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Kämpya: Difference between revisions
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==Brief Description== | ==Brief Description== | ||
Kämpya has topic comment syntax with isolating morphology. It belongs to category 4 in Milewski's typology [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milewski's_typology] i.e. it uses the same marker (the clitic -i) to mark both possessors and ergative subjects. Possessors are marked for alienability [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alienable_possession] using tone, and come before the nouns they modify. Kämpya (at least in the standard dialect) uses postpositions rather than prepositions, and adjectives can come either before or after the nouns they | Kämpya has topic comment syntax with isolating morphology. It belongs to category 4 in Milewski's typology [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milewski's_typology] i.e. it uses the same marker (the clitic -i) to mark both possessors and ergative subjects. Possessors are marked for alienability [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alienable_possession] using tone, and come before the nouns they modify. Kämpya (at least in the standard dialect) uses postpositions rather than prepositions, and adjectives can come either before or after the nouns they modify if they are restrictive or non-restrictive respectively [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictiveness]. | ||
In terms of phonology, the most notable thing is a 3-way phonation contrast on stressed syllables (which is not present on unstressed syllables). Kämpya distinguishes words with harsh voice (marked with a tilde e.g. /a̰/), from breathy voice (marked with a pair of dots either above or below the vowel e.g. /a̤/ or /ä/), from glottalisation (marked with a glottal stop after the vowel e.g. /aʔ/. | In terms of phonology, the most notable thing is a 3-way phonation contrast on stressed syllables (which is not present on unstressed syllables). Kämpya distinguishes words with harsh voice (marked with a tilde e.g. /a̰/), from breathy voice (marked with a pair of dots either above or below the vowel e.g. /a̤/ or /ä/), from glottalisation (marked with a glottal stop after the vowel e.g. /aʔ/. | ||
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===Copula=== | ===Copula=== | ||
====With Pronouns=== | ====With Pronouns==== | ||
Kämpya only has a verb meaning "to be" if the subject is a pronoun. It is marked for 4 TAM categories (and is the only verb in the language to do so). These are Present Progressive (used for actions that are happening right now), Past Imperfect (also used for present habitual actions, or that are true in general), Perfect, and Future. | Kämpya only has a verb meaning "to be" if the subject is a pronoun. It is marked for 4 TAM categories (and is the only verb in the language to do so). These are Present Progressive (used for actions that are happening right now), Past Imperfect (also used for present habitual actions, or that are true in general), Perfect, and Future. | ||
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'''You''' are the enemy (right now). | '''You''' are the enemy (right now). | ||
====Other Cases==== | |||
In other cases where English would use the word "to be", Kämpya does not use a copula [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_copula] and simply places the two words together e.g. | |||