TolsienO: Difference between revisions
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</poem> | </poem> | ||
==Morphology== | ==Morphology== | ||
===Nouns=== | ===Nouns=== | ||
Nouns have gender, number, and (most likely) definiteness (definite and indefinite articles). | |||
====Gender==== | ====Gender==== | ||
There are two genders : masculine and feminine. Canonically, a neuter gender also existed, but has been absorbed by the masculine and the feminine. Gender is usually indicated with so-called thematic vowels, in the ending of a noun : the masculine has the thematic vowels -o- and -e-, although the latter is mostly found in adjectives (which agree in number and gender with the noun they qualify) ; the feminine has the thematic vowel -a-. | There are two genders : masculine and feminine. Canonically, a neuter gender also existed, but has been absorbed by the masculine and the feminine. Gender is usually indicated with so-called thematic vowels, in the ending of a noun : the masculine has the thematic vowels -o- and -e-, although the latter is mostly found in adjectives (which agree in number and gender with the noun they qualify) ; the feminine has the thematic vowel -a-. | ||
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==Syntax== | ==Syntax== | ||
===Constituent order=== | ===Constituent order=== | ||
====Declarative sentences==== | |||
There are two main constituant orders in declarative sentences : SVO and VSO. The former is mostly used in literature, and the verb is then conjugated according to its subject. But the VSO order is more common in everyday speech and then the verb is conjugated in the third person and only agrees in number with its subject (the 3SG verbal ending is used when the subject is 1SG, 2SG or 3SG, and the 3PL ending is used when the subject is 1PL, 2PL or 3PL). | There are two main constituant orders in declarative sentences : SVO and VSO. The former is mostly used in literature, and the verb is then conjugated according to its subject. But the VSO order is more common in everyday speech and then the verb is conjugated in the third person and only agrees in number with its subject (the 3SG verbal ending is used when the subject is 1SG, 2SG or 3SG, and the 3PL ending is used when the subject is 1PL, 2PL or 3PL). | ||
====Questions==== | |||
Questions are made by inversing verb and subject. However, this inversion is relative to the underlying constituent order in the corresponding declarative sentence : | |||
<poem> | |||
(1) If the underlying order is VSO (more common), then the corresponding question is : (question word) + Subject + Verb (in the third person) | |||
(2) If it is SVO , then the corresponding question is : (question word) + Verb (agreeing in person with its subject) + Subject. | |||
</poem> | |||
Questions usually have a rising intonation. | |||
===Noun phrase=== | ===Noun phrase=== | ||
*Adjectives usually follow the noun they qualify. | |||
*Possession (genitive) can be expressed with two main constructions : | |||
<poem> | |||
(1) "Possessor" + possessive adjective (agreeing with the possessor) + "possessed" | |||
(2) "Possessed" + "possessor-suffix" where the suffix is a left over from a previous genitive case. | |||
</poem> | |||
===Verb phrase=== | ===Verb phrase=== | ||
Adverbs usually follow the verb they qualify. | |||
==Example texts== | ==Example texts== | ||