Scope: Difference between revisions

 

{{t|Shoe jí {{vy}}ä kuq súq <u>sía</u> raı da.}}<br>

'''means:''' “I allow you to say <u>nothing</u>.” (i.e. I allow you to shut up)<br>

Here, the scope of {{t|sía}} is the clause “{{t|{{vy}}ä kuq súq sía raı}}”.

== Clefting and scope ==

If we want to say the other thing, we have to lift {{t|sía}} out of the clause by [[clefting]] it to the main clause:

{{t|<u>Sía raı nä</u> shoe jí {{vy}}ä kuq súq ráı da.}}<br>

<u>There is nothing that</u> I allow you to say. (i.e. I ban you from talking)

See [https://toaq.net/refgram/syntax/#the_cleft_verb The cleft verb] in the [[refgram]].

<!-- For example: [[adverbial|high adverbials]] "scope over" the verb of the clause they're in. Thus, the sentence {{t|Dảı ní bũ da}} is interpreted as <math>\neg \text{possible}(\text{this})</math> “this isn't possible” rather than <math>\text{possible}(\neg \text{this})</math> “this is possibly false”. -->

One common mistake is to rephrase sentences involving {{t|{{vy}}ä}} using a [[serial verb]], under the impression that the meaning stays the same:

{{t|Shoe jí {{vy}}ä kuq súq sía raı da.}}<br>

“I allow you to say nothing.” (I allow you to shut up)<br>

→ 🤔 {{t|<u>Shoe kuq</u> jí súq sía raı da.}}<br>

“I allow-to-say you nothing.” (I ban you from talking)

However, the {{t|{{vy}}ä}} clause that was limiting the scope of {{t|sía}} is now gone, which means that {{t|sía}} scopes over the whole sentence. The meaning of the sentence is thereby changed to ''“There is nothing that I allow you to say”''.