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Subclause Reform: Difference between revisions

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The '''Subclause Reform''' is a proposal that changes the grammar of subclauses to fix some ambiguities, and make them more naturalistic.
The '''Subclause Reform''' is a proposal that changes the grammar of subclauses to fix some ambiguities, and make them more naturalistic.


== Reasons ==
== Motivation ==
In official Toaq, [[Content clause|content clauses]] have the exact same grammar as the main clause of a sentence, and can appear wherever a [[determiner phrase]] might appear. But this grammar actually turns out to be ambiguous! Consider the following sentence:
In official Toaq, [[Content clause|content clauses]] have the exact same grammar as the main clause of a sentence, and can appear wherever a [[determiner phrase]] might appear. But this grammar actually turns out to be ambiguous! Consider the following sentence:
{{Example|Feq jí ꝡä za ruqshua râo ní nuaq.}}
{{Example|Feq jí ꝡä za ruqshua râo ní nuaq.}}
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== Nullary verbs ==
== Nullary verbs ==
As a final note, we need to change nullary verbs to take a dummy argument, or else the following sentence would still be ambiguous:
As a final note, we need to change nullary verbs to take a dummy argument, or else this kind of sentence would still be ambiguous:
{{Example|Feq jí ꝡá za ruqshua râo ní nuaq.}}
{{Example|Feq jí ꝡá za ruqshua râo ní nuaq.}}
This sentence now becomes:
This sentence now becomes:
{{Example|Feq jí, ꝡá za ruqshua râo ní nuaq ía.|I sense that it's going to rain tonight.}}
{{Example|Feq jí, ꝡá za ruqshua râo ní nuaq ía.|I sense that it's going to rain tonight.}}
This dummy argument {{T|ía}} corresponds to the 'it' in the English translation; it doesn't refer to anything, but is necessary for the sentence to be grammatical.
This dummy argument {{T|ía}} corresponds to the 'it' in the English translation; it doesn't refer to anything, but is necessary for the sentence to be grammatical.