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Kämpya: Difference between revisions

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'''Class 2'''
'''Class 2'''
This is used for nouns in postpositional phrases, inalienable possessors, nouns used attributively, restrictive adjectives, and verbs used in compounds.
This is used for nouns in postpositional phrases, inalienable possessors, nouns used attributively, restrictive adjectives (modifying a noun), and verbs used in compounds.


'''Class 3'''
'''Class 3'''
This is used for adverbs and non-restrictive adjectives.
This is used for adverbs and non-restrictive adjectives (modifying a noun).




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==Syntax==
==Basic Syntax==


Kämpya has topic comment syntax [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic-prominent_language], and is also syntactically ergative [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_ergativity#Syntactic_ergativity] and secundative [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secundative_language].
Kämpya has topic comment syntax [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic-prominent_language], and is also syntactically ergative [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_ergativity#Syntactic_ergativity] and secundative [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secundative_language].
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/kʰwèi̤ θú=káiʔk/
/kʰwèi̤ θú=káiʔk/


dog ANTPASS=bite
dog ANTIP=bite


The dog bit (someone / something).
The dog bit (someone / something).
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/kʰwèi̤ θw=áhlôṵn/
/kʰwèi̤ θw=áhlôṵn/


dog ANTPASS=abandon
dog ANTIP=abandon


The dog abandoned (someone / something).
The dog abandoned (someone / something).
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/kʰwèi̤ θú=káiʔk gáʔɾ=àuŋ/
/kʰwèi̤ θú=káiʔk gáʔɾ=àuŋ/


dog ANTPASS=bite lizard=DAT
dog ANTIP=bite lizard=DAT


The dog bit the lizard.
The dog bit the lizard.
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/kʰwèi̤ θú=káiʔk gáʔɾ=àuŋ pjèi̤/
/kʰwèi̤ θú=káiʔk gáʔɾ=àuŋ pjèi̤/


dog ANTPASS=bite lizard=DAT flee
dog ANTIP=bite lizard=DAT flee


The dog bit the lizard and (the dog) ran away.
The dog bit the lizard and (the dog) ran away.
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/gáʔɾ θú=káiʔk kʰwèi̤=jàuŋ/
/gáʔɾ θú=káiʔk kʰwèi̤=jàuŋ/


lizard ANTPASS=bite dog=DAT
lizard ANTIP=bite dog=DAT


The lizard bit the dog.
The lizard bit the dog.
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/ˈsíʔtà áˈjòṳ=tí θú=gḭ̂b kʰwèi̤=jàuŋ/
/ˈsíʔtà áˈjòṳ=tí θú=gḭ̂b kʰwèi̤=jàuŋ/


guardian bone=SEC ANTPASS=give dog=DAT
guardian bone=SEC ANTIP=give dog=DAT


The guardian gave the bone to the dog.
The guardian gave the bone to the dog.
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/ˈsíʔtà áˈsʰìʔ=ɾí θú=gḭ̂b kʰwèi̤=jàuŋ/
/ˈsíʔtà áˈsʰìʔ=ɾí θú=gḭ̂b kʰwèi̤=jàuŋ/


guardian fat=SEC ANTPASS=give dog=DAT
guardian fat=SEC ANTIP=give dog=DAT


The guardian gave the fat to the dog.
The guardian gave the fat to the dog.
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This is clearly a cliticisation process, since adverbs can come before the particle but after the verb e.g.
This is clearly a cliticisation process, since adverbs can come before the particle but after the verb e.g.


/pʰáˈzè̤t ˈkʰwèi̤=zù káiʔk tjǎ̤ŋ=dè gáʔɾ=àuŋ/
/pʰáˈzè̤t kʰwèi̤=zù káiʔk tjǎ̤ŋ=dè gáʔɾ=àuŋ/


forest dog=ERG bite yesterday=in lizard=DAT
forest dog=ERG bite yesterday=in lizard=DAT


In the forest, the dog bit the lizard.
In the forest, the dog bit the lizard.
==Noun Phrases==
The basic order in noun phrases is: Demonstrative - Numeral - Restrictive Adjective - Noun - Non Restrictive Adjective
===Restrictiveness in Adjectives===
When an adjective modifies a noun, Kämpya makes a distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive (descriptive) adjectives [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictiveness]. It does this by putting restrictive adjectives in Tone Class 2, and placing them before the noun they modify e.g.
/ˈlwèʔpíd kʰwèi̤/
fast.REST dog
The fast dog(s) (choosing one or more fast dogs out of a group of other dogs).
Descriptive (non-restrictive) adjectives are in Tone Class 3 and follow the noun they modify e.g.
/kʰwèi̤ˈlwéʔpìd/
dog fast.DESC
The fast dog(s).
or
/sôṵ ˈjḛ́làu/
sun yellow.DESC
The yellow sun.
In the last case, it would never make any sense to say /ˈjḛ̀láu sôṵ/, unless for some reason we were disambiguating between multiple suns.
===Articles===
There are no definite articles, but there is an indefinite article clitic. It occupies the demonstrative syntactic "slot" and has the allomorphs /ti-/ before a consonant and /it-/ before a vowel e.g.
/tí=kʰwèi̤/
INDEF=dog
a dog
/ít=áˈtâṵŋ/
INDEF=feather
a feather
Kämpya nouns are not inflected for singular or plural, but when they take the indefinite article, they are only ever singular, so the above examples could never mean "some dogs" or "some feathers".
It is important to distinguish the indefinite article from the word for one /tìʔ/. The indefinite article is a clitic, which has no stress and is phonologically part of whatever word follows it i.e. it will have plain High Pitch no matter whether it is followed by a noun or (restrictive) adjective. On the other hand, the numeral /tìʔ/ - "one" is phonologically a separate word. In terms of the tonal morphology, it (like all other numerals) belongs to category 2, and is thus pronounced with Low Pitch.
Compare:
/tí=kʰwèi̤/
INDEF=dog
a dog
with
/tìʔ kʰwèi̤/
one dog
one dog
Also, the numeral for one does not "reverse" (i.e. undergo metathesis) when the next syllable begins with a vowel e.g.
/ít=áˈtâṵŋ/
INDEF=feather
a feather
vs.
/tìʔ áˈtâṵŋ/
one feather
one feather
The numeral for "one" (or any other numerals) cannot be used with the indefinite article, so */tí=tìʔ áˈtâṵŋ/ is ungrammatical.
However, (restrictive) adjectives can intervene between the indefinite article and the noun e.g.
/tí=ˈjḛ̀láu áˈtâṵŋ/
INDEF=yellow.REST feather
a yellow feather
===Demonstratives===
Kämpya has a two-way distance contrast in demonstratives (like English but unlike many other languages). It uses tone to distinguish pronominal demonstratives (e.g. in the sentence "''This'' is a cat") from adnominal demonstratives (e.g. in the sentence "''This'' cat is here"). It also uses tone to make a further distinction in adnominal demonstratives depending on whether they are describing a place, or something else.
Here is a table of the demonstratives:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!  !! Tone !! This !! That
|-
| Pronominal || Harsh Falling || dâ̰ || tʰôṵ
|-
| Adnominal (Places) || Modal High || dá || *tʰóu
|-
| Adnominal (Other cases) || Harsh Low || dà̰ || tʰòṵ
|}
*/tʰóu-/ has the allomorph /*tʰów-/ before a vowel.
So for example "this mountain" is /dá ˈmjáunàn/, since a mountain is a place. But "this dog" is /dà̰ kʰwèi̤/, since a dog is not a place.
===Possession===
Kämpya distinguishes alienable and alienable possession. In both cases, possessors are marked with the cliticised case marker /ja/, and come before the noun they possess. But inalienable possessors are in Tone Class 2 e.g.
/kʰwèi̤=já áˈjòṳ/
dog=GEN.INALIENABLE bone
The dog's bone (i.e. in it's body).
While alienable possessors are in Tone Class 1 e.g.
/kʰwèi̤=jà áˈjòṳ/
dog=GEN.ALIENABLE bone
The dog's bone (i.e. that it is chewing on / has buried etc.)
Unlike in English, there are no restrictions on possessing a noun modified by a demonstrative or an article. So it is perfectly grammatical to say the following:
/kʰwèi̤=jà dà̰ áˈjòṳ/
dog=GEN.ALIENABLE this bone
This bone of the dog's (literally "the dog's this bone").
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