Syntax
▲
0▲ 0 ▼ 0
Word order, genitive construction, and counters
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 8 Jan 2018, 00:11.
[comments] frm
1. Lexicon Remarks
?
?
?FYI...
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
Word order in Fei is important, and absolutely rigid. No deviations are allowed, as a lack of a nominal case system means that often, the word order used is the only way to understand what is going on. Basic word order is Object-Verb-Subject, which is very rare for human languages, but much more common for languages of Mala. In fact the Fei themselves almost exclusively use this order, while Topic-Comment is used for the Drakyn languages, which still often use in internal order of either OVS or OSV. The giant language, the so-called 'Giantese', is the one exception, which uses VOS. However, every known Malan language is OS.
In Feirie, the sentence: "People look at the moon sadly." the word order is:
clla sswo uasse ga uyiɕʼʰla s͎o ɯ̽.æ.s̺e ʰɣa ɯ̽.ʝ̃ĩ
The_Moon sadly look_at-HABHabitual (aspect)
done often or out of habit-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis PLUPluractionality
multiple instances occur person
The use of the pluractionality particle, 'ga', is to plural the word 'person'; this works because since the object, 'The Moon' is a proper noun, it cant be pluralized, and the verb is already conjugated to Habitual, which is a common alternate use to 'ga'. This leaves only the subject, 'person' to affect. The particle is always placed after the verb, as derived from an adverb.
If the word order is changed, say, to this:
uyi sswo uasse ga cllauyi sswo uasse ga clla
person sadly look_at-HABHabitual (aspect)
done often or out of habit-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis PLUPluractionality
multiple instances occur The_Moon
The moon looks at people sadly.
English may put the adverb anywhere, compare the following sentences, which are all correct, and have virtually the same meaning:
Sadly, the people look at the Moon.
The people sadly look at the Moon.
The people look sadly at the Moon.
The people look at the Moon sadly.
Whereas in Feirie adverbs like 'sadly' can only be before the verb "sadly looked". This is because 'sadly' is a Physical adverb, one of the two types of adverbs and statives in Feirie, the other being Temporal. While Physical adverbs and statives always are placed before the verb or noun they modify, Temporal adverbs and statives come after. Words like 'red, tall, compact, furnished' are Physical, while words like 'tomorrow, earlier, quick' are Temporal.
As there are no cases whatsoever for the nouns, possession is, again, relying on word order. The pattern is that the possessee is placed between the possessor and the transitive verb. This means the you have 'possessee-possessor' for the subject, but 'possessor-possessee' for the object.
The mother's child spoke words of sadness.
eo-malu swuu mole ga revollimalu onusswa-yieo-malu swuu mole ga revollimalu onusswa-yi
word-RVSReverse (derivational)
inverse, reverse, or opposite of base noun sadness speak-PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis PLUPluractionality
multiple instances occur child mother
Note: Contextually that could have meant: "The mothers' children spoke words of sadness." since the pluractionality particle doesn't have a clear affect. The translation above is the one that would be interpreted without context.
Multiple genitive constructions continue this.
Counters act as a genitive possessor; they are places after the subject, and before the object. Numbers, which, due to their clitic nature, affix to the counter, are placed between the counter and its possessee. All counters derive from nouns, and are listed in the dictionary as such a class, under the same entry as their non-counter variant of the same meaning. For example the dictionary entry for 'vollu' lists it as both a Feminine Non-sentient noun and as a counter. In both cases it means 'heartbeat', but can be used as the word 'heartbeat' itself, or as a counter, that counts thing in 'heartbeats'.
Only two clauses can be compounded, and no such thing as dependent clauses exist. These use a completely different word order than a simple sentence, where the first clause uses OSV, while the second is in VSO. This connects the two verb phrases in the middle into a new point for the pre-verbal forms to affect. Whereas in a simple sentence, the object uses preverbal forms, while the subject never does, in compounds, every noun the the first clause uses pre-verbal, and none of the second clause's do. In addition, the genitive structure, and counters as a result, restructure to always place the possessor before in the first clause, and always after in the second. Likewise, determiners affix, and stative are located, following the same pattern. This is all to keep the Neg/Pos polarity of the sentences correct with the new position of the verbs. Adverbs are not affected in placement, still placed after or before the verb they affect.
An example showing this:
yi-maku xohe xhu-yi
chef-RVSReverse (derivational)
inverse, reverse, or opposite of base noun cook-PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis tailor
The chef cooked the tailor.
fovollu sogeqa
OBJObject (argument)-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee-SENTSentient (class)
e.g. humans=heartbeat quicken-PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis=FFeminine gender (gender)
feminine or female-SUBSubject (argument)-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I-NSNTNon-sentient (class)
non-sentient animals
This quickened his/her heartbeat.
yi-maku yi-xhu xohe mu sogefo volluqa
chef-RVSReverse (derivational)
inverse, reverse, or opposite of base noun tailor-RVSReverse (derivational)
inverse, reverse, or opposite of base noun cook-PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis and quicken-PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis=OBJObject (argument)-3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee-SENTSentient (class)
e.g. humans heartbeat=FFeminine gender (gender)
feminine or female-SUBSubject (argument)-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I-NSNTNon-sentient (class)
non-sentient animals
The chef cooked the tailor and this quickened his/her heartbeat.
Referring to a previously mention event (like the use of 'this' above), is always marked with a feminine non-sentient determiner.
To be written. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
Comments
