Cleft: Difference between revisions

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In Toaq, the word {{t|nä}} is used to create so-called '''clefts'''. A cleft is a complex sentence that rearranges the contents of a simple sentence. In English, this is often used for emphasis (It is my purse that they stole). In Toaq, this functionality already lives in [[focus marker]]s, and so {{t|nä}} is primarily '''a tool for rearranging sentence structure'''.

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Imagine you’ve got a hefty noun phrase like that one hammer my great-grandfather passed down to me and you’d like to use it in a sentence. You really don’t want to put the enormous noun phrase in the middle of the sentence, like

{{t|Choq jí {{orange|ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}

{{t|Choq jí {{orange|ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa,}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}

I used {{orange|that one hammer my great-grandfather had passed down to me}} yesterday to crack some walnuts open.

</poem></blockquote>

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So why not move the noun phrase to the front? {{t|nä}} does just that:

{{t|{{green|Ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa}} nä choq jí {{green|hóa}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}

{{t|{{green|Ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa,}} nä choq jí {{green|hóa}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}

{{green|That one hammer my great-grandfather had passed down to me}}, I used {{green|it}} yesterday to crack some walnuts open.

</poem></blockquote>

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{{t|{{green|Ꝡä tua shaı hóaq nháo lóebeaq dûı chuı jôro}}, nä tua dua nháo sía poq, ꝡä mala faq {{green|hóa}}.}}

{{green|That he’d sinned by snuffing the candles out prematurely}}, he let nobody know {{green|such a thing}} ever happened.

{{green|That he’d sinned by snuffing the candles out prematurely}}, he let nobody know {{green|such a thing}} had ever happened.

</poem></blockquote>

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</poem></blockquote>

You can think of {{t|nä}} as serving the role of the comma in the English translation.

~~== {{t|nä}} and [[topic|{{t|bï}}]] ==~~

~~{{refgram|syntax|topic}}~~

~~There are a couple slight differences between the two:~~

* {{t|bï}} designates the so-called [[topic]] of a clause, while {{t|nä}} is a purely syntactic gesture (and does not impart [[focus]] – that’s the job of particles like {{t|kú}}, see linked article).

*: This is the difference between My grandmother, I love her and As for my grandmother, I love her. In the latter of the two examples, as for my grandmother establishes that it’s your grandmother that you’d like to talk about – provide new information about.

* For noun phrases, {{t|bï}} does not bind {{t|hóa}}. You must use another anaphoric pronoun if you want to refer back to the topic. The crucial difference is that {{t|bï}}’s complement, the topic established, is not required to appear in the clause! So for example, this is valid Toaq (and valid English, although some languages like Japanese like this pattern better than English does) and the extra specification in square brackets is not required at all:

*: {{t|Báq kası bï, he duq garabıa jí [gêm máq].}}

*: As for walnuts, I tend to get nausea [from them].

* Officially, {{t|bï}} requires [[definite]] topics. For example, {{t|sía gama bï}} as for no camel is invalid (for semantics reasons).

* Officially, {{t|bï}} does not take adverbials.

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 {{refgram|syntax|the cleft verb}}
+{{feature|See also|[[Focus, topic, cleft]]}}
 In Toaq, the word {{t|nä}} is used to create so-called '''clefts'''. A cleft is a complex sentence that rearranges the contents of a simple sentence. In English, this is often used for emphasis (<i>It is <u>my purse</u> that they stole</i>). In Toaq, this functionality already lives in [[focus marker]]s, and so {{t|nä}} is primarily '''a tool for rearranging sentence structure'''.
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 Imagine you’ve got a hefty noun phrase like <i>that one hammer my great-grandfather passed down to me</i> and you’d like to use it in a sentence. You really don’t want to put the enormous noun phrase in the middle of the sentence, like
 <blockquote><poem>
-{{t|Choq jí {{orange|ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}
+{{t|Choq jí {{orange|ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa,}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}
 <i>I used {{orange|that one hammer my great-grandfather had passed down to me}} yesterday to crack some walnuts open.</i>
 </poem></blockquote>
@@ Line 12: / Line 13: @@
 So why not move the noun phrase to the front? {{t|nä}} does just that:
 <blockquote><poem>
-{{t|<u>{{green|Ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa}} nä</u> choq jí {{green|hóa}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}
+{{t|<u>{{green|Ké ujoq, ꝡë toeq do páopaopao jí hóa,}} nä</u> choq jí {{green|hóa}} râo púchaq zûo, ꝡä tua poaq jí báq seoqkası da}}
 <i>{{green|That one hammer my great-grandfather had passed down to me}}, I used {{green|it}} yesterday to crack some walnuts open.</i>
 </poem></blockquote>
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 <blockquote><poem>
 {{t|{{green|Ꝡä tua shaı hóaq nháo lóebeaq dûı chuı jôro}}, nä tua dua nháo sía poq, ꝡä mala faq {{green|hóa}}.}}
-<i>{{green|That he’d sinned by snuffing the candles out prematurely}}, he let nobody know {{green|such a thing}} ever happened.</i>
+<i>{{green|That he’d sinned by snuffing the candles out prematurely}}, he let nobody know {{green|such a thing}} had ever happened.</i>
 </poem></blockquote>
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 </poem></blockquote>
 You can think of {{t|nä}} as serving the role of the comma in the English translation.
-== {{t|nä}} and [[topic|{{t|bï}}]] ==
-{{refgram|syntax|topic}}
-There are a couple slight differences between the two:
-* {{t|bï}} designates the so-called [[topic]] of a clause, while {{t|nä}} is a purely syntactic gesture (and does not impart [[focus]] – that’s the job of particles like {{t|kú}}, see linked article).
-*: This is the difference between <i>My grandmother, I love her</i> and <i>As for my grandmother, I love her</i>. In the latter of the two examples, <i>as for my grandmother</i> establishes that it’s your grandmother that you’d like to talk about – provide new information about.
-* For noun phrases, {{t|bï}} does not bind {{t|hóa}}. You must use another anaphoric pronoun if you want to refer back to the topic. The crucial difference is that {{t|bï}}’s complement, the topic established, is not required to appear in the clause! So for example, this is valid Toaq (and valid English, although some languages like Japanese like this pattern better than English does) and the extra specification in square brackets is not required at all:
-*: {{t|Báq kası bï, he duq garabıa jí <i>[gêm máq]</i>.}}
-*: <i>As for walnuts, I tend to get nausea <i>[from them]</i>.</i>
-* Officially, {{t|bï}} requires [[definite]] topics. For example, {{t|sía gama bï}} <i>as for no camel</i> is invalid (for semantics reasons).
-* Officially, {{t|bï}} does not take adverbials.