Béu : Chapter 4

-ho or hò : pilana noka ... (the ninth pilana)

"in the company of", often used with the personal pronouns ;-

with me	paho	with us	yuaho
		with us	wiaho
with you	giho	with you (plural)	jeho
with him, with her	oho	with them	nuho
with it	ʃiho	with them	ʃiho

-tu or tù pilana niapa ... (the tenth pilana)

The instrumental is used for nouns that represent the instrument ("with"), the means ("by"), the agent ("by"), the reason, or the time of an event.

Rāma writes with a pen

baru = to learn, baru.tu = by learning ... without learning ??? ... maybe, maybe

book was written patu = The book was written by me

hand.tu = manually

I work as a translator ??? ... I work sai translator ??

tù ta ...

tùa = to use, to wear ... tài a SVC meaning ?? .... then bai

-wa or wá : pilana nuata ... (the eleventh pilana)

Or is it wo ?

As well as marking the topic, wa is also used for marking the "theme" ? as in such sentences as the one below.

gala caturi jono.wa => The women were talking about John

Needless to say that the element jono.wa can not be fronted, well not unless you want to make John the topic.

nambo.wa = about the house, concerning the house, with respect to the house

-n or nà : pilana najau ... (the twelfth pilana)

Sticking -n on the end of a noun, is equivalent to sticking the particle "of" in front of a word in English. For example;-

fanfa = horse

sonda = son

blico = king

fanfa sondan = the horse of the son

sonda blicon = the son of the king

However the suffixed form can only be used if the genitive is a single word. Otherwise the particle na must be placed in front of the words that qualify. For example ;-

We can not say *fanfa sondan blicon. The head of the NP is fanfa and it is being qualified by two words. So we have to say;-

fanfa nà sonda blicon

However it is not allowed to use nà if a suffix can be used.

So we can not say *kyolo nà kaunu (coat collar) but must say kyolo kaunun

We can not say *kaunu na jene (Jane's coat) but must say kaunu jenen

However if any of these nouns is qualified by an adjective, then -n can not be suffixed. For example ;-

fanfa nà sonda jini blicon = "the horse of the king's clever son

fanfa nà sonda nà blico somua = "the horse of the fat king's son"

This is a special construction that relates pronouns to the geladi. For example ;-

wí = to see polo = Paul timpa = to hit jene = Jenny

wori polo timpana = He saw paul hitting

wori pà timpana ò = He saw me hitting her

wori jene sana timpi = He saw Jenny being hit

wori polo timpana jene = He saw Paul hitting Jenny

wori pás timpa jene = He saw me hitting Jenny.

In the above constructions the word order must be as shown above.

-ji or jí : pilana najauja ... (the thirteenth pilana)

the benefactor (for) of an event. The dative form of a verb infinitive (which acts like a noun) indicates purpose.

baru = to learn, baruji = in order to learn

So we have -ji appended to single word NP's.

R-form of the verb

Above we have discussed the R-form of the verb.

However there are other verb forms.

S-form of the verb

This form is used for giving orders. With the s-form you definitely want some action to happen (and you don't expect a discussion about it).

Up until now, 7 protagonists have been expressed in every verb. With the s-form however only two protagonists can be expressed.

doikis = walk (when talking to one person)

doikes = walk (when talking to more than one person)

Very occasionally the form doikas is heard. When somebody has difficulty preforming some task the may "order" themselves to do it.

N-form of the verb

This is the subjunctive form. You change the "r" to an "n" basically. Nothing comes after the "n". So there is no tense/aspect or evidentiality expressed on this verb form. When the n-form is used in a main clause, it is gently urging some action. For example ;-

doikain = Let's walk

ME-form of the verb and the MI-form of a verb

These tenses are often called the 'conditional', that is, they express a supposition depending on a certain condition. When referring to present time the ME-form is used ; when referring to past time and the condition has no chance of now being realised the MI-form is used.

if knowame to read buyame book => If I knew how to read I would buy a book.

if knowami to read buyami book => If I had known how to read I would have bought a book.

AI-form of the verb

The ai-form comprises three functions. In the béu linguistic tradition, these are called "noun-ai", "verb-ai" and "small-verb-ai".

Major Verb "ai"

singai laughai loʔura namboʔe => They go home singing and laughing

loʔura nambo singai laughai => They go home singing and laughing

This is used when things happen at the same time and the subject of all the verbs is the same. Notice that the ai-forms can come before or after the r-form verb.

This form can not be used when consecutive actions are being described.

Minor Verb "ai"

The small verbs constitute a subset of verbs. They always follow the r-form verbs.

It is very common to have the following verbs in their ai-form.

bià means "to stay"

bài doikari = I was walking

bài doikara = I am walking

bài doikaru = I will be walking

The most common use for this is when you want to fit another action, inside the act of walking. For example "I was walking to school when it started to rain". Occasionally this form is used when you simply want to emphasis that the action took a long time (well in béu anyway, not so much in English). For example "This morning I was walking 2 hours to school (because I sprained my ankle)".

láu = to become

I painted the house red = paintari nambo lái hìa

bwò = to receive, to get, to undergo

bwaru timpa = I will be hit

bài bwài timparu = I will be being hit ??

kye = to give

kyari òye solbe

(pás) kyari oye timpa glá = I made him hit the woman

gain only one verb and it is transitive. There are two ways that we can make an intransitive clause.

1) pintu lí mapa = The door became closed ... this uses the adjective form of mapa and the "copula of becoming" láu.

Agent => Anything ... It could be that the agent was the wind ... or even some evil spirits ... use your imagination.

2) pintu bwori mapau = The door was closed ... this is the standard passive form.

Agent => Human and the action deliberate ... It strongly implies that the agent was human but is either unknown or unimportant.

Let us go back to gèu and consider gèu in an intransitive clause. As above we have 3 ways.

1) báu lí gèu = The man became green ... this uses the adjective form of gèu and the "copula of becoming" láu. This form has no implication as to the humanness of the agent.

Agent => Anything and the action could be accidental.

2) báu bwori geuldu = The man was made green ... this is the standard passive form. It strongly implies a human agent but the agent is either unknown or unimportant.

Agent => Human and the action deliberate

3) báu tí geuldori = The man made himself green ... this form implies that there was some effort involved.

Agent => The man and the action deliberate

= to come

= to go

= to rise ... sái : to raise ... slái

= to descend ... gàu : to lower ... glàu

= to enter ... poi : to put in ... ploi

= to go out

= to follow

= to cross

= to go through

= to pass

= to return

= to do something in a haphazard manner, to do something in an unsatisfactory manner

= to scatter about

= to hurry

= to do accidentally ??

The above are often stuck on the end of an utterance ... like a sort of afterthought. They give the utterance a bit more clarity ... a bit more resolution.

See what Dixon has in Dyirbal.

ai-form only with r-form or can also go with n-form, etc. etc.

You can add as many verbs as you want. The added verbs are understood to have the same protagonists, gwomai and evidentiality as the r-form verb.

passorla singai kite flyai = He is passing by singing and flying a kite

WHAT ABOUT SEPERATE OBJECTS ON THE TWO VERBS ?

WHEN WE INTRODUCE "ALONG" (FOR EXAMPLE) WE ARE INTRODUCING A NEW OBJECT IN THE CLAUSE ???

..... Word order and definiteness

Basically if a noun or noun phrase is to the left of the verb it is definite, if it is to the right it is indefinite. For example ;-

bau?s timpori gla? = The man hit a woman

gla? timpori bau?s = A man hit the woman

However this rule does not effect proper names and pronouns. They are always definite so they can wonder anywhere in the clause and it doesn't make any difference.

..... How to ask a YES/NO question

To turn a normal statement into a polar question (i.e. a question that requires a YES/NO answer), you stick on the enclitic foi to the end of the first word in the sentence. This enclitic is unusual in that when attached to a word ending in a vowel (most words) the "f" doesn't change to a "v". So in the above example, we would get ;-

gla.foi timpori bau?s = "Did a man hit the woman" or more naturally "Was it a man that hit the woman"

If you want to query a particular element in the clause and not the clause as a whole, you stick foi on to the element that you want to query.

gla? timpori.foi bau?s = Did a man hit the woman ? (I thought that he had kicked her)

gla? timpori baus.foi = Was it a man that hit the woman ? (I thought it was a boy)

Note that in this particular example, we can not question the element "the woman". (Because we can not drag gla? away from its position as the first element in the clause) However in most cases you can question any element in a clause. For example it would be possible to do so if both nouns were definite or both were indefinite.Also it would be possible if the other noun in the clause was a pronoun or a proper name. Also For example ;-

pas? gla? timpori = I hit the woman

pas.foi gla? timpori = Did I hit the woman ?

pas? gla.foi timpori = Was it the woman that I hit ?

Notice that often English relies on stress, to bring attention to the item being queried.

Entire NPs can go before foi for example ;-

sa báu jutu de.foi timpori jene = was it that big guy there that hit Jane.

..... KENKO

keŋko = salt ... base form ... noun

keŋkia = salty ... adjective

keŋkua = salt-free ... adjective

keŋkari = I added salt ... verb (transitive)

keŋkodu is the gelada form

keŋkatari = I make (someone) add salt ... verb

..... more about the negative

Usually the negative particle goes directly before the verb.

pás mò timparta jene = I have not hit Jane

This negates the complete clause. But what do you do if you want to negate one element in the clause. Well again the free word order of béu is again used. The word that you want to negate is moved between mó and the verb. So for example ;-

mó pás timparta jene = It wasn't me that hit Jane (it was that big guy over there)

pás mò jene timparta = It wasn't Jane that I hit (it was Mary)

..... Negative questions

pas.foi mò timparta jene = I haven't hit Jane, have I ?

If this question is answered aiwa it means "you haven't hit Jane"

If this question is answered aiya it means "you have hit Jane"

Just a little thing to keep in mind. This is the opposite of normal English usage, but in accordance with most languages in the world.

AIYA

This word is used instead of mó for negating the copula gaza and also for negating the 4 modalities/modals ??? nagai, glopai, oldai and hentai.

jene oldai mò humpora cokolate => Jane can not eat chocolates ... meaning she has the willpower to resist them.

jene aiya oldai humpora cokolate => Jane can't eat chocolates ... she is a diabetic and can not eat anything sweet.

jene aiya oldai mò humpora cokolate => Jane can not eat chocolates ... meaning she can't resist them.

Actually in the above example, aiya is an emphatic negative. It is more normal just to criticise ya to the end of the modal to negate it. ;-

jene oldaiya mò humpora cokolate => Jane can not resist chocolates.

-UZHI,

poma = leg

pomadu = to kick, pomari = I kicked

pomuʒi = liable to kick, fond of kicking

to play	lento	playful	lentuʒi
to quarrel	gomia	quarrelsome	gomuʒi
to rest/relax	loŋge	lazy	loŋguʒi
to lie	selne	untruthful by disposition	selnuʒi
to work	kodai	diligent	koduʒi

.... -MA, and -GO

pronounced	operation	label	example
-ma	adjective => noun	"-ness" or "-ity"	boi.ma = goodness
-go	noun => adjective, plus adjective => adjective, plus verb => adjective	"ish"	gla.go = effeminate, hia.go = reddish, bla.go = quarrelsome

gèu	green	geu.ma	greenness
juga	wide	juga.ma	width
tumu	stupid	tumu.ma	stupidity
bòi	good	boi.ma	goodness
mutu	important	mutu.ma	importance

-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

Beyond the simple clause

OK we have simple clauses such as ;-

donoru = She will walk ... intransitive

(ós) timpori pà = She hit me ... transitive

But often things are more complicated. First consider the verb "want".

When the object is a noun, we have a simple clause. But what if there is another verb in there. For example "I want to go home"

Well this would use the gelada form of "go" ;-

1) wantara dono nambye => I want to walk home .... The same as in English.

But what if we have different subjects. Well we would use the subjunctive form of the verb "to walk" ;-

2) wantara (gì) donin nambye => I want you to walk home (I have to go back and change the forms of the verb ?? subjuctive used to be "s" not "n", now "s" is imperative ??))

... notice that we do not use the infinitive as in English.

What about making things more complicated and having a transitive verb.

3) wantara timpa òs => I want to hit her ... (word order important or not ??)

4) wantara (gì) timpin òs => I want you to hit her

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 geladi-form (G), in the subjunctive form (N) or in the imperative form (I), you must have these elements in the following order ;-

S G : S N ... 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 N O : I 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.

-ANA and -I, how to derive two adjectives from a verb

The "active participle" (i.e. the adjective from the verb ... that has the -ana ending), is an adjective that qualifies what would be the S or A arguments if the S/A and R occurred together in a simple clause. For example ;-

kludau = to write ... to form the present participle you delete the final vowel and add -ana

glabu kludana = the writing person ... and following the strong tendency for adjectives to get used as nouns in béu ... kludana => author

kludau = to write ... to form the present participle you delete the final vowel and add -i

toili kludi = the written book ... and following the strong tendency for adjectives to get used as nouns in béu ... kludi => a thing that is written => a note

Now English also has these two participles as well. They appear as adjectives (of course, an adjective derived from a noun is the definition of "a participle"), they do not appear as nouns as in béu, however both are used in verb phrases to extand the shades of meaning that a basic verb can have. If you are a native English speaker and are given a clause out of context it is sometimes impossible to tell if the participle is acting as an adjective or as part of a verb phrase. We should go into this a little bit ... first the "active participle" ...

1) The writing man

2) The man is writing

3) The man is writing a book

In 1) "writing" is definitely an adjective. For instance you can substitute "green" for "writing" and the sentence makes perfect sense.

As for 2) ... well could be an adjective ... it passes the green-substitution-test.

For 3) ... No not an adjective "The man is green a book" doesn't make sense. The proper analysis of 3) is that "is writing" is a verb phrase (one that has given progressive meaning to the verb "write"). Now after we have figured this out we should have another look at 2). The proper analysis of this could be that "is writing" is a verb phrase. In fact there is no way to be sure and we would have to see the context in which 2) is embedded (and even then, there would be certain situations when either analysis could be valid. I would say that it is because of these situations in which either analysis is valid that let the original adjectival meaning spread and become a verbal meaning).

By the way, in béu to get a progressive meaning we use a Serial Verb Construction (SVC) ... báu bài kludora = The man is writing ... báu = man, bìa = to stay

... now the "passive participle" ...

1) The piano is broken

2) The piano was broken

3) The piano was broken by the monkey

In 1) "broken" is definitely an adjective. For instance you can substitute "green" for "broken" and the sentence makes perfect sense.

As for 2) ... well could be an adjective ... it passes the green-substitution-test.

For 3) ... No not an adjective "The piano was green by the monkey" doesn't make sense. The proper analysis of 3) is that "was broken" is a verb phrase (one that has given passive meaning to the verb "break"). Now after we have figured this out we should have another look at 2). The proper analysis of this could be that "was broken" is a verb phrase. In fact there is no way to be sure and we would have to see the context in which 2) is embedded (and even then, there would be certain situations^* when either analysis could be valid. I would say that it is because of these situations in which either analysis is valid that let the original adjectival meaning spread and become a verbal meaning).

By the way, in béu to get a passive meaning we use a Serial Verb Construction (SVC) ... toili gài kludorta = The book has been written ... toili = book, gùa = to undergo .... (toili gài kludorta is this right ?)

Actually we can make a really biy SVC and have toili bài gài kludora = The book is being written.

^*The five-week deadlock between striking Peugeot workers and their employer was broken yesterday when the management obtained a court order to end a 10-day sit-in at one of the two factories in eastern France, Sarah Lambert writes.

I would say either analysis is valid for the above sentence.

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.

5) wantara tà (gís) timporu òs => I want you to hit her ... But why would we use this ... why is 4) not good enough. ...want = wish ...OK if you have tà it means that your want is actually a wish.

HOW DOES THIS FIT IN WITH THE -ME AND THE -MI FORMS ??

I should mention swé tà ...

Note that in 2) and 4), gì would only be used if emphasis was wanted on "you".

solbe = to drink

heŋgo = to live (or it could mean "a life")

soŋkau = to die (or it could mean "death")

glabu = person

moʃi = water

heŋgana = alive, living

soŋki = dead

..... Getting the opposite by adding "u"

.... A prefix for adjectives

taitau = many

utaitau = few

mutu = important

umutu = unimportant

.... and a prefix for adverb

nan = for a long time

unan = not for a long time

.... and a prefix for nouns

mezna = to fight

meznana = combatant

umeznana = non-combatant

As in English, not found that often. Sometimes found in rule books.

.... but an infix for verbs

There is a reason why we do not simply prefix u to the verbs also.

kanja = to fold

kunjana = "folding" (an adjective) or "one that folds" (a noun)

ukunjana = "one that doesn't fold"

Suppose we did simply prefix u to the verb. Then "to unfold" would be ukanja, and hence ukanjana would be a noun meaning "one that unfolds". But if you look up a bit, you can see that this form (ukanjana) already has the meaning "one that doesn't fold". This would cause confusion.

kunja	to fold	kunjua	to unfold
laiba	to cover	laibua	to uncover
fuŋga	to fasten, to lock	fuŋgua	to unfasten, to unlock
benda	to assemble, to put together	bendua	to take apart, to disassemble
pauca	to stop up, to block	paucua	to unstop
sensa	to weave	sensua	to unravel
fiŋka	to put on clothes, to dress	fiŋkua	to undress
tasta	to tangle	tastua	to untangle

Note that in any other form but the geladi, the u changes to a w. For example ;-

fiŋkwori = he undressed

SAINO ...... the time of day

saino = day

The béu day begins at sunrise. 6 o'clock in the morning is called cuaju

The time of day is counted from cuaju. 24 hours is considered one unit. 8 o'clock in the morning would be called ajai (normally just called ajai, but cúa ajai or ajai yanfa might also be heard sometimes).

6 o'clock in the morning	cuaju
8 o'clock in the morning	ajai
10 o'clock in the morning	uvai
midday	ibai
2 o'clock in the afternoon	agai
4 o'clock in the afternoon	idai
6 o'clock in the evening	ulai
8 o'clock in the evening	icai
10 o'clock at night	ezai
midnight	okai
2 o'clock in the morning	apai
4 o'clock in the morning	atai

Just for example, let us now consider the time between 4 and 6 in the afternoon.

16:00 would be idai : 16:10 would be idaijau : 16:20 would be idaivau .... all the way up to .... 17:50 which would be idaitau

Now all these names have in common the element idai, hence the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock is called idaia (the plural of idai). This is exactly the same as us calling the period from 1960 -> 1969, "the sixties".

The perion from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock in the morning is called cuajua. This is a back formation. People noticed that the two hour period after the point in time ajai was called ajaia(etc. etc.) and so felt that the two hour period after the point in time cuaju should be called cuajua. By the way, all points of time between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. MUST have an initial cuaju. For example "ten past six in the morning" would be cuaju ajau, "twenty past six" would be cuaju avau and so on.

If something happened in the period from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock, it would be said to have happened idaia.pi

Usually you talk about points of time rather than periods of time. If you arrange to meet somebody at 2 o'clock morning, you would meet them apaiʔe.

But we refer to periods of time occasionally. If some action continued for 20 minutes, it will have continued nàn uvau, for 2 hours : nàn ajai (nàn means "a long time")

In English we divide the day up into hours, minutes and seconds. In béu they only have the yanfa. The yanfa is equivalent to 5 seconds. We would translate "moment" as in "just a moment" as yanfa also.

The town clock

Every town has a clocktower and the clocktower has 4 faces, which are aligned with the cardinal directions. The street pattern is also so aligned : that is the four biggest streets radiate out from the clock in the cardinal directions.

Each face displaying a clock similar to the one below.

The above figure shows the time at exactly 6 in the morning. You notice that the main (hour hand) hand is pointing to the right : it starts from the horizontal. This hand sweeps out one revolution in 24 hours and it moves anti-clockwise

Notice that secondary (minute hand) starts from the vertical and sweeps out a revolution in 2 of our hours. It moves clockwise. And actually when it passes the main hand, there is a clever mechanism to stop it being hidden. It stops 3.75 minutes at one side of the main hand, and then moves directly (2 steps) to the other side of the main hand and stops there for 3.75 minutes. After that it does a step and waits 2.5 minutes, etc. etc. ... until it encounters the main hand again.

We are actually looking at the West face. Everything is black which is shown black above. However the secondary hand and the 36 small "diamonds" should be red. All else (inside and outside the main "band") is white for this face. The red and the black arms do not move continuously but move in steps of 1/48 th of a revolution at a time. The black arm moves every 30 minutes and the red arm moves every 2.5 minutes.

For the East face: red => silver : white => green : black as before

For the North face: red => light blue : white => orange : black as before

For the South face: red => dark blue : white => red : black as before

The clocktower is surmounted by a green conic roof (actually not really conic ... the roof slope decreases as you get nearer the bottom). Lighting from under the roof could be provided for each face. Either that or the faces could be illuminated from within at night. The faces are not exactly vertical but the top slightly overhangs the bottom.

There is never any numbering on the face.

The clock also emits sounds. Every 2 of our hours the clock makes a deep "boing" which reverberates for some time. Also from 6 in the morning to 6 at night, the clock emits a "boing" every 30 of our minutes. The first "boing" has no accompaniment. However the second "boing" is followed (well actually when the "boing" is only .67 % dissipated) by a "sharper" sound that dies down a lot quicker : "teen". The third "boing" has 2 "teen"s 0.72 seconds apart. The fourth has 3 "teen"s. The fifth one is back to the single "boing" and so it continues thru the day.