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Subclause Reform: Difference between revisions
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Again, it's not clear where the subclause ends, because {{T|jí}} could belong to either the inner or outer clause, depending on which verb is underfilled. Clearly, we need a better solution. | Again, it's not clear where the subclause ends, because {{T|jí}} could belong to either the inner or outer clause, depending on which verb is underfilled. Clearly, we need a better solution. | ||
== | == Relative clauses == | ||
To avoid ambiguity when a relative clause has a trailing adverb, we simply ban trailing adverbs from appearing anywhere inside a relative clause. So if you see an adverb after a relative clause, you can know for sure that it belongs to the outer clause: | To avoid ambiguity when a relative clause has a trailing adverb, we simply ban trailing adverbs from appearing anywhere inside a relative clause. So if you see an adverb after a relative clause, you can know for sure that it belongs to the outer clause: | ||
{{Example|Pıe jí cháı, ꝡë baı tâocıa súq hóa.|I drink the tea that you unintentionally made.}}{{Example|Pıe jí cháı, ꝡë baı súq hóa, tâocıa.|I unintentionally drink the tea that you made.}} | {{Example|Pıe jí cháı, ꝡë baı tâocıa súq hóa.|I drink the tea that you unintentionally made.}}{{Example|Pıe jí cháı, ꝡë baı súq hóa, tâocıa.|I unintentionally drink the tea that you made.}}Furthermore, a relative clause may not be underfilled. Instead, we use prefixes like {{T|hao-}} to explicitly reduce a verb's arity when necessary: | ||
{{Example|Póq, ꝡë chum hạochuq hóa|The person who is eating}} | |||
== Content clauses == | |||
To avoid ambiguity when a content clause has a trailing adverb, we say that subclauses starting with {{T|ꝡä}}/{{T|lä}}/etc. can only appear at the very end of a clause, coming ''after'' the outer clause's trailing adverbs: | |||
{{Example|Zaı jí, ꝡä jıa tao nháo hóq nhûq súq.|I hope that they will do it for your sake.}}{{Example|Zaı jí nhûq súq, ꝡä jıa tao nháo hóq.|I hope for your sake that they will do it.}} | {{Example|Zaı jí, ꝡä jıa tao nháo hóq nhûq súq.|I hope that they will do it for your sake.}}{{Example|Zaı jí nhûq súq, ꝡä jıa tao nháo hóq.|I hope for your sake that they will do it.}} | ||
Normally, such a clause will fill in the final slot of the verb. But if you want to use a content clause as the subject of a transitive verb, for example, then you can use the word {{T|có}}, which is a lot like the 'it' in English "'''It''' delights me '''that''' they tried"<ref>Syntactically, we understand {{T|có}} as a trace of type <math>\text{e}</math> that the CP leaves behind when it moves. This trace may be covert if it | Normally, such a clause will fill in the final slot of the verb. But if you want to use a content clause as the subject of a transitive verb, for example, then you can use the word {{T|có}}, which is a lot like the 'it' in English "'''It''' delights me '''that''' they tried"<ref>Syntactically, we understand {{T|có}} as a trace of type <math>\text{e}</math> that the CP leaves behind when it moves. This trace may be covert if it occurs in the verb's final slot.</ref>. | ||
{{Example|Jaıca có jí, ꝡä leo nháo.|It delights me that they tried.}} | {{Example|Jaıca có jí, ꝡä leo nháo.|It delights me that they tried.}} | ||
'' | |||
== Relative content clauses == | |||
To turn a content clause into a nominalized construct, like English "the fact that" or "the plan to", we use a brand-new piece of grammar: a '''relative content clause'''. The words {{T|ꝡë ꝡä}} attach to a determiner phrase as if they were a relative clause, and say that its '''propositional content''' is given by the content clause that follows. | |||
{{Example|Cho jí sío, ꝡë ꝡä mala tı sía seq úmo ní rıaq.|I like the thought that no one apart from us has ever been here before.}}{{Example|Táosıo, ꝡë lä seraq nhâna kú râo núaq já, bï chı duı hıam jí hóq.|I think the plan to attack them at night is too dangerous.}} | |||
Just like normal relative clauses, these are not allowed to contain trailing adverbs, and may not be underfilled. And just as we have {{T|ꝡé}} as an abbreviation for {{T|ló, ꝡë}}, we also have {{T|ꝡá}} as an abbreviation for {{T|ló, ꝡë ꝡä}}. | |||
{{Example|Hạle, ꝡá sho suhu hóe, ꝡá dana súq jí.|It is more likely that the sun turns into a pig than that you beat me.}}{{Example|Má tı ríaq Éoropa, bï bu moaq jí hụ́ma.|As for whether that place is in Europe, I do not remember that.}} | |||
Notice that nominalizing a content clause with {{T|ꝡá}} allows it to appear directly in topic or subject position, whereas a {{T|ꝡä}} clause is much more limited in its positioning. | |||
== 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: | |||
{{Example|Feq jí ꝡá za ruqshua râo ní nuaq.}} | |||
This sentence now becomes: | |||
{{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. | |||