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[OC] Chungganese Relative and Complement Clauses
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how to fiq
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 17 Apr 2020, 04:48.

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Menu 1. Relative Clauses 2. Complement Clauses 3. All Together Now! The topic of relative and complement clauses is a long one. Take note that Chungganese is mostly a head-final language.

[edit] [top]Relative Clauses

First and foremost, look at this sentence:

Dietul sulani.
I am writing a book.
book.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
write.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I


Let's add a relative clause.
Poltajes tisdietul lezaro sulani.
I am writing a book that will be enjoyed by many.
many.person.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
this.book.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
enjoy.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
write.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I


We just added a relative clause. Notice that the word "tisdietul" has a morpheme "tis" that roughly means "this". What if we change that to "tat"?

Poltajes tatdietel lezaro sulani.
I am writing the book that will be enjoyed by many.
many.person.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
that.book.DEFDefinite
"the"
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
enjoy.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
write.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I


Notice that that word was not changed to tatdietul, as there is now some definiteness in the object.

How about we add another relative clause to this baby?
Tisdietul poltajes lezaroe ta japsabesere sulani.
this.book.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
many.person.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
enjoy.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
and world.know.INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
write.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

Sulani tisdiete poltajes fiqlezaroe ta fiqjapsabesere.
write.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
this.book.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
many.person.NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
which.enjoy.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
and world.know.INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee


Both of these mean:
I am writing a book that will be enjoyed by many and will be known worldwide.

What happened?! Now, there are two ways of treating this sentence. The first sentence literally translates to, "Many people will enjoy this book and will be known worldwide, I am writing it.", while the second sentence literally translates to the English equivalent. The fiq- morpheme basically triggers head-initial directionality. Without that morpheme, the sentence is expected to follow head-final directionality. Also notice that "tisdiete" is not inflected to the accusative case, because that word goes after the verb.

[edit] [top]Complement Clauses

Let's say I don't want to work on the book. I wanna eat!

Simeni le cani.
start.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
the eat.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

I am starting to eat.

Notice that both of the verbs here are conjugated to the first person, but only the main verb is also conjugated to the progressive aspect. This is what Chungganese call "Le" Parallelism, as two verbs are both conjugated to the same person.

What am I eating though?
Simeni le ságinul canie.
start.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
the banana.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
eat.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee

I am starting to eat a banana.

This would, word-for-word, translate to "I am starting the banana eating."
Also, notice that there is now an object for the verb canie. That is why the verb has an -e at the end.

At this point, it is important to recognize that some verbs are attached to the first verb unlike the example above, like qatar "try". A little quirk in Chungganese grammar.

Ságinul qatcanani.
banana.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
try.eat.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

I am trying to eat a banana.

Watch as one change in a word can cause confusion to a sentence:
Ságinuls canio lin sanipyi.
banana.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
eat.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
of healthy.be.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

I eat some bananas in order to be healthy.

Ságinuls canio le sanipyi.
banana.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
eat.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
the healthy.be.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

I eat some bananas because I am healthy.

Ságinuls canio laun sanipyi.
banana.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
eat.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
to healthy.be.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

I eat some bananas until I am healthy.

WHOA WHOA WHOA! What are these three doing here? Now, lin literally means "of", but do not let that distract you. In the first sentence, that meant something like "in order to". le has another function, stating the reason of doing an actions. laun describes until when the main action will be done.

Let's narrow down more on reason for a minute.

Ságinuls canio le sante digadei.
banana.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
eat.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
the health.person tell.PASTPast tense (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

I eat bananas because the doctor told me so.

Ságinuls canio cupceri.
banana.INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent
.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
eat.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them
because.want.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

I eat bananas because I want to.

Also notice that there are two ways to express reason; le and cup-. You can infer here that le is used for relative clauses that cannot be expressed in one word, while cup-. can be used for relative clauses that can be expressed in one word. The speaker/writer may opt to use le in exchange for cup- in that case.

[edit] [top]All Together Now!

Let's create a Frankenstein sentence applying relative and complement clauses. Huahuahua!

Simeni le pagefityi le tosdegen, tisficel dietenqi fitesere qabanadie.
start.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
the tired.be.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
the whole.day.LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc
this.language.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
book.LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc
.POSSPossessive (case)
owns, has
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
speak.INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
work.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.PASTPast tense (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee

Simeni le pagefityi le tosdegen qabanadi tisfiece dietenqi fiqfitesere.
start.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
the tired.be.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
the whole.day.LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc
work.PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
.PASTPast tense (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
this.language.ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
book.LOCLocative (case)
'in, on, at' etc
.POSSPossessive (case)
owns, has
.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
which.speak.INTRIntransitive (valency)
has one argument
.FUTFuture (tense)
action occurring after the moment of speech
.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee


Both of these mean:
I am starting to feel tired because for the whole day I was working on the language that will be spoken in my book.

I get it. But why is there a comma in the first sentence? This is because there is an adverb modifying the whole clause. To reduce confusion, a comma is added.
Also, notice the two uses of le in the two sentences. Watch out for these kinds of sentences as they will confuse you at first!

That was a lot to absorb, but that was fun!
Speaking of adverbs, check out my article about word order! (coming soon)
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