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
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... 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.
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. tà ... the full clause parenthesis particle
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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.
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... the NP with the present participle core ??
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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".
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..... Nouns and how they pervade other parts of speech
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.
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.
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
..... 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 BE SORTED
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The three types of Verb
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Some concepts are naturally intransitive. Like "to shave". Well at least in béu it is very unusual to shave another.
Some concepts are naturally transitive. Like "to hit". It is worth remarking on when somebody hits themselves.
And there are also some concepts that appear in both manifestations. For example ... "turn", "spread", "rise/raise"
These three types of concept are represented in beu by three different types of verb.
V1) té = to come ... this is a intransitive verb
(Always accompanied by a naked noun)
V2) timpa = to hit ... this is a transitive verb
(Always accompanied by an s-marked noun and a* naked noun)
*Although sometimes the naked noun can be dropped for lack of interest. For example ...
jenes solbori = Jane drank (something)
V3) kwèu = to turn
Now this sometimes behaves like V1 and sometimes like V2.
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A .. V1 Derivations
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There are 5 deriuvation processes shown below ...
First from doika => doikaya This involves infixing ay before the final vowel.
Secondly from doika => doikana and doikaya => doikayana.
This involves deleting the final vowel and adding ana.
Thirdly from doika => doikala and doikaya => doikayala.
This involves deleting the second part of the final vowel if it is a diphthong, and then adding la.
Fourthly from doikaya => doikaiwai.
This involves deleting the final vowel and y and adding iwai.
Fifthly from doikaya => doikaiwau.
This involves deleting the final vowel and y and adding iwau.
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| doskaniasi | doskanuas | |||
| "that which has been made to walk" (N) | "that which must be made to walk" (N) | |||
| ?? | <============ | doskan | ============> | doskanla |
| "the melter" (N) | "to melt" ... 2P | "melting" ... 2P (A) | ||
| ^ | ||||
| | | ||||
| | | ||||
| doikana | <============ | doska | ============> | doskala |
| "walker" (N) | "to melt" ... 2P | "melting" (A) |
Note that we have 8 word forms in total.
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B .. V2 Derivations
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There are 5 deriuvation processes shown below ...
First from kludau => kludawau This involves infixing aw before the final vowel.
Secondly from kludau => kludana and kludawau => kludawana.
This involves deleting the final vowel and adding ana.
Thirdly from kludau => kludala and kludawau => kludawala.
This involves deleting the second part of the final vowel if it is a diphthong, and then adding la.
Fourthly from kludau => kludwai.
This involves deleting the final vowel and adding wai.
Fifthly from kludau => kludwau.
This involves deleting the final vowel and adding wau.
..
| kludawana | <============ | kludawau | ============> | kludawala |
| "computer memory" (N) | "to be written" (V2) | "being written" (A) | ||
| ^ | ||||
| | | ||||
| | | ||||
| kludana | <============ | kludau | ============> | kludala |
| "writer" (N) | "to write" (V1) | "writing" (A) | ||
| kludwai | kludwau | |||
| "written" (A/N) | "which must be written" (A/N) |
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kludwai is the passive past participle, and kludwau is the passive future participle.
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Note that we have 8 word forms in total.
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C .. V3 Derivations
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| haikana | <============ | haika | ============> | haikala |
| "breaker" (N) | "to break" (V3a) | "breaking" (A) | ||
| haikwai | haikwau | |||
| "broken" (A/N) | "that which must be broken" (A/N) |
..
Note ... haikwai could very well have broken by itself. There is no connotation that an outside agent was responsible. The same with haikwau.
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| heukana | <============ | heuka | ============> | heukala |
| "breaker" (N) | "to break" (V3b) | "breaking" (A) |
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There are 4 derivational processes involved with V3a and 2 derivational processes involved with V3b. They have been already been explained in the sections on V1 and V2.
Note that we have 8 word forms in total.
kó = to see
kowa = to be seen
The subject of the active clause, can be included in the passive clause as an afterthought if required. hí is a normal noun meaning "source". However it also acts as a particle (prefix) which introduces the agent in a passive clause.
poʔau = to cook
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When the final consonant is w y h or ʔ the passive is formed by suffixing -wa
In monosyllabic words, it is formed by suffixing -wa.
Note ... when wa is added to a word ending in au or eu, the final u is deleted.
Also note ... these operations can make consonant clusters which are not allowed in the base words. For example, in a root word -mpw- would not be allowed ( Chapter 1, Consonant clusters, Word medial)
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... Valency ... 1 => 2
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Now all verbs that can take an ergative argument can undergo the 2=>1 transformation.
There also exists in béu a 1=>2 transformation. However this transformation can only be applied to a handful of verbs. Namely ...
| ʔoime | to be happy, happyness | ʔoimora | he is happy | ʔoimye | to make happy | ʔoimyana | pleasant |
| heuno | to be sad/sadness | heunora | she's sad | heunyo | to make sad | heunyana | depressing |
| taudu | to be annoyed | taudora | he is annoyed | tauju | to annoy | taujana | annoying |
| swú | to be scared, fear | swora | she is afraid | swuya | to scare | swuyana | frightening, scary |
| canti | to be angry, anger | cantora | he is angry | canci | to make angry | cancana | really annoying |
| yodi | to be horny, lust | yodora | she is horny | yoji | to make horny | yojana | sexy, hot |
| gái | to ache, pain | gayora | he hurts | gaya | to hurt (something) | gayana | painful * |
| gwibe | to be ashamed/shame/shyness | gwibora | she is ashamed/shy | gwibye | to embarrass | gwibyana | embarrassing |
| doimoi | to be anxious, anxiety | doimora | he is anxious | doimyoi | to cause anxiety, to make anxious | doimyana | worrying |
| ʔica | to be jealous, jealousy | ʔicora | she is jealous | ʔicaya | to make jealous | ʔicayana | causing jealousy |
ʔoimor would mean "he is happy by nature". All the above words take this sense when the "a" of the present tense is dropped.
The above words are all about internal feelings.
The third column gives a transitive infinitive (derived from the column two entry by infixing a -y- before the final vowel).
The fourth column gives an adjective of the transitive verb (derived from column three entry by affixing a -ana ... the active participle).
When the final consonant is ʔ j c w or h the causative is formed by suffixing -ya.
Also when the verb is a monosyllable, the causative is formed by suffixing -ya.
Note ... when ya is added to a word ending in ai or oi, the final i is deleted.
Note ... when y is infixed behind t and d : ty => c and dy => j
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Normally in béu, to make a nominally intransitive verb transitive, it doesn't need the infixing of -y. All it needs is the appearance of an ergative argument. For example ...
doika = to walk
doikor = he walks
doikanor the pulp mill = he runs the pulp mill
doikandoi = management
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*You would describe a gallstone as gayana. However you would describe your leg as gaila (well provided you didn't have a chronic condition with your leg)
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................... To be looked into
The words kyò "show" and fyá "tell" follow the same pattern as 1) and 2) ... at least when the object is a noun and not a complement clause.
helga = life, helgai = alive, helgais = finite verb (i.e. the one that is alive), helkas = a clause (helkas <= helgaiskas ), swefan = a sentence
In béu we have live clauses and dead clause.
The head of a live clause is a verb in its declarative form.
The head of a dead clause is a verb in its declarative form.
A live clause has its main elements in any order, the S term is marked as the ergative. The A and O terms are unmarked.
A dead clause has word order VS or VAO, the O term being marked as the dative. The A and S terms are unmarked.
If the subjects (that is S or A) of two clauses are different then they can be conjoined timewise by using one of the above stand-alone particles. For example ...
1) jenes bwori jono ʔéu jonos fori nambo tí = Jane saw John as he was leaving his house.
Also ... as in English we can have the two clauses in the other order ...
2) ʔéu jonos fori nambo tí_jenes bwori ò = As John was leaving his house, Jane saw him
Notice that in this sentence, the second jono has been replaced by the pronoun ò ... in actual fact ... in 1) the chances are that jonos would be replaced by ós ... but this makes the sentence ambiguous.
John whistled as he left his house = jono wizori ʔéu ò fori nambo tí = *jono wizori ʔéu féu í nambo tí
---
Now if the subjects of two clauses are the same, one of the clauses can becomes a dead clause. Only a very short and simple clause can become a dead clause ... both ...
A) Any time,place or manner adjuncts will stop a clause collapsing to a dead clause.
B) An O argument that is longer than a single word.
When the above requirements are met ....
A) S or A is dropped completely.
B) The linker word is appended to the infinitive.
C) if there is an O it immediately follows the infinitive and has the dative marker -n affixed.
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1) S while S ................... jono wizori ʔéu ò huzori ... (pronoun used in second clause) => jono wizori huzuaspi = John whistled while smoking
2) A/O while A/O ..... jonos timpori jene ʔéu ós huzori ʃiga ... (pronoun used in second clause) => jonos timpori jene pi huzuas ʃigan ... (must drop A, the linker must be appended to the infinitive. O must be a single word)
3) A O while S .......... jonos timpori jene ʔéu ò huzori ... (pronoun used in second clause)
=> jonos timpori jene huzuaʔeu ... (must drop S, the linker must be appended to the infinitive)
4) S while A O ........... jono huzori ʔéu ós timpori jene .... (pronoun used in second clause)
=> jono huzori timpaʔeu jenen .... (must drop A, the linker must be appended to the infinitive. O must be a single word)
John left his house whistling = Jonos fori nambo tí ʔéu wiʒia
wiʒia = to whistle
koʔia = to cough
huzua = to smoke
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 ........
gwói = to jump (involuntarily), to give a start
gwóin = to make somebody jump, to give somebody a start
doika = walk
doikan = to manage, to run ......... doikandoii = "the management" or "the managers"
poma = leg
poman = to kick, pomanari = 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
nambopi = in the house
pi nambo jutu = in the big house
muda nambo jutu = outside the big house
ilai = between, among
ilai bàu lé glà = between the man and the woman
ilaida = no man's land, borderland, the marches
geka = without ..... mutu = important ? : tumu = stupid ?
mú = outside of
mumo = outerspace
muda = outside
muka = outside surface
pika = inside surface
pòi = to enter or to put in
poihu 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
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
