Lesson 2: Basic grammar
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An overview of Eo'iona's grammar
This private article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 26 Jul 2023, 22:06.
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1. Basic grammar
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2. CoWriMo 2021
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3. CSS externally
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5. Eo' creation myth
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6. Eo'iona numbers
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11. Menu translation
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13. Relative Clauses
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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.
Eo'iona is strongly head-final.
The primary word order of Eo'iona is S(O)V. V(O)S is used questions. Ditransitive verbs use the SO1VO2 for normal phrases, where O1 and O2 are the first and second objects of the verb respectively, and O2VO1S for questions.
Additionally, adjectives and adverbs (which are not distinguished in Eo'iona) precede the words they modify, and verbal adpositions (which will be detailed in a future article) always follow their nouns.
Noun declension is regular and fairly simple. Nouns decline for animacy (animate, deceased, inanimate) and number (singular, paucal, plural), for a total of nine possible cases.
Animacy is relatively intuitive. Living things and water are considered animate, and other things, including all body parts, are inanimate. The deceased case is most often used for dead things, natural places which normally hold water but which currently do not (such as empty riverbeds), and broken tools.
The paucal number is often used for groups of two to ten objects, but it can also be used to show an unexpectedly low number.
There is no grammatical difference between nouns and pronouns. Both parts of speech can be modified by adjectives, and both can be arguments of verbs and adpositions.
Nouns ending in vowels are declined according to the following table:
| Animate | Deceased | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Final high tone | Final falling tone | Final low tone |
| Paucal | Final high tone, suffix -n | Final falling tone, suffix -n | Final low tone, suffix -n |
| Plural | Final high tone, suffix -'a | Final falling tone, suffix -'a | Final low tone, suffix -'a |
Nouns ending with the letter N are declined somewhat differently. In the following table, tone is applied to the final vowel of the word, not the final n.
| Animate | Deceased | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Final high tone | Final falling tone | Final low tone |
| Paucal | Final high tone, suffix -èn | Final falling tone, suffix -èn | Final low tone, suffix -èn |
| Plural | Final high tone, infix -'a- | Final falling tone, infix -'a- | Final low tone, infix -'a |
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