A Tiny Grammar
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a minimalist conlang
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 21 Feb 2016, 18:14.
[comments] pklgrammar
1. A Tiny Grammar
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2. Persons & indices
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Pekalit has a rather small phonemic inventory and uses strict CV syllables (initial vowels are permitted lexically, while final consonants are only permitted as suffixes). It has an exceedingly simple morphology and although major sentence constituents may be rearranged (SOV, SVO, VOS, etc), the syntax is also quite restrictive and simple. Lexical items always precede grammatical items.Pekalit does not distinguish by number, gender, animacy, etc. Therefore there are only three pronouns in Pekalit, for three different persons. The pronouns are actually simply normal nouns which have been grammaticalized - within recent enough memory that the nouns in question are still in use.
| Person | pronoun | origin |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ta | self |
| 2nd | sjo | listen(er) |
| 3rd | kje | other |
There are a grand total of 8 affixes in Pekalit, which can generally be considered part of speech markers.
| POS | notes | suffix |
|---|---|---|
| noun | ACC | -Ø |
| noun | NOM | -t |
| noun | DAT | -n |
| noun | GEN | -s |
| verb | IT | -h |
| verb | TR | -sj |
| AUX | -k | |
| ADJ/ADV | -p | |
| ADP | -m |
The DAT (dative) case is the elsewhere case for nouns. The IT (intransitive), for verbs, includes passive concepts. The only difference between adjectives and adverbs is what they are attached to. Adpositions are better-described as postpositions.
There major constituent order in Pekalit is relatively free, although there are preferred orders (which are generally used in subordinate clauses). These are SVO, DVO, and SVDO. (D=Dative.)
SVO
kje-t ma-h ta
other-NOM hit-INTR self
'she hits me'
DVO
ta-n mi-sj pira-k leye la
self-D give-TR order-AUX food DEF
'give me the food'
SVDO
kje-t mi-sj leye la ta-n
other-NOM give-TR food DEF self-D
'he gives me the food'
Copular comparisons ("the noun is adjective") are generally SA(V).
kje-t sina-p
other-NOM blue-ADJ
'it is blue'
koto-t no hapji-p sjiso-h
dog-NOM DEF.PROX shy-ADJ seem-INTR
'this dog seems shy'
Other components follow predictable orders.
N DET ADP ADJ
V AUX ADV ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
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