new language Beta: Notes

[qiihoskeh]

last edited: 2006.Feb.17 Fri

• There are interrogative, negative, and affirmative particles.


• The interrogative particle |ar| is used to indicate that the sentence is a yes/no question. It's also used in subordinate clauses for "whether".


• The negative particle |na| indicates negation and can be used wherever needed.


• The affirmative particle |ai (?)| has the basic function of denying a negative statement.


• Normally, when one of these particles appears, it's immediately in front of the verb and begins the clause (ignoring the other uses of |na|).


• However, when a phrase is placed immediately after the particle, that phrase becomes focused.


• Also, when a phrase is placed before the particle, that phrase becomes the topic.

Agreement

• The subject is the argument of the verb which is shared with infinitives and coverbs (i.e. serial verbs with coreference?).


• The inverse voice is used to make sure in each case that the shared argument is the subject or corresponds to the suffixed actant (S-argument?).


• Gender is used in matching the object arguments (P-arguments?) of ditransitive words to their roles.

Word Order

• The order of phrases within a clause is pragmatic, except where syntax requires that the head appear first.


• Adjectives follow the lead noun, but strictly speaking both lead nouns and adjectives are syntactical nouns, even if lead nouns are usually lexical nouns.


• Inalienable possessors are dependents, not adjectives, and immediately follow their heads.



• A quantifier, if any, immediately precedes the lead noun.


• A phrase containing a determiner is called a determined phrase. The determiner immediately precedes the quantifier, if any, or the lead noun.


• The particle |ni| is used if no other determiner appears.


• The partitive construction consists of a quantifier immediately preceding a determined phrase.


• The superlative construction consists of a lexical adjective immediately preceding a partitive construction.


• The distributive construction is similar to the partitive construction. It consists of |kam| followed by a distributive quantifier followed by a determined phrase.


• A distributive quantifier is either |da| (1), which may be omitted along with |ni| if that is the determiner, some other number, or |bisli|, which means "bunch of".


• Fractions also use |kam| to divide the numerator from the denominator.

Conjoined Clauses

A list of conjunctions might be:

• true if all are true


• true if any are true


• true if exactly one is true


• if


• then (needed only when if clause precedes)