Béu : Chapter 2

..... Pronouns

Below the form of the béu pronouns is the given for when the pronoun is the A argument.

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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

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.

Below the form of the béu pronouns is the given for when the pronoun is the S or O argument. 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.

me	pà	us	yùa
		us	wìa
you	gì	you (plural)	jè
him, her	ò	them	nù
it	ʃì	them	ʃì

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The above table is for S and O arguments, it fact we have another pronoun but this one only occurs as an O argument. When a action is performed by somebody on themselves we use tí 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.

It is a rule that tí 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.

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The possessive form of these pronouns are ...

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my	pàn	our	yùan
		our	wìan
your	gìn	your (plural)	jèn
his, her	òn	their	nùn
its	ʃìn	their	ʃìn

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And we also have tín which is used if the possessor is the same as the subject of the clause.

Actually the n suffix is the locative. In the grammar, location and possession are marked identically.

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..... Building up a noun phrase

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Now we talk about the béu noun phrase (cwidauza). This can be described as ;-

Specicier₁ Head Adjective₂ Genitive₃ Determiner₄ Relative-clause₅

1) A specifier is either a number or a word such as "all" (ù), some (é or éu), "any" (í), every (yú), "many", "a few".

HEAD

2) An adjective (moizana) ... not much to say about this one, you can string together as many as you like ... the same as in English.

3) A noun or pronoun that qualifies another noun (commonly called the Genitive in the Western linguistic tradition). Formed by suffixing -n to a normal noun makes it into a genitive.

4) Either dí "this", or dè "that".

5) This is a clause that qualifies the noun. It starts with the particle ʔà.

An interesting point is that in the absence of a "head", any of the other elements can act as the head.

The head is usually a noun but can also be an adjective. When you come across an adjective as head of a noun phrase, its meaning is "the person/thing that is "adjective" ".

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..... The Specifiers

Called koiʒia in béu

koiʒi actually means "preface" as in "the preface to the book"

All words that can occur to the right of the head in a NP are called nandaua koiʒi or ... when talking about grammar ... usually just koiʒia

These words include the numbers from 1 to 1727, the words "few" and "many", and the words below.

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jù	no
í	any
é	some (singular)
éu	some (plural)
ù	all
yú	each/every

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NB ... é and éu, in certain circumstances can mean "what" or "who"

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..... 72 Adjectives

..... 4 of which serve as intransitive verbs

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bòi ^*	good	boizora	she is healthy	bòis	to be healthy
kéu	bad	keuzora	he is ill	kéus	to be sick
nái	rich ^**	naizora	she is interested	náis	to be attentive
màu	bland	mauzora	he is bored	màus	to be bored

^* 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.

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... 12 of which don't serve as any type of verbs

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lugu	right, positive
liʒi	left, negative
sài	young
gáu	old (of a living thing)
jini	clever, smart
tumu	stupid, thick
nìa	near
múa	far
wenfo	new
yompe	old, former, previous
cùa	east, dawn, sunrise
día	west, dusk, sundown

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(Of course you can always use a periphrastic expression if you wanted.)

... 56 of which serve as transitive verbs

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boʒi	better	kegu	worse	bozori	he improved something	kegori	he made something worse	boʒis	to improve	kegus	to made something worse
naizai	richer	maugau	blander	naizori	she developed something	maugau	she run something down	naizais	to enrich/develope	maugaus	to run down
ái	white	àu	black	aizori	he whitened something	auzori	he turned something black	áis	to whiten	àus	to blacken
hái	high	ʔàu	low	haizori	she raised something	ʔauzori	she lowered something	háis	to raise	ʔàus	to lower
lói	long	lèu	short	loizori	he lengthened something	leuzori	he shortened something	lóis	to lengthen	lèus	to shorten
guboi	deep	sikeu	shallow	gubori	she deepened something	sikori	she made something shallow	gubois	to deepen	sikeus	to make shallow
seltia	bright	goljua	dim	seltori	he brightened something	goljua	he dimmed something	seltias	to brighten	goljuas	to dim
taiti	tight	jauju	loose	taitori	she tightened something	jaujori	she loosened something	taitis	to tighten	jaujus	to loosen
jutu	big	tiji	small	jutori	he expanded something	tijori	he shrank something	jutus	to enlarge	tijis	to shrink
felgi	hot	polzu	cold	felgori	she heated something up	polzori	she cooled something down	felgis	to heat	polzus	to cool down
maze	open	nago	closed	mazori	he opened something	nagori	he closed something	mazes	to open	nagos	to shut
baga	simple	kaza	complex	bagori	she simplified something	kazori	she complicated something	bagas	simplify	kazas	to complicate
naike	sharp	maubo	blunt	naikori	he sharpened something	maubori	he blunts something	naikes	to sharpen	maubos	to blunt
nucoi	wet	mideu	dry	nucori	she made something wet	midori	she dried something	nucois	to make wet	mideus	to dry
fazeu	empty	pagoi	full	fazori	he emptied something	pagori	he filled something	fazeus	to empty	pagois	to fill
saco	fast	gade	slow	sacori	she speeded something up	gadori	she slowed something down	sacos	to accelerate	gades	to decelerate
wobua	heavy	yekia	light	wobori	he loaded something up	yekori	he unloaded something	wobuas	to load up	yekias	to unload
haube	beautiful	ʔaiko	ugly	haubori	she beautified something	ʔaikori	she made something ugly	haubes	beautify	ʔaikos	to make ugly
pujia	thin	fitua	thick	pujori	he made something thin	fitori	he made something thick	pujias	to make thin	fituas	to thicken
yubau	strong	wikai	weak	yubori	she strengthened something	wikori	she weakened something	yubaus	to strengthen	wikais	to weaken
ailia	neat	aulua	untidy	ailori	he tidied up something	aulori	he messed something up	ailias	to tidy up	auluas	to mess up
fuje	soft	pito	hard	fujori	she softened something	pitori	she hardened something	fujes	to soften	pitos	to harden
joga	wide	teza	narrow	jogori	he widened something	tezori	he narrowed something	jogas	to broaden	tezas	to narrow
gelbu	rough	solki	smooth	gelbori	she made something rough	solkori	she smoothed something	gelbus	to roughen	solkis	to smooth
ʔoica	clear	heuda	hazy	ʔoicori	she explained something	heudori	she confused somebody (intentionally)	ʔoicas	to explain	heudas	to muddy the waters
selce	sparce	goldo	dense	selcori	he pruned something	goldori	he intensified something	selces	to prune	goldos	to intensify
cadai	happy	dacau	sad	cadori	she cheered somebody up	dacori	she depressed somebody	cadais	to cheer up	dacaus	to sadden
detia	elegant	cojua	crude	detori	he decorated something	cojori	he decorated something BADLY	detias	to decorate	cojuas	to decorate in a gauche style

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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

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..... Antonym phonetic correspondence

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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
u	===========================	a	============================	neutral
c		ia		low tone
s/ʃ		u
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

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

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..... The Determiners

..... The pilana

These are what in LINGUISTIC JARGON are called "cases". The classical languages, Greek and Latin had 5 or 6 of these. Modern-day Finnish has about 15 (it depends on how you count them, 1 or 2 are slowly fading away). Present day English still has a relic of a once more extensive case system : most pronouns have two forms. For example ;- the third-person:singular:male pronoun is "he" if it represents "the doer", but "him" if it represents "the done to".

The 12 béu case markers are called pilana

The word pilana is built up from ;-

pila = to place, to position

pilana <= (pila + ana), in LINGUISTIC JARGON it is called a "present participle". It is an adjective which means "putting (something) in position".

As béu adjectives freely convert to nouns^*, it also means "that which puts (something) in position" or "the positioner".

Actually only a few of them live up to this name ... nevertheless the whole set of 12 are called pilana in the béu linguistic tradition.

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The pilana are suffixed to nouns and specify the roll these nouns play within a clause or within a NP.

As well as the 10 illustrated above, we have s for the ergative case and n for the locative case. Also we have the unmarked case which represents the S or O argument.

As shown above the pilana are represented by their own symbols. Or at least the ten that do not consist of single letters.

For the suffix form of the first 2 and last 2 symbols given above, the end of the word proper "touches" the symbol. For the other 6 symbols, the word proper "impinges" upon the symbol. See below ...

If the prepositional forms are used, well then there is white space both above and below the symbol. The preposition is free-standing.

Notice that by a addition of pilana, you might expect to get the forms alye and alfi. As you can see this is not the case. Perhaps the amalgamated form has the final vowel changed under the pull of the initial vowel, a.

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..... Rules governing the pilana

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Now one quirk of béu (something that I haven't heard of happening in any natural language), is that the pilana is sometimes realised as an affix to the head of the NP, but sometimes as a preposition in front of the entire NP. This behaviour can be accounted for with thing with two rules.

1) The pilana attaches to the head and only to the head of the NP.

2) The NP is not allowed to be broken up by a pilana. The whole thing must be contiguous. So if a NP has elements after the head the case must be realised as a preposition and be placed in front of the entire noun phrase.

So if we have a NP with elements to the right of the head, then the pilana must become a preposition. The prepositional forms of the pilana are given on the above chart to the right. These free-standing particles are also written just using the symbols given on the above chart to the left. That is in writing they are shorn of their vowels as their affixed counter-parts are.

Here are some examples of the above rules ...

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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't say *fanfa sondan blicon however. The -n on sonda is splitting the NP sonda blico.

So we must say fanfa nà sonda blicon

Some more examples ...

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"

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Here are some more examples of the above rules ...

pintu nambon = the door of the house

pintu nà nambo tuju = the door of the big house

When one of the specifiers is involved we have two permissible arrangements.

1) pintu é nambon= the door of some house

2) pintu nà é nambo = the door of some house

1) is the more usual way to express "the door of some house", but 2) is also allowed as it doesn't break any of the rules.

This also goes for numbers as well as specifiers.

papa auva sondan = the father of two sons

papa nà auva sonda = the father of two sons

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^*Another case when the pilana must be expressed as a prepositions is when the noun ends in a constant. This happens very, very rarely but it is possible. For example toilwan is an adjective meaning "bookish". And in béu as adjectives can also act as nouns in certain positions, toilwan would also be a noun meaning "the bookworm". Another example is ʔokos which means "vowel".

..... The Relativizer

The relativizer in béu is ʔà. This takes all the pilana the same as a normal noun.

the basket ʔapi the cat shat was cleaned by John.

the wall ʔala you are sitting was built by my grandfather.

the woman ʔaye I told the secret, took it to her grave.

the town ʔafi she has come is the biggest south of the mountain.

the lilly pad ʔalya the frog jumped was the biggest in the pond.

the boat ʔalfe you have just jumped is unsound

báu ʔás timpori glá rà ʔaiho = The man that hit the woman is ugly.

nambo ʔàn she lives is the biggest in town. báu ʔàn dog I shot, reported me to the police = the man whose dog I shot, reported me to the police^*

báu ʔaho ò is going to market is her husband.

the knife ʔage he severed the branch is a 100 years old

The old woman ʔaji I deliver the newspaper, has died.

The boy ʔaco they are all talking, has gone to New Zealand.

When the relative clause is giving extra information, the relativizer in is ʔài and a slight pause comes before it.

Béu : Chapter 2

Contents

..... Pronouns

..... Building up a noun phrase

..... The Specifiers

..... 72 Adjectives

..... 4 of which serve as intransitive verbs

... 12 of which don't serve as any type of verbs

... 56 of which serve as transitive verbs

..... Antonym phonetic correspondence

..... The Determiners

..... The pilana

..... Rules governing the pilana

..... The Relativizer

... Index

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