Béu : Chapter 5
..... How words change class
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... Adjectives => Nouns
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gèu = green : geumai = greenness
naike = sharp : naikemi = sharpness
Note ... the affix changes depending on whether the word is a monosyllable or a non-monosyllable.
Note ... gèu can also mean "the green one". You can tell from context whether it is an adjective or a noun. All adjectives behave likewise.
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... Adjectives (and nouns) => Verbs
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gèu = green : geudo = to greenify, to turn green, to become green.
naike = sharp : naikedo = to sharpen, to become sharp
keŋkia = salty : keŋkido = to salt, to add salt
Note ... when the adjective ends is a diphthong (and is non-monosylabic) the last vowel is dropped.
??? = bicycle : ???do = to bicycle
For example ...
(pà) geudari = I have turned green
(pás) geudari ʃì = I have turned it green
ós geudori ʃì = She turned it green
Note ... in the above example the A argument can't be omitted. If it was the meaning would be "it turned green".
Note ... dó by itself is a verb meaning "to do". All other monosyllabic verbs beginning with a single consonant have diphthongs for their infinitive form.
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... Verbs => Adjectives
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.. The passive participle
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The passive participle is formed by affixing -wai to the infinitive. For example ...
kludau = to write : kludwai = written
solbe = to drink : solbwai = drunk (not in the sense of intoxicated)
and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...
kludwai = the one that is written => a note
solbwai = "that which has been drunk"
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.. The active participle
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Sometimes also called the habitual participle.
The active participle is formed by affixing -ana to the infinitive. For example ...
kludau = to write : kludana = "writing" or "fond of writing"
solbe = to drink : solbana = drinking
and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...
kludana = the one who is always writing => writer/author
solbana = "he who drinks" or "a drinker"
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.. The present participle
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The present participle is formed by affixing -la to the infinitive. HOWEVER in this case the final vowel of the infinitive is not deleted. Rather it is kept but if it is a diphthong it drops its second half. For example ...
kludau = to write : kludala = "writing just now"
solbe = to drink : solbela = "drinking at this moment"
and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...
kludala = "the one writing just now" or just "the writer"
solbela = "the one now drinking" or just "the drinker"
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.. The participle of obligation
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Actually the form solbe by itself can be a participle when it qualifies a noun. For example ...
moʒi solbe = the water that must be drunk
toili kludau = the book that must be written
and because of the strong tendency of adjectives to also serve as nouns ...
kludau = that which must be written => an (school) assignment
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... Verbs => Nouns
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Actually verbs in their infinitive form can be considered nouns also. For example ...
dó = to do, to make ... but it can also be translated as "deed" or "action".
If an action can result in (or be strongly connected to) some physical object. In that case the name of the physical object is derived from the verb by deleting the final vowel of the infinitive and adding "u". For example ...
dó = to make, to produce : dú = product
solbe = to drink : solbu = a drink
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... Nouns => Adjectives
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keŋko = salt : keŋkia = salty, having salt : keŋkua = not salty, lacking salt
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..... Word building
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Many words in béu are constructed from amalgamating two basic words. The constructed word is non-basic semantically ... maybe one of the concepts needed for a particular field of study.
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In béu when 2 nouns are come together the second noun qualifies the first. For example ...
toili nandau (literally "book" "word") ... the thing being talk about is "book" and "word" is an attribute of "book".
Now the person who first thought of the idea of compiling a list of words along with their meaning would have called this idea toili nandau.
However over the years as the concept toili nandau became more and more common, toili nandau would have morphed into nandəli.
Often when this process happens the resulting construction has a narrower meaning than the original two word phrase.
There are 4 steps in this word building process ...
1) Swap positions : toili nandau => *nandau toili
2) Delete syllable : *nandau toili => *nandau li
3) Vowel becomes schwa : *nandauli => *nandə li
4) Merge the components : *nandə li => nandəli
The above example is for 2 non-monosyllabic words. In the vast majority of constructed words the contributing words are polysyllables.
The process is slightly different when a contributing word is a monosyllabic. First we look at the case when the main word is a monosyllable ...
wé deuta (literally "manner soldier")
1) Swap positions : wé deuta => *deuta wé ........ there is no step 2
3) Vowel becomes schwa : *deuta wé => *deutɘ wé
4) Merge the components : *deutə wé => deutɘwe
And the case when the attribute is a monosyllable ...
mepe hí (literally "form origin")
1) Swap positions : *hí mepe
2) Delete syllable : *hí pe .......................................... there is no step 3
4) Merge the components : *hí pe => hipe
There are no cases where both contributing words are monosyllables.
Note ...
1) the schwa is represented by a dot.
2) the consonant before the schwa takes its final form
3) the consonant after the schwa takes its medial form
When spelling words out, this dot is pronounced as jía ... meaning "link".
Notice that when you hear nandəli or deutɘwe you know that they are a non-basic words (because of the schwa).
Also when you see nandəli or deutɘwe written you know that they are non-basic words (because of the dot).
However when you come across hipe it is not immediately obvious that it's a non-basic word.
This method of word building is only used for two nouns. Other classes of word can sometimes combine, but they don't use this method.
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..... And Or
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In the last chapter we said that when 2 nouns come together the second one qualifies the first.
However this is only true when the words have no pilana endstuck. If you have two contiguous nouns suffixed by the same pilana then they are both considered to contribute equally to the sentence roll specified. For example ...
jonos jenes solber moʒi = "John and Jane drink water"
In the absence of endstuck pilana, to show that two nouns contribute equally to a sentence (instead of the second one qualifying the first) the particle lè is placed between them.
This is one of these words that is never written out in full but has its own symbol. See below ...
Another similar particle is lú meaning "or". Its also has a special symbol. See below ...
jene byor solbe moʒi lú ʔazwo = "Jane can drink water or milk" .... is it jene or jenes ???
jonos jenes kuri auva sadu lè aiba ʔusʔa faja dí = John and Jane have seen two elephants and three giraffes this morning. ???
In béu as in English If it is obvious to the listener that a string of nouns are going to be given then they can be annunciated with just a slight pause between them. However lè must always separate the last from the second last. But having lè between every member of a list is also permissible.
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..... Word order
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The components of a clause ( i.e. verb, subject and object) can occur in any order.
béu uses this freedom to show definiteness. Namely if a NP comes after the verb, then the speaker reckons the listener does not know WHICH NP he is talking about.
Furthermore, to indicate to the listener that he himself is not acquainted with the NP, he will slip in the particle é before the NP.
So ... the speaker places a NP before or after the verb depending on the listeners (the second person) acquaintance with the NP.
Also the speaker (the first person) can place the particle é before the NP to show he (the first person) also is unacquainted with it.
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..... More about the pilana
This chapter should follow the pilana by about 2 chapters
1) -pi ... pí
in
2) -la ... là
on
3) -mau ... máu
above, over, on top of
4) -goi ... gòi
below, under, underneath, beneath
5) -ce ... cè
"this side of"
6) -dua ... dùa
"on the far side of", beyond
7) bene
right, "on the right hand side of"
8) komo
left, "on the left hand side of"
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.
amboye = "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 ...
kizutu = 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 ... anda = hand, arm .... andatu = manually
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
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
sá 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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..... Some valency changing operations
THE 37 SPECIAL VERBS MUST COME BEFORE THIS.
... Valency ... 2 => 1
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The passive is normally formed by infixing -w- just before the final vowel. For example ...
kó = to see
(pás) kár gì = I see you
pás kár gì = I myself see you
(pà) kowar = I am seen
(pà) kowar hí gì = I am seen by you
pà kowara = I myself am being seen
kowari = I have been seen
kowaru = I have not yet been seen
taiku kowar = I was seen
jauku kowar = I will be seen
etc. etc.
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.
| the infinitive | perfect | infinitive of passive | perfect of passive | passive participle | |||||
| kludau | to write | kludori | he has written | kludwau | to be written | kludwori | it has been written | kludwai | written |
| kó | to see | kori | she has seen | kowa | to be seen | kowori | she has been seen | kowai | seen |
| timpa | to hit | timpori | he has hit | timpwa | to be hit | timpwori | he has been hit | timpwai | hit |
| poʔau | to cook | poʔori | she has cooked | poʔawa | to be cooked | poʔawori | it has been cooked | poʔawai | cooked |
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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
There is one other word that follows the same paradigm as the 10 words above.
| jùa | to know | jor | he knows | juya | to tell | juyori | she has told |
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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 walk
ós doikor the pulp mill = he runs the pulp mill
doikyana = 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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... Concatenation of the valency changing derivations ... 1 => 2 => 1 and 2 => 1 => 2
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| ʔoime | = to be happy | ʔoimye | = to make happy | ʔoimyewa | = "to be made to be happy" or, more simply "to be made happy |
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| fàu | = to know | fa?? | = to tell | fa ?? | = |
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| timpa | = to hit | timpawa | = to be hit | timpawaya | = to cause to be hit |
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Semantically timpa is direct action (from agent to patient). Whereas timpawaya is indirect, possibly involving some third party between the agent and the patient and/or allowing some time to pass, between resolving on the action and the action being done unto the patient.
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..... A bit about adverbs
If an adjective comes immediately after a verb (which it normally would) it is known to be an adverb. For example saco means "slow" but if it came immediately after a verb it would be translated as "slowly". However if we add -we to it so we get the form sacowe the adverb can move around the utterance ... wherever it wants to go. ..... SIMILAR TO "To come and go" + "to give" ... LIGHT GREEN HI-LIGHT
-we can also be affixed to a noun and also produce an adverb. For example ;-
deuta means "soldier"
deutawe means "in the manner of a soldier"
as in doikora deutawe = he is walking like a soldier ... of course the -we is not dropped when the adverb directly follows the verb.
Now going back to the 6 "co-ordinate" particles máu gòi cè dùa bene komo in the previous section. Basically a word ending in one of these particles, is an adjective. For example
However sometimes TABLEmau is an adverb. When it is, it must come directly after the verb (that is ... we can not add -we and move it from its position immediately behind the verb, as can be done with other adjectives active as adverbs). For example ...
The monkey eats an apple on the table ... ambiguous in English ... not ambiguous in béu
MONKEY EATS TABLEmau APPLE
MONKEY EATS APPLE TABLEmau
So that is basically all there is to adverbs. In the Western linguistic tradition many other words are classified as adverbs. Words such as "often" and "tomorrow" etc. etc.
In the béu linguistic tradition all these words are classified as particles, a hodge podge collection of words that do not fit into the usual word classes.
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... Parenthesis
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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 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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. ʔà ... the gap clause particle
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This is basically the same as "what" in English, in such sentences as ...
"WHAT you see is WHAT you get"*
Notice that "you see" and "you get" are not complete clauses, there is a "gap" in them.
The phase "WHAT you see", (to return to the mathematical analogy again) may be thought of as a "variable". in this case, the motivation for using a "variable", is to make the expression "general" rather than "specific". (Being general it is of course more worthy of our consideration). Other motivations for using a "variable" is that the actual argument is not known. Yet another is that even though the particular argument is known, it is really awkward to specify satisfactorily.
EXAMPLE
Another way to think about the ʔà construction, is to think of it as a "nominaliser", a particle that turns a whole clause into a noun. To use the example from just above ....
"see" is an intransitive verb with two arguments. To replace one of these arguments by ʔà is like defining the missing argument in terms of the rest of the clause i.e. it changes a clause into a constuction that refers to one argument of that clause.
. Gap clause particles in other languages
There is no generally agreed upon term for the type of construction which I am calling "gap clause" here. Dixon calls it a "fused relative", Greenberg calls it a "headless relative clause". I don't like either term. A fused relative implies that a generic noun (i.e. "thing" or "person") somehow got fused with a relativizer. This certainly never happened although this type of clause can be rewritten as a generic noun followed by a relativizer. As for "headless" relative clause ... well I think the type of clause that we are dealing with is in fact more fundamental then a relative clause, so I would not like to define it in terms of a relative clause.
My thoughts on this type of clause are ...
Well "what" was firstly a question word. So you have expressions like "Who fed the cat"
Then of course it is natural to have an answer like "I don't know who fed the cat"
Now the above sentence is similar to "I don't know French" or "I don't know Johnny".
Now you see the expression "who fed the cat" fills the slot usually occupied by a noun in an "I don't know" sentences.
So "who fed the cat" started to be thought of as a sort of noun.
Now from the "know (neg)" beachhead*, the usage would have spread to "know" and also the such words that have "knowing" as an essential part of their meaning. Words such as "remember", "report" etc. etc.
*I call "know (neg)" a "beachhead"**. A beachhead is a usage(and/or the act or situation behind that usage) that facilitates the meaning of a word to spread. Or the meaning of an expression to spread. A beachhead can be defined simply as an expression, but sometimes some background as to the speakers environment has to be given. For example suppose that one dialect of a language was using a word to mean "under", but this same word meant "between/among" in all other dialects. Now suppose you did some investigating and found that all other dialects of this language was spoken on the steppes and their speakers made a living by animal husbandry. However the group which diverged from the others had given up the nomadic life and settled down in a lush river valley. In this valley their main occupation was tending their fruit orchards.
It could be deduced that the change in meaning came about by people saying ... "Johnny is among the trees". Now as the trees were thick on the ground and had overspreading branches, this was reanalysed to mean "Johnny is under the trees". Hence I would say ...
The beachhead of word "x" = "between" to word "x" = "under" was the expression "among the trees" (and in this case a bit of background as to the "culture" of the speakers would be appropriate). ... OK ? ... understood ?
For an expressing to become a beachhead, it must, of course, be used regularly.
ASIDE ... I have thought about counting rosary beads as a possible beachhead that changed the meaning of "have", in Western Europe, from purely "possession" to a perfect marker. This is just (fairly ?) wild conjecture of course. (The beachhead expression being "I have x beads counted" with "counted" originally being a passive participle)
I am digressing here ... well to get back to "who fed the cat". We had it being considered a sort of noun. Presumably it was at one time put directly after a noun in apposition (presumably with a period of silence between the two) and qualified the noun. Then presumably they got bound closer together, the gap was lost, and this is the history of one form of relative clause in English.
**Actually I would have liked to use the term pivot here. However this term has already been taken.
From the dictionary
Beachhead (dictionary definition) = 1. A position on an enemy shoreline captured by troops in advance of an invading force
Beachhead (dictionary definition) = 2. A first achievement that opens the way for further developments.
There are 4 relativizers ... ʔá, ʔái, ʔáu and ʔaja. (relativizer = ʔasemo-marker)
ʔasemo = relative clause.
It works in pretty much the same way as the English relative clause construction. The béu relativisers is ʔá. Though ʔái, ʔáu and ʔaja also have roles as relativisers.
The main relativiser is ʔá and all the pilana can occur with it (well all the pilana except ʔe. ʔaí is used instead of * ʔaʔe).
The noun that is being qualified is dropped from the relative clause, but the roll which it would play is shown by its pilana on the suffixed to the relativizer. For example ;-
glà ʔá bwás timpori rà hauʔe = The woman that the man hit, is beautiful.
bwá ʔás timpori glà rà ʔaiho = The man that hit the woman is ugly.
The same thing happens with all the pilana. For example ;-
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 ʔaʔe she lives is the biggest in town.
báu ʔaho ò is going to market is her husband.
the knife ʔatu he severed the branch is a 100 years old
báu ʔán dog I shot, reported me to the police = the man whose dog I shot, reported me to the police*
The old woman ʔaji I deliver the newspaper, has died.
The boy ʔaco they are all talking, has gone to New Zealand.
*Altho' this has the same form as all the rest, underneath there is a difference. n marks a noun as part of a noun phrase, not as to its roll in a clause.
As you see in above, ʔa in the form * ʔaʔe is not allowed. Instead you must use ʔaí.
The use of ʔái and ʔàu as relativizers are basically the same as the use of "where" and "when" in English. These two can combine with two of the pilana.
?aifi = from where, whence
?aiye = to where, hence
?aufi = from when, since
?auye = to when, until
The use of ʔaja basically is a relativizer for an entire clause instead of just the noun which it follows.
For example ???????
WITH SPACE AND TIME
PLURAL FORM
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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.)
glói = to see
polo = Paul
timpa = to hit
jene = Jenny
glori polo timpala é = He saw paul hitting something
glori pà timpala ò = He saw me hitting her
glori hà (pás) timparwi ò = He saw that I had hit her
glori jene timpwala = He saw Jenny being hit
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 kludala 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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..... Punctuation and page layout
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The letters in a word are always contiguous, that is there is always a line running right through the word. Writing is firstly from top to bottom and secondly from left to right.
Between words there is a small break in the line. See the figure below ...
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When you have items listed, béu is exactly the same as English : there is a pause between every item. A pause is represented by a gap in the writing system. See the figure below ...
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By the way, the last two items on the list don't have a pause but are separated by wí "and".
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It is also a requirement of béu grammar that any NP's that are adjacent to each other, have a pause between them. Hence ...
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The gaps in the writing system reflect exactly where pauses occur. So in a passage, where it would be appropriate for a speaker to take a breath, you will find a corresponding "gap".
Single gaps are very common. Occasionally you can have "double gaps" and even "treble gaps". These rare creatures represent "pregnant pauses" which are sometimes used for comic effect.
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There is also a punctuation mark called the "sunmark". This is basically a full-stop.
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In a normal narrative, everything is written in "textblocks". See figure below ...
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Textblocks fit in between "rails" about 4 inches apart. The width of a block should be between 60% and 90% * of the block height. Of course it is best to start a new block when the scene of the narrative changes or there is some discontinuity of the action, but this is not always possible.
There is no way to split a word between two lines (as we can do in the West by using two hyphens). If a line (or should I say column) ends in a "sunmark", the next column will begin with a sunmark.
The first text block starts at the top left (as you would expect). The second textblock starts below where the first text block stops. In fact the vertical space between the stop and the start of the two textblocks is equal to the horizontal "interblockspace" (see the figure above).
When you come to the end of the page (you will have some sort of margin of course and not go all the way to the edge), you simply continue the block on the LHS of the next rail (or page).
There are two sizes for books. For all hardback books the size is about 8 inches by about 11 inches. For all paperback books the size is about 5 inches by about 8 inches. They are stored as shown in the figure below.
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Unlike books produced in the West, these books are held with the spine horizontal when being read. The hardback page has two "rails" per page (i.e. three dark lines).
On the paperback book, the title is written on the spine and on the front of the book. On the hardback book the title is written on the front, also there is a flap that slides into the spine. However when the book is stored on a shelf, it is pulled out and hangs down. Hence the hardback books can be easily located, even when they are in the bookshelf.
In every textblock, one word is highlighted. It is usually a noun and the more iconic the better (for example Elephant or Mouse are highly iconic). This word is highlighted in a red colour. Sometimes an active verb is highlighted. These are highlighted in a green colour. Sometimes an adjective is highlighted ... orange colour. Sometimes an infinitive is highlighted ... pink colour
A book will be divided into chapters. A chapter will have a number and usually a title as well. Either at the end of the book or just after the chapter, there will be a page, in which all the highlighted words for a chapter are listed in order. Instead of referencing things by page number, things are reference by chapter and textblock (indictated by the highlighted word(s) ).
Any particular word in a book can be reference by 5 parameters ...
1) "title of book"
2) "title of chapter" (or "number of chapter")
3) the textblocks position (i.e. textblock number 5) plus the highlighted word(s)
4) the number of the sunmark (the number zero is used if the word being referenced is before the first sunmark
5) the number of the word
Also when direct dialogue is quoted ... the words of the first protagonist is highlighted in yellow ... those of the second in blue ??
* Occasionally very narrow blocks can not be avoided. And of course in mathematical/scientific tracts the tracts are all over the place ... interspersed with diagrams and what have you.
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..... Polar question and focus
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A polar question is a question that can be answered with "yes" or "no".
To turn a normal statement into a polar question (i.e. a question that requires a YES/NO answer), we stick the particle ʔái on the end of the sentence.
ʔái is neutral as to the response you are expecting.
To answer a positive question you answer ʔaiwa "yes" or aiya "no".
To answer a negative question positively you answer ʔaiwa.
To answer a negative question negatively, you must repeat back the entire clause (with the proper polarity of course).
For example ;-
Question 1) glà (sòr) hauʔe ʔái = Is the woman beautiful ? .......... If she is beautiful, answer ʔaiwa, if she isn't answer aiya.
Question 2) glà sorke hauʔe ʔái = Isn't the woman beautiful ? ........ If she isn't beautiful, answer ʔaiwa, if she is answer ò sòr hauʔe.
To bring a word into focus you put cù in front of it. For example ...
Statement ... báus glaye nori alha = the man gave flowers to the woman
Focused statement ... báus cù glaye nori alha = It is the woman to whom the man gave the flowers. (English uses a process called "left dislocation" to give emphasis to a word).
Any argument or in fact the verb itself can be focused in this way.
To question one element in a clause, you have cù in front of the element and ʔái sentence final.
Alternatively you can dispense with the cù and put the ʔái directly behind the element you want to question. For example ...
cù báus glaye nori alha ʔái = Is it the man that has given flowers to the woman ?
báus ʔái glaye nori alha = Is it the man that has given flowers to the woman ?
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..... Content questions
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English is quite typical of languages in general and has 7 content question words ... "which", "what", "who", "where", "when", "how" and "why".
A corresponding set of béu question words are given below.
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| Question word | Noun/pronoun | Head for HRC ?? | |||
| nén nós | what | ||||
| mín mís món | who | ||||
| kói | when | kòi | occasion, time | koi.a | "the time that", when |
| déu | where | dèu | place | deu.a | the place that |
| kái | "what kind of" | kài | sort, type | kai.a | "the type that", "as" |
| láu | "how much" or "how many" | làu | amount | lau.a | the amount that |
| nái | which | ||||
| fáu | how |
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*What about the ergative case ??
nenji = why, but as it is derived from nen in a regular way, it is not mentioned in the above table.
The head of headless relative clauses about things ... ʃì à or só ʃì à.
The head of headless relative clauses about people ... ò à or só ò à ... nù à or só nù à ... well actually any pronoun can be patterned like this.
In English as in about 1/3 of the languages of the world it is necessary to front the content question word.
In béu these words are usually also fronted. They must come before the verb anyway. If they come after the verb, they mean "somebody/something", "somewhere" etc. etc.
The pilana are added to the content question words as they would be to a normal noun phrase.
Here are some examples of content questions ...
Statement 1) báus glaye dori alha = the man gave flowers to the woman
Question 2) mís glaye dori alha = who gave flowers to the woman
Question 3) báus minye dori alha = to whom did the man gave flowers
Question 4) báus glaye nén dori = what did the man give to the woman
Question 5) báus yè glà nái dori alha = to which woman did the man give the flowers = báus dori ye glà nái alha
Statement 1) báus glaye dori alha = the man gave flowers to the woman .................known to speaker .......... known to addressee
Statement 2) báus dori yè glà alha = the man gave flowers to a woman .............................? ......................... unknown to addressee
Statement 3) báus dori yè é glà alha = the man gave flowers to some woman ..........unknown to speaker..... unknown to addressee
Statement 4) báus dori yè glà fana alha = the man gave flowers to a certain woman ... known to speaker ........ unknown to addressee
If NP before verb => known to addressee
If NP after verb => unknown to addressee
If NP has é (before the head) => unknown to speaker ... sort of
If NP has fana (after the head) => known to speaker ... fana = known ... fàu = to know
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..... How A O and S arguments are identified
In this section we discuss pronouns and also introduce the S, A and O arguments.
béu is what is called an ergative language. About a quarter of the world languages are ergative or partly ergative. So let us explain what ergative means. Well in English we have 2 forms of the first person singular pronoun ... namely "I" and "me". Also we have 2 forms of the third person singular male pronoun ... namely "he" and "him". These two forms help determine who does what to whom. For example "I hit him" and "He hit me" have obviously different meanings.
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In English there is a fixed word order, which also helps to tell who did what to who when the participants are given as nouns instead of pronouns. In béu the order of the verb and the participants are not fixed as in English.
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glàs baú timpori = The woman hit the man
glà baús timpori = The man hit the woman
It can be seen that "s" is added to the "doer" of the action.
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However consider the clause below ...
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glà doikor = The woman walks
It can be seen that the "doer" does not have an attached "s" in this case.
The reason is that "to walk" is an intransitive verb while "to hit" is a transitive verb
It is the convention to call the doer in a intransitive clause the S argument.
It is the convention to call the "doer" in a transitive clause the A argument and the "done to" the O argument.
A language that has the S and O arguments marked in the same way is called an ergative language
If you like you can say ;-
In English "him" is the "done to"(O argument) : "he" is the "doer"(S argument) and the "doer to"(A argument).
In béu ò is the "done to"(O argument) and the "doer"(S argument) : ós is the "doer to"(A argument).
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..... Transitivity and the useful word "á"
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In béu a verb is either transitive or intransitive. There is no "ambitransitive verbs as in English.*
For example ... in English, you can say ... "I will drink water" or simply "I will drink"
The second option is not allowed in béu ... as "drink" is a transitive verb, you must say "I will drink something" = solbaru á
Well actually you can, the á can be dropped ... just as easily as the pás is dropped. The point is that the listener "knows" that there are always 2 arguments. The same can not be said in English when you here "he drinks" ... it could mean that the subject habitually drinks alcohol, in which case we have only one S argument.
For another example ... in English, you can say ... "the woman closed the door" or simple "the door closed".
The second option is not allowed in béu ... as "close" is a transitive verb, you must say "something closed the door" = pintu nagori ás
(Actually there is another option for expressing the above ... you can change any transitive verb to an intransitive verb ... pintu nagwori = "the door was closed"
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If an argument is definite in béu it is usually comes before the verb, and if indefinite it usually comes after the verb.
Now the word é is by definition indefinite. It actually means "somebody" OR "something". What happens if this word is put before the verb.
Well something quite interesting happens ... é changes into a question word meaning "who" or "what"
For example ... és pintu nagori = Who/what closed the door
For another example ... "what will I drink" = é solbaru
And yet another one ... "who drank the water" = és moze solbori
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*Actually you can tell the transitivity of a verb (for a word of more than one syllable) by looking at its last consonant. If the last consonant is j b g d c s k or t then it is transitive. If it is ʔ m y l p w n or h it is intransitive.
There is about 300 words that have an intransitive form as well as a transitive form, only differing in their final consonant. The relationship between these final consonants is shown below. x means "any vowel".
| transitive | intransitive |
| -jx | -lx |
| -bx | -ʔx |
| -gx | -mx |
| -dx | -yx |
| -cx | -wx |
| -sx | -nx |
| -kx | -hx |
| -tx | -lx |
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NB ... y and w are usually not allowed to be the second element in a word ... but in these special words, they are.
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..... Correlatives
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| ibu | anybody, any one | ivanyo | anything |
| ebu | somebody, some one | evanyo | something |
| ebua | some people | evanyoi | somethings |
| ubu | everybody (collective) | uvanyo | everything (collective) |
| yubu | everybody (individual) | yuvanyo | everything (collective) |
| jubu | nobody, no one | juvanyo | nothing |
| .... | .... | .... | .... |
| iko | anytime | ide | anywhere |
| eko | once | ede | somewhere |
| ekoi | some times | edeu | some places |
| uko | always | ude | everywhere (collective) |
| yuko | everytime | yude | everywhere (collective) |
| juko | never | jude | nowhere |
| .... | .... | .... | .... |
(SideNote) ...
-bu does not occur as an independent word but does occur as a suffix ... beubu = a person who follows the precepts of béu
fanyo is an independent word, meaning "object", "physical thing"
-ko is not an independent word or a suffix. However kòi is a word meaning "occasion", "time".
-de is not an independent word. However dèuì is a word meaning "place".
(SideNote) ...
kói = when
déu = where
koi.a = the time that, when
deu.a = the place that, where
koigan = time
deugan = space
..... 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
