Grammar - Part 1: Predicates

NOTE: This and two other grammar pages were being revised at the time I ceased work on Piashi. There would probably have been little or no change to this page, other than a rearragment of paragraphs and better explanations for the choices made. The other two pages would have changed significantly and have been removed.
 

[Initial Considerations]  [Existential Construction]  [VSimple Verb Phrase (Intransitive verbs)]
[Predicate Nominal]  [Attributive Clause]  [Predicate Locative]  [Possessive Clause] 

Initial Considerations

Compound words & 'white space'

The opening sentence on the page considering 'Inflexional Morphology' begins: "One effect of self-segregation of morphemes is that a whole string of morphemes can be unambiguously written without the need for 'white space' as a separator; and this is obviously helpful in a briefscript." In this connexion, we should first consider the use of white space in English to distinguish between, for example:

a blackbird (Turdus merula ) ~ a black bird (a bird of any species which happens to be colored black).

In fact the difference in English is not always easy to detect. Dutton was well aware of this and built into his language a rule for distinguishing between separate words and single compounds,for example:

ky ta [kai ta:] = (to) eat late ~ kyta ['kaiŋta:] = supper.

(If there is no white space between the two words, then we have a compound and this is shown in pronunciation by infixing [ıŋ] or, if the first word ends in a vowel or diphthong, [ŋ] between the two words forming the compound.)

Clearly it makes good sense that a compound is formed by simple juxtaposition of its two lexical morphemes, written without any intervening white space, just as compounds are written in English and Speedwords. It is, however, not in the spirit of Piashi to have sounds which have no written representation. Therefore in Piashi:

• A compound word will consist simply of lexical morphemes (CVC), written without any intervening white space and with each morpheme retaining its normal pronunciation.
• If, however, the two lexical morphemes do not form a compound, there will normally be a particle showing the relationship between the two morphemes.

Interpuncts

As morphemes are self-segregating, whole phrases and, indeed, sentences can be written unambiguously without white space or any other sort of interpuncts. However, when sentences get longer it may be deemed easier to read if there is some sort of interpunct. If desired, phonological words may be separated by a white space or a hyphen; in cursive hand-writing one may simply use a longer joining stroke. The optional use of an intrapunct is shown by a hyphen the examples below (a 'white space' may be used instead, if preferred; in cursive hand-writing one may just elongate the joining stroke between letters).

Word order

According to "The World Atlas of Language Structures Online" (WALS) of the 1344 it considers: 78.9% place the subject before the verb, 13.3% place the subject after the verb and a mere 7.8% show no dominant preference. It is clear, then, that Piashi should also adopt the subject before verb position (It is possible also to have sentences with no grammatical subject, as we shall see below).

Existential Construction

We begin with a very simple structure, the 'existential construction'. This predicates the existence (or, if negative, non-existence) of some entity, either in general terms or in specified location,

In English we give such sentences the dummy, or 'expletive', subject "there", e.g. "There's a cat in the garden". But many languages use no such dummy subject (it is noteworthy that Speedwords also used no such dummy subject, beginning such sentences with just the verb 'to be'). Piashi, like many other languages, has no copular verb 'to be'; but it does have an existential marker, namely: h; for example:

• There are no werewolves/ There aren't any werewolves = hmruqgom [χamuluúkuɲiómu] ← h + m (not) + ruqgom (wolf-man)
• There's a cat in the garden = hmwcbcip (or hmwc-bcip) [χamaáwcipiciípa] ← h + mwc (cat) + b + cip (garden)

The latter example is more typical in that existential constructions usually require a locational or temporal adjunct such as "in the garden" in the example above. Such locational or temporal adjuncts may be fronted (i.e. made the topic of the sentence) ; for example, "There's a cat in the garden" could be rendered as: bciphmwc (or bcip-hmwc) [piciípaχamaáwci] ← b + cip + h + mwc ,

When a temporal adjunct is used, we may omit the preposition b when the adjunct is fronted as the meaning is clear. It must, however, be retained if it follows the noun (otherwise we would have a compound word such as 'rain-yesterday'); for example:

• There was rain yesterday/ Yesterday it was raining =

  hxuvbger (or hxuv-bger) [χaçiúpupiɲiélu] ← h + xuv (rain) + b + ger (yesterday)
  or gerhxuv (or ger-hxuv)[ɲiéluχaçiúpu] ← ger + h + xuv

• There will be snow tomorrow/ Tomorrow it will be snowing =

  hxogbmwr (or hxog-bmwr) [χaçióɲipimaáwlu] ← h + xog (snow) + b + mwr (tomorrow)
  or mwrhxog (or mwr-hxog)[maáwluχaçióɲi] ← mwr + h + xog

Notes:

1. ruqgom "werewolf" is a dvandva compound of ruq ('wolf) and gom ('man' [= Homo sapiens], 'human being').
2. b is a preposition meaning 'in, at, on, by, near' &c. of place or of time.

 

Simple Verb Phrase (Intransitive verbs)

By far the most common type of predicate is the verb phrase. On this page we will confine ourselves to intransitive verbs only. We will look at transitive verbs and their objects in a later grammar page.

If the subject is a personal pronoun, this is prefixed to the verb, for example:

• I am speaking (I spoke, will speak etc.)* = gfol [ɲifuóla] ← g + fol (speak)
• He, she is speaking/ They are speaking (etc.) = tfol [tafuóla] ← t + fol

* For the sake of simplicity, other tenses etc. will not be given in the remaining examples.

The word for 'not' is m [mu] which is placed between the pronoun and the verb, for example:

• We are not speaking = cmfol [cimufuóla] ← c + m + fol
• You are not speaking = qmfol [kumufuóla] ← q + m + fol

If the subject is a noun, this is placed before the pronoun t (he, she, it, they). An interpunct may be used if desired; for example:

• Michael is speaking = Miheltfol (or Mihel-tfol) [muíχa.élatafuóla] ← Mihel + t + fol
• Anne is not speaking = Hantmfol (or Han-tmfol) [χaánatamufuóla] ← Han + t + m + fol

Verb phrases may be impersonally with no subject. This is shown by using the existential marker h; for example:

• hfol [χafuóla] = there's speaking [going on]; some's speaking; it's being spoken etc.
• hmfol [χamufuóla] = there's no speaking [going on]; no one's speaking; it's not being spoken etc.

Note:

• The rules for showing subject, or lack of subject, above are the same for all other predicate types, as we shall see below.

Predicate Nominal

Sometimes, as Thomas Payne observes, the term predicate nominal is used for a whole "family" of precdicate constructions. Here, however, we use it (as, indeed, does Thomas Payne in the table above) in the more specificate sense of "a noun phrase in predicate position" (L. R. Trask, "A Dictionary of Grammatical terms in Linguistics", 1993, Routledge). For example:

• I am a lawyer = gvad [ɲipuátu] ← g + vad (lawyer)
• She/ he is a lawyer/ They are lawyers = tvad [tapuátu] ← t + vad
• We're not lawyers = cmvad [cimupuátu] ← c + m + vad
• You're not a lawyer/ You're not lawyers = qmvad [kumupuátu] ← z + m + vad
• Anne is a lawyer = Hantvad (or Han-tvad)[χaánatapuátu] ← Han + t + vad (lawyer)
• Michael is not a lawyer = Miheltmvad (or Mihel-tmvad) [muíχa.élatamupuátu] ← Mihel + t + m + vad
• An ant is an insect = mirtmux (or mir-tmux) [muílutamuúçi] ← mir (ant) + t + mux (insect)
• An spider is not an insect = cuktmmux (or cuk-tmmux) [ciúkatamumuúçi] ← cuk (spider) + t + m + mux

Note:

• For sentences where the noun phrase is preceded by h, see 'Existential Construction' above.

 

Attributive Clause

This type of clause is sometimes called "Predicate Adjective" clauses. But, as we have seen, not all languages have a separate grammatical category of adjectives and Piashi makes no formal distinction between different categories of lexical words. It is better, therefore, to use the term "Attributive Clause" in describing Piashi. Examples are:

• The sea is blue = hartnil (or har-tnil )[χaálutanaíla] ← har (sea) + t + nil (blue)
• Bananas are not red/ A banana is not red = mustmkoc (or mus-tmkoc)[muúsatamukaóci] ← mus (banana) + t + m + koc (red)

Notes:

1. It will be seen that these clauses could be analyzed exactly like the predicate nominals above, ie. "The sea is a 'blue-entity'" where nil is taken as a noun meaning 'a blue entity, something blue.' But tnil has also the same construction as a Verbal Clause and nil can, therefore, be taken a stative verb, which is the way some languages treat those words that we call 'adjectives' in English., i.e., nil is taken as a stative verb 'to be blue'. Maybe the answer is that it both, as Piashi makes no formal distinction between nouns and verbs.
2. Words such as nil (blue) and koc (red) can also, of course, be used as attributes in noun phrases (i.e. as descriptive adjectives). We shall examine this use on the second grammar page.

 

Predicate Locative

In this construction the predicate is neither nominal nor attributive, but shows location. Some languages use a special locative word, often translated as "be at", but others, like English, use the normal copular verb. Piashi marks them in the same way as the predicates above; for example:

• I am in the garden = gbcip [ɲipiciípa] ← g + b + cip
• He is not in the garden = tmbcip [tamupiciípa] ← t + m + b + cip
• The cat is in the garden = mwctbcip (or mwc-tbcip) [muáwcitapiciípa] ← mwc + t + b + cip

Note:

• No other morpheme order is possible (cf. the version of "There is a cat in the garden" above).

 

Possessive Clause

It is important to distinguish possessive clauses (e.g. Michael has a book) from possessive phrases (e.g. Michael's book). According to Thomas Payne (1997, Describing Morphosyntax, Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press): "Languages usually employ existential and/or locational structures to express the notion of possession. Occasionally possessive clauses use a special verb like 'to have.' This verb often derives from the verb for 'hold' or 'carry.' The more common situation, however, is for the possessive clause to use a copular verb or particle."

Piashi follows the more common practice. If what is possessed is indefinite we use the existential construction. However, it will be more usual to front, or topicalize, the possessor; in which case the preposition is dropped as the meaning is clear, i.e. we in effect Mihelhxuk is 'As for Michael, there is a book.' If, however, the possessor is placed after the noun possessed, the preposition d is necessary. Consider the following examples:

• Michael has a book = Mihelhxuk (or Mihel-hxuk)[muíχa.élaχaçiúka] ← Mihel + h + xuk
  or hxukdMihel (or hxuk-dMihel ) [χaçiúkatumuíχa.éla] ← h + xuk + d + Mihel
• I don't have a dog/ I haven't got a dog = ghmcan [ɲiχamuciána] ← g + h + m + can (dog)
  or hmcandg [χamuciánatuɲi] ← h + m + can + d + g

If, however, what is possessed is definite, then this becomes the subject of the clause and we use the predicative locative construction; for example:

• Michael has the book =xuktdMihel (xuk-tdMihel ) [çiiúkatatumuíχa.éla] ← xuk + t + d + Mihel
  (No alternative version is possible)

 

Created August 2008. Last revision: Copyright © Ray Brown