Béu : Chapter 5
..... ké, bò and hí
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These are 3 little nouns that have become grammatical particles also.
Below are the words with their original meaning.
ké = result, consequence
bò = case, example, instance
hí = source, origin
Now while these words are still used as nouns, they have developed a longer form ... possibly to reduce ambiguity with the particulate usage.
ké => kegozo = result, consequence ... (gozo = fruit)
bò => bozomba = case, example, instance ... (somba = to sit)
hí = => hidito = source, origin ... (dito = point, dot)
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... the apodosis marker ké
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This particle is mandatory for the main clause in an "if sentence"
This particle comes before the "consequence clause" (main clause). Usually English does not require a particle here although "then" is sometimes optionally used in this position.
Mandarin has a mandatory particle in this position. "jiù"
By the way ... kepe = apodosis
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... the protasis marker bò
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This word means "if". "If" is used to introduce a conditional sentence in English. A conditional clause always comprises two clauses ( usually called protasis and the ??? )
The béu the verbs in both clauses in the sentence should be in the subjunctive. For example ...
bò jìs london ... ké jàs glasgow = If you go to london (then) I will go to Glasgow
Actually the bò clause and the ké clause can be in any order (as they can be in English) ...
ké jàs glasgow ... bò jìs london ... = If you go to london (then) I will go to Glasgow
When the speaker has a lot of doubt that the condition will be met, bola is used instead of bò
When the speaker has very little doubt that the condition will be met, he would use kyu? instead of bò. When this happens the ké is dropped.
By the way ... bope = protasis ??
bò is also a complementizer ... that is, it is equivalent to "that" in the sentence "I think that she is very beautiful"
Notes on translating "whether" ...
Sometimes you get an English "whether" sentence translated using bò and ké ...
bò myìs lú jù ... ké tomorrow jàr dublin = whether you like it or not, I am going to Dublin tomorrow
Note that the protasis verb is in its subjunctive form and the ???? verb is in its indicative form.
However this is a bit unusual, normally bò and ké are not considered necessary. So ....
myìs lú jù ... tomorrow jàr dublin = whether you like it or not, I am going to Dublin tomorrow
... the agent marker hí
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béu has a passive form, achieved by infixing -w.
When you have a passive, the agent can optionally be given. When given it is preceded by the particle hí.
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..... 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 = a product, an artifact
nàu = to give : nù = a gift
solbe = to drink : solbu = a drink
The -u ending always gives a countable noun ... also tangible, sort of.
To produce uncountable nouns the suffix -van is often used. For example ...
nauvan = tribute, tax
dovan = products
solbevan = drinks
yái = to have : yaivan = possessions, property
glà = to store : glavan = reserves
Note ... yú is not a noun, but a particle that indicates possession, occurs after the "possessed" and before the "possessor.
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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
And the case when the attribute ends in a consonant ...
megau peugan ... "body of knowledge" "society"
1) Swap positions : *peugan megau
2) Delete syllable : *peugan gau
3) Vowel before the final consonant becomes schwa :*peugan gau => *peugən gau
4) Merge the components :*peugən gau => peugəŋgau
And the case when the main word has a double consonant before the end vowel ...
kanfai gozo ... merchant of fruit
1) Swap positions : *gozo kanfai
2) Delete syllable : *gozo fai ............................. Note kan is deletes, not just ka
3) Vowel before the final consonant becomes schwa :*gozo fai => *gozə fai
4) Merge the components :*gozə fai => gozəvai
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, deutɘwe or peugəŋgau you know that they are a non-basic words (because of the schwa).
Also when you see nandəli or deutɘwe, peugəŋgau 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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..... Bicycles, Insects and Spiders
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wèu = vehicle, wagon
weuvia = a bicycle
weubia = a tricycle
Perhaps can be thought of derived from an expression something like "wagon two-wheels-having" or "wagon double-wheel-having" with a lot of erosion.
Notice that the "item" that is numbered (i.e. wheel) is completely dropped ... probably not something that would evolve naturally.
There are not many words in this category.
joduʒia* = spider
jodulia = insect
jodugia = quadraped
joduvia = biped
nodebia = a three-way intersection ... usually referring to road intersections.
nodegia = a four-way intersection
nodedia = a five-way intersection
nodelia = a six-way intersection ... and you can continue up of course.
*jodu = animal ... from jode = to move
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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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..... 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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..... 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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... 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
..
... the NP with the present participle core ??
..
Now the phrase jono kludala toili is a noun phrase (NP) in which the adjective phrase (AP) qualifies the noun jono
(Notice that in the clause that corresponds to the above NP, jonos kludora toili (John is writing the book), jono has the ergative suffix and the 3 words can occur in any order : with the NP, jono does not take the ergative suffix and the 3 words must occur in the order shown.)
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".
..
..... Polar question and focus
..
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". For example ...
glá (sòr) hauʔe ʔái = Is the woman beautiful ? .......... If she is beautiful, answer ʔaiwa, if she isn't answer aiya.
To answer a negative question you can not use ʔaiwa or aiya but must repeat the whole sentence in either the negative or the positive.
glá sorke hauʔe ʔái = Isn't the woman beautiful ? .... If she is beautiful, answer glá sòr hauʔe, if she is not answer glá sorke hauʔe
Sometimes it is permissible to drop everything except the verb (which of course incorporates the negative element).
To bring a word into focus you put cù in front of it. For example ...
Statement ... bàus glaye nori alha = the man gave flowers to the woman
Focused statement ... bàus cù glaye nori alha = It is the woman to whom the man gave flowers. (English uses a process called "left dislocation" to give emphasis to a word).
Statement ... bàus yé glá hauʔe nori alha = the man gave flowers to the beautiful woman
Focused statement ... bàus yé cù glá hauʔe nori alha = It is to the beautiful woman that the man gave flowers to.
Any argument can be focused in this way. In fact the verb can also be focused using this method.
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 bàus glaye nori alha ʔái = Is it the man that has given flowers to the woman ?
bàus ʔái glaye nori alha = Is it the man that has given flowers to the woman ?
..
..... Content questions
..
English is quite typical of languages in general and has 7 content question words ... "which", "what", "who", "where", "when", "how" and "why".
béu has 7 content question words also ...
..
| nén nós | what |
| mín mís | who |
| kái | "what kind of" |
| láu | "how much" or "how many" |
| nái | which |
..
nós and mís are the ergative equivalents to nén and mín.
There is a strong tendency for nén nós mín and mís to be sentence-initial.
There is a tendency for the NP's containing kái, láu and nái to be sentence-initial.
kái and nái come after the nouns they ask about.
láu comes before the noun it asks about.
"when" is represented by kyù nái (which occasion) ... "where" by dá nái (which place)
"how" is represented by wé nái (which way) ... "why" by nenji (for what)
The pilana are added to the content question words as they would be to a normal noun phrase.
Here are some example ...
Statement ... báus glaye nori alha = the man gave the woman flowers
Question 1 ... mís glaye nori alha = who gave the woman flowers ?
Question 2 ... minye bàus nori alha = the man gave flowers to who ?
Question 3 ... nén bàus glaye nori = what did the man give the woman ?
Question 4 ... yé glá nái bàus nori alha = the man gave the flowers to which woman ?
Question 5 ... só bàu nái glaye nori alha = which man gave the woman flowers ?
Question 6 ... alha kái báus glaye nori = what type of flowers did the man give the woman ?
Question 7 ... láu alha báus glaye nori = how many flowers did the man give the woman
..
Note ... In English as in about 1/3 of the languages of the world it is necessary to front the content question word.
..
..... Mmmh
..
| I | pás | só pà | we | yúas | só yùa |
| we | wías | só wìa | |||
| you | gís | só gì | you | só jè | |
| he, she | ós | só ò | they | só nù | |
| it | ʃís | só ʃì | they | ʃís | só ʃì |
| Noun | Particle for a headless relative clause | ||
| kyù | occasion, time | kyù | "the time that", when |
| dá | place | dà | the place that |
| kài | sort, type | kai.a | "the type that", "as" |
| làu | amount | lau.a | the amount that |
..
The particle for an ergative headless relative clauses about things or persons is so.a ( maybe this can be considered a contraction of só ʃì à or só ò à ... by the way, these two forms are never found )
The particle for a non-ergative headless relative clauses about things is ʃi.a (this can definitely be considered a contraction of ʃì à ... the form ʃì à is never found although it is valid by the rules of grammar)
The particle for a non-ergative headless relative clauses about persons is o.a (this can definitely be considered a contraction of ò à ... the form ò à is never found although it is valid by the rules of grammar)
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.
..
..... 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
