Anbirese/Syntax

The overall syntax of Tíogall resembles that of Irish or Biblical Hebrew.

Constituent order

Tíogall is almost completely head-initial, except for compound words which are head-final. The constituent order is VSO. Background information (usually in the order time-manner-place) and question words may be placed before the verb (unlike in Irish), after the subject, or after the direct object. However, no constituent may come between the verb and the subject.

Tiann b'aeillirne múnna?
/ˈtiən ˈb‿eːʀəlnə mʉːnə/
why COMP love-PRES.2SG-EMPH ACC-1SG
Why do *you* love *me*?

Noun phrase

Adjectives

Adjectives always follow their head nouns.

Possessive noun phrases

In possessive noun phrases the possessed noun uses the construct form, and the possessor (indefinite or definite) is placed after it. For pronominal possessors, the disjunctive pronoun is used.

Verb phrase

Negation

• interrogative: is-L
• negative: ní

Sentence phrase

Predicate nouns and adjectives

Tíogall is zero-copula, like Hebrew. A predicate adjective is placed before the subject, and the copula pronoun is used. On the other hand, a predicate noun has the "logical subject" placed after the preposition de, d'-.

De chathar zodhma.

A flower is a plant. (lit. A plant is in a flower.)

Zodhma diú.

It's a plant. (lit. A plant is in it.)

When the subject is a definite noun, the pronoun is not mandatory with predicative adjectives:

Árd (hí) an gcamhna.

The woman is tall.

Árd hí.

She is tall.

Existential sentences

"X has" uses a similar construction to existentials:

Lion rúbh.

I have a dog. (lit. To me is a dog.)

Conjunctions

• ar: 'and'
• lú: 'or'
• ach: 'but'
• ri-N: 'that (relative clause)'
• nach: 'that (complement clause)'
• fódh-N: 'because'
• dli-L: 'when, if'

Dependent clauses

Relative clauses

Tíogall makes a distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses.

The relativizer ri^N (negative rint) is used for restrictive relative clauses. A resumptive pronoun may be used when the head is not the subject of the relative clause, and is mandatory when the head is a prepositional object or a possessor.

Verbs in relative clauses may be placed anywhere within the relative clause, subject to the constraint that the verb and (syntactic) subject may not be separated unless the head of the relative clause is the subject. If the head of the relative clause is its subject, then the verb is mutated or inflected like an adjective. Otherwise, the relativizer ri-N is used.

A non-restrictive relative clause is marked with a pause (rendered as a dash "–") before the relative clause.

Nominalized relative clauses use cuar 'those'

cuar mímhaoghadh ú

'those who misuse it'

Time clauses

There are two ways of forming time clauses.

The first construction is a clause introduced with a time conjunction such as (d'air = 'when') and using a finite verb form (i.e. the verb form is used with a subject).

The second construction is a clause introduced with a preposition (such as de, d' = 'at, in') followed by the verbal noun which may take a possessive prefix for the subject. Thus the non-finite time clause marks aspect or tense relative to the tense of the main clause rather than absolute tense. Non-finite time clauses are considered a little more literary than finite time clauses.

Infinitive clauses

Infinitive clauses work like German zu-infinitive clauses in that they are verb-final: the infinitive is used at the end, and the particle le-h /ʟə/ ('to') is used before the infinitive.

Ní róscall fách ná, lean shuar ríosan le fhlunnach.

I was unable to return to my house.

Ergative clauses

Embedded past tense clauses, pivoting etc. can have really weird syntax because ergativity