Chlouvānem: Difference between revisions
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: ''mei tati pū kulevitaṃte yaiva gātarireti.'' "if I had said 'yes', everything would be different (now)." | : ''mei tati pū kulevitaṃte yaiva gātarireti.'' "if I had said 'yes', everything would be different (now)." | ||
: ''mei tati pū kulevitaṃte tami gu nagyevite ša.'' "if I had said 'yes', that wouldn't have happened." | : ''mei tati pū kulevitaṃte tami gu nagyevite ša.'' "if I had said 'yes', that wouldn't have happened." | ||
===Negatives=== | |||
Chlouvānem negates sentences by using the circumfix ''gu(n) ... ša'' on the verb: | |||
: ''tami loh pṛšcāmvi'' "I like it" → ''tami loh gu pṛšcāmvi ša'' "I do not like it". | |||
: ''martayinām domanu nadāmek'' "Martayinām walked into the room" → ''martayinām domanu gu nadāmek ša'' "Martayinām didn't walk into the room". | |||
: ''ejulā ū'' "I am here" → ''ejulā gun ū ša'' "I am not here". | |||
Double negatives are not proper in Chlouvānem — negating a sentence with a negative correlative makes it affirmative: | |||
: ''guvitu mešute'' "I see no one" | |||
: ''lævitu gu mešute ša'' "I don't see anyone" | |||
: ''guvitu gu mešute ša'' "I don't see no one" → "I see someone" | |||
===Interrogatives=== | |||
Chlouvānem yes-no questions are formed with the particle ''dam'' at the end of the sentence: | |||
: ''tami nyoh pṛšcāmvi'' "you like it" → ''tami nyoh pṛšcāmvi dam?'' "do you like it?" | |||
: ''martayinām domanu nadāmek'' "Martayinām walked into the room" → ''martayinām domanu nadāmek dam?'' "did Martayinām walk into the room?" | |||
If the sentence is negative, the ''... ša'' part of the circumfix is omitted: | |||
: ''ejulā gu vi ša'' "(s)he/it is not here" → ''ejulā gu vi dam?'' "is (s)he/it not here?" | |||
Choice questions may be formed with ''dam'' just like yes-no ones, or may be expanded in a form such as "do you X... or do you X?". ''dam'' is only included once, at the end: | |||
: ''javileh nyęi daudė : grāšatis nyęi daudė mbu dam?'' "do you want apples or persimmons?" (lit. "you want apples, or do you want persimmons?") | |||
Non-polar questions are formed by using an interrogative (''ya-'') correlative, without ''dam''. Unlike English, there is no mandatory wh-fronting in Chlouvānem (word order is usually flexible enough to allow all possibilities): | |||
: ''nenė kita liliau naimū liląrā'' "in this house lives my maternal aunt" → ''nenė kita yavitu liląrā?'' "who lives in this house?" | |||
: ''jalgudām demiąa praškigin lā luvāyom fliven'' "Jalgudām is walking to the store with his two older brothers" → ''jalgudām yavitęs lā luvāyom fliven?'' "with whom is Jalgudām walking to the store?" | |||
====Yes and no==== | |||
As far as yes-no answers are concerned, Chlouvānem is an agreement language: the words ''mei'' (yes) and ''go'' (no) have respectively the same and the opposite polarity as the question - translating them as "true" and "false" might give a better idea of how they are used. | |||
: ''kite vei dam?'' "are you at home?" — ''mei kite ū'' "yes, I'm home" <small>("it's true, I'm home")</small> | |||
: ''kite gu vei dam?'' "are you not at home?" — ''mei kite gun ū ša'' "yes, I'm not home" <small>("it's true, I'm not home")</small> | |||
: ''kite vei dam?'' "are you at home" — ''go kite gun ū ša'' "no, I'm not home" <small>("it's false, I'm not home")</small> | |||
: ''kite gu vei dam?'' "are you not at home?" — ''go kite ū'' "no, I'm home" <small>("it's false, I'm home")</small> | |||
===Quoted speech=== | ===Quoted speech=== | ||