So impressive, why did you abandon it?
Nuim Grammar
▲
3▲ 3 ▼ 0
A Basic Summary of Nuim Grammar
This public article was written by [Deactivated User] on 23 Jan 2015, 20:42.
[comments] nuigrammaremotivesevidentialsnounspronounsverbsnumbersclausesconjunctions
1. Nuim Grammar
?
?
Nuim onsets are short phrases that describe the speaker's emotions, evidence, and attitude. All onsets contain an emotive and may contain an evidential, mood, or interrogative particle.
Emotives
Emotives convey the speaker's feelings about what they are saying. Every onset requires an emotive. Emotives come at the beginning of their onset.
| Emotive | English |
|---|---|
| ar | happiness |
| sun | sadness |
| we | fear |
| fan | anger |
| el | shame |
| sas | love/like |
| so | hate/dislike |
| wu | surprise |
| a | jealousy |
| cu | aggression |
| ni | submission |
| men | curiosity |
Intensification
An emotive can be intensified by reduplicating it.
Derivation
An emotive can be derived into an adverb with the -ir suffix. The resulting adverbs cannot be used to describe the emotions of people.
Evidentials
Evidentials describe the speaker's evidence for what they are saying. Evidentials come at the end of their onset and cannot co-occur with mood particles.
| Evidential | English |
|---|---|
| re | visual sensory |
| yer | nonvisual sensory |
| ha | inferential |
| wil | reportative |
Moods
Mood particles describe the speaker's attitude about what they are saying. Mood particles come at the end of their onset and cannot co-occur with evidentials. An onset without a mood particle is indicative.
| Particle | Mood | English |
|---|---|---|
| ner | optative | hope to do |
| ya | potential | can do |
| i | imperative | do! |
| ku | desiderative | want to do |
| na | hortative | lets do |
| ror | necessitative | need to do |
Interrogative
Questions are indicated with the interrogative particle no. This particle comes after any emotives, but before any evidentials or mood particles.
Parts of an Onset
emotive (interrogative) (evidential | mood)
Nuim nouns are not inflected for gender or definiteness. They are inflected for number and possession. Nouns are not inflected for case but do take case particles.
Number
By default Nuim nouns are paucal; they refer to zero, one, or a small number of the entity they name. A reduplicated noun is plural and refers to either a larger number of the entity or the entity as a whole or in general. Nouns explicitly counted with numbers cannot be reduplicated for plurality.
Possession
Possessors come before the nouns they possess and possessed nouns are affixed to show the nature of the possession. Possession is alienable if the relationship between the possessor and the possessed can be changed and inalienable if it cannot be.
| Prefix | English |
|---|---|
| -wer | alienable |
| ra- | inalienable |
Possessor Incorporation
Possessing pronouns should be incorporated into the possessed noun as a prefix when possible. A possessed noun with an incorporated possessor cannot be affixed to show alienability.
| Prefix | English |
|---|---|
| pa- | my |
| ni- | our |
| lu- | your |
| so- | his/her/its |
Cases
Case is marked with case particles. Case particles come after their noun. Nouns do not take case particles to show subject- or object-hood.
| Particle | Case | English |
|---|---|---|
| ci | locative | in, at, on |
| na | ablative | from |
| til | allative | to, toward |
| pe | perlative | through, along |
| ki | instrumental | with, by means of |
| kin | negative instrumental | without |
| of | benefactive | for, on behalf of |
| te | comparative | as, than |
| wem | essive | as, in the capacity of, in the role of |
| ef | concerning, about |
Adverbial Particles
The following particles come after their noun, but before any other particles that noun has.
| Particle | English |
|---|---|
| ce | only |
| ho | also |
| sir | even |
| ro | as expected |
Conjunctions
Nouns can be conjoined with the following conjunctions. Conjunctions come between the nouns they conjoin. Conjoined nouns take particles as a single verb.
| Conjunction | English |
|---|---|
| yo | X and Y |
| ka | X or Y |
| nan | not X, Y |
Parts of a Noun
(relative.clause) (possessor) (number) (possession- | incorporation- | determiner-) NOUN (-possession) (adverbial) (case)
| Pronoun | English | Speaker? | Addressee? |
|---|---|---|---|
| pama | I, me | yes | no |
| nima | we, us | yes | yes |
| luma | you | no | yes |
| soma | he/she, his/her (merrow) | no | no |
| sozu | it (animate) | no | no |
| soga | it (inanimate) | no | no |
| sova | it (abstract) | no | no |
| Interrogative | Demonstrative | Quantifier | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proximal | Medial I | Medial II | Distal | Existential | Universal | Negative | |||
| Determiner | -wo | oba- | oni- | olu- | ozo- | -ku | ha- | af- | |
| Pronoun | Merrow | mawo | pama | nima | luma | soma | magu | hama | afma |
| Animate | suwo | pazu | nizu | luzu | sozu | sugu | hazu | afsu | |
| Inanimate | kawo | paga | niga | luga | soga | kagu | haga | afka | |
| Abstract | fawo | pava | niva | luva | sova | fagu | hava | affa | |
| Location | rawo | para | nira | lura | sora | ragu | hara | afra | |
| Time | kiwo | pagi | nigi | lugi | sogi | kigu | hagi | afki | |
| Pro-adverb | Purpose | wawo | pawa | niwa | luwa | sowa | wagu | hawa | afwa |
| Reason | ramwo | param | niram | luram | soram | ramku | haram | afram | |
| Manner | cawo | paxa | nixa | luxa | soxa | cagu | haxa | afca | |
| Number | yewo | paye | niye | luye | soye | yegu | haye | afye | |
Proximal entities are close to the speaker, medial I entities are close to both the speaker and the addressee, medial II entities are close to the addressee, and distal entities are close to neither the speaker nor the addressee.
Nuim verbs are not inflected for agreement, tense, or aspect. They are inflected for animacy and intensification. Verbs are not inflected for negation or voice but do take particles for these things.
Animacy
Nuim nouns are ordered by animacy. People come before animate things, which come before inanimate things, which come before abstract things. Topics come before focuses, if possible. If these orderings would put a verb's object before its subject, the verb should take the -poi suffix.
Topic Incorporation
Topic pronouns can be incorporated into their verb as a prefix. Incorporated pronouns are considered to come before any other nouns, but are allowed to break the animacy hierarchy. If an incorporated pronoun would put a verb's object "before" its subject, the verb should take the -poi suffix.
| Prefix | English |
|---|---|
| pa- | I |
| ni- | we |
| lu- | you |
| so- | he/she/it |
Intensification
A verb can be intensified by reduplicating it.
Negation
A verb can be negated with the particle nan. This particle comes after its verb.
Voices
Voice is marked with voice particles. Voice particles come after their verb. Verbs do not take voice particles to show active-ness.
| Voice | English |
|---|---|
| ku | passive |
| mi | antipassive |
| ra | causative |
| ci | locative applicative |
| na | ablative applicative |
| til | allative applicative |
| pe | perlative applicative |
- When making a verb passive, promote the verb's object to its subject. The original subject can be omitted or marked with the ablative case particle na.
- When making a verb antipassive, omit the verb's object or mark it with the allative case particle til.
- When making a verb causative, promote the verb's cause to its subject. The original subject can be omitted or marked with the instrumental case particle ki.
- When making a verb applicative, make a locative, ablative, allative, or perlative object the direct object. The original object can be omitted or marked with the instrumental case particle ki.
Serial Verbs
Verbs can be serialized to combine related actions into a single event. Serial verbs share the same arguments, replicate animacy and topic incorporation affixes, and share negation and voice particles.
Compound Verbs
Verbs can be compounded to add shades of meaning to an action. The "action" verb comes first, determines the compound's arguments, and takes animacy and topic incorporation affixes. The "meaning" verb comes after and takes negation and voice particles.
Derivations
A verb can be derived into a noun with the following suffixes.
| Suffix | English |
|---|---|
| -m/-me | deverbal; X-ing |
| -s/-so | ergative; X-er |
| -ya | accusative; X-ee |
| -c/-ci | absolutive; X-er |
Conjunctions
Verbs can be conjoined with the following conjunctions. Conjunctions come between the verbs they conjoin.
| Conjunction | English |
|---|---|
| yo | X and Y |
| ka | X or Y |
| nan | not X, Y |
Parts of a Verb
(incorporation-) VERB (-animacy) (negation) {voice}
Parts of a Serial Verb
(prefix-) V1 (-suffix) (prefix-) V2 (-suffix) {particle}
Parts of a Compound Verb
(prefix-) V1 (-suffix) V2 {particle}
Nuim numbers are octal (base-8) and can be formed into larger numbers with two subsystems: a multiplicative subsystem and a positional subsystem.
Basic Numerals
| Number | Base-8 | Base-10 |
|---|---|---|
| fi | 0 | 0 |
| na | 1 | 1 |
| la | 2 | 2 |
| en | 3 | 3 |
| yar | 4 | 4 |
| kel | 5 | 5 |
| il | 6 | 6 |
| fa | 7 | 7 |
| si | 10 | 8 |
| kir | 100 | 64 |
| lo | 1000 | 512 |
Multiplicative Numerals
| Number | Base-8 | Base-10 |
|---|---|---|
| sina | 11 | 9 |
| sila | 12 | 10 |
| sien | 13 | 11 |
| siyar | 14 | 12 |
| sigel | 15 | 13 |
| siil | 16 | 14 |
| siva | 17 | 15 |
| lazi | 20 | 16 |
| ensi | 30 | 24 |
| yarsi | 40 | 32 |
| ... | ... | ... |
Positional Numerals
| Number | Base-8 | Base-10 |
|---|---|---|
| na (nar) | 1 | 1 |
| na lar | 10 | 8 |
| na enra | 100 | 64 |
| na yarra | 1000 | 512 |
| na kelra | 10,000 | 4096 |
| na ilra | 100,000 | 32768 |
| na far | 1,000,000 | 262144 |
| na sir | 10,000,000 | 2097152 |
| na sinar | 100,000,000 | 16777216 |
| na silar | 1,000,000,000 | 134217728 |
| ... | ... | ... |
Derivations
A number can be derived into other parts of speech with the following affixes.
| Suffix | English |
|---|---|
| -e | fraction (num.) |
| -wa | ordinal (v.) |
| ma- | negative (num.) |
| -ke | frequency (adv.) |
- Derived fractions are of the form "1/N."
Nuim clauses can be main clauses, dependent clauses, quotations, or relative clauses. Many clauses require an onset to describe the speaker's emotions, evidence, and attitude.
Main Clauses
Main clauses require an onset and a verb. Most main clauses have one or more nouns, but nouns that can be derived from context may be omitted. Every sentence requires at least one main clause.
Dependent Clauses
Dependent clauses rarely have onsets but do require a verb. They depend on other clauses and cannot occur alone. Dependent clauses come before the clauses they depend on.
Dependent clauses take the following dependent particles. Dependent particles follow their dependent clause.
| Particle | Function | English |
|---|---|---|
| tir | condition | if |
| nis | purpose | in order to |
| ul | reason | because, since |
| ni | concession | but, although |
| lo | manner | as, like |
Quotations
Quotations require an onset and a verb. They are always direct and speak from the quoted person's point of view. Quotations come before the clauses that quote them.
Quotations take the quotation particle ye. This particle comes after its quotation.
Relative Clauses
Relative clauses cannot have onsets but do require a verb. They depend on and modify nouns and cannot occur alone. Relative clauses come before the nouns they modify. The noun being modified by a relative clause cannot appear in the relative clause. If the noun would take a particle in the relative clause, a relevant pronoun should take that particle intead.
Serial Clauses
Clauses can be serialized to combine related events into a single utterance. Serial clauses replicate onsets and share particles. Clauses without onsets cannot be serialized.
Conjunctions
Clauses can be conjoined with the following conjunctions. Conjunctions come between the clauses they conjoin.
| Conjunction | English |
|---|---|
| yo | X and Y |
| ka | X or Y |
| nan | not X, Y |
Parts of a Clause
(onset) (adverb) {noun} verb.phrase (dependent.particle | quotation.particle)
Parts of a Serial Clause
onset C1 onset C2 (particle) ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article
Comments
