLL | bird:COLL | =some |
‘Some (kinds of) birds eat fruit.’
[murɨahaiβunɨmaa]
| mu= | lɨa | hai | =pu | nɨmaa |
| NEG= | sit | grass | =in | man:B |
‘The man is not sitting in the grass.’
For focus effects, sentence elements (usually noun phrases) can be placed before the verb. When this is done, the clitics which normally attach to the verb attach instead to the sentence initial element.
[sužiɣwitarɨɣanɨmaanu]
| su= | tikwi | 0- | talɨka | nɨmaa | =nu |
| ?= | bird:COLL | 3>3- | hunt | man:B | =that |
‘Is that man hunting BIRDS?’
[hahaiβukurɨa]
| ha= | hai | =pu | ku- | lɨa |
| != | grass | =in | 2- | sit |
‘(Go) sit IN THE GRASS!’
[piðɨɨnɨŋaatɨɨriahumahmaŋgapuru]
| 0- | pitɨɨ | nɨŋaa | tɨɨli | a= | humahma | =nka | 0- | pulu |
| 3>3’- | see:B | woman:B | Teeli | DS= | fruit:DIST | =some | 3>3’- | pick |
‘Teeli saw the woman as she was picking SOME FRUIT.’
Equational and Existential Sentences
Equational sentences are sentences in which a noun phrase or postpositional phrase is taken to be a predicate. This syntactically derived predicate is always clause-initial, and takes normal inflections:
[paɣuuβu čiwii]
| pakuu | =pu | tiwii |
| tree:B | =in | bird |
‘The bird is in the tree.’
[suɣuβaɣuuβu]
| su= | ku- | pakuu | =pu |
| ?= | 2- | tree:B | =in |
‘Are you in the tree?’
Existential sentences are very similar in form to equational sentences. The difference between the two sentence types is the order of the constituents; the postpositional phrase is never sentence initial in an existential sentence.
[čiwipaɣuuvu]
| tiwi | pakuu | =pu |
| bird | tree:B | =in |
‘There is a bird in the tree.’
Complex Sentences
Coordination
The particle hu= serves to link sentences together, just as English “and”. The resulting paratactic constructions are quite common in Tepa. Noun phrases are often omitted in all but the first clause when their referents are unambiguous; the result is a string of inflected verbs connected by hu=.
Subordination
The subordinating conjunctions serve to join embedded clauses to main clauses. In Tepa, subordinate clauses are not divided formally into types such as relative clause, complement clause, sentential subject clause, etc. Only two kinds of embedded clauses are distinguished in the grammar: 1) an embedded clause whose subject is the same as the subject of the main clause (or the head of the relative clause) in which it is embedded; and 2) an embedded clause whose subject is different from the subject of the main clause (or the head of the relative clause) in which it is embedded. This information is contained in the subordinating conjunctions. They are:
ɨ= same subject
a= different subject
Some examples of their use follow:
[piðɨɨnɨŋaatɨɨriaβuruhumahmaŋga]
| 0- | pitɨɨ | nɨŋaa | tɨɨli | a= | 0- | pulu | humahma | =nka |
| 3>3’- | see:B | woman:B | Teeli | DS= | 3>3’- | pick | fruit:DIST | =some |
‘Teeli saw the woman as she (the woman) was picking some fruit.’
[piðɨɨnɨŋaatɨɨriɨwaβuruhumahmaŋga]
| 0- | pitɨɨ | nɨŋaa | tɨɨli | ɨ= | wa- | pulu | humahma | =nka |
| 3>3’- | see:B | woman:B | Teeli | SS= | 3>3’- | pick | fruit:DIST | =some |
‘Teeli saw the woman as she (Teeli) was picking some fruit.’
[piðɨɨʔɨβuruhumahmaŋganɨŋaatɨɨri]
| 0- | pitɨɨ | ɨ= | 0- | pulu | humahma | =nka | nɨŋaa | tɨɨli |
| 3>3’- | see:B | SS= | 3>3’- | pick | fruit:DIST | =some | woman:B | Teeli |
‘Teeli saw the woman (who was) picking some fruit.’
