Anbirese/Syntax: Difference between revisions

The overall syntax of Tíogall resembles that of [[w:Irish|Irish]] or [[w:Biblical Hebrew|Biblical Hebrew]].

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 {{sc|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.

|phrase=Tiann b'aeillranna dhánna?

|gloss=why love-PRES.2SG-EMPH 1SG.DEP-EMPH

|IPA=/ˈtiən ˈb‿eːʟɾənə ɮaːnə/

:''an scrádhaí sás'' = 'the happy spider'

===Negation===

*interrogative: {{abbtip|[ɪs]|''is-L''}}

*negative: {{abbtip|[niː]|''ní-L''}}

Tíogall is zero-copula, like Hebrew. A predicate adjective is placed before the subject, and the copula pronoun is used.  

:'''''Árd (hí) an gcamhna.'''''

:/aːlt ən ˈgawnə/

:'''''Árd hí.'''''

:/aːlt hiː/

Predicate adjectives are negated by placing ''ní (h)'' in front of the adjective:

:'''''Ní h-aonan ú cua ní sheolacht hú.'''''

:''I don't do it because it's not legal.''

On the other hand, a predicate noun has the "logical subject" placed after the preposition ''de, d'-'' + pronoun.  

:'''''Zodhma diú cathar.'''''

:'''''Zodhma diú.'''''

Predicate nouns are negated by placing ''déar'' /deːl/ 'there is no' in front of the predicate noun.

Predicative locative use the copula ''laidh'' /ʟeː/:

''Laidh ná dean suar.'' = 'I'm in the house.'

Existential sentences use the following construction:

:'''''Laidh mród.'''''

(There's an apple there = ''Laidh mród diú.'')

:'''''Lion rúbh.'''''

*''dri'' + X = "X must/has to" (lit. it is on X)

*''oith go'' + X = "X may"/"it is permissible for X" (lit. it goes through with X)  

*''geil'' + X = "X wants" (lit. it is away from X)

*''le'' + X + ''siarna'' = "X needs" (lit. X has a need)

*{{abbtip|/ʔak/|''ag''}}: 'and'

*{{abbtip|/ʟʉː/|''lú''}}: 'or'

*''níor'' = nor

*{{abbtip|/ʔax/|''ach''}}: 'but'

*{{abbtip|/ɾɪ/|''ri-N''}}: 'that (relative clause)'

*{{abbtip|/ˈɾɪnə/|''rinne''}}: negative form of ''ri''

*{{abbtip|/vaː/|''bhfá''}}: 'that (complement clause)'

*{{abbtip|/kuə/|''cua-N, cuí-N''}}: 'because'

*{{abbtip|/sɛn/|''sean-L''}}: 'when, if'

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.

:'''''an léiste (an) mbothnúigh óiŋŋe'''''

:'''''an léiste ri zslaithigh hí (í)'''''  

:'''''an léiste ri dtnáigh hí dí'''''

In the past tense, a participle modifying the head as an adjective puts the head into a ''patient'' role in the relative clause (by split ergativity). Hence, agents of a transitive verb must use the preposition ''ro'' plus a resumptive pronoun.

:'''''G'laí an slachan arŋaín rún stámh.'''''

In poetry, verbs in relative clauses may appear in any position after the ''ri'', as long as the subject (if not the head) stands after the relative clause.

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 mímhaoghaigh ú'''''

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.

In Modern Tíogall, infinitives or verbal nouns go to the end of the clause for common modal constructions (e.g. want, need, must, may).

 

 

:'''''Geilin tánna le cháil ú!'''''

:from-1SG something to eat.VN 3SG.M-DEP

:'''''Ní h-airŋín lion ú le h-áichir.'''''

The infinitive-final order arose from constructions corresponding to modal verbs in English: originally the order was something similar to {{recon|''Drion gnúi ean''}} ("on-1SG drink.VN water"), then ''Drion ean le ghnúi'' (originally "I want water to drink") became more common, eventually to the exclusion of the original construction, which is archaic or high-register today for common modal expressions.

In normal registers, syntactic pivoting (the practice of omitting a subject entirely in a clause when the previous clause has it as a subject, e.g. ''He will take my gift and go'': in Tíogall this sentence would be translated to ''Tobhtaigh hú mídh ná ag tartaigh hú''.) is disallowed for verbs: a pronoun can be used as a subject in the following clause if the previous clause has its antecedent as its subject. However, it is used for adjectives: "Dark am I yet beautiful" can be translated as ''Mocht ná ach sumhan'' /mɔxt naː ax sʉːn/.

[[Category:Tíogall]]