Béu : Chapter 10 : Gerund Phrase
..... Beyond the pilana
- This chapter should follow the pilana by about 2 chapters **
This chapter shows how to express things when a finer graduation is needed than can be expressed by the pilana. It also goes into how the pilana are used in greater detail.
Previously we have mentioned the first 8 pilana which are used for specifying location. Now there are two other words that are important for specifying location, namely tài and jáu (meaning , “in front of” and “behind”).
We must be careful here. In English usage “behind” can mean “at the far side of" as well as "at the backside". The same with “in front of” (but to a lesser extent). In béu, tài and jáu can only be used with objects that have a well defined “front” and “back”. Typically these objects are humans but tài and jáu can also be used with … for example “a house”. They can not be used with object which lack a front and a back. For instance they can not be used with "mountain".
Now no pilana can be a noun in its own right. They must always appear either suffixed on to a noun or standing in front of a NP. Now béu usually likes to drop the topic. But how can we drop the topic when we need no give a location with respect to a certain noun (which is the topic).
In English, we sometimes can have "above", "below, "in front", "behind" occurring alone. Consider ...
"They were in dire straits, in front the deep blue sea, behind the murderous viking raiders"
In the above sentence "in front" and "behind" can be considered nouns.*
pilana 1 - 8 plus tài and jáu only occur in front of a NP or suffixed to a noun.
However they can become nouns in their own right if they are suffixed to the particle dá (place). For example …
| pida | the interior |
| mauda | above, topside |
| goida | the underneath |
| taida | the front |
| jauda | the backside, the back |
| lada | the surface |
| ceda | this side |
| duada | the far side |
| beneda | the right |
| komoda | the left |
*An alternative analysis is to consider "They were in dire straits, in front the deep blue sea, behind the murderous viking raiders" as an abbreviation for "They were in dire straits, in front of them the deep blue sea, behind them the murderous viking raiders"
Earlier we told you that a pilana positional phrase can be considered either to be an adjective or a adverb. However using the above table we can produce nominal equivalents of them.
dapi nambo (sòr) detia = the interior of the house is elegant OR inside the house in elegant
(??? to think about further)The above can sometimes occur as ...
dapi nambowo (sòr) detia but this is unusual. It might possibly happen if the NP is complex. For example ...
dapi wò nambo jutu dè (sòr) detia (Note wò here is not defining a roll in a sentence, but a roll in a NP) .... NNNNNNNNNNNNN
Actually "They were in dire straits, in front the deep blue sea, behind the murderous viking raiders" can be translated into béu .... EITHER using datai and dajau OR nutai and nujau.
da is an interesting particle. It never occurs as a word it its own right. But as well as appearing as a component in the table above it appears as a suffix meaning "place" or "shop".
If béu had a history, you would speculate that it once was a noun with a meaning something like "place". But it hasn't.
Note ... the word for "here" dían and "there" dèn could also have a connection.
And compare dí "this" and dè "that" ... it is all very mysterious.
Note ... pilana 15 does not combine with da-. However there is a particle dan : it is equivalent to the English word "than". For example ...
jene (sòr) yubauge dan jono = Jane is stronger than John
Again ... all very mysterious.
Occasionally you get them joined to -ʔau. For example …
piʔau = interior surface
là can also be joined to -ʔau. For example …
laʔau = on it
Note ... piʔai wò nambo means exactly the same as nambopi. Invariably the terser form is used.
9) -ye ... yé ... The dative. Some usage example ...
He made the prisoner sing = He give sing prisonerye
I tell jane that ... i to jane tell that .... THIS IS SIMILAR TO "TO GIVE"
glá nòr flovan beggarsye = she gives food to the beggars
nauya toili oye = give a book to her
Note ... the béu way is similar to English. For example ... toili nauya ò = give the book to her
This is the pilana used for marking the receiver of a gift, or the receiver of some knowledge.
However the basic usage of the word is directional.
namboye = "to the house"
yé wazbo nambo = "as far as the house" ... (literally "to the distance of the house")
yé limit/border nambo = "up to the house" ... for objects
doikori yé face báu "he has walked up to the man" ... for people
10) -vi ... fì ... The ablative. Some usage example ...
mari laula guardfi = I was made to sing by the guard
I hear from Jane that .... Similar to English ... you can not miss out "from", even with Jane directly behind the verb
The beggars mor flovan glavi = the beggar get food from the woman
nambovi = "from the house"
fí "direction" nambo = "away from the house"
fí "limit/border" nambo = all the way from the house
fí nambomau = from the top of the house
Note ... two appended pilana are not allowed ... so *nambomauvi is not allowed
lori sàu yemevi yé prince handsome = he changed from a frog to a handsome prince
11) -tu ... tù ... The instrumental/comitative. Some usage example ...
kli.otu = John opened the can with a knife
jenetu = John went to town with Jane
Also used when something is achieved through a certain action ...
banu = to learn
banutu = by learning
Two particles are related to this pilana
tuta = because ... when because is followed by a clause
tuwo = because ... when "because" is followed by a NP.
Note ... duva = hand, arm .... duvatu = manually
Usuage ??? mountain cloud.ia = the cloudy mountain
mountain tù many rain clouds = the cloudy mountain ??? (Note tù here is not defining a roll in a sentence, but a roll in a NP) .... NNNNNNNNNNNNN
12) -ji ... jì ... The benefactive. Usually it refers to a person. However it often also occurs with an infinitive. Some usage example ...
banu = to learn
banuji = in order to learn
jari tweji ò = I have gone (in order) to meet him ... in this case it is not stated whether the "meeting" was successful or not
jari twé ò = I have gone and met him ... this is a verb chain
13) -wo ... wò ... The respective. Some usage example ...
pà halfar = I laugh LAUGH ???
pà halfar jonowo = I laugh at John
Can be used to show motion w.r.t. something .... "I lower the boy down the cliff face" ... here "down" = wò
Used for marking the "theme" as in such sentences as ...
gala catura jonowo = the women are talking about John
Also when fronted, it gives a topic of a topic/comment sentence. For example ...
jonowo ... = as for John ....
14) -n ... nà ... The locative
at
15) -s ... sá ... The ergative
só tá ........ = that Stefen turned up drunk at the interview sank his chance of getting the job
16) -lya ... alya ... The allative. Some usage example ...
xxx yyy zzz = put the cushions on the sofa
17) -lfe ... alfe ... The delative
xxx yyy zzz = the frog jumps off the lily pad
..
..... More on verb chains
..
............ He is lowering John down the cliff-face to the ledge => ós gora jono cliff gìa ledgeye ??
I dragged the dog along the road ??
joske pòi nambo = let's not let him go into the house ... there are 2 verbs in this chain ... jòi and pòi
jaŋkora bwá nambo dwía = he is running out the house (towards us) ... there are 3 verbs in this chain ... jaŋka, bwá and dwé
doikaya gàu pòi nambo jìa = Walk (command) down into the house (we are in the house) ... there are 4 verbs in this chain ... doika, gàu, pòi and jòi
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.
*Well maybe not always. For example jompa gàu means "rub down" or "erode". Now this can be a transitive verb or an intransitive verb. For example ...
1) The river erodes the stone
2) The stone erodes
With the transitive situation, the "river" is in no way going down, it is the stone. Cases where one of the verbs in a verb chain can have a different subject are limited to verbs such as erode (at least I think that now ??). Also the verbal noun for jompa gàu is not formed in the usual way for word building. Erosion = gaujompa
gaujompa or gajompa a verb in its own right ... I suppose that this would happen given time ??
I work as a translator ??? ... I work sàu translator ??
"want" ... "intend" ... etc. etc. are never part of verb chains ?? ..........................................
........... Unbalanced
..
Now all the above were examples of "one off" or "balanced" verb chains ( "balanced" in the sense that all the verbs have about the same likelihood ). A more common type of verb chain is one in which some common verb is appended to a clause to give some extra information. Examples of these verbs are ... "enter", "exit", "cross", "follow", "to go through", "come", "go", etc. etc. etc.
................. enter and exit
..
When in verb chains, these 2 verbs tend to be the main verb. They are used where "into" and "out of" are used in English.
pòi = to enter
féu = to exit
nambo féu tə = to come out of the house
nambo pòi jə = to go into the house
nambo pòi tə = to come into the house
nambo féu jə = to go out of the house
féu nambo tə = to come out of a house
féu nambo jə = to go into a house
pòi nambo tə = to come into a house
féu nambo jə = to go out of a house
nambo féu jaŋki tə = to run out the house (towards us)
féu nambo jaŋki tə = to run out a house (towards us)
..
............... across & along & through
..
When in verb chains, these 3 verbs tend to be the main verb.
kwèu = to cross, to go/come over
plèu = to follow, to go/come along
cwá = to go/come through
komwe kwèu = to cross the road
komwe kwèu doika = to walk across the road
kwèu komwe doiki = to walk across a road
kwèu komwe doiki tə = to walk across a road (towards the speaker)
plèw and cwá follow the same pattern
Note ... some postpositions
komwe kwai = across the road = across a road
pintu cwai = through the door = along a road
Above are 2 postpositions ... derived from the participles kwewai and cwawai
komwe plewai = along the road
..
............ come and go
..
When in verb chains, these 2 verbs tend to be the auxiliary verb.
Obviously they often occur as simple verbs.
"come", "go", "up" and "down" are often stuck on to the end of an utterance ... like a sort of afterthought. They give the utterance a bit more clarity ... a bit more resolution.
The below is nothing to do with verb chains, just a bit to do with the usage of dwé and jòi.
..
HERE------------>--------LONDON
londonye jòi = to go to London ... however if the destination immediately follows jòi -ye is dropped*. So ...
SIMILAR TO ADVERBS + GIVE ... LIGHT GREEN HI-LIGHT
jó london = to go to London
jó twì jono = to go to meet John (twe = to meet ??)
* In contradistinction, when a origin comes immediately after the verb dwé "to come" the pilana -fi is never dropped.
..
HERE----------<---------LONDON
tè londonfi = to come from London
tè jonovi = to come from John
..
.............. ascend and descend
..
When in verb chains, these 2 verbs tend to be the auxiliary verb. They are used where "up" and "down" are used in English.
bía = to ascend
kàu = to descend
CLIMB ʔupai kə = to climb down a tree
ʔupai CLIMB kə = to climb down the tree
CLIMB ʔupai bə = to climb up a tree
THROW toili kə = to throw down a book ???
These are also often inserted in verb chains to give extra information. The usually precede "come" and "go" when "come" and "go" are auxiliary verbs in the chain.
jò kə pə nambo = to go down into the house
jaŋkor kə pə nambo jə = he runs down into the house (away from us)
jaŋkor pə nambo kə tə = he runs down into the house (towards 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)
..
.............. here and there
..
awata = to wonder
jaŋka awata = to run around
..
............. bring and take
..
kli.o = a knife
kli.o ʔáu jə = to take the knife away
kli.o ʔáu tə = to bring the knife
ʔáu kli.o jə = to take a knife away
kli.o uʔau jə nə jono = take the knife and go give to John
kli.o uʔau tə nə jono = bring the knife and give to John
If however the knife was already in the 2nd person's hand, you would say ...
ute nə jono kli.o = come and give john the knife ... or ...
ute nə kli.o jonon = 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
..
HELP = to help, assist, support
gompa = to hinder, to be against, to oppose
FIGHT = to fight
FIGHT jonotu = to fight with john ......... john is present and fighting
FIGHT HELP jono = to fight for John ... john is present but maybe not fighting
FIGHT jonoji = to fight for John ...........probably john not fighting and not present
FIGHT gompa 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
..
??? How does this mesh in with clauses starting with "want", "intend", "plan" etc. etc. ... SEE THAT BOOK BY DIXON ??
??? How does this mesh in with the concepts ...
"start", "stop", "to bodge", "to no affect", "scatter", "hurry", "to do accidentally" etc.etc. ... SEE THAT BOOK ON DYIRBAL BY DIXON
..
... Parenthesis
..
béu has two particles that indicate the start of some sort of parenthesis. In a similar way to a mathematical formula, where brackets mean that the arguments within the brackets should be evaluated first, the two béu particles indicate that the immediately following clause should be processed (by the brain) before arguments outside of the parenthesis are considered.
..
. tà ... the full clause parenthesis particle
..
This is basically the same as "that" in English, when "that" introduces a complement clause. For example ...
"He said THAT he was not feeling well"
Notice that "he was not feeling well" is complete in itself, it is a self-contained clause.
..
... the NP with the present participle core ??
..
Now the phrase jono kludala toili is a noun phrase (NP) in which the adjective phrase (AP) qualifies the noun jono
(Notice that in the clause that corresponds to the above NP, jonos kludora toili (John is writing the book), jono has the ergative suffix and the 3 words can occur in any order : with the NP, jono does not take the ergative suffix and the 3 words must occur in the order shown.)
bwí = to see
polo = Paul
timpa = to hit
jene = Jenny
bwri polo timpa = He saw paul hitting something ... (bwri polo timpala é)
bwri pà timpa ò = He saw me hitting her
bwri tà timpara ò = He saw that I had hit her
bwri jene timpawar = He saw Jenny being hit ..... (bwri jene timpwala)
Now the question is where is this special NP used. Well it is used in situations where English would use a complement clause. For example with algo meaning "to think about",*
1) algara jono = I am thinking about John.
2) algara jono kludau toili = I am thinking about John writing a book.
Note ... According to Dixon, the standard English translation of 2) would be "I am thinking about John's writing a book" which I find quite strange even though English is my mother tongue. I have decided to call this sort of construction in béu a special kind of NP, while Dixon has called the equivalent expression in English the "-ing" type of complement clause. I think this is just a naming thing and doesn't really matter.
*"to think (that)" is alhu in béu. alhu also translates "to believe".
..
..... Nouns and how they pervade other parts of speech
nambo
nambo meaning house is a fairly typical non-single-syllable noun and we can use it to demonstrate how béu generates other words from nouns.
nambodu
Not many nouns can be used as verbs. However when an action is associated to a certain noun, usually, with no change of form, it can be used as a verb. For example lotova means bicycle and you get lotovarwi meaning "I used to ride my bicycle". For the infinitive, du must be affixed to the basic form.
The meaning given to the verb nambo is arrived at through metaphor, it is not so straight forward as the bicycle example.
The use of all tools can be expressed in a similar manner to lotova.
nambon
Sometimes in English a bare noun can be used to qualify another noun (i.e. it can act as an adjective). For example in the phrase "history teacher", "history" has the roll usually performed by an adjective ... for example, "the sadistic teacher". This can never happen in béu, the noun must undergo some sort of change. The most common change for nambo is it to change into its genitive form nambon as in pintu nambon "the door of the house". Other changes that can occur are the affixation of -go or -ka. These are used with certain nouns more than others. They are not used that much with the noun nambo so I haven't included them in the chart above. You could use the forms nambogo or namboka if you wanted tho' (they would mean "house-like"). Maybe you would use one of these terms in a joke ... it would stike the listener as slightly odd however.
nambia
This is a very common derivation. Nearly all nouns can take this transformation.
nambia is an adjective meaning "having a home". And its use as a noun is quite common as well, in which case it would probably be translater as "a home owner"
nambua
Also a very common derivation. The opposite of nambia.
nambua means homeless or the homeless
Note that although ia and ua are exact opposites, the usage of the words produced from these affixes do not completely mirror each other. It all depends oner what the base word is.
For example, in this case, the form nambia is a bit rarer than nambia. Also nambua is used more often as an adjective than as a noun, while nambia is used more often as a noun than an adjective.
nambuma
Many of the worlds languages have a suffix that has this roll. Called an "augmentative" in the Western linguistic tradition. Does not really come into play in English but quite common in béu. As well as some basic forms that appear regularly in their augmentative version, any noun can receive this affix. But of course it will stick out if it is not commonly used.
nambita
The opposite of nambuma. Called an "diminutive" in the Western linguistic tradition. In béu it is often used to show that the speaker feels affection for the noun so transformed. There is no trace of the opposite for the augmentative : nobody would use the augmentative to show repulsion.
nambwan
The form changes that produce nambia, nambua, nambuma, nambita, *nambija are *nambeba affected by deleting the final vowel (or diphthong) and then adding the relevant affix. However with this change of form this is not always possible to delete the final vowel (example). In this example it is possible. In fact it is possible if the final consonant of the base word is j, b, g, d,c, s, k, t, l or m.
By the way nambwan means domestic or domesticated. Nearly always when you come across the word it is referring to animals.
Other derivations that are not possible with nambo
I have already mentioned nambogo and namboka which while possible, are not at all common. Also I will mention three other derivations that are quite common however can not occur with nambo.
1) -ija is affixed to the names of animals and give a word meaning the young of that animal. For example;-
huvu = sheep
huvija = lamb
mèu = cat
meuja = kitten
2) -eba is an affix that produces a word meaning "a set of something" where the base word is considered as a central/typical member of that set. For example;-
baiʔo = spoon
baiʔeba = cutlery
= chair
= furniture
nambeba could represent a set comprising (houses, huts, skyscrapers, apartment buildings, government buildings etc etc.), however this is already covered by bundo (derived from the verb bunda "to build").
báu
..... -uʒi and -go
Note that wan tends to be affixed to nouns while uzhi gets affixed to verbs.
| to play | lento | playful | lentuʒi |
| to rest/relax | loŋge | lazy | loŋguʒi |
| to lie | selne | untruthful by disposition | selnuʒi |
| to work | kodai | diligent | koduʒi |
If the verb is monosyllabic, then -go is used instead of -uʒi.
Sometimes it is hard to tell if a word is basically a verb or a noun.
For example eskua is the gomia of a verb which means "to be angry". However it is also a noun meaning "anger".
However we can say that it is basically a verb as eskuʒi "bad tempered" !!!
How do we say "angry" ???
..... Number of categories
So now we can say, béu has ...
1 wepua
2 mazeba .......................... and 2 demonstratives
3 plova ......... participles ........ ʔinʔanandau or whatever words
4 teŋko ........ evidentials ........ relativizers or ʔasemo-marker
5 seŋgeba ..... modals ..... and 5 specifyana
6 ʔanandau ... question words
7 cenʔo ......... subject marked on the verb
9 ??? .............. personal pronouns
12 pilana (noun cases),
15 "specified"
16 gwoma (tense/aspect verbal affixes).
best to have 10 ??? conjunctions ???
The complement clause construction ???
wí = to see polo = Paul timpa = to hit jene = Jenny
wori polo timpa andai = He saw paul hitting something
wori pá timpana ó = He saw me hitting her
wori jene bwò timpa = He saw Jenny being hit
wori polo timpa jene = He saw Paul hitting Jenny
wori pà timpa jene = He saw me hitting Jenny.
In the above constructions the word order must be as shown above.
TO THINK ABOUT
Now we have said before that béu has free word order, however this really only applies to the verb in R-form (R) and the S argument in an intransitive clause, and the R, A and O in a transitive clause. When you have a verb in gomia-form (G), in the subjunctive form (Sub) or in the imperative form (Imp), you must have these elements in the following order ;-
S G : S Sub ... the last of these (S -S ) is quite unusual. Maybe can have S I ... but then S must be in vocative case
A G O : A Sub O : Imp O ... expand this and make it look good. Maybe can have A I O ... but then A must be in vocative case
In the béu linguistic tradition, a clause that has one R verb in it, or one N verb, or one I verb is called aʒiŋko baga or a simple clause. Any clause that has an R verb plus an G or N, verb is called a aʒiŋko kaza or a complex clause.
..... To think about
Further uses of the "s" form of the verb. That is the subjunctive.
Also used in dependent clauses with the meaning ...
that xxx should yyy.
Used after "want/hope/believe ?" if the subject is different. If subject is the same then the verb is in the gomia form.
hear, see, think, like, remember, know, believe | use tà + full verb with FACT complements.
hear, see, like, remember | use gomia with ACTION complements (English would use "-ing")
Sometimes when English would use the "to" construction, béu would use the -u participle | remember
Some rubbish
gwoi = to jump (involuntarily), to give a start
gwamoi = to make somebody jump, to give somebody a start
doika = walk
damoika = to manage, to run ......... damoikanai = "the management" or "the managers"
poma = leg
pomas = to kick, pomari = I kicked
pomaswan = liable to kick, fond of kicking
pomonda = good to kick
klonda = worth seeing
To fix up this bit.....Of course we can make two clauses, and have the second clause one element inside the first clause. To do that you must use the particle tà. Equivalent to one of the uses of "that" in English. tà basically tells you that the following clause should be treated like a single element, like a single noun.
I should mention sá tà ...
solbe = to drink
heŋgo = to live (or it could mean "a life")
soŋkau = to die (or it could mean "death")
glabu = person
moze = water
moʒi = steam
heŋgola = alive, living
soŋki = dead
..... Examples of prepositions
move these somewhere else
ilai = between
geka = without
mú = outside of
muka = outside
pika = inside
pòi = to enter or to put in
poi.a nambo = go into the house
wi.a toilia di toilicoipi = put these book in the bookcase ... wi.a toilia di toilicoin ... yeah, I like the second version
toilia di TAKE.ia poi.a nambo = take these book into the house
toilia di TAKE.ia nambo.pia jene.kye.a = take these book into the house and give to Jane
TAKE.iya toilia di nambo pireu jene kyireu = take these book into the house and give to Jane
méu = to exit or to take out ... I guess cat must be mèu
miwa nambo báin = come out of the house, get out of the house
.... -GO
| pronounced | operation | label | example |
| -go | noun => adjective, plus adjective => adjective, plus verb => adjective | "ish" | gla.go = effeminate, hia.go = reddish, bla.go = quarrelsome |
-go
gó = to resemble, to be like
gó dó = to be the exact image of
gla.go = effeminate, hia.go = reddish, bla.go = quarrelsome
Sometimes the -go derived words have negative connotations, as in gal.go
There is a suffix -ka (notice it is not considered a pilana), that often has a positive connotation, sometimes making a couplet with a -go derived word. For example ;-
gla.ka = womanly
kài = to appear, to seem
kò = appearance
..... Opposite meaning, same word class
The prefix for adjectives is "u"
taitau = many
utaitau = few
mutu = important
umutu = unimportant
The prefix for adverb is "u"
nan = for a long time
unan = not for a long time
The prefix for nouns is "u"
mezna = to fight
meznana = combatant
umeznana = non-combatant
As in English, not found that often. Sometimes found in rule books.
However the prefix for verbs is "ku"
| kunja | to fold | kukunja | to unfold |
| laiba | to cover | kulaiba | to uncover |
| fuŋga | to fasten, to lock | kufuŋga | to unfasten, to unlock |
| benda | to assemble, to put together | kubenda | to take apart, to disassemble |
| pauca | to stop up, to block | kupauca | to unstop |
| sensa | to weave | kusensa | to unravel |
| fiŋka | to put on clothes, to dress | kufiŋka | to undress |
| tasta | to tangle | kutasta | to untangle |
Note ... if they verbal prefix was simply u, then the same word would mean both "non-folding" and "unfolding"
kunja = to fold
kunjana = "folding" (an adjective) or "one that folds" (a noun)
kukunjana = "unfolding" or the "unfolder"
ukunjana = "non-folding" or "one that doesn't fold"
..
Index
- Introduction to Béu
- Béu : Chapter 1 : The Sounds
- Béu : Chapter 2 : The Noun
- Béu : Chapter 3 : The Verb
- Béu : Chapter 4 : Adjective
- Béu : Chapter 5 : Questions
- Béu : Chapter 6 : Derivations
- Béu : Chapter 7 : Way of Life 1
- Béu : Chapter 8 : Way of life 2
- Béu : Chapter 9 : Word Building
- Béu : Chapter 10 : Gerund Phrase
- Béu : Discarded Stuff
- A statistical explanation for the counter-factual/past-tense conflation in conditional sentences
