Uninflected Morphology
Integers are those morphemes in Nova which may stand alone or
with only inflections. Many of them can be incorporated into the
roots of words but this is rare. Inflected Integers are dealt
with elsewhere. This page is devoted
to those which almost always stand alone and are never inflected.
The categories covered are the following; Articles, Emotives,
Modals, Syntactics, and Tensors.
Articles
Articles in Nova fulfill not only what one would expect from
English but also many of the roles of relative, interrogative,
and negative pronominals. All nominals in Nova must be preceded
by an article. Generally, with the few exceptions noted
elsewhere, nothing may come between a nominal and its article.
- in a, an, some, any; nonspecific article
- un each, all, every; inclusive article
- on nothing, none, none at all, no; exclusive article
- ang that, which, who; relative article
- an the, this, that; specific article
- en which, who, what; interrogative article
Examples;
- a-bd�-pta.q'a-'i-c�-pe ne-me in
li.yu.ge-q'i-dta-
n� 'I saw some dogs.'
- a-bd�-pta.q'a-'i-c�-pe ne-me un
li.yu.ge-q'i-dta-
n� 'I saw all the dogs.'
- a-bd�-pta.q'a-'i-c�-pe ne-me on
li.yu.ge-q'i-dta-
n� 'I saw no dogs.'
- a-bd�-pta.q'a-'i-c�-pe ne-nga ang
li.yu.ge-q'i-ye-
n� y�
a-dt�-tt�r.ch�-pang-ttil-pe
an q�m.dhi-dta-pe 'I saw
the dogs that killed the rabbit.'
- a-bd�-pta.q'a-'i-c�-pe ne-me an
li.yu.ge-q'i-dta-
n� 'I saw the dogs.'
- a-bd�-pta.q'a-'i-c�-pe ne-me en
li.yu.ge-q'i-dta-
n� 'Which dogs did I see?'
Emotives
Emotives are similar to what are called Interjections
in English. As with English Interjections, they may stand
entirely alone or be inserted into a sentence to express strong
emotion about a certain point. The following is a complete list;
- mni affection, my dear little...
- x� assent, to give overwhelming
- h� calling, yo!
- tt'a disbelief
- xh� disgust
- hu eureka!, here it is!, I found it!
- zh� good-bye, parting
- zha hello, greeting
- lha joy
- ya no, negation
- '� pain, ouch!
- l� praise
- rhat query for corroboration
- rh� satiated, to express being
- k�ng satirization, to express
- g� shock, personal affront
- �� sorrow, regret
- h� surprise, astonishment
- bd� thanks, emotive of gratitude
- r� yes, affirmation
Modals
Modals are used to convey a finer sense of the intended
meaning than can be achieved through inflections alone. Modals
immediately precede the verbs they modify.
- mur as I've told you before
- w� can't very well refuse
- q'� may as well
- hung necessarily, naturally
- th� should in one's own interest
- ttur supposedly, if all goes well
- 'ong was thinking of
Syntactics
Syntactics generally link clauses together and relate them to
each other. A few are used to clarify eventive relationships.
- y� agentive clause ; qualification of a person
or thing in one clause as the subject of another (Engl. 'who,
which', but not 'whom'.)
- n� and
- '� but on the contrary
- k�ng but, an entirely unexpected event, in
itself improbable
- su but, not a necessary event, but might have been
expected
- 'ing conditional clause; condition needed to justify
a nonreportive assertion in the other clause (Engl. 'when, if').
- 'ir correllative clause; explanatory justification
of the statement of the other clause (Engl. because, since, as,
for, gerund construction').
- yho : focus, primary (syntax)
- whe : focus, secondary (syntax)
- nqi lest
- fi possessive construction, nominal preceding
fi possesses nominal following it
- p�m rather, than, instead of
- n�l subordinate agent, used with attributive
case subject nouns in passive construction
- y�n switch reference, next clause has
different actor than preceding clause
Tensors
Tensors are similar to Modals in that they offer greater
precision than is available with inflections alone. They differ
in that they are purely time/aspect referenced. Tensors precede
the verbal they modify. If a Modal is also used, it lies between
the Tensor and the Verbal.
- 'ar after
- 'er again
- 'am all day
- per all season
- 'il all year
- ham almost long enough (time)
- ngal at once
- nqu before (in time)
- xi during, while
- t'o early, earlier
- þul first, and then...
- dh� hereafter, thereafter
- mang just long enough a time
- tt'u late
- k� long enough (time)
- d� long time
- sa now
- nang short time
- ngun soon
- kang too long a time
- nong too short a time
- nqe until
- 'om yet, still
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© 2001 Brad Coon
Revised August 29, 2001
URL:www.geocities.com/nowapan