Anbirese/Syntax

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

Constituent order

Anbirese 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.

Þjeon ael skidneo naneo?
/ɕɔ̀n‿ɛl skìdnɔ nànɔ/
why love/PRES 2SG-EMPH 1SG.DEP-EMPH
Why do *you* love *me*?

Noun phrase

Adjectives

Adjectives always follow their head nouns.

an scrádhaí flú = 'the black spider'

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 and other preverbs

• interrogative: is-L
• negative: tir-L

Infinitive absolute

As in Biblocal Hebrew, VERB.VN + VERB + SUBJECT is an emphatic construction meaning 'SUBJECT [surely, definitely] VERBs'. It has a distinct literary flavor, much like saying "return he will" in English. A clause in this form can also have a concessive force.

Circumstantial verbs

go + VN: Ceirrín hú go sngímech ag moile = 'He entered praising and thanking'

Sentence phrase

Predicate adjectives

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

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

Árd (hí) an gcamhna.

/aːlt ən ˈgawnə/

The woman is tall.

Árd hí.

/aːlt hiː/

She is tall.

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

Tir haonan ú cua tir sheolacht hú.

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

The construction laidh + subject + de + adjective may also be used in literary writing.

Predicative nouns

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

Zodhma diú cathar.

A flower is a plant.

Zodhma diú.

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

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

Predicative locatives

Predicative locatives use the copula laidh /ʟeː/, which is negated to níl /niːʟ/.

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

Laidh na caither lion. = 'The flowers are mine.'

Existential sentences

Existential sentences also use laidh:

Laidh mród.

/ʁeː mɾɵːt/

be-PRES.ANA apple

There's an apple.

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

"X has" uses a similar construction to existentials:

Lion rúbh.

/ʁɪn ɾʉːv/

to-1SG dog

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

Modal constructions

• ar + 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)

Wh-questions

Who- and what-questions use cleft constructions, using the interrogative in conjunction with a relative clause describing it.

• Tua (an) forca an sos? = Who feeds the man? (lit. Who is it that feeds...)
• Tua ri bhforca an sos? = Whom does the man feed?

In the preterite:

• Tua ri bhforcaín rú an sos? = Who fed the man?
• Tua ri bhforcaín ron sos? = Whom did the man feed?

Conjunctions

• ag: 'and'
• sú: 'or'
• níor = nor
• ach: 'but'
• ri-N: 'that (relative clause)'
• rinne: negative form of ri
• bhfá: 'that (complement clause)'
• cua-N, cuín: 'because'
• fen-L: 'if'
• d'air-L: when
• cort = then

Dependent clauses

Relative clauses

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

The relativizer ri^N (negative rinne) 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. For clarity, the emphatic clitic -na/-ne may be added to the resumptive pronoun, especially in formal registers.

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 appropriate participial form of the verb is mutated or inflected like an adjective. Otherwise, the relativizer ri-N is used.

an léiste (an) mbothnúigh coíol

the spirit that endures suffering (lit. the spirit enduring suffering)

an léiste ri zslaithigh hí (í)

the spirit that she shows

an léiste ri dtnáigh hí dí

the spirit she believes in (lit. the spirit that she believes in it)

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 (ri) arŋaín rún stámh.

The number I got was 6.

In poetry, verbs in ri-clauses may appear in any position after the ri.

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 mímhaogha 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 ar = 'upon') 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

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

For emphasizing the object, "want/need/etc. an X to Y", a resumptive pronoun can be used after the verbal noun. (Alternatively the emphatic clitic -nna can be used on X.)

Geilin tánna le cháil ú!

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

I want something to eat!

Tir hairŋín lion ú le áichir.

I didn't succeed in finding it.

The infinitive-final order arose from constructions corresponding to modal verbs in English: originally the order was something similar to *Aran gnúi enŋ ("on-1SG drink.VN water"), then Aran enŋ 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.

Passive constructions

Use 'take' or 'get' + VN

Syntactic pivots

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 Anbirese this sentence would be translated to Tobhta hú mídhadh ná ag tarta 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/.