Kuyʔūn/Syntax

Noun phrase syntax

The canonical order of noun phrase constituents was as follows:

(demonstrative) - (quantifier) - noun - (adjectives) - (possessives) - (obliques) - (relative clause)

Quantifiers

Numerals

	cardinal	ordinal	+10	x10	x100
1	ke	liké, lasó	lōke	lo, keʔo	keyʔi
2	ya	liyá, likók	lōya	yaʔo	yayʔi
3	iyo	liʔíyo, loló	lōʔyo	iyoʔo	iyoʔi
4	po	lipó	lōpo	poʔo	poyʔi
5	to	litó	lōto	tōʔo	toyʔi
6	leh	liléh	lōleh	lēʔo	leyʔi
7	man	limán	lōman	māʔo	mayʔi
8	ʔoy	liʔóy	lōʔoy	ʔoyʔo	ʔoyʔi
9	no	linó	lōno	nayʔo	nayʔi
10	lo, keʔo	liʔó	yaʔo	iʔi	mēla

• The reflex of zō "three" was completely replaced by the Habeo borrowing iyo except for a fossilised ordinal; this was almost certainly triggered by the numbers 3 and 10 becoming homophonous in XVA. The same sound change caused the compound formation ke ro to spread, resulting in an alternate word for "ten".
• Due to another major case of near-homophony (this time between the ordinals of 1-9 and the cardinal numbers 11-19), the ordinal prefix lu- was superseded by the emerging definite article.
• The initial /l/ of the number 6 originally appeared in the derived forms only, but was extended to the cardinal.
• The word for 1000 was borrowed from Adhāsth méıllə.
• The first three numbers possessed both regular and irregular ordinal forms. The latter were far more common; in addition to the numeral value they carried a connotation of ranking. The regular variants were more neutral; they were used mainly when listing inanimate things (e.g. in business).
  • lasó < XVA *rē asu "the primary X, the leading X"
  • likók < definite article + Yellow Habeo koko "two"
  • loló < fossilised direct reflex of Ad. luzō

All numerals were nouns, and as such could take regular inflections for case and possession.

Numbers higher than 100 were formed as phrasal compounds with the conjunction on. Only the first element of such compounds could take case prefixes, and only the last element could take possession suffixes.

• yayʔi on poʔoman
  ya-iʔi on poʔo-man
  two-hundred and forty-seven
  247

To express the quantity of a nominal constituent, a possessive construction with the numeral in the role of syntactic head was employed. The numeral took the appropriate inflection for case, and was marked for the noun in question with possession affixes. The noun itself was cast in the ablative-partitive case if it was indefinite, and in the direct case if it was definite.

• íyokaq akiʔlo
  iyo-kaq a-a-kiʔlo
  three-3PL.ANIM ABL-INDEF.PL-sheep
  three sheep

• omyaʔek lippáu
  om-ya-ʔek lik-pau
  LOC-two-3PL.INAN DEF.PL-lake
  near the two lakes

An adjectivial construction in which the noun fulfilled the role of head for a postposed attributive numeral was also possible, but considered archaic literary style.

• likoyan lōto
  lik-oyan lōto
  DEF.PL-law fifteen
  the Fifteen Laws (of Zārakātias)

Other quantifiers

pa	few
nam	some
oʔa	many
mi	none
eu	all
ō	each

These quantifiers uniformly preceded their nouns; however, two semantically distinct constructions were possible. In the first one, the quantifier was an invariable particle placed immediately before the inflected noun, signifying its absolute quantity. In the second construction, which had a partitive meaning, the noun was cast in the ablative-partitive case (and usually in the definite plural as well), and the quantifier behaved like a noun which could inflect for other cases if necessary.

• pa alān
  pa a-lān
  few INDEF.PL-year
  a few years

• nam assičīm
  nam a-lik-īm
  some ABL-DEF.PL-man
  some of the men

Possessive phrases

Possessive phrases were formed by inflecting the possessed noun for the person and number of the possessor, and placing the possessor in the possessive slot of the NP, after any single-word adjectives but before locatives and relative clauses. The possessor usually received no overt case marking, though inflection for the ablative-partitive case was possible to specify non-congruent possession. Stacking of multiple possessive relationships was possible.

• liyopākiska liciska
  li-opākis-k li-ciska
  DEF.SG-throne-3SG.ANIM DEF.SG-king
  the throne of the king

• limaʔlek likšéʔnakaq assikoyso
  li-mal-ʔek lik-šenih-kaq a-lik-oyso
  DEF.SG-ornament-3PL.INAN DEF.PL-armor-3PL.ANIM ABL-DEF.PL-soldier
  the decoration of the armor of some of the soldiers

Oblique noun phrases

The oblique slot held all appositional noun phrases in a non-direct case. This included locatives, benefactives, partitives, and relationals, all of which were marked directly on the appositional noun, and adnominal phrases introduced by a free-standing preposition.

Case usage

The allative-dative case (glossed as dat) was used for indicating targets of motion, directions, recipients, and beneficiaries. It was also used to demote direct objects to attributes of the subject.

• leqōsah ayl-Áʔlolo
  li-qōsah ayl-Aʔlolo
  DEF.SG-trade.route DAT-Akelodo
  the trade route to Akelodo

• liʔlakso elličaʔa
  lik-lakso ayl-li-čaʔa
  DEF.PL-tax DAT-DEF.SG-council
  the taxes for the city council

• liyaqau ellipanî
  li-aqau ayl-li-panī
  DEF.SG-murderer DAT-DEF.SG-priest
  the killer of the priest

The locative-temporal case (loc) indicated the location of an object in space or of an event in time.

• ličó onnicīya
  li-čo om-li-cīya
  DEF.SG-barley LOC-DEF.SG-storage.room
  the barley in the storage room

• liyáyolo om-Lātyo
  li-ayolo om-Lātyo
  DEF.SG-market LOC-Midsummer
  the market at Midsummer

The ablative-partitive case (abl) was used to indicate source of motion, origin, material, unit of counting, and standard of comparison.

• linommo a-Kāʔan
  li-nommo a-Kāʔan
  DEF.SG-merchant ABL-Kasca
  the merchant from Kasca

• tayne ayceʔo
  Ø-tayne a-a-ceʔo
  INDEF.SG-tower ABL-INDEF.PL-stone
  a tower made of stone

The instrumental case (ins) denoted instruments, tools, manner and circumstance. It could also indicate the causer or patron of an action, or the agent of a verb in the passive voice.

• poye atsōn
  Ø-poye at-Ø-sōn
  INDEF.SG-injury INS-INDEF.SG-spear
  a wound from a spear

The relational-causal case (rel) was used to indicate reasons, characteristics, abstract goals, affinity or involvement, and other kinds of general association.

• īwo loʔišinelīte
  Ø-īwo lo-a-šin-elīte
  INDEF.SG-rest REL-INDEF.PL-wet-weather
  a rest because of bad weather

• ołay loliʔleya allin
  Ø-ołay lo-lik-leya allin
  INDEF.SG-expert REL-DEF.PL-law Athalēran
  an expert in Athalēran law

• állayo lo-Ánicay
  Ø-allayo lo-Anicay
  INDEF.SG-temple REL-Anaitī
  a temple in honor of Anaitī

Prepositional phrases

Kuyʔūn had turned the most common of Adāta's prepositions into case prefixes; however, some specialised prepositions remained, and others were borrowed from Habeo languages. All of these normally governed the direct case (with pronouns: the oblique case), but they could also be used in conjunction with the other cases to create more refined meanings.

yo	as, like, while	< iu
pen	with (comitative)	< pen
nī	inside	< nē
yono	before, in front of	< īlanu
au	after, behind, except for	< uza "after" & al "without"
aʔi	above, on top of	< axē "upward"
īn	under	< ēna "downward"
pot	to the right of	< Y.H. put
mipi	to the left of	< Y.H. mipi
cocit	next to, outside of	< Y.H. cucit "near, close"
nitat	all around, throughout	< Pl.H. nɨtat
sēt	through, via, along	< R.H. si:te

• litimo onnitolo
  li-timo om-li-tolo
  DEF.SG-child LOC-DEF.SG-table
  the child at the table (i.e. sitting at the table)

• litimo aʔi litolo/onnitolo
  li-timo aʔi (om-)li-tolo
  DEF.SG-child above (LOC-)DEF.SG-table
  the child on top of the table

• litimo aʔi ellitolo
  li-timo aʔi ayl-li-tolo
  DEF.SG-child above DAT-DEF.SG-table
  the child that is climbing on top of the table

Clausal syntax

To Be Continued... Cedh is still working on section. The contents are incomplete and likely to undergo changes.