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Grammar

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on February 28, 2006 at 7:20:40 pm
 

The Grammar of Creolian

 

ELEMENTS OF THE SENTENCE

 

Basic Syntax

Sentences include a subject, which performs the action, and a verb, which describes the action. Sentences can also include direct and indirect objects. The basic sentence structure, like English, is subject-verb-object (SVO). So to say “I eat rice,” you would say:

Mi makan cawal. (I eat rice.)

 

In Creolian, unlike in standard English, verb and noun forms never change. So for example, you don't have to change a verb depending on the person (like in English, I am, you are, he is, etc.) or the tense. Nouns do not change depending on their grammatical position (such as I killed him, but he killed me) or number (so nouns do not become plural by adding an “s” at the end). In this sense, Creolian is known as an “analytical language.” In addition, there are no feminine and masculine nouns (grammatical gender), as exist in many European languages.

 

Adjectives and Stative Verbs

Adjectives and stative verbs are treated the same. In English, we might say "I am tall" (an adjective) or "He is sleeping" (a stative verb). In Creolian you can use stative verbs like an abjective.

Mi bi hapi. (I am happy)

Im bi xuwi. (He is sleeping)

 

Asking Questions

Word order is not changed in questions. In other words, a question would be "you do what?" Rather than “what do you do?” in English.

In addition, certain ideas, such as interrogation, can be expressed by placing ending tags at the end of a sentence. For example, you can put "ja" at the end to make a sentence into a question, "la" to show that it is emphatic (i.e. that you are stating something strongly) "ne" to make the sentence quizzical or suggestive (in English, you might add “don't you?” at the end in this case), and "ba" to make it into a command. This is common in Asian languages, and once you get used to it, it is a very convenient device.

 

Asking Yes/No Questions

Do ask a question that requires a yes or no answer, simply place the particle "ja" at the end of the sentence.

Tu go, ja? (Do you go?)

 

Another method to as a yes/no question is to write the verb once, followed by "no" plus the verb again. In this case, you don't need to put a "ja" at the end of the sentence.

Tu xiaq go no xiaq go? (Do you want to go?) Literally, "you want go, no want go?"

Xe bi no bi laoxi? (Is he a teacher?)

 

Asking Information (Wh-) Questions

There is no need to change the word order (syntactic inversion) when asking a question that requires information, such as "where are you going?." The position of wh-words is not changed within the sentence. It is not necessary to place a question marker at the end of an information question, as it is clear from the context.

Ti go waswela? (When will you go?)

Wasjan makan cawal? (Who is eathing rice?)

 

Expressing Emphasis

The particle "la" can be placed at the end of a sentence to mark emphasis.

Mi go, la. (I'm going!)

 

Expressing Suggestion

Similarly, the particle "ne" can be used to make a sentence into a suggestion.

We go naxe, ne? (Why don't we go for a swim)

 

Direct and Indirect Objects

In Creolian, the objects should come after the verb. No marker is necessary for a direct object. However, an indirect object should be marked with a preposition, "fi," meaning loosely "for" or "to," and should be placed after the direct object.

Mi sema kisa fi xe. (I told a story to him)

 

Prepositions

Prepositional phrases, which describe things about an action, such as when it took place or using what, are preceded by prepositions (words like to, from, in, at, behind, etc.). Prepositional phrases are typically placed at the end of the sentence (following the verb and objects), but a prepositional phrase can also be placed before the subject of the sentence to express topic prominence. This is generally the same as in English.

 

In addition to "fi," which is used as a marker for the indirect object, the following prepositions are used in Creolian.

 

Expressing the Time/Location of Action

The preposition “in” can be used to indicate a time or location of an action. You don’t need to worry about different prepositions, like “at” and “in” and “on” in English.

Mi go xule in Lunjadia. (I go school on Monday)

Mi dwel in Tokyo. (I live in Tokyo)

In Tokyo me dwel. (It is in Tokyo that I live)

 

Expressing Destination

The preposition “sa” means “to,” so to say “I am going to school” you would say:

Mi go sa xule. (I go to school)

 

Expressing Origin

The preposition "li" means "from," so to say, "the train came from Tokyo," you would say:

Foce tahal li Tokyo.

 

Expressing Togetherness

In English, we use the preposition "with."

 

MODIFYING THE VERB

 

Many ideas, such as past and future, can be expressed in Creolian by modifying the verb, or by combining verbs together.

 

Adverbs

Adverbs are normally placed before the verb they modify.

 

Preverbal Particles

There are a number of particles that can be placed before a verb to change the meaning. For example, to make a negative statement, you add “no” before the verb.

Mi no go. (I will not go)

 

Serial Verbs

Verbs can be concatenated to indicate various ideas.

Xe no bin xiaq makan cawal. (She didn't want to eat rice.)

 

Expressing a Completed Action

To express a past action, which is already completed, you can place the word "bin" before the verb. This is called the anterior tense.

Mi bin makan. (I (already) ate)

 

Irreal mode

The irreal mode, expressed by the particle "me" (from "may" in English) is used for the future or to express something conditional.

Mi me eskale akam. (I'm thinking of climbing the tree) (I'm going to climb the tree)

 

Nonpunctual aspect

Adding the particle "na" (from "now" in English) is generally used to indicate an action that is not yet completed, as in the progressive tenses.

Mi na xuje history. (I am studying history)

 

Expressing Experience

This is used to express something that you have done, or perhaps haven't done.

Mi gwo go Tokyo. (I've been to Tokyo before)

 

Expressing Lack of Experience

Mi no gwo go Tokyo. (I've never been to Tokyo)

 

Expressing Capability

The auxiliary verb "bole" (from Malaysian) can be used to indicate the capability to do something.

Mi bole naxe. (I can swim)

 

Using the Causative to Mark Transitivity

The auxiliary verb "sase" (from Japanese) can be used to show that something was done to something. For example, to "make die" can be used to mean "kill."

Xe sase mati cidja. (He made the bird die) (He killed the bird)

 

Expressing Degrees of Certainty

 

Expressing Future Possibility

In English, the common usage is “he will probably come.”

Mi (maybe) go naxe. (I might go swim)

 

Expressing Necessity

Mi debe go naxe. (I must swim.)

 

Expressing Lack of Necessity

Mi oke no go swim. (I don't have to go swim.)

 

Expressing Advisability

 

Expressing Prohibition

Mi no bole go swim. (I can't go swim.)

 

Expressing Naturalness, Expectation or Appropriateness

In English, we might say, “He should go.”

 

Expressing a Definite Plan

The auxiliary "daswan" from Mandarin is placed before the verb.

Mi daswan makan cawal. (I'm planning to eat rice)

 

Expressing Repeated Action in the Past

In English, we would say "I used to go there."

 

Using Adverbs

A modifier, which acts as an adjective, can be placed before a verb to modify it. Add the particle "di" between the modifier and the verb.

Mi kwai di makan. I eat fast.

 

MODIFYING THE SUBJECT AND OBJECTS

 

Modification

Creolian is not a stictly head-first or head-last language. Modifiers (adjective/adverb type words) are usually placed before the head word, and geneitives (possessives) and relative clauses can be placed both before and after the head word. Deictics (like "those" in English), quantifiers and adjectives are placed before nouns.

 

deictic - quantifier - adjectives - HEAD WORD

 

Expressing Posession

Possession can be marked by adding the particle "de" after the possesor and before the possessee. This is from Chinese. The particle can also be used to relate nouns to one another. For example, you might say:

John de xule (John's school)

Xe steal mi de mani (He stole my money)

boy de student (The students who are boys)

 

Relative Clauses

Relative clauses can be created in two ways. Usually, they are placed after the headword. Place the particle "ke" before the clause. So for example:

Mi ke makan cawal (The rice that I eat)

 

Possession through Relative Clauses

A relative clause can also be used to indicate possession, by saying, in effect, "the rice that belongs to me," using the verb "biloq."

Mi ke biloq cawal (my rice)

 

Repeating the Subject

In addition, when making a noun phrase, it is better to repeat the subject (as a pronoun) before the verb, for clarity. For example;

Jan ke makan mala cawal, xe biani maladi. (The man who ate bad rice got sick)

 

Putting Relative Clauses before the Head

A relative clause can be placed before the head word, essentially by making it into an adjective, using the "de" particle, which is also used for possession. It's equivalent in English to saying "the rice-eating man," except that it is more free, and you can also say the "rice-that-I-made-eating man."

mi make de cawal makan di jan. (The man eating the rice that I made)

 

Of course, you can put relative clauses both before and after the head noun, so the clause above could also be expressed as:

jan ke makan mi make de cawal. (The man who ate the rice I made)

 

Discussing an Action

A verb can be made into a subject or object of a sentence, as in when we say "eating is fun." There is no "-ing" form, so you can just use the verb as is.

Makan banana bi fun. (Eating bananas is fun)

 

Expressions of Quantity

 

Expressing Cardinal Numbers

Add the suffix counter -pela to a number, before the noun.

Dopela jan be in cemba. (Two people are in the room)

 

Expressing Ordinal Numbers

Add the prefix namba- to the number.

Dem bi namba-do son di mi. (He is my second son)

 

Conjunctions

The word for “and” is “na”.

Mi na Tom go xule fi Lunjadia. (Tom and I went to school on Monday)

 

Expressing Absence

Negative concord is used.

Mi no suka no jan. (I don't like anybody)

 

TOPIC PROMINENCE AND THE PASSIVE VOICE

 

Topic Prominence

Topic prominence involves bringing something to the front of a sentence to emphasize it. In Engish, for example, instead of saying "I read the book," we can say, "It's the book that I read." This puts the emphasis on the book. In Creolian, you can put the marker "nipa" (from Yoruba) to mean roughly "regarding" in front of the object of a sentence, and bring it to the front.

Nipa njoka, mi makan xe. (I ate that snake)

 

Expressing the Passive Voice

In English, passive can be expressed by using "by," so for example, "the man was bitten by the dog." In Creolian, the passive is expressed by using "subi" from French, followed by the action that happened. So to say, "I was bitten by a snake," you would say:

Mi subi njoka bite.

The particle "kena" can be thought of as the verb "experience," so you could imagine, "I experienced, the snake bit."

 

The passive can also be expressed indirectly through topic prominence, by bringing the object to the front of the sentence.

Abwat mi, njoka bit. (literally, "Concerning me, the snake bit.")

 

Existential Sentences

In English, we say "there is a man," for example, in a way that simply expresses the presence or existence of something. In Creolian, you can use the verb "tene" meaning "have." For example.

Atas mi di mesa, tene wanpela mjao. (There is a cat on my table)

 

EXPRESSING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IDEAS

 

Connecting Sentences

Sentences can be connected using conjunctions. For example, "mo" means "and" and "kexi" means "but."

Mi bi America-jan, mo xe bi Frans-jan. (I am American, and she is French)

Mi bi America-jan, kexi xe bi Frans-jan. (I am American, but she is French)

 

Expressing Condition

The conjunction "sapos" can be placed before the first clause to mean "if."

Sapos tomorrow skai good, mi go taman. (If he weather is good tomorrow, I’ll go to the park.)

 

RELATIONSHIPS IN TIME

 

Expressing Simultaneity

Mi during makan, during soma xuben.

 

Expressing Becoming

In English, we have a suffix –ize that signifies a transformation. For example, international becomes internationalize.

 

Expressing Repetition

In English, the prefix re- can signify a repetition of an action.

 

EXPRESSING NATURAL PHENOMENA

 

There should be a subject plus a verb. For example: Rain is falling, wind is blowing; air is cold.

Barix fall. (It’s raining)

 

EXPRESSING TIME

 

Days

 

Days of the week have names ending in "-din." Like English and many other languages, they are named after the planets. So for example, Monday (day of the moon) is:

Lunadi.

 

Days of the month are simply the numbers followed by "-din." So the 12th would be:

Dekadodin.

 

Two days, as a length of time, would be:

Dopela din.

 

Months

 

The months of the year are expressed as a number followed by "-luna." So January is:

Wanluna.

 

Years

 

A year can be expressed by simply putting the numbers one after the other, and then appending "anjo" at the end. So 1987 would be:

Wannoinpalsem-anjo.

 

Two years as a period of time would be:

Dopela anjo.

 

Historical Dates

 

Historical dates are expressed in the order year, month, day. So January 7, 1605 would be:

Wanseissifabes-anjo wan-luna sem-din.

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