Ronc Tyu

Ronc Tyu [ɻɔ̃ʔ˧ tjuˑ˧]
Period	c. 1 YP
Spoken in	northern Tuysáfa
Total speakers	unknown
Writing system	none
Classification	Ronquian  Ronc Tyu
Typology
Basic word order	SVO
Morphology	mostly isolating
Alignment	NOM-ACC
Credits
Created by	Cedh

Ronc Tyu (“language of the villagers”) is a Ronquian language spoken in the Śou Pínc region along the western slopes of the Kè mountain range in northern Tuysáfa around 1 YP. The language is characterized by an abundance of monosyllabic words, a three-tone system, and a strongly isolating morphosyntax featuring extensive use of serial verb constructions (SVC) for both lexical and grammatical purposes.

Phonology

Consonants

	labial	dental	retroflex	palatal	dorsal	glottal
plosives	p · b	t · d			k · ɡ	ʔ
fricatives	f · v	s · z	ʂ · ʐ	ɕ · ʑ		h
nasals	m	n	ɳ		ŋ
approximants	w	l	ɻ	j	ʁ

/ʔ/ appears only in coda position, and it is the only consonant that can do so.

The affricates [tɬ dɮ ts dz ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ] are sometimes analyzed as unitary phonemes because they sometimes pattern with simple plosives in nominal or verbal inflection. However, other plosive + fricative clusters can also appear in the exact same phonological environments, so phonetic affricates will be treated as consonant clusters for the purposes of this document.

The consonants are romanized as follows:

• /p b t d k ɡ ʔ/ p b t d k g c
• /f v s z ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ h/ f v s z sr zr ś ź h
• /m n ɳ ŋ/ m n nr ng
• /w l ɻ j ʁ/ w l r y x

Several consonant clusters have distinct written representations:

• [tɬ dɮ ʈʂ ɖʐ] tl dl tr dr
• [pʂ kʂ] pr kr
• [ʈʂw ɖʐw ʂw ʐw] tśw dźw św źw
• [ŋɡ] ngg

Vowels

	front	back
high	i	u
mid	ɛ	ɔ
low	a

There are also four opening diphthongs /iə̯ eɐ̯ oɐ̯ uə̯/ and four closing diphthongs /ɛɪ̯ aɪ̯ aʊ̯ ɔʊ̯/, all of them falling (i.e. with greater emphasis on the first component).

All vowels and diphthongs can also appear in a nasalized version.

The vowel qualities are written as follows:

• /i ɛ a ɔ u/ i e a o u
• /iə̯ eɐ̯ oɐ̯ uə̯/ ie ea oa uo
• /ɛɪ̯ aɪ̯ aʊ̯ ɔʊ̯/ ei ae ao ou

Vowel nasalization is indicated by a postposed n. In non-final syllables of compound words, this is written m before /p b f v/ and ng before /k ɡ/.

Tone

Three phonemic tones are distinguished (high, mid, low). All tones can appear on both oral and nasalized vowels of all qualities.

High tone is represented with an acute accent (á), and low tone is represented with a grave accent (à). Mid tone is unmarked (a).

Phonotactics

Full syllables

Words in Ronc Tyu minimally (and most typically, since a large percentage of words are monosyllabic) consist of a single full syllable. The basic structure of these syllables is (C)(C)(C)(w,j)V(ʔ).

Syllable onsets may be of the following types:

• No consonant
• Any single consonant except /ʔ/
• Any non-glottal obstruent or nasal followed by one of /w j/ (but /w/ does not appear after /ɕ ʑ v/, and /j/ does not appear after /ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ ŋ/)
• A plosive followed by one of /l ɻ/ (but /tɻ dɻ/ do not occur)
• A plosive followed by a fricative of the same voicing, optionally followed by one of /w j/
• /h/ followed by any voiceless obstruent or obstruent cluster, optionally followed by one of /w j/
• /h/ followed by a nasal, optionally followed by one of /w j/ (but the sequence /hŋj/ does not occur)
• /h/ followed by an approximant other than /w j/
• Any legal cluster that begins with a plosive, preceded by a homoorganic nasal

Minor syllables

Polysyllabic words which are not compounds usually consist of one full syllable preceded by one or more minor syllables. Minor syllables can only have a single consonant as their onset, and a monophthongal vowel with no tone of its own as their nucleus. The surface quality of this underlying reduced vowel |ə| is usually predictable:

• [ɪ] (written i) in words whose stressed syllable is of the shape C(C)(C)jV(ʔ) or has a nucleus /i ɛ iə̯ eɐ̯ ɛɪ̯/
• [ʊ] (written u) in words whose stressed syllable is of the shape C(C)(C)wV(ʔ) or has a nucleus /u ɔ uə̯ oɐ̯ ɔʊ̯/
• [ɐ] (written a) in words whose stressed syllable has a nucleus /a aɪ̯ aʊ̯/

In the rare cases where a vowel in a minor syllable does not conform to the above harmony rule, the onset can be analyzed as containing underlying |j w ʁ|, with this consonant then coalescing with any adjacent |ə| into surface [ɪ ʊ ɐ] i u a (but note that |(ə)jə (ə)wə| become [ɛ ɔ] e o instead if the stressed syllable would normally require a reduced vowel to surface as [ɐ]).

In certain situations, two adjacent minor syllables will reduce to a single syllable with a complex onset. Such syllables are treated as full syllables phonologically, even though their vowel generally still harmonizes with the stressed syllable of the word.

Phonetic detail

• The voiceless plosives p t k are aspirated [pʰ tʰ kʰ] in the onset of a full syllable, even when followed by a consonant.
• Obstruent voicing is not distinguished in minor syllables. Orthographically, obstruents in minor syllables are represented as voiced, except in instances of morphological reduplication.
• /ʂ ʐ ɻ/ are not distinguished after plosives, so they can all be written r in this environment. The voiceless clusters pr tr kr tend to be realized as [pʂ ʈʂ kʂ], although non-sibilant [pɻ̥ ʈɻ̥ kɻ̥] also occur. The voiced clusters br dr gr vary rather freely between [bɻ ɖɻ ɡɻ] and [bʐ ɖʐ ɡʐ], with the fricative variant most common for dr.
• The cluster pw similarly varies between [pf] and [pʍ].
• h tends to be pronounced as a velar fricative [x] before a voiceless obstruent.
• Clusters of h with a resonant (nasal or approximant) are typically pronounced as voiceless resonants. The clusters hx hl hr are pronounced as a voiceless uvular fricative [χ], a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [ɬ], and a voiceless alveolar trill [r̥] respectively; note that the latter departs from the usual retroflex realization of /ɻ/.
• l also becomes [ɬ] when preceded by a voiceless plosive.
• Underlying clusters |nj ŋj mv ŋʁ| surface as [ɲ ɲ mb ŋɡ], and are written ny ny mb ngg.
• Vowels in open syllables have a noticeably longer duration than their counterparts in closed syllables. Open-syllable e o tend to be realized as [eˑ oˑ] while closed-syllable e o are pronounced as [ɛ ɔ]. Some speakers have a similar alternation for i u, varying between [iˑ uˑ] and [ɪ ʊ].
• Vowels in minor syllables are always lax, with i e a o u being pronounced as [ɪ ɛ ɐ ɔ ʊ].
• a in a full syllable is typically pronounced as a back vowel [ɑ] when nasalized or adjacent to x.
• In non-final full syllables, vowel nasalization is not distinguished before nasal consonants. Before obstruents, it may surface as a homoorganic nasal.
• In non-final full syllables, a coda glottal stop is realized as a preglottalized homoorganic plosive when followed by a fricative (e.g. fwanc-swín ‘stepchild, child-in-law’: /fwãʔ swĩ́/ → [fwɑ̃ˀˈtswĩ́ˑ]).
• After open nasalized syllables, an epenthetic [n] may be inserted if the next word begins with a vowel and belongs to the same phrase (e.g. nà san ugwac ‘the mother of the queen’: /nà sã əɡwaʔ/ → [ˌnàˑ sɑ̃‿nʊˈɡwaʔ]).

Stress and prosody

There is a weak dynamic stress accent, which falls on the final syllable of the word. In compound words, non-final full syllables receive secondary stress; this prevents their vowel from being reduced. Minor syllables are always unstressed.

Phrasal stress is also usually on the last syllable. Exceptions can be made if the speaker wants to especially emphasize a word that comes earlier in the phrase.

Types of words

Verbs

Ronc Tyu relies heavily on analytic serial verb constructions, and can therefore get by with very little verbal morphology. Each verb has a maximum of three different forms: the active, the passive, and the attributive. The active is unmarked, and used as the citation form.

The passive

The passive voice is most commonly formed by prefixing h-, with voiced obstruents in the onset of the verb stem additionally becoming voiceless. In verb-initial /ji wu/ sequences, the glide is simply replaced by the prefix.

• kónc ‘bite’ → pass hkónc
• lá ‘build, create’ → pass hlá
• faen ‘sing’ → pass hfaen
• en ‘fight’ → pass hen
• dric ‘attack’ → pass htric
• yic ‘praise, worship’ → pass hic

If the verb stem begins with a consonant cluster whose first component is a nasal or h, the passive prefix appears as hV-, with a reduced echo vowel that harmonizes with the stressed syllable of the word.

• mbíc ‘turn, rotate, revert’ → pass himbíc
• hláo ‘ask’ → pass hahláo

Immediately before prevocalic w y, the prefix surfaces as f s respectively.

• wín ‘marry’ → pass fwín
• yéa ‘feel, sense’ → pass syéa

Verb stems that have a mid-tone vowel and begin with single p t tl tr ts tś k m n nr ng h l r w y (optionally followed by one of w y) form the passive without a prefix, simply by changing the tone to high.

• kenc ‘decide, judge’ → pass kénc
• nyu ‘see’ → pass nyú
• tlin ‘threaten’ → pass tlín

Verbs that have a low tone vowel and begin with one of m n nr ny ng form the passive by fortifying their onset consonant to p t tr tś k.

• mìnc ‘sacrifice’ → pass pìnc
• nàc ‘choose, take’ → pass tàc

A few verbs have irregular passives:

• myóa ‘order, command, instruct’ → pass fyóa
• nggóa ‘dislike’ → pass hxóa
• ndù ‘admit, confess’ → pass hrù
• húoc ‘reach out for’ → pass fúoc
• mpa ‘destroy, devastate’ → pass dwá

The attributive

The attributive form of a verb is used in non-predicative situations, performing an adjective-like function. With intransitive verbs it describes the subject; with transitive verbs it usually describes the patient or theme and is thus roughly comparable to a passive participle in meaning. There are some exceptions though; for instance, the transitive verbs nenc ‘smile at’ and ndúc ‘obey, be ruled by’ have attributive forms denc and gundúc which mean ‘smiling’ and ‘obedient, subordinate’ respectively (rather than ‘being smiled at’ and ‘dominant, superior’).

Verbs beginning with a vowel or w form the attributive by prefixing k- (with /kwu/ simplifying to /ku/). This pattern is also used with a few verbs that begin with r y.

• en ‘fight’ → attr ken ‘contested’
• wa ‘protect, guard’ → attr kwa ‘protected, guarded’
• rù ‘bless’ → attr krù ‘blessed’
• yèanc ‘be sad’ → attr kyèanc ‘sad’

Verbs beginning with prevocalic h form the attributive by replacing their initial consonant with k- and shifting the tone of their stressed syllable to high.

• hec ‘hew (with an axe)’ → attr kéc ‘hewn’

Verbs whose stem begins with one of the voiced plosives and affricates b d dl dr dz dź g form the attributive by prefixing k- and replacing the original onset consonant with w s l r s ś y.

• bí ‘catch, capture’ → attr kwí ‘caught’
• dei ‘share, distribute’ → attr ksei ‘shared’
• drác ‘pillage, sack’ → attr krác ‘pillaged, sacked’
• guo ‘be angry’ → attr kyuo ‘angry, enraged’

Verbs whose stem begins with one of the voiceless plosives and affricates p t tl tr ts tś k form the attributive by prefixing g- and leniting the original onset consonant to w l l r z ź y respectively. Similarly, verbs beginning with one of the voiceless fricatives f sr s ś form the attributive by prefixing g- and leniting the onset consonant to w r z ź.

• páon ‘bake’ → attr gwáon ‘baked’
• tùc ‘know (how to do sth.)’ → attr glùc ‘known, mastered, well-done’
• sri ‘pierce’ → attr gri ‘pierced’
• kú ‘break, destroy’ → attr gyú ‘broken, destroyed’

Verbs whose stem begins with one of the nasals m n nr ny ng or one of the voiced fricatives v zr z ź (optionally followed by w y) form the attributive by fortifying the stem-initial consonant to b d dr dź g (for nasals) or b dr dz dź (for fricatives).

• nàenc ‘be intelligent’ → attr dàenc ‘intelligent’
• zò ‘put, place’ → attr dzò ‘positioned’

Similarly, verbs with a stem beginning in one of the approximants l r y x or one of the consonant clusters hl hr hs hś hx typically form the attributive by fortifying the initial consonant to tl tr tś k (for approximants) or tl tr ts tś k (for h-initial clusters).

• láo ‘watch, look at’ → attr tláo ‘watched’
• yenc ‘sleep’ → attr tśenc ‘sleeping’
• hśac ‘be ready, be finished’ → attr tśac ‘ready’

Verbs whose stem begins with a consonant cluster (not including the phonetic affricates tl dl ts dz tś dź tr dr, but including clusters of an obstruent followed by y w) form the attributive by prefixing gV-. The vowel in the prefix harmonizes with the stressed syllable, and voiceless onset consonants which are not immediately preceded by a nasal or h become voiced.

• mbrinc ‘be brave’ → attr gimbrinc ‘brave, courageous’
• ndźáo ‘cook’ → attr gandźáo ‘cooked’
• bronc ‘regret’ → attr gubronc ‘regretted’
• kyuc ‘be straight’ → attr gigyuc ‘straight, direct’
• ksèc ‘lead, guide’ → attr gigzèc ‘guided’

Verbs whose stem contains a minor syllable theoretically also prefix gV-, but the two minor syllables will usually be contracted into a single full syllable. In words of this type with stem-initial b d g, the resulting contractions will be of the shape gu- glV- gi-.

• ravae ‘drop, cause to fall’ → attr gravae ‘dropped’
• dinggéc ‘be colorful’ → attr glinggéc ‘colorful’
• gundùn ‘sew’ → attr gindùn ‘sewn’ (underlying |ɡəjəndùn|)

There are also a few verbs with irregular attributives:

• mbùn ‘be good, do well’ → attr mùn ‘good’
• do ‘come (towards something)’ → attr dlo ‘approaching (something)’
• kyá ‘reach, arrive at’ → attr gíe ‘reached, attained, accomplished’
• syu ‘meet’ → attr tśa ‘encountered’
• pwae ‘be red’ → attr gèi ‘red’

Nouns

Nouns in Ronc Tyu are inflected only for number.

Other relevant distinctions are animacy and possession, but these are not marked on the noun itself. Animacy (animate vs. inanimate, a/i) plays a role both for pronoun choice and for the validity of some syntactic constructions, and possession is notable because there is a subclass of nouns which are obligatorily possessed.

Number marking

Countable nouns

Most nouns in Ronc Tyu distinguish singular and plural number (sg/pl). There are several different “regular” ways to form the plural, which are to a certain degree predictable from the phonological shape of the singular form. However, irregular or even suppletive plurals occur in a significant percentage of nouns, likely more than 25%.

Animate nouns whose stressed syllable begins with a single obstruent, optionally preceded by a nasal or fricative, regularly form their plural by infixing -w- after the onset and changing the tone to high. If the onset obstruent is voiced in the singular, it becomes voiceless in the plural, and if the onset obstruent is followed by y in the singular, this y is replaced by the -w- of the plural marker.

• pei ‘boy, son’ → pl pwéi
• tèi ‘thumb’ → pl twéi
• kác ‘male dog, hound’ → pl kwác
• nggá ‘elephant’ → pl ngkwá
• fyao ‘friend (of)’ → pl fwáo

Animate nouns whose stressed syllable begins with a single nasal, h, a semivowel, or a vowel regularly form their plural by infixing -fw- and changing the tone to high. Onset h is deleted in the process, and onset nasals assimilate in place of articulation, giving the onset cluster mfw.

• nonc ‘girl, daughter’ → pl mfwónc
• he ‘mouse, rat’ → pl fwé
• wec ‘god’ → pl ufwéc

Animate nouns whose stressed syllable begins with one of l r x regularly form their plural by prefixing h-. A substantial number of words with initial nasals and obstruents also follow this pattern (with voiced obstruents additionally becoming voiceless).

• luc ‘toe’ → pl hluc
• xan ‘fox’ → pl hxan
• trùc ‘priest, shaman’ → pl htrùc
• ugei ‘chieftain, leader’ → pl uhkei

Inanimate nouns regularly form their plural by prefixing n-. Obstruents in the onset become voiced, with fricatives and liquids fortifying to voiced affricates. However, if the onset in the singular contains h, this h is deleted and the other obstruents stay voiceless. If the word begins with a nasal-obstruent cluster, the prefix becomes syllabic nV-, with the vowel harmonizing with the main syllable.

• an ‘amphora’ → pl nan
• koun ‘weapon’ → pl nggoun
• traen ‘room (of a house)’ → pl ndraen
• ri ‘knot’ → pl ndri
• sec ‘shooting star’ → pl ndzec
• htsao ‘knife’ → pl ntsao
• ndùc ‘battle’ → pl nundùc

Inanimate nouns beginning with prevocalic m n nr ng regularly from their plural by fortifying the onset to mb nd ndr ngg. Semivowels after the nasal consonant usually appear unchanged, except that the cluster ny becomes ndź.

• nèc ‘torch’ → pl ndèc
• nyù ‘door, gate’ → pl ndźù

As mentioned above, lots of nouns have irregular or even suppletive plurals. Some examples:

• myào ‘horn (of an animal)’ → pl pyáo
• tsyún ‘person’ → pl twín
• kwac ‘woman’ → pl ngwèi
• tao ‘man’ → pl mwì
• taoc ‘male horse, stallion’; nyec ‘female horse, mare’ → pl for both: tśinc ‘horses’

There are also many nouns that don't have distinct plural forms. Most of these are by default interpreted as singulars, but they can also be used to refer to a plurality of items. In order to specify an unmistakably plural meaning, they can simply be combined with an appropriate quantifier.

• túnc ‘finger(s)’ → ngàe túnc ‘several fingers’

Collective nouns

Among both animates and inanimates, there are some nouns which are by default collective (coll). Many of these refer to things like liquids or granular masses which do not naturally occur in easily manipulable single entities, others refer to natural collections such as mountain ranges or forests, and yet others refer to groups of kindred people or animals. Collective nouns can be used both to refer to the collection as a whole or to a part of it, but in order to specifically refer to a single specific member of the collection, the noun has to be inflected for singulative number (sgv).

The singulative is typically formed with an infix -y- after the onset of the stressed syllable.

• pàc ‘feather(s), coat of feathers’ → sgv pyàc ‘a single feather’
• muo ‘apple(s)’ → sgv myuo ‘a single apple’

If the syllable onset ends in one of t d k g s z ng l r w, the infix usually surfaces as palatalization of the consonant to ts dz tś dź ś ź ny y y y respectively. (But note that there are also several words with these onset consonants which form their singulative with -y- instead of palatalization.)

• tou ‘land’ → sgv tsou ‘place, area, location’
• kun ‘thunder’ → sgv tśun ‘a single clap of thunder’
• sei ‘statement, utterance’ → sgv śei ‘word’
• kwàe ‘heap, batch, amount (of sth.)’ → sgv kyàe ‘share, fraction, part; a single piece (of sth.)’

Words that begin with a vowel or y form their singulative with a prefix m-.

• oc ‘rock(s)’ → sgv moc ‘a single rock’
• yein ‘ice’ → sgv myein ‘piece of ice, icicle’

A few collective nouns have irregular singulatives.

• màc ‘village’ → sgv myèc ‘house’
• hao ‘siblings’ → sgv hmáo ‘one of several siblings’
• lánc ‘time’ → sgv línc ‘moment’
• ric ‘salt’ → sgv yoc ‘grain of salt’

Approximately 30% of all collective nouns do not have a morphological singulative form. To the extent that it is semantically useful, a periphrastic singulative can be formed with the particle mba:

• pínc ‘oak forest’ → sgv mba pínc ‘oak tree’
• tsào ‘grape(s)’ → sgv mba tsào ‘a single grape’

Collective nouns can optionally be treated as countable, so that plurals may be formed both from their collective base form (i.e. as multiple distinct collections) and from their singulative form (i.e. as multiple distinct members of the collection). This is done in the same way as forming a periphrastic plural for countable nouns without a morphological plural, that is to say, by adding an appropriate quantifier:

• màc ‘village’ → ngàe màc ‘several villages’; sgv myèc ‘house’ → ni myèc ‘many houses’
• hao ‘siblings’ → tòc hao ‘three groups of siblings (from three different families)’; sgv hmáo ‘one of several siblings’ → káe hmáo ‘two siblings (but not all of them)’

Possession

There is a subgroup of nouns in Ronc Tyu whose members are inherently possessed, and must co-occur with a noun or pronoun referring to the possessor.¹ This possessive relationship is not overtly marked in any way; the possessed noun is simply followed by the possessor.

mò

descendant[POSS]

ugei

chieftain

a descendant of the chieftain

ronc

language[POSS]

tyu

village_people

the language of the villagers

rèi

juice[POSS]

rae

bees

honey (lit. juice of the bees)

In contrast, when a noun not belonging to the class of inherently possessed nouns appears in a possessive construction, a preposition must be used - usually yu ‘of, belonging to’, but san ‘socially related to’ for kinship terms and other social relationships.

htsao

knife

yu

of

trùc

shaman

the knife of the shaman

nà

mother

san

related_to

ugwac

queen

the mother of the queen

Inherently possessed nouns can be both animate or inanimate, and both countable or collective. It is notable though that most kinship terms and body part nouns are not inherently possessed, and in fact often used without a possessor, as they are simply assumed to belong to another person mentioned in the same or preceding clause.

Nà

mother

faen

sing

śin

song

wonc

BEN

nonc

girl

(san

(related_to

tśi).

3A.SG)

The mother sings a song for her daughter.

If an inherently possessed noun is further characterized by an attributive verb, the attribute appears between the noun and its possessor:

źec

group[POSS]

mìn

ATTR\small

twín

PL\person

a small group of people

---

¹) There are three exceptions: Inherently possessed nouns may appear without an overt possessor (1) in a question asking for their possessor, (2) in a coordinated noun phrase together with a not inherently possessed noun which belongs to the same possessor, or (3) when used as the complement of one of the animate-referent directional verbs kein ‘go away (from speaker)’, kèi ‘go away (from listener), pei ‘go away (from someone other than speaker or listener)’, tsì ‘come (towards speaker)’, mya ‘come (towards listener)’, or dźi ‘come (towards someone other than speaker or listener)’ if they are possessed by the inherent target of the verb.

Pronouns and determiners

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns make finer distinctions than nouns. Third person pronouns inflect for the animacy of their referent, and the number system is also much more elaborate, with special dual (du) pronouns for animate and inanimate countable referents (usually but not exclusively used for natural pairs), paucal (pc) pronouns for animate countable referents (used for groups of approximately three to six members), and a plurative category for collective referents (glossed as pl like the regular plural, because of both similar semantics and identical form, and used to describe either multiple collections or multiple distinct members of a single collection).

	countable antecedent					collective antecedent
	singular	dual	paucal	plural		collective	singulative	plurative
1st person	ne	nac	dźé	hei
2nd person	mun	minc	bún	wae
3rd person animate	tśi	kuc	ndzì	ndźí		ndzì	tśi	ndźí
3rd person inanimate	to	hkáe		ndáo		to	ndro	ndáo

Indefinite determiners

There are no dedicated indefinite pronouns in Ronc Tyu. Instead, semantically generic nouns such as tsyún ‘person’, śec ‘animal’, zwà ‘plant’, táo ‘thing’, tsou ‘place’, lánc ‘time’, or xiec ‘idea’ can be combined with an appropriate indefinite determiner (sru for animates and tsu for inanimates) to function as indefinite pronouns:

• sru tsyún ‘somebody’
• sru śec ‘some animal’
• tsu zwà ‘some plant’
• tsu táo ‘something’
• tsu tsou ‘somewhere’
• tsu lánc ‘sometime’

etc.

Demonstratives

Like indefinite pronouns, demonstrative pronouns are formed by using a generic noun together with a suitable determiner. There are two levels of spatial deixis, but no distinction for animacy. The relevant determiners are ki ‘this’, kù ‘that’, and nú ‘the other one’.

• ki tsyún ‘this person’
• ki śec ‘this animal’
• ki táo ‘this thing’
• kù táo ‘that thing’
• nú táo ‘the other thing’

etc.

A few especially important concepts have their own dedicated deictic words:

• twinc ‘here’
• lóa ‘there’
• htsí ‘now’
• tèin ‘then (in the future)’
• yéi ‘then (in the past)’

In addition there are two special demonstratives, the logophoric subject pronouns dzó (animate) and hto (inanimate), both best translated as ‘the same one’. They differ from the other demonstratives in that they are not determiners, but full pronouns which can neither be used adnominally nor in a non-subject position within their clause. They may refer back (a) to the subject of the same clause if already mentioned, (b) to a participant of a previous coordinated clause, (c) to a participant of the matrix clause if they are themselves used within a subclause, or (d) in complement clauses within a comparative construction also to the subject of a parallel complement clause. hto can only refer to an inanimate third person subject. dzó will usually refer to an animate subject, but may occasionally refer to an agent-like animate non-subject instead, for instance to the demoted agent of a passivized clause with an inanimate subject. Like hto, dzó usually has a third person referent, but occasionally it is also seen referring to speech act participants.

Interrogative determiners

The interrogative determiners tróu (animate) and trén (inanimate), both best translated as ‘which?’, work much like other determiners and can be combined with generic nouns to create interrogative pronouns:

• tróu tsyún ‘which person?’
• tróu śec ‘which animal?’
• trén táo ‘which thing?’

etc.

Indefinite quantifiers

• se ‘no, none (of many)’; dòc ‘neither, none (of a few)’
• tè ‘any (of many)’; dzòc ‘either, any (of a few)’
• ngàe ‘several, some, a few’; ngei ‘a little, a small amount of’
• ni ‘many’; ndźi ‘much, a lot, a large amount of’
• nè ‘every’; nac ‘both’; dzá ‘all (of a few)’; na ‘all (of many)’
• hac ‘each (member of a collection)’; xòac ‘the entirety of, all (of a collection)’

Here's a table that indicates which number configuration these quantifiers can be used with:

		no	any	few	many	all
countable	sg	se	tè			nè
	du	dòc	dzòc			nac
	pc	dòc	dzòc	(ngàe)		dzá
	pl	se	tè	ngàe	ni	na
collective	coll	se	tè	ngei	ndźi	xòac
	sgv	se	tè			hac

Indefinite quantifiers may occasionally be reduplicated for an intensified shade of meaning: tè tè ‘any single one’, ngàe ngàe ‘very few’ (sometimes appearing with paucal pronouns), ni ni ‘very many’ etc.

Numerals

Ronc Tyu uses a mixed base-6/base-24 counting system. The basic numerals are:

	cardinal	multiplier	ordinal
1	pìc	mìc	mác
2	káe	hoc	gzo
3	tòc	nòc	ntòc
4	pyáo	dzùnc
5	fyein	wein
6	yé	la
12	lác
18	kóu
24	tróun

Numbers higher than six are formed by simple addition, with the nearest basic numeral as the base:

7 (11₆) yé pìc (6 + 1)

8 (12₆) yé káe (6 + 2)

15 (23₆) lác tòc (12 + 3)

20 (32₆) kóu káe (18 + 2)

Numbers higher than 30 (50₆) are composed out of groups of 24, 12, and 6, with a multiplier preceding the two-dozen component if necessary. (The term for 36 (60₆), la yé, is formed analogously as (6 * 6), but it's the only numeral that uses a multiplier on a base other than 24.)

33 (53₆) tróun yé tòc (24 + 6 + 3)

48 (120₆) hoc tróun (2 * 24)

89 (225₆) tòc tróun lác fyein ((3 * 24) + 12 + 5)

166 (434₆) la tróun lác yé pyáo ((6 * 24) + 12 + 6 + 4)

The abstract noun méc ‘events, instances, occurrences, repetitions’ is used to create multiplier forms for numbers greater than 6:

168 (436₆) yé pìc méc tróun ((6 + 1) * 24)

432 (2000₆) kóu méc tróun (18 * 24)

Cardinal numerals precede the noun they refer to (which appears in the plural if it is countable and the number is higher than one, and in the singulative or plurative if it is a collective noun), but they usually follow any determiners.

(ki)

(this)

káe

two

twín

PL\person

(these) two people

The order of numeral and determiner can be reversed to give a partitive meaning:

káe

two

ki

this

twín

PL\person

two of these people

The first three numbers have suppletive ordinal forms, which are treated as numerals and go before the noun. They also function as determiners in that they make the noun definite, and cannot co-occur with other determiners:

gzo

second

kwac

woman

the second woman

Ordinals for numbers higher than three are formed as locative phrases with the preposition nic ‘at, on’.

tao

man

nic

at

pyáo

four

the fourth man

Prepositions

Prepositions in Ronc Tyu are divided into two classes. Adnominal prepositions are used within noun phrases or as the object of the copula in locative predicates, but they cannot syntactically depend on a non-copula main verb. In contrast to this, adverbial prepositions always relate to the sentence as a whole and are often used to introduce additional oblique-role noun phrases.

Ne

1SG

nrà

be_able

nyu

see

dźoc

SGV\pines

nic

at

nyò.

SGV\hills

I can see a pine tree [which stands] on the hill. (adnominal preposition)

Ne

1SG

nrà

be_able

nyu

see

dźoc

SGV\pines

suo

LOC.STAT

nyò.

SGV\hills

I can see a pine tree [while I'm standing] on the hill. (adverbial preposition)

The two types of prepositions can be combined with each other, using an adnominal prepositional phrase as the object of an adverbial preposition. This is most commonly done in order to provide more detail about the location of an event:

Dànc

PL\child

nyoun

play

téc

LOC.DYN

wèi

outside

myèc.

SGV\village

The children are playing outside of the house. (lit. at outside the house)

(In the above example, téc ‘at, near, around’ is an adverbial preposition relating to the event as a whole, and wèi ‘outside of’ is an adnominal preposition describing the place which has been introduced using téc.)

Adnominal prepositions

Some of the most common adnominal prepositions are:

• nic ‘at, on’
• xònc ‘on, next to, touching’
• ngoun ‘in, inside’
• gao ‘in the middle of’
• rae ‘at the edge of’ (but still within the relevant area)
• wèi ‘outside of; without’
• tśec ‘near, alongside; with, containing’
• runc ‘beside, close to’
• myuc ‘among, in reach of, connected to’
• nge ‘before, in front of, across from, facing’
• ke ‘behind, at the rear of’
• poun ‘above, on top of’
• tra ‘under, at the bottom of’
• tac ‘to the left of’
• urìc ‘to the right of’
• odzac ‘to the north of’
• nrenc ‘to the south of’
• ngù ‘to the east of’
• tuo ‘to the west of’
• rie ‘around’
• rùc ‘through, between, surrounded by’
• bao ‘towards, in the direction of; intended for’
• vei ‘coming from; made of’
• yu ‘of, belonging to, associated with’
• san ‘socially related to’
• venc ‘corresponding to, depending on, modeled on, in the style of’
• yì ‘instead of, in contrast to, rather than’
• rà ‘due to; made by’

Adnominal prepositions may be reduplicated to intensify their meaning: runc runc ‘very close to’, wèi wèi ‘far away from’, poun poun ‘high above’ etc.

Adverbial prepositions

The most important adverbial prepositions are:

• suo ‘at, on’ (loc.stat)
• téc ‘at, near, around’ (loc.dyn)
• ló ‘for, to’ (dat)
• wonc ‘for the benefit of’ (ben)
• wo ‘with, by, using’ (instr)
• ta ‘by’ (demoted animate agent)
• fa ‘together with, accompanied by’
• re ‘without’
• pa ‘as, like’

A few subordinating conjunctions may also be used in the role of adverbial prepositions:

• htlanc ‘during (a short timeframe)’
• hpi ‘during (a longer timeframe)’
• hkwì ‘in the manner of’
• bzèi ‘due to’

Some other semantic notions that might be expected to be covered by adverbial prepositions (such as temporal ‘before’/‘after’ or the direction of movement) are instead expressed with the help of coverbs, i.e. lexical verbs which can, in addition to their usual role, be used exactly like adverbial prepositions. For more detail, see the chapter on serial verb constructions.

Word formation

Compounding

New nouns are preferably created through head-initial compounding, using both nominal and verbal stems as the second, dependent element of the compound. The resulting lexical entries usually behave as single phonological words, which, however, have two full syllables and are thus written with a hyphen: yàe-sin ‘musical instrument’. Compounding of more than two elements is not attested.

• hli-zèi ‘grass snake’ ← hli ‘snake’ + zèi ‘grass’
• rèi-rae ‘honey’ ← rèi ‘juice, sap’ + rae ‘bee(s)’
• vòc-swín ‘brideprice’ ← vòc ‘price, value’ + swín ‘marriage’
• yàe-kàc ‘travois, sledge’ ← yàe ‘tool’ + kàc ‘bear, carry’

A significant number of established compounds contain elements which do not occur as free-standing words of their own. These bound morphemes can appear both as the dependent element (as in oc-ngòa ‘flint stone’, cf. oc ‘rock(s), stone(s)’ but non-existent *ngòa) or as the head element (as in po-tóun ‘pestle’, cf. tóun ‘crush, grind’ but non-existent *po). A few morphemes of the latter type are frequent enough to be on the verge of becoming derivational prefixes, for instance ngèa-, which appears in several inanimate nouns denoting a type of container, e.g. ngèa-kàc ‘bucket’ (cf. kàc ‘bear, carry’) and ngèa-póu ‘barrel’ (cf. póu ‘be closed’).

Another type of nominal word formation consists of fixed collocations of a head noun with one or more attributive verbs:

• faonc krùo ‘leather’ (lit. ‘dry skin’)
• tsou dźe ‘shelter’ (lit. ‘a safe place’)
• tao gyào gwaec ‘tradesman’ (lit. ‘a man who offers and acquires’)

New verbal meanings are preferably expressed with serial verb constructions (SVC), which are described in more detail later in this document. When used lexically, SVC may be regarded as a form of compounding which connects two or more phonologically independent verbs that represent different semantic aspects of the same action. Serial verb constructions usually do not have a clear syntactic head. Instead, their components are ordered according to the iconic order of subevents, with the additional rule that intransitive verbs must precede transitive ones.

• gyè té ‘sit down’ (lit. ‘shift one's position and sit’)
• tò kòun ‘sneak’ (lit. ‘be silent and move around’)
• nyu ndźei ‘recognize’ (lit. ‘see and know’)
• lá lei ‘craft, create’ (lit. ‘build and decorate’)
• fi mó śea ‘cover sth. completely’ (lit. ‘wrap, cover, and hide’)
• yenc gyáe nyu ‘dream’ (lit. ‘sleep, imagine, and see’)
• fyao bwìn soc gónc ‘take care of, raise (children)’ (lit. ‘pour, wash, give, and feed’)

Morphological derivation

Ronc Tyu is a strongly analytic language which does not make much use of morphological derivation to create new lexical elements. However, a number of derivational prefixes do exist, with varying levels of productivity. (In all of these, V denotes a reduced vowel |ə| which harmonizes with the stressed syllable of the word.)

Verbalization

Causative verbs can be formed from other verbs by prefixing rV- and replacing single stem-initial voiceless obstruents (including the phonetic affricates tl ts tś tr) with their voiced counterparts. This type of derivation is fairly common; however, verbs created in this way are syntactically defective and can appear only in serial verb constructions.

• ragá ‘bend’ ← ká ‘be crooked, be bent’
• ravae ‘drop’ ← fae ‘fall’
• ridźí ‘hollow out’ ← tśí ‘be hollow’
• rubóu ‘close’ ← póu ‘be closed’
• ruguo ‘annoy, bother’ ← guo ‘be angry’
• ruhrùn ‘fix, repair’ ← hrùn ‘be whole, be complete, be functional’

There are also a few lexicalized irregular causative verbs, e.g. reanc ‘please sb.’ ← yonc ‘be happy’.

Intensive verbs can be formed from other verbs by CV(N) reduplication. Only the first consonant of the stem is repeated, except that the clusters hl hr hx hm hn hnr hng reduplicate the resonant instead of the glottal fricative, and the clusters tl ts tś tr dl dz dź dr behave like single segments under reduplication. The optional nasal appears when the stem contains a nasalized vowel and begins with an obstruent (which becomes voiced in this case) or with a semivowel.

• dandáen ‘dismiss, reject, repudiate’ ← táen ‘doubt’
• drundronc ‘exhaust oneself’ ← tronc ‘struggle, toil’
• laláo ‘examine, study’ ← láo ‘watch, look at’
• mamaenc ‘fall in love with’ ← maenc ‘like, consider attractive’
• mimbíc ‘turn the tables; change a situation completely’ ← mbíc ‘turn, rotate, twist, knead, mold’
• yinyèanc ‘grieve, mourn’ ← yèanc ‘be sad’

Achievement verbs may be formed from stative verbs by prefixing ng- before vowels and semivowels (with /ŋj/ surfacing as ny), ngg- before liquids and sibilants (which will become voiced), a homoorganic nasal before other obstruents (which will become voiced), and ngV- before nasals and consonant clusters beginning with a nasal or h.

• ndzáo ‘learn (mental knowledge)’ ← tsáo ‘be wise’
• nggráon ‘speed up’ ← ráon ‘be fast, be quick’
• nggruc ‘slow down’ ← sruc ‘be slow’

Adjective-like stative verbs which name an associated quality may be formed from nouns by prefixing dVm- before vowels and semivowels, dVmb- before liquids and sibilants (which will become voiced), dVN- (with a homoorganic nasal) plus voicing before other obstruents, and dV- before nasals and consonant clusters beginning with a nasal or h. In a few cases, verbs of this type are formed from the plural or singulative stem of the noun instead of the unmarked singular or collective.

• danggae ‘be cruel, be bloody’ ← xae ‘blood’
• dimbléi ‘be cloudy (of weather)’ ← léi ‘clouds’
• dumbwáo ‘be welcoming, be hospitable’ ← fyao ‘friend’, pl fwáo

Nominalization

Nouns referring to a human subject of a verb (usually in a habitual sense) can be formed from the verb stem by prefixing zVm- before vowels and semivowels, zVmb- before liquids and sibilants (which will become voiced), zVN- (with a homoorganic nasal) plus voicing before other obstruents, and zV- before nasals and consonant clusters beginning with a nasal or h.

• zamblá ‘craftsman’ ← lá ‘build, create, manufacture’
• zandźa ‘inhabitant (of)’ ← tśa ‘dwell at, live in’
• zimí ‘unmarried young adult’ ← mí ‘be separate, be on one's own’
• zinggéc ‘musician’ ← kéc ‘play (music)’
• zumbron ‘storyteller’ ← ron ‘recite, tell (a story)’

The prefix can also be added to the passive form of transitive verbs, referencing a human patient:

• zihtric ‘victim’ ← dric ‘attack’, pass htric
• zuhxònc ‘survivor’ ← xònc ‘save, rescue’, pass hxònc

Instrument nouns and names for tools and other inanimates can be derived from verbs (or more rarely from other nouns) by prefixing d- before vowels, semivowels, liquids and sibilants (which will become voiced), and dV- plus obstruent voicing before all other consonants.

• dadào ‘atlatl (spear-thrower)’ ← tào ‘throw’
• dagàc ‘handle (for carrying)’ ← kàc ‘carry’
• dihmi ‘clasp, brooch, fibula’ ← hmi ‘squeeze, pinch’
• dinyù ‘lock’ ← nyù ‘door, gate’
• dudźoc ‘grate, grill’ ← dźoc ‘oven’
• dunó ‘chisel’ ← nó ‘notch, indentation’

The prefix can also be added to the passive form of transitive verbs, referencing a concrete result noun:

• dahsào ‘mixture’ ← zào ‘add, mix in’, pass hsào
• didyúc ‘topic (of conversation)’ ← tyuc ‘talk about’, pass tyúc
• duhrù ‘talisman’ ← rù ‘bless’, pass hrù

Location nouns can be formed from both nouns and verbs by prefixing hng- before vowels and semivowels (with /hŋj/ surfacing as hny), hVngg- before liquids and sibilants (which will become voiced), hVN- (with a homoorganic nasal) plus voicing before other obstruents, and hV- before nasals and consonant clusters beginning with a nasal or h.

• hanào ‘ritual site’ ← nào ‘perform (a ceremony)’
• hindzic ‘camp’ ← tsoc ‘tent’, pl tsic
• hinggec ‘fireplace’ ← kec ‘fire’
• hngoc ‘quarry, stone pit’ ← oc ‘rock(s)’

Another option for forming location nouns uses the prefix źV- (which reduces to ź- before vowels and causes immediately following voiceless obstruents to become voiced). It can only be added to noun stems though.

• źindlíc ‘the shaman's garden’ ← ndlíc ‘magical herbs’
• źiźenc ‘wind burial platform’ ← śenc ‘ashes’
• źundúc ‘battlefield’ ← ndúc ‘battle, skirmish’

Diminutive nouns and endearment terms can be formed from other nouns by prefixing mVn- before vowels and semivowels, mVnd- before liquids and sibilants (which will become voiced), mVN- (with a homoorganic nasal) plus voicing before other obstruents, and mV- before nasals and consonant clusters beginning with a nasal or h.

• mahtsao ‘blade’ ← htsao ‘knife’
• mandaoc ‘foal’ ← taoc ‘male horse, stallion’
• manggác ‘puppy’ ← kác ‘male dog, hound’
• mindzìnc ‘calf’ ← zìnc ‘cow’

Augmentative nouns can be formed from other nouns by prefixing u- (or o- if the stressed syllable of the word contains one of the vowels a ae ao) and voicing any directly following voiceless obstruent.

• omàc ‘large village, town’ ← màc ‘village’
• udlúnc ‘meeting of villages’ ← tlúnc ‘party, celebration, social gathering’
• udou ‘world’ ← tou ‘land’
• ugwac ‘queen, matriarch’ ← kwac ‘woman’

Honorific nouns, often with religious connotations, can be formed from other nouns by prefixing zu- (or zo- if the stressed syllable contains one of a ae ao) and voicing any directly following voiceless obstruent.

• zomae ‘stag’ ← mae ‘deer’
• zudźòa ‘prayer cave’ ← tśòa ‘cave, cavern’

Basic syntax

Simple sentences

Intransitive clauses

Intransitive clauses in Ronc Tyu minimally consist of a subject followed by an intransitive verb, giving SV word order.

Mbò

baby

yenc.

sleep

The baby sleeps.

Mbí

sun

źùn.

shine

The sun shines.

Existential intransitive clauses, some types of questions, and passive sentences follow VS order instead.

Trà

exist

màc

village

tśec

near

fwenc.

river

There is a village near the river.

Rou

be_who

mun?

2SG

Who are you?

Hfaen

PASS\sing

śin.

song

The song has been sung.

Transitive clauses

Clauses with transitive verbs follow a SVO pattern.

Nà

mother

ndźáo

cook

hlíc.

stew

The mother is cooking stew.

Hnròc

PL\hunter

sro

pursue

ngàe

several

mae.

deer

The hunters are chasing some deer.

Inanimate subjects of transitive verbs must be marked with the instrumental preposition wo ‘with, by, using’:

Wo

INSTR

twí

spear

sri

pierce

mba

SGV

pínc.

oaks

The spear pierces the oak tree.

However, inanimate noun phrases in the middle of an ECM structure, which simultaneously act as the object of one verb and as the subject of another verb, are not marked with wo, even if the second verb is transitive:

Nròc

hunter

li

pull

tào

throw

nyèn

SGV\arrow

móc

kill

mae.

deer

The hunter shoots an arrow and kills the deer.

• *nròc li tào wo nyèn móc mae
  (ungrammatical)

Predication

Nominal predicates are formed with the copula ngóu, using SVO word order.

Xan

fox

ngóu

COP

śec.

animal

The fox is an animal.

Ki

this

tao

man

ngóu

COP

rúon

spouse[POSS]

ne.

1SG

This man is my husband.

Note that copular sentences are not fully transitive, and because of this they are not marked with wo if the subject is inanimate:

Kù

that

koun

weapon

kśie

ATTR\sharp

ngóu

COP

odzao.

sword

That sharp weapon is a sword.

Locative predicates use a suitable adnominal preposition as the object of the copula.

Myèc

SGV\village

yu

of

ne

1SG

ngóu

COP

runc

beside

lenc.

deciduous_forest

My house is at the edge of the forest.

Attributive predicates may also be formed with the copula:

Kù

that

kwac

woman

ngóu

COP

tsyún

person

dàenc.

ATTR\intelligent

That woman is intelligent. (lit. that woman is an intelligent person)

The above is rather marked in tone though. Instead, many statements that would be phrased as adjectival predicates in English are preferably expressed with stative intransitive verbs in Ronc Tyu, requiring no copula. (For simplicity, such verbs are glossed without ‘be’ in interlinears.)

Kù

that

kwac

woman

nàenc.

intelligent

That woman is intelligent.

Pyè

grandfather

manc.

tired

Grandfather is tired.

Ban

today

myòu

sky

loc.

rough

The weather is rough today.

Oblique participants

Ronc Tyu verb phrases have only a single object slot. As a result, the recipient of a ditransitive clause needs to be introduced with the help of an adverbial preposition. The same strategy is also used to introduce other participants in oblique roles.

Dative and benefactive

Dative participants are marked with the preposition ló ‘for, to’.

Pwanc

child

soc

give

ngei

few.COLL

mú

nuts

ló

DAT

mwinc.

squirrel

The child gives a few nuts to the squirrel.

Wo

INSTR

ki

this

kén

task

tsèa

simple

ló

DAT

ne.

1SG

This task is easy for me.

Benefactive participants are marked with the preposition wonc ‘for the benefit of’.

Trùc

shaman

ron

recite

táe

legend

wonc

BEN

hao.

siblings

The shaman recites a story for the siblings.

Antibenefactive participants are marked like ordinary datives using ló:

Dyao

enemies

kú

destroy

màc

village

ló

DAT

hei.

1PL

The enemies destroyed our village.

Instrumental

Instrumental participants are marked with the preposition wo ‘with, by, using’.

Nà

mother

fi

wrap

mbò

baby

wo

INSTR

hkwi.

blanket

The mother wraps her baby in a blanket.

In passive sentences, animate agents may be reintroduced with the preposition ta ‘by’:

Hfaen

PASS\sing

śin

song

ta

by

pwanc.

child

The song has been sung by the child.

Comitative

Comitative participants are marked with the preposition fa ‘together with’, and anticomitative participants are marked with the preposition re ‘without’.

Ne

1SG

sro

pursue

mae

deer

fa

with

fyao

friend[POSS]

ne.

1SG

I'm hunting deer with my friend.

Hréc

Q.AUX

nù

really

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

kein

go_from.1

mya

come_to.2

nya

home[POSS]

re

without

ne?

1SG

Are you really going home without me?

Locative

Locative participants can be introduced with a variety of adverbial prepositions, most typically suo ‘at, on’ to describe the location of an action where the main participants remain in the same place, and téc ‘near, around’ to describe the location of an action where the main participants are in motion. The location is often further specified by an adnominal preposition within the locative phrase.

Fye

brother

tòc

watch_out

wa

guard

mfwín

PL\goat

suo

LOC.STAT

wèi

outside

màc.

village

My brother is herding goats outside the village.

Hei

1PL

ntào

dance[v]

źwi

dance[n]

téc

LOC.DYN

rie

around

kec.

fire

We dance [a dance] around the fire.

Directional arguments (i.e. source and target) are marked with a special set of directional coverbs; these are discussed in a separate section of this document.

Negation

Sentences are negated with the auxiliary verb pec ‘not’, which is placed before the rest of the verb phrase.

Blóun

lion

pec

NEG

yoc.

hungry

The lion is not hungry.

Trùc

shaman

pec

NEG

láo

watch

myéc

stars

fyec

happen

ya

previous

śenc.

night

The shaman did not watch the stars last night.

In general, contiguous serial verb constructions can only be negated as a whole. Negating one or more of the verbs in the construction separately is ungrammatical.

Ne

1SG

pec

NEG

ec

return

mya

come_to.2

tyòu.

eat

I'm not coming home for dinner.

• *Ne ec mya pec tyòu.
  (ungrammatical; intended meaning: ‘I'm coming home but I won't eat’)

However, if there is a modal auxiliary, negation may either take scope over the modal (and thus over the whole clause), or alternatively only over the non-modal part of the SVC:

Mun

2SG

pec

NEG

ló

must

kein.

go_from.1

You don't have to leave.

Mun

2SG

ló

must

pec

NEG

kein.

go_from.1

You're not allowed to leave.

In ECM constructions (serial verb constructions of the form NP₁ VP₁ NP₂ VP₂ (NP₃), where the middle noun phrase NP₂ simultaneously acts both as the object of the first verb and as the subject of the second verb), each verb phrase can be negated separately:

Ne

1SG

pec

NEG

hláo

request

mun

2SG

kein.

go_from.1

I didn't tell you to leave [but you left anyway].

Ne

1SG

hláo

request

mun

2SG

pec

NEG

kein.

go_from.1

I told you not to leave [so you knew you were supposed to stay with me].

Nà

mother

pec

NEG

sruo

wait

ndźei

know

nonc

girl

twíc

argue_with

tśi.

3A.SG

The mother didn't expect her daughter to argue with her [so it came as a surprise].

Nà

mother

sruo

wait

ndźei

know

nonc

girl

pec

NEG

twíc

argue_with

tśi.

3A.SG

The mother expected her daughter not to argue with her [because a good girl shouldn't do that].

Individual noun phrases can be negated with the quantifier se ‘no, none’, or dòc ‘none (of a few)’ if the NP is in the dual or paucal number. Negating the object of a transitive clause in this way is often logically equivalent to negating the verb, but it has slightly different semantic connotations:

Kác

dog

mi

receive

se

no

kànc

meat

ya

previous

man.

day

The dog didn't get any meat yesterday.

If only the subject is negated, the resulting meaning is often partitive, especially if the subject appears in a non-singular number:

Se

no

kwác

PL\dog

mi

receive

kànc

meat

ya

previous

man.

day

None of the dogs got any meat yesterday.

A typical usecase for negating both the subject and the object simultaneously is to contrast two different subjects against each other:

Se

no

kác

male_dog

mi

receive

se

no

kànc

meat

ya

previous

man,

day

gou

female_dog

mi

receive

to.

3I.COLL

It wasn't the male dog who didn't get meat yesterday, it was the female one.

Of course, subject-contrastive semantics are also possible using the negative auxiliary verb pec. Note that the polarity of the main event is reversed though, and that the conjunction kè ‘but, however’ is required in this situation:

Kác

male_dog

pec

NEG

mi

receive

kànc

meat

ya

previous

man,

day

kè

but

gou

female_dog

mi

receive

to.

3I.COLL

It wasn't the male dog who got meat yesterday, it was the female one.
(lit. the male dog did not get meat yesterday, but the female one did)

Interrogatives

Polar questions

Polar questions can be formed in several different ways. The first option uses the sentence-initial interrogative particle trá plus inversion of the word order to VS(O). However, this method is considered clumsy with sentences that contain adverbial subclauses, and it is not available at all with copular predicates, passives, or ECM constructions. It is therefore mainly used with simple clauses:

Trá

Q

yenc

sleep

mbò?

baby

Is the baby sleeping?

Trá

Q

nyu

see

mun

2SG

nggá?

elephant

Did you see the elephant?

Trá

Q

soc

give

trùc

shaman

ndlíc

magical_herbs

ló

DAT

mun?

2SG

Did the shaman give you the magical herbs?

Copular predicates are questioned with a special interrogative copula sró, which causes the sentence structure to become VSO:

Sró

Q.COP

tśi

3A.SG

tao

man

gimbrinc?

ATTR\brave

Is he a brave man?

Passive sentences and ECM serial verb constructions can only be questioned with the third method, which employs the impersonal auxiliary verb hréc ‘is it true?’, to which the whole content sentence is subordinated using the complementizer tenc. The subordinated clause is syntactically normal and may be as complex as desired, which makes this construction the preferred way to form polar questions also for sentences that contain one or more adverbial subclauses.

Hréc

Q.AUX

tenc

SUB

handźác

PASS\defeat

dyao?

enemies

Have the enemies been defeated?

Hréc

Q.AUX

tenc

SUB

pei

boy

fwei

hit

nonc

girl

nwao?

cry

Is it true that the boy hit the girl and made her cry?

Hréc

Q.AUX

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

tèin

then.FUT

hóu

call

me

tell

ne

1SG

htlinc

as_soon_as

handźáo

PASS\cook

hśac

ready

gonc?

food

Can you call me when the food is ready?

The fourth option involves tag questions, which suggest either a positive or a negative answer. If the expected answer is ‘yes’, the auxiliary hréc is used as the tag.

Mun

2SG

byao

help

ne,

1SG

hréc?

Q.AUX

You're going to help me, right?

If the expected answer is ‘no’, the main clause is negated, and the tag appears as pec trá.

Mun

2SG

pec

NEG

nyu

see

nggá,

elephant

pec

NEG

trá?

Q

You didn't really see an elephant, or did you?

Polar questions are answered ‘yes’ either by repeating the main verb of the question or by using an appropriate dummy verb such as śac ‘do’, fyec ‘happen’, dzónc ‘be true’, or the copula ngóu. ‘No’ is expressed with kyao ‘be false’ or with the negative auxiliary pec ‘not’. Verbs in all kinds of answers to polar questions usually appear without any participants. Expected answers are overridden by adding the emphatic particle nù ‘really, indeed’.

Content questions

Questions that give a list of possible answers are formed like polar questions, with the conjunction ro ‘or’ introducing each alternative (which must appear in the form of a noun phrase).

Trá

Q

ao

want

tśic

drink

mun

2SG

ro

or

pe

beer

ro

or

sun?

water

Do you want to drink beer or water?

Hréc

Q.AUX

nù

really

ro

or

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

móc

kill

blóun,

lion

ro

or

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

pei

go_from.3A

ráon

quick

śea

hide

mun?

2SG

Did you really kill the lion, or did you run away and hide yourself from it?

Open content questions are most easily formed with the interrogative verbs róu ‘be who?’ (referring to animate nouns) and rén ‘be what?’ (referring to inanimate nouns). These verbs always appear clause-initially:

Róu

be_who

mun?

2SG

Who are you?

Rén

be_what

ki

this

táo?

thing

What is this?

Note that the meanings of these verbs correspond to the animacy of their referent, not to humans vs. non-humans like English “who” and “what”, so róu can mean ‘be what kind of animal’, ‘be what kind of body part’ or ‘be what kind of weather’, in addition to the expected ‘be which person’:

Róu

be_who

myòu?

sky

What's the weather like?

In order to ask about a particular noun phrase in a sentence, this noun phrase is marked with the interrogative determiners tróu (animate) and trén (inanimate), both best translated as ‘which?’. Non-subject NPs are moved to the beginning of the sentence, with all other elements remaining in their usual positions.

Tróu

which.A

śec

animal

zúc

walk

fou

pass

nu

push

ki

this

źíc?

footprint

What kind of animal walked by and left this trace?

Tróu

which.A

pìc

one

ki

this

bún

2PC

kú

destroy

twí

spear

yu

of

ne?

1SG

Which one of you broke my spear?

Trén

which.I

kànc

meat

hnròc

PL\hunter

nàc

take

kàc

carry

tsì

come_to.1

blo

go_from.3I

lenc?

deciduous_forest

What kind of meat did the hunters bring home from the forest?

These determiners combine with nouns like tsou ‘place, area, region’, línc ‘moment’, kwì ‘manner, method’ or tsèi ‘reason, explanation, motivation’ to create various adverbial interrogatives:

Trén

which.I

tsou

SGV\land

ugei

chieftain

ngóu?

COP

Where is the chieftain?

Tróu

which.A

línc

SGV\time

ne

1SG

yéi

then.PST

tei

say

kù

that

sei?

words

When did I say that?

Trén

which.I

kwì

method

mun

2SG

ndza

successful

móc

kill

blóun?

lion

How did you manage to kill the lion?

Trén

which.I

tsèi

reason

wo

INSTR

lenc

deciduous_forest

tác

have

se

no

dźao

leaves

hpi

during_period

ntronc?

winter

Why do the trees have no leaves in the winter?

The interrogative noun phrase may also be used as the object of a preposition:

Nic

at

trén

which.I

màc

village

kànc

PASS\give_birth

mun?

2SG

Where do you come from? (lit. in which village were you born?)

Wonc

BEN

tróu

which.A

kwac

woman

mun

2SG

tsao

cut

lá

build

lei

decorate

ki

this

mba

SGV

grec?

jewellery

For which woman are you making this piece of jewellery?

If an interrogative determiner is combined with an inherently possessed noun whose possessor is not present, the question is typically interpreted as asking for the possessor. Note that the determiner still agrees in animacy with the possessed noun:

Trén

which.I

śi

meal[POSS]

ki

this

táo

thing

ngóu?

COP

Whose portion of food is this?

Passives

In order to shift emphasis away from the agent and towards the patient or theme, a transitive sentence can be passivized simply by using the morphological passive form of the main verb and switching the word order to VS.

Handźáo

PASS\cook

hlíc.

stew

The stew has been cooked.

The agent may optionally be reintroduced as an oblique argument, being marked with the preposition ta ‘by’ if it is animate, or with the preposition wo ‘with, by, using’ if it is inanimate.

Hxúoc

PASS\gather

ki

this

mao

strawberries

ta

by

sa

sister

san

related_to

ne.

1SG

These strawberries have been picked by my sister.

Fwóc

PASS\kill

mae

deer

wo

INSTR

nyèn.

SGV\arrows

The deer was killed by an arrow.

Unlike many other languages, Ronc Tyu can also passivize some intransitive verbs (especially verbs that describe activities rather than states). This has the effect of creating an impersonal predicate without any syntactic subject, often carrying existential semantics.

Tsá.

PASS\work

There's work to do. (lit. it is being worked)

Htò

PASS\silent

twinc.

here

It's quiet around here.

With passivized intransitives too, the original subject may be reintroduced as an oblique participant.

Tèin

then.FUT

hkéc

PASS\play_music

ta

by

ngwèi

PL\woman

vei

from

màc.

village

Then there will be music, played by the women of the village.

Morphologically passivized intransitive verbs may also appear in a rare but interesting inverted construction that includes both a syntactic subject and an agentive/instrumental oblique argument. Semantically, the oblique participant represents the reintroduced original subject, and the core participant represents an indirect experiencer that is somehow affected by the described situation without having control over it. (It depends on context whether the effect on the experiencer is positive or negative, but a negative reading is much more common.)

Hfae

PASS\fall

ne

1SG

ta

by

wì

rain

ya

previous

man.

day

I got rained on yesterday. (lit. I was fallen by rain yesterday)

Má

PASS\die

Gèn

Gèn

ta

by

pyè.

grandfather

Gèn's grandfather died on him. (lit. Gèn was died by his grandfather)

Htùonc

PASS\pregnant

fyao

friend[POSS]

ne

1SG

ta

by

rúon

spouse[POSS]

tśi.

3A.SG

my [male] friend is expecting a baby from his wife. (lit. my friend is pregnanted by his wife)

(Note that the last of the above examples is not ambiguous with the reading ‘my [female] friend is pregnant from her husband’ despite of the lack of gender-specific words, because in the latter situation there would be no need to use the passive and the sentence would thus simply end up as fyao ne dùonc ta rúon tśi.)

Reflexives and reciprocals

Since Ronc Tyu does not have dedicated reflexive pronouns, statements where the subject acts upon itself simply use a normal personal pronoun coreferential with the subject in the object position of a transitive clause.

Ne

1SG

fae

fall

xanc

injure

ne.

1SG

I fell down and hurt myself.

When a dual, paucal, or plural pronoun is used in this way, the resulting clause is often interpreted as reciprocal:

Ngèc

parents

san

related_to

ne

1SG

bwín

love

kuc.

3A.DU

My parents love each other.

In situations where ambiguity with a non-reflexive reading might arise, reflexive or reciprocal semantics can optionally be made explicit by reduplicating the object pronoun:

Záe

Záe

pin

wash

tśi.

3A.SG

Záe washes him/her. / Záe washes herself. (ambiguous)

Záe

Záe

pin

wash

tśi

3A.SG

tśi.

3A.SG

Záe washes herself.

In order to differentiate non-singular reflexives from reciprocals, hac mba ‘each member of’ (for collective nouns) or hac mba źec ‘each member of the group of’ (for countable nouns) can be added – to the subject for reflexives (which take a singular object in this situation), and to the object for reciprocals. Note however that this construction usually implies that all members of the subject group were actually affected by the action.

Hac

each

mba

SGV

źec

group[POSS]

fwéc

PL\warrior

móc

kill

tśi.

3A.SG

Each one of the warriors killed himself.

Fwéc

PL\warrior

móc

kill

hac

each

mba

SGV

źec

group[POSS]

ndźí.

3A.PL

The warriors killed each other [and nobody survived].

With transitive actions, another option for unambiguously indicating a reciprocal meaning is to form an ECM construction with the intransitive verb dro ‘do the same’ in the second slot. This works even for two singular participants who do not form a coherent group, and thus cannot easily be named as a combined subject:

Nròc

hunter

nyu

see

mae

deer

dro.

do_the_same

The hunter and the deer see each other.
(lit. the hunter sees the deer and the deer does the same [to him])

Complex sentences

Clause coordination

Clause-level conjunctions such as o ‘and’, e ‘or’, or kè ‘but, however’ are placed clause-initially. Note that these conjunctions cannot be used to connect noun phrases.

Pei

boy

mbrinc

brave

o

and

nonc

girl

nàenc.

intelligent

The boy is brave and the girl is intelligent.

Htsí

now

myòu

sky

làe,

sunny

kè

but

wù

storm

ndèin

about_to

tou

begin

wic

blow

tsì.

come_to.1

Now the weather is sunny, but a storm will come soon.

Coordination of noun phrases

Non-subject noun phrases are coordinated using the conjunction na ‘and, with’.

Ne

1SG

nyu

see

zoc

eagle

na

and

tśèa

falcon

ya

previous

man.

day

I saw an eagle and a falcon yesterday.

Hmúnc

PL\squirrel

lá

build

lei

decorate

mbèin

nest

tśáo

warm

wo

INSTR

kyú

moss

na

and

dźao

leaves

ginggí.

ATTR\soft

The squirrels make their nest comfortable with soft moss and leaves.

This conjunction cannot be used for sentence subjects though, so subject noun phrases are instead coordinated with the preposition fa ‘together with’. The fa-phrase can appear either directly after the subject or after the main verb phrase, but it refers to the subject in both situations.

Nà

mother

fa

with

myè

father

rèn

have_sex

kuc.

3A.DU

Mother and father have sex [with each other].

Mun

2SG

tèin

then.FUT

kèi

go_from.2

do

come_to.3I

lenc

deciduous_forest

fa

with

ne.

1SG

You and I will go to the forest together.

Noun phrases can be presented as alternatives to each other with the conjunction ro ‘or’, which is repeated before each NP. This conjunction can be used with both subjects and non-subjects.

Mun

2SG

nrà

be_able

nàc

take

ro

or

myuo

SGV\apple

ro

or

nyá.

SGV\pear

You may have an apple or a pear.

Trà

exist

nèi

PHYS

ro

or

xan

fox

ro

or

zac

wolf

móc

kill

ki

this

no.

bird

It must have been a fox or a wolf that killed this bird.

Contrastive coordination of noun phrases (‘but’) is achieved with the preposition re ‘without’ if the noun phrases appear in subject position, or with the conjunction na ‘and’ and the quantifier se ‘no, none’ otherwise. Note that in both cases the negated NP must follow the non-negated one.

Kác

male_dog

re

without

gou

female_dog

mi

receive

kànc

meat

ya

previous

man.

day

The male dog but not the female dog received meat yesterday.

Ne

1SG

ndźei

know

ki

this

tao

man

na

and

se

no

ki

this

kwac.

woman

I know this man, but not this woman.

Another method for contrasting two different subjects against each other is described above in the chapter on negation.

Phrases of other types, most importantly prepositional phrases, can also be coordinated, using the conjunctions na ‘and’ and ro ‘or’ in the same way as non-subject noun phrases. However, because there is no way to negate a prepositional phrase in Ronc Tyu, ‘but’ can only be expressed by means of rephrasing the PP as a separate clause.

Ni

many

ni

many

kwí

PL\thrush

ngóu

COP

té

sit

xònc

on

mwòu

roof

na

and

myuc

among

ngào

branches

yu

of

hlú.

poplar_trees

There's a large swarm of thrushes sitting on the roof and in the branches of the poplar trees.

Ne

1SG

syéi

already

myen

look

mic

turn_around

ndźù

search

téc

LOC.DYN

ngoun

inside

myèc,

SGV\village

kè

but

ne

1SG

pec

NEG

dro

do_the_same

téc

LOC.DYN

mbà.

yard

I have searched in the house but not in the yard.
(lit. ...but I haven't done so in the yard)

Complement clauses

Complement clauses, i.e. subordinated clauses acting as a noun (most importantly as the subject or object of a sentence), are formed exactly like ordinary main clauses, preceded by the complementizer tenc. When a complement clause appears in the subject position of a transitive statement, it is marked with the instrumental preposition wo like an inanimate noun phrase.

Ugwac

queen

lùo

worry

tenc

SUB

dyao

enemies

tèin

then.FUT

dric

attack

màc.

village

The queen was worried that the enemies might attack the village.

Wo

INSTR

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

tsao

cut

lei

decorate

toc

wood

soc

give

reanc

CAUS-happy

Záe.

Záe

Carving wood makes Záe happy.

Complement clauses can also act as the object of a preposition:

Mun

2SG

pec

NEG

nrà

be_able

bí

capture

dźaon

salmon

re

without

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

kèi

go_from.2

dźi

come_to.3A

fwenc.

river

You can't catch salmon if you don't go to the river.

Yì

instead_of

tenc

SUB

ndzì

3A.PC

śoc

rest

té

sit

tyòu

eat

gonc,

food

ndzì

3A.PC

zúc

walk

zúc

walk

do

come_to.3I

yaon.

lake

Instead of taking a rest and eating, they continued to walk towards the lake.

Since complement clauses behave like nouns syntactically, they may participate in existential constructions as well. Semantically, this indicates that the occurrence of the action described in the complement clause is emphatically affirmed.

Trà

exist

tenc

SUB

twín

PL\person

lóa

there

ntào

dance[v]

źwi.

dance[n]

There is dancing over there. (lit. it's true that people are dancing there)

In addition to the general complementizer tenc, Ronc Tyu possesses a few other words which may fill the same syntactic position under special circumstances. The most common of these is rei, which appears in the context of reported speech. A couple of other specialized complementizers have a more limited distribution, appearing mainly in evidential constructions.

Relative clauses

Relative clauses, i.e. subordinated clauses acting as an attribute to a noun phrase, are introduced with the relativizers bùn (for animate referents) or gyào (for inanimate referents). A pronoun referring to the relativized noun is retained within the relative clause:

Ne

1SG

ao

want

syu

meet

nonc

girl

bùn

REL.A

tśi

3A.SG

ngwi.

gentle

I want to meet a girl who is friendly.

Sa

sister

syéi

already

tyòu

eat

xòac

all.COLL

mao

strawberries

gyào

REL.I

ne

1SG

ngúoc

gather

to.

3I.COLL

My sister has eaten all the strawberries that I picked.

If a pronoun itself is being relativized, it appears only in the relative clause:

Bùn

REL.A

hei

1PL

myei

pray_to

ufwéc

PL\god

ndèin

about_to

ndźác

defeat

dyao.

enemies

We who pray to the gods will defeat the enemy.

(not *Hei bùn hei myei ufwéc ndèin ndźác dyao.)

If both subject and object of a transitive relative clause are represented by the same pronoun, the relativized noun will be assumed to be the subject of the subclause. In order to relativize the object in such a situation, the subject must be represented by one of the special logophoric pronouns dzó (for animate referents) or hto (for inanimate referents) instead, which explicitly refer back to the subject of the matrix clause:

Fec

warrior

móc

kill

tao

man

bùn

REL.A

tśi

3A.SG

dric

attack

tśi.

3A.SG

The warrior killed the man who attacked him.

Fec

warrior

móc

kill

tao

man

bùn

REL.A

dzó

same.A

dric

attack

tśi.

3A.SG

The warrior killed the man whom he attacked.

Relative clauses referring to the subject of the matrix clause may be moved before their referent (i.e. to the beginning of the sentence) to make them easier to parse:

Bùn

REL.A

tśi

3A.SG

tùc

know

nyu

see

ni

many

síenc

PL\night

na

and

ndźi

many.COLL

myéc,

stars

tà

grandmother

ndèin

about_to

ma.

die

My grandmother who has seen many nights and many stars will soon die.
(lit. she who has seen..., my grandmother will soon die)

Relativization of oblique participants works very much the same way as relativization of subjects and objects, but the repeated pronoun needs to appear inside a prepositional phrase or coverb phrase which shows the role of the relativized noun within the subclause.

Ki

this

tsou

SGV\land

ngóu

COP

màc

village

gyào

REL.I

kànc

PASS\give_birth

ne

1SG

nic

at

to.

3I.COLL

This is the village in which I was born.

Fwóc

PASS\kill

ta

by

dyao

enemies

tao

man

bùn

REL.A

ne

1SG

wín

marry

fye

brother

san

related_to

tśi.

3A.SG

The man whose brother I married has been killed by the enemy.

Ki

this

man

day

ngóu

COP

man

day

bùn

REL.A

mun

2SG

want

ao

tsì

come_to.1

syu

meet

ne

1SG

fyec

happen

tśi.

3A.SG

Today is the day on which you want to come and visit me.

The whole oblique phrase (including the pronoun) can be elided in situations where the relative clause is found within another oblique phrase of the same type, as specifying the role would be redundant there:

Mun

2SG

nrà

be_able

tsì

come_to.1

syu

meet

ne

1SG

fyec

happen

tè

any

man

day

bùn

REL.A

mun

2SG

ao

want

dro

do_the_same

(fyec

(happen

tśi).

3A.SG)

You can come and visit me any day on which you want to do so.

In case a relative clause would contain only the subject and an intransitive verb phrase, speakers of Ronc Tyu are likely to resort to an attributive construction instead. If the attributed VP contains more than one verb, all of them need to appear in the attributive form.

Ne

1SG

ao

want

syu

meet

nonc

girl

gwi.

ATTR\gentle

I want to meet a girl who is friendly. (lit. a friendly girl)

Tśi

3A.SG

glé

ATTR\sit

glò

ATTR\silent

mi

receive

gonc.

food

Anyone who is sitting quietly gets food.

Note that both relative clauses and attributive constructions tend to be avoided when they refer to the subject of a sentence. Instead, the semantically ‘attributive’ verb describing the subject is treated syntactically as forming a sequential or simultaneous event together with the main verb of the sentence:

Pei

boy

nàenc

intelligent

dwá

understand

kén.

task

The smart boy understands the task. (lit. the boy is smart and understands the task)

(Pei dàenc dwá kén, using the attributive form of ‘be intelligent’, is grammatical too, but the serial construction given above is generally preferred.)

Adverbial clauses

Ronc Tyu has several different ways to express adverbial elements – lexical adverbs, prepositional phrases, serial verb constructions, and full-scale adverbial subclauses. For most types of adverbials, more than one of these methods can be used. Because an adequate description of this gets rather lengthy, and because it presupposes an understanding of how serial verb constructions work in Ronc Tyu, it is relegated to a later section of this document.

Adverbial constructions which are valid constituents typically appear near the end of a sentence, with prepositional phrases preceding subclauses, but they may be topic-fronted for emphasis. If several adverbial constituents of the same syntactic type are present, they are generally ordered place → manner → reason → purpose → result → time.

Serial verb constructions (SVC)

Sequential events

One of the most obvious uses for serial verb constructions is for expressing sequences of closely connected actions that are understood to form a single macro-event. Verbs in a series of this type have equal status within the construction (i.e. there is no clear ‘head’). They are ordered according to the actual temporal sequence, and they usually have a shared subject.

Sometimes all components of a sequential SVC are intransitive:

Dye

boat

tú

decay

níe.

sink

The boat falls apart and sinks.

Sometimes all of the verbs are transitive. In this case, the SVC as a whole is transitive too, and both subject and object are shared by all verbs:

Nà

mother

ndźáo

cook

tyòu

eat

hlíc.

stew

The mother cooks and eats a stew.

If a transitive and an intransitive verb are used together, the intransitive verb must come first because it may not intervene between the transitive verb and its object. The SVC as a whole is transitive:

Blóun

lion

xù

shout

kónc

bite

nròc.

hunter

The lion roars and bites the hunter.

• *Blóun kónc xù nròc.
  (ungrammatical)

Sequential SVC often contain one or more passivized verbs. If the first verb in the series is passivized and the SVC as a whole remains intransitive, the word order is typically switched to VS, with the subject appearing after the verb series:

Hkónc

PASS\bite

ma

die

nròc

hunter

ta

by

blóun.

lion

The hunter died after being bitten by the lion.

If the semantics and transitivity values of the verbs do not permit iconic order (for example because the verb that happens last is intransitive), or if two or more transitive verbs have different objects, it is not possible to use a sequential SVC. Instead, the event can be described as a sequence of independent clauses, with the shared subject being referred to with the logophoric pronouns dzó (animate) or hto (inanimate) in all but the first of these chained clauses:

Blóun

lion

kónc

bite

nròc

hunter

dzó

same.A

xù.

shout

The lion bites the hunter and roars.

Nà

mother

tyòu

eat

nyá

SGV\pear

dzó

same.A

láo

watch

dànc

PL\child

The mother eats a pear and watches the children.

Lexicalized sequential serials

Many combinations of sequential serial verbs are lexicalized, usually referring to common, culturally recognized activities. As a guideline, the longer a SVC, the more likely it is to have acquired a specialized and often idiomatic meaning.

Gèn

Gèn

bwác

suffer

fwi.

burn

Gèn is ill with a fever.

Pei

boy

beanc

laugh

nu

push

nonc.

girl

The boy is making fun of the girl.

Tśi

3A.SG

tei

say

zò

put

ronc

language[POSS]

hei

1PL

wonc

BEN

dànc.

PL\child

She's teaching our language to her children.

Mwì

PL\man

vei

from

màc

village

tyuc

talk_about

pyec

continue

pwo

answer

ndáo

PL\thing

gwóun.

ATTR\important

The men of the village negotiate important matters.

A special type of lexicalized SVC is synonymous verb serialization, which is mostly found as a stylistic device in storytelling and ritualized speech. It consists of a conventionalized series of two verbs with roughly the same meaning:

Fwéc

PL\warrior

ndà

slay

móc

kill

na

all

twín

PL\person

vei

from

màc.

village

The warriors brutally killed all the people of the village.

Some lexicalized SVC contain fossilized morphemes that are not used elsewhere in the language. The status of these so-called ‘cranberry morphemes’ is somewhat ambivalent: they behave like ordinary verbs within their SVC, but they can't be passivized or attributed, and they do not appear in other typical environments for verbs either.

Záe

Záe

li

pull

hmi

squeeze

tsín

ewe

hka.

lactate¹

Záe is milking the ewe.

Trá

Q

yec

think²

pou

find

mun

2SG

sei

words

gyào

REL.I

pyè

grandfather

tei

say

to

3I.COLL

wonc

BEN

nac?

1DU

Do you remember what grandfather said to us?

---

¹) hka ‘lactate, provide milk’ appears in two lexicalized serial verb constructions, but nowhere else: li hmi ... hka ‘milk (an animal)’ and hka gónc ‘nurse, breastfeed’.
²) yec ‘think’ appears only in the two lexicalized serial verb constructions yec pou ‘remember’ and yec prei ‘suspect, suppose’.

Grammatical use of serial verbs

Causatives

Ronc Tyu forms causative statements as serial verb constructions. Most typically an ECM structure is used, with the causative event in the first slot and the caused state or event in the second slot. If the causative event is not described in detail, the verb soc ‘give’ can function as a generic causative verb. Causatives which involve movement of some sort often use zò ‘put, place’ instead.

Blóun

lion

kónc

bite

nròc

hunter

ma.

die

The lion bites the hunter to death.

Ne

1SG

soc

give

myè

father

nàc

take

kàc

carry

tsì

come_to.1

glà

firewood

blo

go_from.3I

lenc.

deciduous_forest

I made father bring in firewood from the forest.

Fec

warrior

zò

put

rugwá

CAUS-descend

wóu

bow_and_arrow

lin

lie

xònc

on

śo-gonc.

table

The warrior puts down his bow and arrow onto the table.

By adding one of these generic causative verbs, it also becomes possible to form semantically causative statements from intransitive verbs:

Danc

PL\child

nyoun

play

soc

give

ne

1SG

yunc.

awake

I was woken up by the children playing.

ECM causatives cannot be nested directly. Instead, the causer of the inner causative event is expressed as an oblique participant, usually marked with the preposition ta ‘by’:

Nà

mother

soc

give

li

pull

hmi

squeeze

tsín

ewe

hka

lactate

ta

by

Záe.

Záe

Her mother made Záe milk the ewe.
(lit. the mother had the ewe being made to give milk by Záe)

If only two participants are relevant for a semantically causative statement, a sequential SVC is preferred. Some verbs have a lexical causative equivalent that is frequently encountered in such constructions (often formed with the derivational prefix rV- whose vowel harmonizes with the main syllable; note that verbs with this prefix cannot fill a slot in a verb phrase on their own and thus must appear adjacent to another verb).

Trùc

shaman

twè

cut

tóc

remove

nínc.

beard

The shaman shaves off his beard. (lit. the shaman cuts his beard, removing it)

Nonc

girl

ravae

CAUS-fall

kú

destroy

an.

amphora

The girl drops the amphora, breaking it.

Gèn

Gèn

li

pull

soc

give

tsì

come_to.1

pàn.

rope

Gèn pulls the rope this way.

It should be noted that sequential causatives (in contrast to ECM causatives) merely describe the intended or expected result of the causative action, not necessarily the actual result. This is explicit in the following example:

Blóun

lion

kónc

bite

móc

kill

tśi,

3A.SG

kè

but

nròc

hunter

pec

NEG

ma.

die

The lion bites him [in a way expected to result in death], but the hunter doesn't die.

Comparison

Comparative statements are made with serial verb constructions using the verb nwa ‘exceed, surpass’, which is simply added after the verb(s) expressing the compared quality:

Gèn

Gèn

mbrinc

brave

nwa

exceed

fye.

brother

Gèn is more courageous than his brother.

Superlatives are formed by using a totality of referents as the object of the clause:

Gèn

Gèn

mbrinc

brave

nwa

exceed

nè

every

tsyún.

person

Gèn is more courageous than everyone else.

When comparing the amount of involvement of several participants in a transitive verb, an ECM construction is used with competing subjects, and complement clauses are used with competing objects:

Ngwèi

PL\woman

nwa

exceed

mwì

PL\man

mbùn

good

faen

sing

śin.

song

Women sing better than men.

Záe

Záe

nwa

exceed

sa

sister

bwín

love

nà.

mother

Záe loves her mother more than her sister does.

Tenc

SUB

Záe

Záe

bwín

love

nà

mother

nwa

exceed

tenc

SUB

Záe

Záe

bwín

love

sa.

sister

Záe loves her mother more than she loves her sister.

In examples like the last one above, the subject and verb of the second clause are commonly replaced with a generic phrase like dzó śac ‘the same one does’ (animate) or hto ko ‘the same one affects’ (inanimate):

Tenc

SUB

Záe

Záe

bwín

love

nà

mother

nwa

exceed

tenc

SUB

dzó

same.A

śac

do

sa.

sister

Záe loves her mother more than she does her sister.

Tenc

SUB

wo

INSTR

ki

this

htsao

knife

twè

cut

faonc

skin

krùo

ATTR\dry

nwa

exceed

tenc

SUB

wo

INSTR

hto

same.I

ko

touch

toc.

wood

This knife cuts leather better than it cuts wood.

Non-predicative comparison is expressed by directly attributing the compared quality to the comparand, and placing the comparative verb within a relative clause:

Gèn

Gèn

tác

possess

htsao

knife

kśie

ATTR\sharp

gyào

REL.I

wo

INSTR

to

3I.SG

nwa

exceed

htsao

knife

yu

of

fye.

brother

Gèn has a knife which is sharper than his brother's one.
(lit. Gèn has a sharp knife which exceeds the knife of his brother)

All types of comparisons can be expressed from an opposite viewpoint by using psòn ‘be less than’ instead of nwa:

Wo

INSTR

mao

strawberries

va

sweet

psòn

less_than

rèi

juice[POSS]

rae.

bees

Strawberries are not as sweet as honey.

It is also possible to use nòn ‘match, be equal’ to indicate that the two things to be compared are judged as equivalent with regard to the compared quality, or bwá ‘be similar, resemble’ to indicate that they are only slightly different from each other.

Fye

brother

mbrinc

brave

nòn

match

Gèn.

Gèn

Gèn's brother is just as courageous as Gèn is.

Wo

INSTR

ki

this

moc

SGV\rock

dóc

heavy

bwá

resemble

kù

that

moc.

SGV\rock

This stone is about as heavy as that one.

If there is nothing to compare against, a high degree of a desirable quality can be expressed through serialization with nyac ‘win, be victorious’, and a high degree of an undesirable quality through serialization with htroa ‘lose, fail’.

Tśinc

PL\horse

ráon

quick

nyac.

win

Horses are very fast.

Ne

1SG

yéi

then.PST

źù

afraid

htroa.

lose

I was extremely scared.

Motion verbs

Direction and deixis

Ronc Tyu has a set of nine deictic motion verbs marking not only origin/destination, but also person and animacy of the reference point:

	Origin (go away from)	Destination (come towards)	No direction (move)
1st person	kein ‘go away from speaker’	tsì ‘come towards speaker’
2nd person	kèi ‘go away from listener’	mya ‘come towards listener’
3rd person animate	pei ‘go away from someone other than speaker or listener’	dźi ‘come towards someone other than speaker or listener’
3rd person inanimate	blo ‘go away from something’	do ‘come towards something’	kòun ‘go nowhere in particular, move around, roam, wander’

All of these deictic motion verbs are technically intransitive:

Ne

1SG

kèi.

go_from.2

I'm leaving [you].

However, the origin and destination verbs may also take a complement. This is especially common with the third person inanimate forms. With verbs that have an animate reference point, an overt complement that is not a matching pronoun will be interpreted to be possessed or accompanied by the given person.

Tśi

3A.SG

do

come_to.3I

myèc.

SGV\village

He/she goes towards the house.

Tśi

3A.SG

mya

come_to.2

myèc.

SGV\village

He/she goes towards your house.

When there is an overt complement, clauses with deictic motion verbs count as transitive and therefore require marking inanimate subjects with the instrumental preposition wo:

Wo

INSTR

twí

spear

do

come_to.3I

mba

SGV

pínc.

oaks

The spear is moving towards the oak tree.

While deictic motion verbs may be used on their own, they are much more frequently encountered in serial verb constructions, generally ordered according to the iconic sequence of events (i.e. cause → motion away from → motion towards → result).

Wo

INSTR

twí

spear

htào

PASS\throw

do

come_to.3I

mba

SGV

pínc.

oaks

The spear is thrown towards the oak tree.

Mun

2SG

tào

throw

kèi

go_from.2

twí.

spear

You throw the spear [away from yourself].

Ne

1SG

kein

go_from.1

do

come_to.3I

ngò.

hills

I go towards the hills.

Although somewhat contrived, the following example is grammatical:

Myè

father

pei

go_from.3A

mya

come_to.2

kèi

go_from.2

tsì

come_to.1

kein

go_from.1

mya

come_to.2

kèi

go_from.2

dźi

come_to.3A

nya.

home[POSS]

Our father left his house and came to yours, left yours and came to mine, then went back to yours and left it to return to his house.

(Note that each destination is explicitly left by the father before moving on to the next one. Stringing together several origin verbs or several destination verbs immediately after one another would be ungrammatical.)

Manner of motion

Verbs indicating the manner of motion in Ronc Tyu usually do not specify a direction, so they are often combined with directional verbs. Manner-of-motion verbs are placed between origin and destination verb if both are present; otherwise they appear before the directional verb.

Pyè

grandfather

zúc

walk

kòun.

move_around

Grandfather goes for a stroll.

Ne

1SG

kein

go_from.1

ráon

quick

do

come_to.3I

ngò.

hills

I run towards the hills.

(Compare to pyè zúc ‘grandfather is on foot’ or ne ráon ‘I am fast’.)

This strategy is also used to convert verbs of stationary movement to verbs of motion:

Kuc

3A.DU

pei

go_from.3A

bù

float

do

come_to.3I

nú

other

syáe

SGV\shore

yu

of

fwenc.

river

The two of them swim to the other bank of the river.

Verbs of motion can also be formed from posture verbs. This is done by placing the directional verb kòun ‘go nowhere in particular, move around, roam, wander’ after them and adding an origin and/or destination verb.

Fec

warrior

ngóu

COP

lin

lie

kòun

move_around

do.

come_to.3I

The warrior is crawling over there.

There are a few non-deictic motion verbs which do specify a direction (e.g. kwá ‘go down, descend’ or pùnc ‘be/move parallel to’). These are often used like manner-of-motion verbs too:

Htsí

now

minc

2DU

ta

IMP

kwá

descend

tsì.

come_to.1

I expect you two to come down here [to me] right now!

Many strings of motion verbs combined with other verbs are lexicalized, often not really describing a certain type of motion, but a conventional activity which involves movement in some way. (Note that the motion verbs themselves must always match the person and animacy of their referents though.)

Pwanc

child

zúc

walk

kòun

move_around

fae

fall

fae.

fall

The child is learning how to walk.
(lit. the child is walking around and keeps falling)

Dźé

1PC

ndzu

rise

kein

go_from.1

tyòu

eat

yenc

sleep

do

come_to.3I

nùn.

ocean

This small group of us is traveling to the ocean.
(lit. the few of us rise, leave, eat, sleep, and come to the ocean)

Source and target

The origin and destination verbs can also be used as coverbs to add an argument in the role of source or target respectively, increasing the valency of the main VP:

Myè

father

nàc

take

kàc

carry

tsì

come_to.1

glà

firewood

blo

go_from.3I

lenc.

deciduous_forest

Father brings home firewood from the forest.

Nròc

hunter

li

pull

tào

throw

nrìn

arrows

dźi

come_to.3A

mae.

deer

The hunter shoots arrows at the deer.

Posture and orientation

Posture can be expressed by means of serializing the copula ngóu with one of the positional verbs pùn ‘stand’, té ‘sit’, lin ‘lie’, or tśèin ‘hang, be suspended’.

Gèn

Gèn

ngóu

COP

pùn.

stand

Gèn is standing upright.

In this usage, the positional verbs can also be used pseudo-transitively, which means that they can take a complement NP describing the location of the subject (but note that such sentences are not fully transitive because of the copula, and therefore do not require marking inanimate subjects with wo). An overt preposition is only necessary in order to specify more detailed spatial relationships than a generic ‘at, on’.

Mba

SGV

pínc

oaks

gwae

ATTR\fall

ngóu

COP

lin

lie

kwé.

ground

A fallen oak tree is lying on the ground.

Ruoc

megalith

ngóu

COP

té

sit

gao

amid

śou-zèi.

meadow

The megalith stands (lit. sits) in the middle of the meadow.

Posture constructions can be extended with the coverb pyó ‘face, be oriented towards’, which introduces an additional directional complement. Other verbs of orientation like láo ‘watch, look at’, pùnc ‘be parallel to’, bòu ‘be perpendicular to’, and pèin ‘be diagonal to’ may also be used in this function.

Gèn

Gèn

ngóu

COP

pùn

stand

poun

above

oc

rock

pyó

face

ne.

1SG

Gèn is standing on top of the rock, facing me.

Note how the coverb phrase in the example above semantically relates to the subject of the posture predicate (so it is Gèn who is facing the speaker), in contrast to the following sentence, where the adnominal preposition nge ‘before, in front of, across from, facing’ is used instead, and relates to the immediately preceding noun phrase (so it is the rock which is facing the speaker):

Gèn

Gèn

ngóu

COP

pùn

stand

poun

above

oc

rock

nge

before

ne.

1SG

Gèn is standing on top of the rock which is facing me.

In order to describe a change of posture and/or orientation, the copula ngóu is replaced by an appropriate movement verb such as fae ‘fall’, ndzu ‘rise’, ko ‘touch, get in contact with’, mic ‘turn around’ or similar. Because the copula is not used, this construction is regarded as fully transitive and thus requires the instrumental preposition wo with inanimate subjects.

Wo

INSTR

mba

SGV

pínc

oaks

fae

fall

lin

lie

kwé

ground

bòu

perpendicular

fwoc.

path

The oak tree falls down so that it lies on the ground, blocking the path.

Gèn

Gèn

mic

turn_around

pùn

stand

láo

watch

kè.

mountains

Gèn turns around to stand facing the mountains.

Descriptions of posture and/or orientation can also be used as part of a larger predicate. In this case, the positional verb (series) appears as the second part of an ECM construction, with any additional complements following it. If causation is involved, zò ‘put, place’ is added to the first part of the ECM construction.

Ndźí

3A.PL

zò

put

lá

build

ruoc

megalith

té

sit

gao

amid

śou-zèi.

meadow

They put up the megalith in the middle of the meadow.

Aspect

Verbs in Ronc Tyu may be interpreted fairly flexibly with regard to aspect, although the default reading is typically perfective. However, there are several constructions which overtly specify a certain type of aspect by means of verb serialization.

Progressive aspect is expressed by using the copula ngóu as an auxiliary verb.

Nonc

girl

ngóu

COP

faen

sing

śin.

song

The girl is singing a song.

Note that transitive sentences where ngóu is used to indicate progressive aspect do require marking an inanimate subject with the instrumental preposition wo, unlike sentences where ngóu is used as a copula:

Wo

INSTR

sun

water

ngóu

COP

hléc

PASS\waste

yie

fall_on

kwé.

ground

Water is dripping on the floor.

Inceptive aspect is expressed with the verbs lo 'become' (preferred for states) or tou 'start, begin' (preferred for events), used in auxiliary position. Similar semantics may also be achieved with causative or factitive formations resulting in a stative predicate.

Nonc

girl

tou

begin

faen

sing

śin.

song

The girl is starting to sing a song.

Blóun

lion

lo

become

yoc.

hungry

The lion is becoming hungry.

A prospective aspect is formed with the auxiliary verb ndèin ‘be about to’.

Nròc

hunter

ndèin

about_to

li

pull

tào

throw

nrìn

arrows

móc

kill

mae.

deer

The hunter is about to shoot a deer.

A habitual or iterative aspect can be formed by repeating a verb (effectively: serializing it with itself).

Nonc

girl

faen

sing

faen

sing

śin.

song

The girl always sings songs.

In certain contexts, a resumptive interpretation is more appropriate:

Nà

mother

yéi

then.PST

gundùn

sew

gundùn

sew

swi.

coat

Then his mother resumed sewing the coat.
[said after describing how she stopped sewing for a while, e.g. in order to talk to someone]

When applying the habitual/iterative aspect to serial verb constructions, normally only the first non-auxiliary verb is repeated.

Ne

1SG

zúc

walk

zúc

walk

do

come_to.3I

kyá

arrive

màc

village

yu

of

ndźí.

3A.PL

I walked on and on until I reached their village.

Ne

1SG

pec

NEG

ao

want

tyuc

talk_about

tyuc

talk_about

pyec

continue

pwo

answer

táo

thing

gabra

ATTR\same

nù.

really

I don't want to keep discussing the same issue over and over.

However, relatively short verb series that describe a conventional sequence of events are often repeated as a whole. This is especially common with instances of synonymous verb serialization.

Gèn

Gèn

mic

turn_around

myen

look

mic

turn_around

myen

look

pyu

because

tśi

3A.SG

źù.

afraid

Gèn keeps turning and looking around because he is afraid.

Fwéc

PL\warrior

ndà

slay

móc

kill

ndà

slay

móc

kill

nè

every

tsyún.

person

The warriors keep massacring everyone.

In ECM constructions, both parts of the construction can be repeated individually.

Záe

Záe

twi

allow

twi

allow

sa

sister

ngúoc

gather

mao.

strawberries

Záe keeps allowing her sister to pick strawberries.

Záe

Záe

twi

allow

sa

sister

ngúoc

gather

ngúoc

gather

mao.

strawberries

Záe allows her sister to keep picking strawberries.

An experiential aspect, which indicates that the subject has been involved in an event of this type before, can be formed by using tùc ‘know how to do sth.’ (in the sense of French savoir) as an auxiliary verb.

Gèn

Gèn

tùc

know

móc

kill

blóun.

lion

Gèn has killed a lion before. / Gèn knows how to kill a lion.

Ne

1SG

pec

NEG

tùc

know

tyòu

eat

nyu

see

ki

this

ric

type[POSS]

gonc.

food

I’ve never tasted this kind of food before.

A completive aspect, which indicates that an event has been successfully completed, can be marked with the defective verb syéi ‘has been done already’, which is placed at the end of an intransitive verb series, or at the beginning of a transitive one, but cannot form a valid predicate on its own without another verb.

Nà

mother

syéi

already

gundùn

sew

swi.

coat

Mother has finished sewing the coat.

With verbs of motion, the completive aspect is instead formed with the verb kyá ‘reach, arrive’ in series-final position.

Ne

1SG

do

come_to.3I

kyá

arrive

màc

village

ya

previous

man.

day

I arrived in the village yesterday.

For extra emphasis (i.e. meanings such as ‘only just completed’, ‘completed earlier than expected’, or ‘completed against all odds’), the verb series may be circumfixed with syéi ... śac ‘has been done and finished already’ or syéi ... kyá ‘has gone and arrived already’.

Ne

1SG

htsí

now

syéi

already

do

come_to.3I

kyá

arrive

màc.

village

I only just arrived in the village. / I’ve reached the village already [earlier than expected].

Completive aspect can also be expressed by using dzac ‘finish, complete’ in series-final position, which is used in this function almost exclusively to refer to future events that will have been completed at some point.

Nà

mother

gundùn

sew

dzac

finish

swi

coat

yen

next

man.

day

Mother will have finished sewing the coat by tomorrow.

A cessative aspect, which indicates that an event stopped before being completed (and thus carries an implication of failure when used with telic verbs), can be formed with màonc ‘stop, cease’ in series-final position.

Nà

mother

gundùn

sew

màonc

stop

swi.

coat

Mother has stopped sewing the coat.

Pyè

grandfather

zúc

walk

kòun

move_around

màonc.

stop

Grandfather has stopped walking around.

Gèn

Gèn

tei

say

ndè

keep

màonc.

stop

Gèn has broken his promise. (lit. Gèn has stopped keeping what he said)

Advanced syntax

Adverbial constructions

Time

The simplest way to locate a statement in time is to add a lexical time adverb such as htsí ‘now’, tèin ‘then (in the future)’, or yéi ‘then (in the past)’. However, there are only very few of these adverbs in Ronc Tyu. They typically appear right before the verb(s), but may also be placed clause-initially or clause-finally.

Myè

father

tèin

then.FUT

dán

teach_skills

sro

pursue

síec

PL\animal

wonc

BEN

mun.

2SG

Father will teach you how to hunt animals.

Ne

1SG

ngóu

COP

pei

boy

mìn

ATTR\small

yéi,

then.PST

kè

but

htsí

now

ne

1SG

ngóu

COP

tao.

man

I used to be a little boy in the past, but now I am a man.

Noun phrases referring to time can be added to a sentence with the coverb fyec ‘happen, occur’:

Hei

1PL

tsa

work

suo

LOC.STAT

dróu

field

fyec

happen

púo,

midday

o

and

hei

1PL

té

sit

ron

recite

twáe

PL\legend

fyec

happen

ngónc.

evening

We work on the field during the day, and we sit down and tell stories in the evening.

A few very common temporal phrases such as ya man ‘yesterday’, yen man ‘tomorrow’, ya zàe ‘last year’, or yen zàe ‘next year’ may appear without a coverb:

Ne

1SG

syu

meet

Gèn

Gèn

yen

next

man.

day

I will meet Gèn tomorrow.

In order to refer to times a specific distance away in the past or future, ordinal numerals are used:

Kác

dog

pec

NEG

mi

receive

kànc

meat

fyec

happen

gzo

second

ya

previous

man.

day

The dog didn't get any meat two days ago.

Hei

1PL

do

come_to.3I

kyá

arrive

nóa

cliff

fyec

happen

yen

next

man

day

nic

at

pyáo.

four

We will reach the cliff four days from now.

Indefinite time references use the indefinite quantifier tè ‘any’:

Mun

2SG

ndèin

about_to

dwá

understand

hśinc

SGV\mind[POSS]

ne

1SG

fyec

happen

tè

any

man.

day

Someday you will understand what I mean.

Timespans (indicating the duration of events) are given using the coverb fou ‘pass’.

Blóun

lion

tśoc

ATTR\hungry

xù

shout

xù

shout

fou

pass

lánc

time

kwò.

ATTR\big

The hungry lion kept roaring for a long time.

Htsíe

PL\visitor

bra

stay

té

sit

nya

home[POSS]

dźé

1PC

fou

pass

yé

six

śenc.

night

The guests stayed in our house for six nights.

The coverb may be combined with nwa ‘exceed, surpass’ to indicate that the duration of the main event is longer than the specified timeframe, or with psòn ‘be less than’ to indicate that it is shorter.

Wì

rain

fyao

pour

kwá

descend

fou

pass

nwa

exceed

tòc

three

man.

day

It's been raining for more than three days.

Ne

1SG

tśa

dwell

ki

this

màc

village

fou

pass

psòn

less_than

pìc

one

zàe.

year

I’ve been living in this village for less than a year.

Timeframes (indicating the period of time during which an event occurs) can also be given with fou ‘pass’, typically in combination with a completive aspect marker in the main clause. Alternatively, the prepositions htlanc ‘during (a short timeframe)’ or hpi ‘during (a longer timeframe)’ can be used.

Pei

boy

nàc

take

kàc

carry

tsì

come_to.1

ec

return

kyá

arrive

be

news

fou

pass

pìc

one

man.

day

The boy was back with the message in one day.
(lit. the boy had [already] finished bringing back the message when one day had passed)

Ne

1SG

maenc

like

láo

watch

myòu

sky

gèi

ATTR\red

htlanc

during_situation

hmào.

twilight

I like watching the red sky during dawn.

Hei

1PL

do

come_to.3I

kyá

arrive

nóa

cliff

hpi

during_period

pyáo

four

yen

next

man.

day

We will reach the cliff within four days.
(cf. above)

Relative tense (indicating whether an event occurs before or after a specific point in time, often that of an anchor event) is expressed with the coverb ndźei ‘know, be acquainted with’ (in the sense of French connaître) for the relative past (‘after’), and nyu ‘see’ for the relative future (‘before’).

Hnròc

PL\hunter

ec

return

tsì

come_to.1

ndźei

know

mà.

sundown

The hunters returned after dark.

Dlò

possible

nù

really

tenc

SUB

Záe

Záe

ngànc

give_birth

mbò

baby

nyu

see

yàc

end[POSS]

ndàe.

summer

Záe's baby is likely to be born before the end of summer.

Habitual versions of all kinds of temporal phrases can be formed by reduplicating the coverb or preposition:

fyec fyec	‘always at ..., every ...’
fou fou	’always for the duration of’
htlanc htlanc	‘always during (a short timeframe)’
hpi hpi	‘always during (a longer timeframe)’
ndźei ndźei	‘(keep happening) since’
nyu nyu	‘(keep happening) until’

Hei

1PL

faen

sing

śin

song

fyec

happen

fyec

happen

ngónc.

evening

We always sing songs in the evening.

Trùc

shaman

yo

wear

rigéi

mask

na

and

mbóun

headgear

fou

pass

fou

pass

binc.

ritual

The shaman always wears a mask and headgear for the duration of a ritual.

Nonc

girl

san

related_to

ne

1SG

ao

want

tyòu

eat

myuo

SGV\apples

htlanc

during_situation

htlanc

during_situation

śi

meal[POSS]

eman.

morning

My daughter always wants to eat an apple for breakfast.

Myòu

sky

kwéi

hot

hpi

during_period

hpi

during_period

ndàe.

summer

It always gets hot during the summer.

Wì

rain

fyao

pour

kwá

descend

ndźei

know

ndźei

know

yàc-ntrae.

fall_equinox

It's been raining since the fall equinox.

Dźé

1PC

ló

must

zúc

walk

zúc

walk

nyu

see

nyu

see

púo,

midday

o

and

tèin

then.FUT

dźé

1PC

nrà

be_able

śoc.

rest

We need to keep walking until noon, and then we may rest.

Of course, the time, duration, or timeframe of an event can also be specified with a full temporal subclause. Ronc Tyu possesses several dedicated temporal conjunctions that can be used for this purpose:

htséi	‘when (in the past)’
htèin	‘when (in the future)’
hpan	‘when (during the day)’
htrenc	‘when (during the night)’
htlinc	‘when finally; as soon as’
htlanc	‘while (within a short timeframe)’	← also used as a preposition ‘during (a short timeframe)’
hpi	‘while (within a longer timeframe)’	← also used as a preposition ‘during (a longer timeframe)’
hmi	‘for as long as’

Nà

mother

lo

become

yonc

happy

htséi

when.PST

Gèn

Gèn

móc

kill

blóun.

lion

Gèn's mother was happy when he killed the lion.

Dźé

1PC

bźec

greet

hnròc

PL\hunter

htèin

when.FUT

ndźí

3A.PL

ec

return

kyá.

arrive

We'll welcome the hunters when they return.

Swéc

PL\shooting_star

źùn

shine

ntào

dance[v]

źwi

dance[n]

xònc

on

myòu

sky

htrenc

when_at_night

ngèc

parents

san

related_to

ne

1SG

wín

marry

kuc.

3A.DU

There were shooting stars in the sky during the night when my parents got married.

Ugei

chieftain

tèin

then.FUT

tei

say

me

tell

hei

1PL

htlinc

when_finally

tśi

3A.SG

kenc

decide

kén.

task

The chieftain will let us know as soon as he has decided what to do.

Ta

IMP

pec

NEG

tei

say

sei

words

htlanc

during_situation

nonc

girl

faen

sing

śin!

song

Don't talk while the girl is singing!

Záe

Záe

té

sit

sruo

wait

hmi

as_long_as

Gèn

Gèn

nàc

take

fi

wrap

yo

wear

nóc.

pants

Záe waited for as long as it took Gèn to put on his pants.

Other types of temporal subclauses are introduced with combinations of one or more coverbs plus the complementizer tenc:

pyec tenc	‘always when, every time, whenever’
ndźei tenc	‘after’
ndźei ndźei tenc	‘since’
nyu tenc	‘before’
nyu nyu tenc	‘until’
fou nwa tenc	‘for a longer time than’
fou psòn tenc	‘for a shorter time than’

Nà

mother

faen

sing

śin

song

wonc

BEN

mbò

baby

pyec

continue

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

manc.

tired

The mother always sings a song for the baby when it is tired.

Myè

father

ec

return

tsì

come_to.1

ndźei

know

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

syéi

already

kein

go_from.1

myèc.

SGV\village

Father came back after you had left the house.

Kuc

3A.DU

pec

NEG

ngóu

COP

fwáo

PL\friend[POSS]

kuc

3A.DU

ndźei

know

ndźei

know

tenc

SUB

zwì

family

san

related_to

Gèn

Gèn

tei

say

ndè

keep

màonc.

stop

They haven't been friends since Gen's family broke their promise.

Hei

1PL

ló

must

ndzu

rise

pou

find

kàc

carry

tsì

come_to.1

glà

firewood

nyu

see

tenc

SUB

kec

fire

ma.

die

We need to go and get some wood before the fire goes out.

Ne

1SG

té

sit

sruo

wait

nyu

see

nyu

see

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

zò

put

nàc

take

kàc

carry

dzac

finish

ndáo

PL\thing

yu

of

mun.

2SG

I'll wait until you have finished packing your things.

Ki

this

dźea

willow_trees

pùn

stand

pùn

stand

twinc

here

fou

pass

nwa

exceed

tenc

SUB

hei

1PL

tśa

dwell

ki

this

màc.

village

These willow trees have been standing here longer than we have lived in this village.

Time adverbials can be combined in various ways to give a more complete account as to how an event is located in time. In the simplest case, two unrelated time adverbials may be placed next to each other:

Gèn

Gèn

sruo

wait

[nyu

[see

nyu

see

ngónc]

evening]

[nyu

[see

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

ngko

kindle

nggwi

ignite

kec.]

fire]

Gèn waited [until dark] [before he lit up the fire.]

Time adverbials may also be nested within other time adverbials. For example, a temporal subclause indicating the relation to an anchor event may appear inside a temporal phrase specifying temporal distance (as in the first of the following sentences), or a temporal phrase indicating duration may appear inside a temporal subclause which describes an anchor timeframe (as in the second of the following sentences):

Kànc

PASS\give_birth

ne

1SG

[fyec

[happen

ntòc

third

yen

next

zàe

year

[ndźei

[know

tenc

SUB

kànc

PASS\give_birth

sa.]]

sister]]

I was born [three years [after my sister was born.]]

Na

all

twín

PL\person

bra

stay

té

sit

suo

LOC.STAT

ngoun

inside

nya

home[POSS]

ndźí

3A.PL

[hmi

[as_long_as

wù

storm

wic

blow

guo

angry

[fou

[pass

nwa

exceed

pìc

one

man

day

dùn.]]

ATTR\whole]]

Everyone stayed inside their houses [while the storm raged [for longer than a whole day.]]

Place

Adverbial subclauses describing a place are typically introduced with the conjunction saen ‘where’.

Ndzì

3A.PC

śoc

rest

té

sit

tyòu

eat

gonc

food

saen

where.STAT

fwenc

river

nòu

go_downstream

ko

touch

yaon.

lake

They rested and ate their food where the river enters the lake.

If the event in the matrix clause is characterized by directional movement, a different, dynamic conjunction tyaen is used instead:

Dźé

1PC

yéi

then.PST

kein

go_from.1

sro

pursue

síec

PL\animal

tyaen

where.DYN

ne

1SG

syéi

already

nyu

see

nggá.

elephant

We went hunting at the place where I had seen the elephant.

There is no formal distinction between locative and directional semantics within the subclause; both types of meanings can be expressed with both of the above conjunctions.

More specific spatial configurations can be expressed with the help of relative clauses:

Fwéc

PL\warrior

do

come_to.3I

kyá

arrive

lenc

deciduous_forest

gyào

REL.I

dyao

enemies

tswi

jump

raon

quick

do

come_to.3I

ngoun

inside

to.

3I.COLL

The warriors arrived at the forest into which the enemies had fled.

If the locative expression is rendered as a noun phrase, it can be introduced with the adverbial prepositions suo ‘at, on’ (for stative situations) or téc ‘near, around’ (for dynamic situations) as described above.

Ta

IMP

pec

NEG

bù

float

kòun

move_around

téc

LOC.DYN

tséc!

rapids

Don't go swimming near the rapids!

Directional noun phrases are introduced with a deictic motion verb in the role of a coverb instead, with adnominal prepositions added as necessary in order to provide semantic detail.

Dànc

PL\child

nàc

take

tào

throw

ròc

gravel

do

come_to.3I

(tra)

(under)

sun.

water

The children are throwing pebbles into the water.

Reason

Reason subclauses are typically introduced with the conjunction pyu ‘because’. In more formal registers of the language, bzèi ‘due to the fact that’ is also seen.

Nè

every

tsyún

person

bwín

love

nonc

girl

pyu

because

tśi

3A.SG

ngwi.

gentle

Everybody likes the girl because she is friendly.

Gèn

Gèn

ngóu

COP

tśa

dwell

nya

home[POSS]

tlu

aunt

pyu

because

myèc

SGV\village

yu

of

tśi

3A.SG

fwi

burn

dwá.

PASS\destroy

Gèn is living with his aunt because his own house burned down.

Dźéc

desired

tenc

SUB

hei

1PL

yic

worship

ufwéc

PL\god

bzèi

due_to

ndźí

3A.PL

lá

build

lei

decorate

udou

world

wonc

BEN

hei.

1PL

We need to praise the gods because they created the world for us.

bzèi can also be used as a preposition, taking a noun phrase as its complement. In this function it does not indicate a formal register.

Ndźí

3A.PL

blo

go_from.3I

lenc

deciduous_forest

bzèi

due_to

blóun.

lion

They left the forest because of the lion.

In some situations (especially when no directional motion is involved and thus no ambiguity occurs), it is also possible to introduce a reason noun phrase with a motion verb expressing origin, used as a coverb. Note that the first and second person origin verbs kein and kèi require an overt complement pronoun in this usage, and that the third person origin verbs pei (animate) and blo (inanimate) must agree in animacy with their reference noun.

Trá

Q

sruo

wait

mun

2SG

nù

really

kein

go_from.1

ne?

1SG

Did you really wait here because of me?

Yéi

then.PST

dyá

required

tenc

SUB

nac

1DU

zò

put

ridźèin

CAUS-hang

rurùo

CAUS-dry

màonc

stop

nu

clothes

pei

go_from.3

wì.

rain

We had to stop drying our clothes because of rain.

Reason subclauses, prepositional phrases, and coverb phrases are frequently topic-fronted:

Pei

go_from.3

wì,

rain

yéi

then.PST

dyá

required

tenc

SUB

nac

1DU

zò

put

ridźèin

CAUS-hang

rurùo

CAUS-dry

màonc

stop

nu.

clothes

Because of rain, we had to stop drying our clothes.

Reasons for an event may also be given as the first part of an ECM construction. This is not easy to distinguish from causative or resultative sentences though:

Fye

brother

kèa

hit

pei

boy

li

pull

tsyú

hair

yu

of

fye.

brother

The boy pulls his brother's hair because his brother hit him.
(lit. the brother hits the boy and the boy pulls his brother's hair)

Ne

1SG

nggóa

dislike

an

amphora

hkào.

PASS\offer

I traded away the amphora because I disliked it.
(lit. I disliked the amphora, so it was traded away)

Purpose

Purpose subclauses are usually introduced with the conjunctions dyen ‘so that’ or rao ‘in order to’. If a particularly strong emotional commitment is involved, zea ‘with the goal that’ can also be used.

Dźé

1PC

ndzu

rise

kein

go_from.1

tyòu

eat

yenc

sleep

do

come_to.3I

nùn

ocean

rao

in_order_to

dźé

1PC

kào

offer

paec

acquire

ndáo.

PL\thing

We're traveling to the ocean in order to trade things.

Hlá

PASS\build

tàc

PASS\take

ki

this

tlú

axe

ta

by

myè

father

dyen

so_that

tśi

3A.SG

hec

hew

twè

split

glà.

firewood

This axe was made by father in order to chop wood.

Tráe

preferable

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

lin

lie

rao

in_order_to

ròun

back

nrà

be_able

śoc.

rest

You should lie down so that your back can rest.

Hóu

call

me

tell

tśi

3A.SG

zea

with_goal

hei

1PL

tonc

talk_to

tśi.

3A.SG

Call him over so we can talk to him.

If the purpose is expressed as a noun phrase, it may be introduced by the verb pwì ‘try, attempt, strive’ in the role of a coverb, or by the benefactive preposition wonc ‘for the benefit of’:

Fwéc

PL\warrior

ngóu

COP

ndzu

rise

nggùn

get_ready

nàc

take

nggoun

PL\weapon

pwì

try

sen.

war

The warriors are taking up arms and preparing for battle.

Hlá

PASS\build

dye

boat

wonc

BEN

swín

marriage[POSS]

ugwac.

queen

The boat was built for the queen's wedding.

Another common way of expressing purposes is to turn them into the final part of a sequential SVC (if the main verb is intransitive or has the same object as the purpose verb) or of an ECM construction (if the main verb is transitive and the object of the main verb is the subject of the purpose verb):

Tśi

3A.SG

kein

go_from.1

sro

pursue

mae.

deer

He has gone away in order to hunt deer.

Sao-wa

shepherd

tou

begin

lá

build

dlu

fence

kan

resist

hsac.

PL\wolf

The shepherd has started to build a fence to keep away the wolves.

Result

The most idiomatic way to express results employs serial verb constructions:

Mwì

PL\man

tsa

work

tsa

work

lo

become

manc.

tired

The men work hard, so they become tired.

Ugei

chieftain

kenc

judge

nggà

approve

hśinc

SGV\mind[POSS]

sran.

experienced_person

The chieftain judged the elder's idea as appropriate.

Wì

rain

fyao

pour

kwá

descend

do

come_to.3I

kwé

ground

lo

become

bou.

wet

It's raining, so the ground gets wet.

Mun

2SG

tei

say

me

tell

ne

1SG

htroa

fail

dwá.

understand

I don't understand you.
(lit. you tell me something and I fail to understand)

Ne

1SG

hóu

call

hóu

call

trìc

shake

rinc

rouse

tśi

3A.SG

pec

NEG

lo

become

yunc.

awake

I can't wake him up however hard I try.
(lit. I keep calling and shaking him and he doesn't wake up)

If the result can be expressed as a noun phrase, it may be introduced by the coverb lá ‘build, create’:

Hei

1PL

zò

put

lú

tie

rugo

CAUS-touch

ngào

branches

lá

build

mwòu.

roof

We tied the branches together to make a roof.

Ngèc

parents

nàc

take

nànc

name

hsoc

PASS\give

nonc

girl

lá

build

Záe.

Záe

The parents called their daughter Záe.

If the result is given in the form of a full subclause, the conjunctions drenc ‘so, therefore’ or grac ‘with the result that’ can be used. The former is more likely to be used for the result of a punctual event, while the latter is preferred for the result of a gradual process.

Ne

1SG

mònc

lazy

ravae

CAUS-fall

kéi

shovel

bra

stay

lin

lie

dróu

field

drenc

therefore

nà

mother

guo.

angry

I forgot the shovel on the field, so my mother was angry.

Ngwèi

PL\woman

idric

complain

idric

complain

ndáo

PL\thing

mìn

ATTR\small

grac

resulting_in

mwì

PL\man

ndzu

rise

zúc

walk

pei

go_from.3A

ndźí.

3A.PL

The women kept complaining about trifles, so the men got up and walked away from them.

Yet another strategy for expressing results employs clause coordination instead of subordination, usually indicating the relationship between the clauses with an adverbial prepositional phrase such as wo ki méc ‘by these events’.

Fwéc

PL\warrior

ndźác

defeat

móc

kill

dyao,

enemies

o

and

wo

INSTR

ki

this

méc

events

hei

1PL

nyac

win

mi

receive

hsoc

PASS\give

xèanc.

peace

The warriors defeated and killed the enemies, and by these events we were victorious and gained peace.

See also the section on causatives.

Manner

The simplest way to express the manner of an action is by verb serialization: a suitable manner verb is added to the main predicate, either before the other verb(s) (if the VP as a whole is transitive) or after them (if the VP is intransitive, or if the manner verb is transitive but the initial verb of the VP is not).

Gèn

Gèn

mic

turn_around

sruc.

slow

Gèn turns around slowly.

Blóun

lion

ráon

quick

tyòu

eat

kànc.

meat

The lion eats the meat quickly.

If a manner verb describes a motion of which both starting point and end point are expressed within a SVC, the manner verb must be placed between the origin verb and the target verb.

Wo

INSTR

dye

boat

kein

go_from.1

pèin

diagonal

do

come_to.3I

nú

other

syáe

SGV\shore

yu

of

fwenc.

river

The boat went diagonally to the other bank of the river.

These placement rules also apply if the manner verb is added to a more complex SVC.

A serialized intransitive manner verb can be intensified by adding nyac ‘win, be victorious’ (for desirable qualities) or htroa ‘lose, fail’ (for undesirable qualities) right after it. Note that using this construction does not imply anything about the actual success of the action, which is evident in the following example:

Mae

deer

pei

go_from.3A

ráon

quick

nyac

win

do

come_to.3I

lenc,

deciduous_forest

kè

but

nròc

hunter

móc

kill

tśi.

3A.SG

The deer ran away very quickly towards the forest, but the hunter still killed it.

If the manner of the action is expressed as a noun phrase, it can be added to the sentence with the prepositions pa ‘as, like’ or hkwì ‘in the manner of’.

Nonc

girl

nrà

be_able

faen

sing

śin

song

pa

like

no.

bird

The girl can sing like a bird.

Manner subclauses can be introduced with a variety of conjunctions: hkwì ‘in the manner that, in such a way that’, bonc ‘under the circumstance that’, or byen ‘by doing’.

Ne

1SG

ndźáo

cook

gonc

food

hśac

ready

hkwì

manner_of

mun

2SG

me

tell

ne.

1SG

I have cooked the food like you told me to.

Záe

Záe

rò

embrace

tà

grandmother

bonc

CIRC

tśi

3A.SG

dwenc.

grateful

Záe gratefully embraced her grandmother.

Mun

2SG

twè

split

bao

edge

yu

of

byo,

stick

o

and

mun

2SG

lóc

hold

rabra

CAUS-stay

mahtsao

blade

byen

by_doing

mun

2SG

zò

put

ribí

CAUS-go_between

lú

tie

to

3I.SG

wo

INSTR

śu.

sinew

You split the head of the stick, and then you attach the blade by putting it in between and tying it with a sinew.

Measure, distance and value

Measure adverbials (answering questions like ‘(by) how much?’) are expressed with the verb fou ‘pass’ as a coverb, similar to timespan adverbials.

Wo

INSTR

traen

room

mbàn

long

fou

pass

lác

twelve

trac.

PL\arm

The room is twelve cubits long.

Myè

father

tác

possess

zèc

herd

vei

from

dźá

PL\sheep

fou

pass

tróun

twenty-four

pyáo

four

síec.

PL\animal

My father owns a herd of sheep consisting of twenty-eight animals.

Values are expressed by describing a (real or hypothetical) trade situation, formed as an ECM structure:

Ne

1SG

tèin

then.FUT

kào

offer

ki

this

tlú

axe

mbàc

replace_with

tòc

three

ndwí.

PL\spear

This axe is worth three spears.
(lit. I will exchange this axe for three spears)

Frequency

In order to indicate how many times an event occurs, a multiplicative verb can be added to the verb phrase, positioned like a manner verb (i.e. before the other verb(s) if the VP is transitive, or after them if the VP is intransitive). There are five multiplicative verbs in Ronc Tyu: bìc ‘do once’, drae ‘do twice’, dròc ‘do three times’, dwao ‘do several times, do every now and then’, and tre ‘do never’.

Tśi

3A.SG

drae

do_twice

mbíc

turn

lú

tie

pàn

rope

téc

LOC.DYN

rie

around

yenc.

SGV\deciduous_forest

He wound the rope around the tree twice.

Nonc

girl

gidyáe

ATTR\polite

tre

do_never

twíc

argue_with

nà.

mother

A good girl never argues with her mother.

Frequencies not covered by the above multiplicative verbs can be expressed with śac ‘do’ as a coverb, followed by an appropriate numeral or indefinite quantifier, the abstract noun méc ‘events, instances, occurrences, repetitions’, and a resumptive pronoun referring back to the subject (in the role of the possessor of méc).

Ne

1SG

syéc

already

tei

say

ki

this

sei

words

śac

do

ni

many

ni

many

méc

events[POSS]

ne.

1SG

I’ve said this many times already.

Particular instances of repetition can be emphasized with the same construction, using the singulative form of the noun in combination with an ordinal numeral.

Tśi

3A.SG

mbíc

turn

lú

tie

pàn

rope

téc

LOC.DYN

rie

around

yenc

SGV\deciduous_forest

śac

do

ntòc

third

myéc

SGV\events[POSS]

tśi.

3A.SG

He wound the rope around the tree a third time.

Combinations of frequency and time use the coverb pyec ‘keep happening, continue’ together with an indefinite quantifier and a temporal noun phrase:

Záe

Záe

li

pull

hmi

squeeze

tsín

ewe

hka

lactate

pyec

continue

nè

every

emàn.

morning

Záe milks the ewe every morning.

Conditionals

Conditional clauses are most commonly introduced with the conjunction mao ‘if’.

In implicative conditionals, which present situations where the result of the condition is always true, the conditional clause usually includes the adverb htsí ‘now’.

Mao

if

ne

1SG

htsí

now

ndźáo

cook

sun,

water

nou

steam

tsì

come_to.1

nyú.

PASS\see

If I boil water, there will be steam. (lit. steam comes and is seen)

Predictive conditionals, which present situations that depend on a hypothetical but possible future event, typically contain either the adverb tèin ‘then (in the future)’ or another temporal adverbial referring to the future. The consequence is usually also a statement about the future, but it may also refer to the present or even to the past.

Mao

if

tśi

3A.SG

tèin

then.FUT

wín

marry

ne,

1SG

ne

1SG

ngóu

COP

ugei.

chieftain

If she marries me, I will be chieftain.

Mao

if

wì

rain

fyao

pour

kwá

descend

yen

next

man,

day

trùc

shaman

mbyo.

err

If it rains tomorrow, the shaman was wrong.

A predictive conditional may also be used with commands or questions. In the latter case, the interrogative main clause is typically placed before the conditional clause:

Mao

if

wae

2PL

nyu

see

dyao,

enemies

ta

IMP

li

pull

tào

throw

nrìn!

arrows

If you see the enemy, shoot your arrows!

Trén

which.I

táo

thing

mun

2SG

śac

do

mao

if

tśi

3A.SG

tèin

then.FUT

hláo

request

minc

2DU

wín

marry

minc?

2DU

What will you do if he asks you to marry him?

Of course, the consequence of a condition may still not be certain even if the condition is true. This can be expressed by subordinating the consequence clause to an appropriate epistemic modality verb such as dlò ‘it is possible’:

Mao

if

dźé

1PC

kein

go_from.1

sro

pursue

síec

PL\animal

yen

next

man,

day

dlò

possible

tenc

SUB

hei

1PL

pou

find

móc

kill

nggá.

elephant

If we go hunting tomorrow, we might find and kill an elephant.

Counterfactual conditionals, which describe a situation as dependent on a condition that is expected or known to be false, typically contain the adverb yéi ‘then (in the past)’ or another temporal adverbial referring to the past.

Mao

if

mun

2SG

yéi

then.PST

ngwae

do_properly

fyao

pour

bwìn

wash

soc

give

gónc

nourish

dànc,

PL\child

ndźí

3A.PL

ngwi

gentle

dyáe

polite

reanc

CAUS-happy

mun.

2SG

If you had taken good care of your children, they'd be well behaved and make you happy.

If the condition might still be fulfilled (however small the chance may be), the conjunction mao ‘if’ is often replaced by hihtsea ‘in the unlikely event that’.

Hihtsea

if_unlikely

ndźìc

snow

kwá

descend

kyá

arrive

hpi

during_period

ndàe,

summer

hei

1PL

ló

must

nàc

take

fi

wrap

yo

wear

nu

clothes

gźáo.

ATTR\warm

In the unlikely event that there should be snow in summer, we'll need to wear warm clothes.

In some situations, the condition can also be expressed as a noun phrase, introduced with the coverb syu ‘meet’.

Syu

meet

kun

thunder

na

and

hra-tra,

lightning

dyá

required

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

myen

look

mic

turn_around

ndźù

search

pou

find

tsou

SGV\land

dźe.

ATTR\safe

In case of a thunderstorm, you should look for shelter.

Concessives

Concessive clauses are formed with the conjunction tí ‘although, even if’.

Tí

although

tśi

3A.SG

źù,

afraid

pei

boy

zúc

walk

zúc

walk

lea

enter

ngàoc.

network_of_caves

Although he was afraid, the boy walked on and entered the caves.

Tí

although

dźé

1PC

yéi

then.PST

hrào

participate

byao

help

ndźí,

3A.PL

mwì

PL\man

pec

NEG

nrà

be_able

srae

reap

dzac

finish

mèi

grain

nyu

see

ngónc.

evening

Even though we helped them, the men were not able to finish harvesting the grain before dark.

Concessive clauses can be predictive or counterfactual like conditionals. Predictive concessives use the normal conjunction tí, and they usually also contain the adverb tèin ‘then (in the future)’ in the concessive clause plus the emphatic particle nù ‘really, indeed’ or a modal verb such as dlò ‘it is possible’ in the main clause.

Tí

although

húnc

elders

tèin

then.FUT

xo

refuse

dandáen

reject

vòc-swín,

brideprice

ne

1SG

wín

marry

ki

this

kwac

woman

nù!

really

Even if the elders refuse my brideprice, I will still marry this woman!

Counterfactual concessives are formed with the special conjunction ksea ‘despite’. They often also contain the adverb yéi ‘then (in the past)’ and/or the emphatic particle nù ‘really, indeed’.

Ksea

despite

dźé

1PC

yéi

then.PST

hrào

participate

byao

help

ndźí,

3A.PL

mwì

PL\man

nù

really

pec

NEG

nrà

be_able

srae

reap

dzac

finish

mèi

grain

nyu

see

ngónc.

evening

Even if we had helped them, the men would not have been able to finish harvesting the grain before dark.

If the concessive element is expressed as a noun phrase, it is introduced with the coverb kan ‘resist’.

Ne

1SG

nrà

be_able

nyu

see

kè

mountains

kan

resist

tléi.

fog

I can see the mountains in spite of the fog.

Modality

Epistemic possibility, probability, and necessity are expressed with the impersonal verbs dlò ‘it is possible’, hae ‘it is likely, it is probable’ or tyein ‘it must be the case, it is logically necessary’ respectively, followed by a complement clause.

Dlò

possible

tenc

SUB

dyào

enemies

tèin

then.FUT

dric

attack

màc

village

ló

DAT

hei.

1PL

The enemies might attack our village.

Hae

likely

tenc

SUB

wo

INSTR

ki

this

lenc

deciduous_forest

pì

grow

dzùn

contain

ligyèc.

birch

It's likely that there are birch trees growing in this forest.

Tyein

necessary

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

ngóu

COP

ugei.

chieftain

He must be the chieftain.

Similar meanings may sometimes also be expressed with evidential constructions.

A number of other impersonal verbs indicate various types of deontic modality (táo ‘it is planned; it has been decided; shall; will’, dyá ‘it is required; should’, dźéc ‘it is desired; may...!’, táe ‘it is preferable; would rather’). These are used in the same way, with the main predicate formed as a complement clause:

Dźéc

desired

tenc

SUB

dyao

enemies

ma.

die

May the enemy die!

Dyá

required

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

guo.

angry

You should be angry.

Transitive epistemic verbs such as táen ‘doubt’, śae ‘ask, question’ and fwinc ‘think, assume’ also appear with a complement clause. Unlike intransitive modals, these verbs have an overt subject (which must be an animate noun or pronoun):

Nà

mother

san

related_to

Gèn

Gèn

táen

doubt

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

móc

kill

blóun.

lion

Gèn's mother doubts that he killed the lion.

Transitive deontic verbs with a subject focus (i.e. verbs referring to the desires, wishes, intentions, capabilities, or obligations of a subject, for instance ao ‘want’, ràe ‘wish, hope’, hláo ‘request’, nrà ‘can, be able’ or ló ‘must, should’) are typically used in serial verb constructions. If the subject of the modal verb is coreferential with the subject of the main verb, the modal verb appears in auxiliary position, preceding the rest of the verb phrase.

Ne

1SG

ao

want

kèi

go_from.2

tsì

come_to.1

nya.

home[POSS]

I want to go home.

Pwanc

child

nrà

be_able

faen

sing

śin.

song

The child can sing [songs].

If the subjects of the modal verb and the main verb are different, the modal verb appears in the first slot of an ECM construction:

Ne

1SG

ràe

wish

ndzì

3A.PC

kein.

go_from.1

I wish they would leave.

Rúon

spouse[POSS]

ne

1SG

hláo

request

mun

2SG

tsì

come_to.1

syu

meet

nac.

1DU

My wife thinks you should come and visit the two of us.

A specific construction exists for the imperative mood, which is formed simply by omitting the subject (which is understood to be the addressee), and optionally reinforcing the command with the imperative particle ta immediately before the verb(s):

(Ta)

(IMP)

pàc

kiss

ne!

1SG

Kiss me!

A more polite version of the imperative can be formed by including both an overt second person pronoun and the imperative particle:

Mun

2SG

ta

IMP

pàc

kiss

ne.

1SG

I expect you to kiss me.

Yet another polite way to give orders involves switching the word order to VOS and circumfixing the whole sentence with rao ... dro. This construction can also be used for first person imperatives (hortatives) and third person imperatives (jussives).

Rao

in_order_to

myei

pray_to

ufwéc

PL\god

nac

1DU

dro.

do_the_same

Let's pray to the gods!
(lit. in order to pray to the gods, we do so)

Evidentiality

Ronc Tyu offers two main strategies for expressing evidential information (i.e. information about the source of knowledge regarding a statement). The first of these is not very specialized at all and consists simply of the main statement as a regular complement clause, embedded within a clause that describes the source of information:

Ne

1SG

wuc

hear

tenc

SUB

nà

mother

twíc

argue_with

myè.

father

I heard that mother had an argument with father.

The second construction, however, is more prevalent in speech, and it is used specifically for statements of evidential value. It employs a special kind of complement clause, which is subordinated to the impersonal verb trà ‘exist’ and introduced by one of several specialized complementizers that indicate different levels of evidentiality:

Trà

exist

nrù

SENS

ki

this

pei

boy

ha

step_on

kú

destroy

twí

spear

yu

of

mun.

2SG

This boy stepped on your spear and broke it [he was seen doing it]. (sensory evidence)

Trà

exist

nèi

PHYS

mae

deer

zúc

walk

fou

pass

dzic

go_through

twinc.

here

A deer must have passed by here [there are traces on the ground]. (physical evidence)

Trà

exist

rei

QUOT

ugei

chieftain

ma.

die

The chieftain has died [people say so]. (communicative evidence, hearsay)

Trà

exist

zrin

HYP

nrèn

foreigner

brinc

be_secret

kóan

seize

tóc

remove

taoc.

horse

The stranger might have stolen the horse [it is suspected]. (no concrete evidence, speculation)

It is worth noting that none of the evidentials distinguish between direct and indirect evidence, i.e. they only assert that the relevant knowledge was indeed acquired in the specified way, but not necessarily by the speaker himself. By whom exactly can only be deduced from context.

The more modal semantics of two additional special complementizers do not quite fit in with the canonical definition of evidentiality, having to do more with the attitude of the speaker towards the proposition, but they function in the same way syntactically and are thus included here:

Trà

exist

yu

AFF

dyao

enemies

tèin

then.FUT

dric

attack

màc

village

lò

DAT

hei.

1PL

The enemies will attack our village [I'm sure of this]. (affirmative)

Trà

exist

mè

MIR

Gèn

Gèn

móc

kill

blóun

lion

nù!

really

Gèn really killed a lion! [I didn't expect him to] (mirative)

Evidential complementizers can also be used in polar questions of the ‘is it true that...’ type with the impersonal auxiliary verb hrec. In such a situation, it is not the truth value of the proposition as such that is being asked for, but the information status expressed by the evidential complementizer:

Hréc

Q.AUX

nrù

SENS

pei

boy

fwei

hit

nonc?

girl

Did you witness the boy hitting the girl [or did you get that information from somewhere else]?

Hréc

Q.AUX

yu

AFF

ugei

chieftain

ma

die

nù?

really

Are you sure that the chieftain has died [or might he still be alive after all]?

Volition

Sentences with animate subjects and active verbs are generally interpreted as volitional. In order to suggest a non-volitional meaning instead, animate subjects may optionally be marked like oblique arguments.

Accidental or involuntary states (intransitive only, with the subject in the role of experiencer) take the dative preposition ló ‘for, to’.

Ló

DAT

ne

1SG

tou

begin

yenc.

sleep

I fell asleep [although I didn't want to].

Accidental or involuntary actions (both transitive or intransitive) are indicated with the instrumental preposition wo ‘with, by, using’, effectively treating the animate subject as inanimate with regard to syntax (but note that pronouns referring back to such a subject still exhibit animate agreement).

Wo

INSTR

ki

this

pei

boy

ha

step_on

kú

destroy

twí

spear

yu

of

mun,

2SG

kè

but

tśi

3A.SG

bronc

regret

kù

that

myéc

SGV\events

nù.

really

This boy accidentally stepped on your spear and caused it to break, but he's very sorry for it.

Actions performed by the subject but controlled by someone else (both transitive or intransitive; these are basically causatives without an overt causer) are marked with the preposition ta ‘by’.

Ta

by

kwac

woman

pya

exit

blo

go_from.3I

traen.

room

The woman reluctantly left the room [because she had been told to leave].

Strong emotional involvement on the part of the subject (i.e. exceptionally high volition) can be expressed by serialization with dráo ‘be eager, be motivated’ or piec ‘be wild, be fierce’.

Ne

1SG

dráo

eager

ec

return

tsì

come_to.1

kyá

arrive

nya

home[POSS]

nyu

see

mà.

sundown

I'm determined to arrive back home before it gets dark.

Fwéc

PL\warrior

piec

wild

sro

pursue

dyao

enemies

bùn

REL.A

ndzì

3A.COLL

dric

attack

màc,

village

o

and

dzó

same.A

guc

take_revenge

móc

kill

ndzì.

3A.COLL

The warriors relentlessly pursued the enemies who had attacked the village and killed them in revenge.

Reported speech

Quotations

Direct quotations typically use a directional verb of communication such as me ‘tell, say towards’, twíc ‘disagree, protest, argue with’, or śae ‘ask (sb.)’, all of which take the person spoken to as their object. These verbs appear in an ECM construction whose second part consists of a quotative verb such as wuc ‘hear, listen’ or mé ‘be told’ (the passive of me), with the latter often implying some kind of obligation for the addressee. The reported utterance is subordinated to the special quotative complementizer rei and generally rendered unchanged, with no person shift in pronouns.

Trùc

shaman

twíc

argue_with

ne

1SG

mé

PASS\tell

rei,

QUOT

‘mun

2SG

ló

must

myei

pray_to

ufwéc!’

PL\god

The shaman argued with me, “You must pray to the gods!”

Gèn

Gèn

me

tell

mwì

PL\man

rei,

QUOT

‘ne

1SG

ban

today

pec

NEG

hrào

participate

źec

group[POSS]

nròc.’

hunter

Gèn told the men, “Today I will not join the hunting party.”

Non-directional verbs of communication like tei ‘say, speak’, dzéi ‘declare, announce’, hláo ‘ask, plead, request’, or pwo ‘reply, answer’, which take the content of the utterance as their object, can also be used for quotations. In this case, the addressee of the reported speech event is not mentioned.

Záe

Záe

pwo

answer

rei,

QUOT

‘ne

1SG

ao

want

pyec

continue

tsao

cut

lei

decorate

toc.’

wood

Záe answered, “I would like to continue carving wood.”

Sran

elder

tei

say

rei,

QUOT

‘minc

2DU

ló

must

ndúc

obey

gwae!’

rules

The elder said, “The two of you have to follow the rules!”

Indirect speech

Indirect speech in Ronc Tyu can be encountered in two distinct construction types. The first of these is the more general one, but it occurs only with non-directional verbs of communication. It is similar to a quotative construction with the same verb, but differs from the latter in that nouns and pronouns in the reported utterance are adjusted to reflect the point of view of the matrix clause:

Sran

elder

tei

say

rei

QUOT

nac

1DU

ló

must

ndúc

obey

gwae.

rules

The elder said that the two of us had to follow the rules.

Gèn

Gèn

dzéi

declare

rei

QUOT

dzó

same.A

pec

NEG

hrào

participate

źec

group[POSS]

nròc.

hunter

Gèn announced that he would not join the hunting party.

If the addressee of the indirect speech event is not obvious from context, it may optionally be reintroduced using wuc ‘hear, listen’ or mé ‘be told’ as a coverb. This phrase typically appears at the end of the clause:

Nonc

girl

twic

whisper

rei

QUOT

nà

mother

ndźei

know

vìc

secret

(wuc

(hear

tao

man

kún).

ATTR\old)

The girl whispered (to the old man) that her mother knew the secret.

The addressee phrase is sometimes moved before the content of the speech event for stylistic reasons and ease of parsing:

Ugwac

queen

dzéi

declare

(mé

(PASS\tell

twín)

PL\person)

rei

QUOT

rúon

spouse[POSS]

tśi

3A.SG

ma

die

o

and

tśi

3A.SG

pec

NEG

wín

marry

wín

marry

tao

man

gèn.

ATTR\different

The queen announced (to the people) that her husband was dead and she would not marry again.

The verb of communication may also appear in passivized form without a syntactic subject. This affects only the shape of the matrix clause though; the indirect speech event itself is rendered in the same way as if the verb was active:

Rón

PASS\recite

rei

QUOT

swéc

PL\shooting_star

ngóu

COP

fwó

PL\omen

mùn

ATTR\good

dźac.

ATTR\win

It is said that shooting stars are a very good omen.

If the subject of the reported speech event is coreferential with the addressee and the reported speech event is formulated using a single verb phrase, a further option for indirect speech is available, which does not contain any quotative complementizer and is compatible with both directional and non-directional matrix verbs. It consists of an ECM construction using the speech verb as the first part of the structure and the verb of the reported utterance as the second part. Nouns and pronouns in the reported utterance are adjusted so that its subject can simultaneously function as the object of the speech verb.

Nà

mother

me

tell

dànc

PL\child

tò.

silent

The mother tells the children to be quiet.

Záe

Záe

pwo

answer

dzó

same.A

ao

want

pyec

continue

tsao

cut

lei

decorate

toc.

wood

Záe answered that she would like to continue carving wood.

Indirect questions

Indirect questions work in much the same way as reported speech, typically using one of the verbs śae ‘ask (sb.)’, which has the addressee of the question as its object, or hláo ‘ask, plead, request (sth.)’, which has the content of the question as its object. Of these, only hláo can be used to form indirect questions where the addressee is not obligatorily mentioned.

The most common type of indirect polar questions is formed simply by putting the question inside a reported speech frame, introduced by the interrogative particle as in a direct question. In the quotative construction, the question is rendered literally with no shift in pronouns:

Nà

mother

śae

ask

Záe

Záe

wuc

hear

rei,

QUOT

‘trá

Q

bra

stay

mun?’

2SG

The mother asks Záe, “Will you stay?”

Nà

mother

hláo

request

rei,

QUOT

‘trá

Q

bra

stay

mun?’

2SG

The mother asks, “Will you stay?”

In the indirect construction, which is only possible with verbs like hláo which have the content of the question as their object, the person of pronouns in the question shifts to the point of view of the matrix clause. The addressee must either be inferred from context, or may be reintroduced using the coverbs wuc ‘hear, listen’ or mé ‘be told’ as in reported speech:

Nà

mother

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

trá

Q

bra

stay

Záe.

2SG

The mother asks whether Záe will stay.

Nà

mother

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

trá

Q

bra

stay

tśi

3A.SG

wuc

hear

Záe.

Záe

The mother asks Záe whether she will stay.

The third option, which is the shortest one and therefore very common in speech, is a simplified ECM construction without the quotative complementizer. It works with either type of verb, but it can only be used if the question does not contain more than one verb phrase and if the subject of the question is also coreferential with the addressee:

Nà

mother

śae

ask

Záe

Záe

trá

Q

bra.

stay

The mother asks Záe whether she will stay.

All of these options can also be used with indirect polar questions based on the interrogative copula sró:

Tao

man

kún

ATTR\old

śae

ask

pwanc

child

wuc

hear

rei,

QUOT

‘sró

Q.COP

mun

2SG

nonc

girl

san

related_to

ugwac?’

queen

The old man asks the child, “Are you the queen's daughter?” (quotative)

Tao

man

kún

ATTR\old

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

sró

Q.COP

pwanc

child

nonc

girl

san

related_to

ugwac.

queen

The old man asks whether the child is the queen's daughter. (indirect, no addressee given)

Tao

man

kún

ATTR\old

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

sró

Q.COP

tśi

3A.SG

nonc

girl

san

related_to

ugwac

queen

wuc

hear

pwanc.

child

The old man asks the child whether she is the queen's daughter. (indirect, addressee given in coverb phrase)

Tao

man

kún

ATTR\old

śae

ask

pwanc

child

sró

Q.COP

nonc

girl

san

related_to

ugwac.

queen

The old man asks the child whether she is the queen's daughter. (simplified ECM)

Indirect polar questions based on the construction hrec tenc...? ‘is it true that..?’ also follow the same model, but the simplified ECM structure is not available, even if the distribution of participant roles would suggest so:

Záe

Záe

śae

ask

Gèn

Gèn

wuc

hear

rei,

QUOT

‘hrec

Q.AUX

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

móc

kill

blóun

lion

nù?’

really

Záe asks Gèn, “Is it true that you really killed a lion?” (quotative)

Záe

Záe

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

hrec

Q.AUX

tenc

SUB

Gèn

Gèn

móc

kill

blóun

lion

nù.

really

Záe asks whether it is true that Gèn really killed a lion. (indirect, no addressee given)

Záe

Záe

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

hrec

Q.AUX

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

móc

kill

blóun

lion

nù

really

wuc

hear

Gèn.

Gèn

Záe asks Gèn whether it is true that he really killed a lion. (indirect, addressee given in coverb phrase)

• *Záe śae Gèn hrec tenc tśi móc blóun nù.
  (simplified ECM; ungrammatical)

Tag questions can be quoted verbatim, but they must be replaced by one of the other question strategies in order to appear in indirect form:

Trùc

shaman

śae

ask

pei

boy

mé

PASS\tell

rei,

QUOT

‘mun

2SG

byao

help

ne,

1SG

hréc?’

Q.AUX

The shaman asks the boy, “You're going to help me, right?” (quotative)

• *Trùc hláo rei tśi byao tśi hréc wuc pei.
  (indirect question with addressee given in coverb phrase; ungrammatical)

Trùc

shaman

śae

ask

pei

boy

trá

Q

byao

help

tśi.

3A.SG

The shaman asks the boy whether he would help him.
(re-worded as a simplified ECM structure based on the particle trá)

Indirect content questions, where one of the interrogative verbs róu ‘be who’ and rén ‘be what’ is the main verb of the embedded question, work exactly like indirect polar questions and allow all of the mentioned strategies:

Gèn

Gèn

śae

ask

nrèn

stranger

mé

PASS\tell

rei,

QUOT

‘róu

be_who

mun?’

2SG

Gèn asks the stranger, “Who are you?” (quotative)

Gèn

Gèn

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

róu

be_who

nrèn.

stranger

Gèn asks who the stranger is. (indirect, no addressee given)

Gèn

Gèn

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

róu

be_who

tśi

3A.SG

wuc

hear

nrèn.

stranger

Gèn asks the stranger who he is. (indirect, addressee given in coverb phrase)

Gèn

Gèn

śae

ask

nrèn

stranger

róu.

be_who

Gèn asks the stranger who he is. (simplified ECM)

Indirect adverbial questions, which ask for a particular constituent of the embedded question, are a bit more complicated. In the quotative pattern, the question is rendered literally as usual:

Nà

mother

śae

ask

Záe

Záe

wuc

hear

rei,

QUOT

‘trén

which.I

tsou

SGV\land

mun

2SG

ao

want

do?’

come_to.3I

The mother asks Záe, “Where do you want to go?”

In the indirect pattern there are two options, both of which involve syntactic restructuring of the embedded question into a relative clause headed by the questioned constituent. In the first construction, the constituent itself appears within a predicative clause subordinated to the quotative complementizer. Note that the subject of the predication is accompanied by an interrogative determiner, which mandates the use of the normal copula ngóu (and not the interrogative copula sró).

Nà

mother

hláo

request

rei

QUOT

trén

which.I

tsou

SGV\land

ngóu

COP

tsou

SGV\land

gyào

REL.I

Záe

Záe

ao

want

do

come_to.3I

to.

3I.COLL

The mother asks which place it is that Záe wants to go to.

The second construction is syntactically simpler and uses the questioned constituent as the object of the matrix verb phrase directly (which is often extended by serialization with ndźei ‘know, be acquainted with’), omitting both the quotative complementizer and the copula. It is not fully equivalent in meaning though, carrying the connotation that the embedded question should be interpreted as a forceful demand rather than a friendly inquiry.

Nà

mother

hláo

request

ndźei

know

trén

which.I

tsou

SGV\land

gyào

REL.I

Záe

Záe

ao

want

do

come_to.3I

to.

3I.COLL

The mother demands to know the place that Záe wants to go to.

A simplified ECM pattern is also available for adverbial content questions. Here, it is notable that the questioned constituent with its interrogative determiner is not fronted within the embedded question, but simply stays in the position it would occupy in a declarative sentence, so that the subject of the question can simultaneously be used as the object of the matrix verb (but remember that this is only possible if the question contains only one verb phrase and if the subject of the question is also coreferential with the addressee):

Nà

mother

śae

ask

Záe

Záe

ao

want

do

come_to.3I

trén

which.I

tsou.

SGV\land

The mother asks Záe where she wants to go.

It should also be mentioned that indirect questions do not only appear with verbs of asking, but also as interrogative content clauses with a number of other verbs such as ndźei ‘know, be acquainted with’, fwinc ‘think, reflect, consider, assume’, kenc ‘decide, judge’, prei ‘guess’, or lexicalized serial verb constructions such as ko drá ‘check, test’, yec pou ‘remember’, or tyuc pyec pwo ‘discuss, negotiate’. In these situations, the quotative complementizer rei is sometimes replaced by the normal complementizer tenc or an appropriate evidential complementizer such as sensory nrù.

Ne

1SG

pec

NEG

ndźei

know

nrèn

stranger

róu.

be_who

I don't know who the stranger is.

Tráe

preferable

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

do

come_to.3I

ko

touch

drá

poke

nrù

SENS

trá

Q

póu

closed

nyù.

door

It would be good if you could go and check [with your own senses] whether the door is closed.

Ne

1SG

htroa

fail

kenc

decide

trén

which.I

kén

task

gyào

REL.I

ne

1SG

ao

want

tou

begin

śac

do

to.

3I.COLL

I can't decide what I want to do.

Záe

Záe

pwì

try

prei

guess

trén

which.I

mba

SGV

grec

jewellery

tsáo

PASS\cut

hlá

PASS\build

léi

PASS\decorate

ta

by

Gèn.

Gèn

Záe tries to guess which piece of jewellery was made by Gèn.

Texts

Why people speak different languages

Ufwéc yenc, o śenc gibyonc fi mó śea xòac tou. Se myéc yéi źùn té xònc myòu. Kànc nyèn ko yéi Mác Twín, o dzó tsí pec tùc trén kwì gyào hei ngko nggwi kec wo to. Hei tréa idric tenc hei tsao.

Mwinc ngóu hkwae bùn byao ufwéc. Tśi gra do poun dźoc kwò, o dzó nyu śun vei kec nic tsou gunggù, o dzó blo ráon dyen dzó laláo śun. Htśei Mwinc ec kyá, tśi nàc kàc do tséi mìn dźùn gwae, o dzó zò rugwá tséi lin gao myèc gyào twín tśa ndro. Yao kù ngàe fwáe nàc kàc do zò rugwá zèi krùo na glà, nyu nyu tenc kec fwi bwí o ndzì soc myèc dzùn śun o ndzì soc twín tśáo. Mác Twín tonc ndźí dzó beanc dzó faen śin dzó ntào źwi téc rie kec.

Yéi Ndra dźi lea myèc, o dzó li soc dźi śao yu mae kwò bùn dzó móc tśi. Ndra nàc zò kànc lin myuc hká rao dzó ndźáo to, grac wo śao yu mae kèa fi mó śea kec pec handàc ko, o myèc lo lo trae pyonc. Twín bùn ndźí té wèi wèi kec tsao nù, drenc dzó tou tréa trìc nac dyò, o dzó pec nrà mbùn tei sei. Twín źù húoc bí lóc li soc dźi twín myuc ndźí, grac htwè źec twín lo ni hrèc mìn. Nè hrèc tou tei sei wo kwì gèn, o wo ki méc htwè ronc Mác Twín, o dzó lo ni raonc bùn hei wuc ndźí htsí.

Interlinear gloss

Ufwéc

PL\god

yenc,

sleep,

o

and

śenc

night

gibyonc

ATTR\dark

fi

wrap

mó

cover

śea

hide

xòac

all.COLL

tou.

land

The gods were asleep, and dark night covered all the land.

Se

no

myéc

stars

yéi

then.PST

źùn

shine

té

sit

xònc

on

myòu.

sky

No stars shone in the sky at that time.

Kànc

PASS\give_birth

nyèn

new

ko

barely

yéi

then.PST

Mác

first

Twín,

PL\person

o

and

dzó

same.A

tsí

still

pec

NEG

tùc

know

trén

which.I

kwì

method

gyào

REL.I

ndźí

3A.PL

ngko

kindle

nggwi

ignite

kec

fire

wo

INSTR

to.

3I.COLL

The First People were newly born into the world, and they did not yet know how to make a fire.

Ndźí

3A.PL

tréa

shiver

idric

complain

tenc

SUB

ndźí

3A.PL

tsao.

feel_cold

They shivered and complained that they were feeling cold.

Mwinc

squirrel

ngóu

COP

hkwae

totem_animal

bùn

REL.A

byao

help

ufwéc.

PL\god

Squirrel was one of the totem animals who served the gods.

Tśi

3A.SG

gra

climb

do

come_to.3I

poun

above

dźoc

SGV\pines

kwò,

ATTR\big

o

and

dzó

same.A

nyu

see

śun

light

vei

from

kec

fire

nic

at

tsou

SGV\land

gunggù,

ATTR\distant

He climbed to the top of a tall pine tree and saw the light of a fire in the distance,

o

and

dzó

same.A

blo

go_from.3I

ráon

quick

dyen

so_that

dzó

same.A

laláo

examine

śun.

light

and he hurried away in order to investigate the light.

Htśei

when.PST

Mwinc

squirrel

ec

return

kyá,

arrive

tśi

3A.SG

nàc

take

kàc

carry

do

come_to.3I

tséi

SGV\coal

mìn

ATTR\small

dźùn

ATTR\shine

gwae,

ATTR\red

When Squirrel returned, he carried a small piece of glowing coal,

o

and

dzó

same.A

zò

put

rugwá

CAUS-descend

tséi

SGV\coal

lin

lie

gao

amid

myèc

SGV\village

gyào

REL.I

twín

PL\person

tśa

dwell

ndro.

3I.SGV

and he laid it down in the middle of the house where the people lived.

Yao

also

kù

other

ngàe

several

fwáe

PL\totem_animal

nàc

take

kàc

carry

do

come_to.3I

zò

put

rugwá

CAUS-descend

zèi

grass

krùo

ATTR\dry

na

and

glà,

firewood

Other totem animals came and added dry grass and firewood,

nyu

see

nyu

see

tenc

SUB

kec

fire

fwi

burn

bwí

bright

o

and

ndzì

3A.COLL

soc

give

myèc

SGV\village

dzùn

contain

śun

light

o

and

ndzì

3A.COLL

soc

give

twín

PL\person

tśáo.

feel_warm

until a fire was burning brightly, filling the house with light and making the people feel warm.

Mác

first

Twín

PL\person

tonc

talk_to

ndźí

3A.PL

dzó

same.A

beanc

laugh

dzó

same.A

faen

sing

śin

song

dzó

same.A

ntào

dance[v]

źwi

dance[n]

téc

LOC.DYN

rie

around

kec.

fire

The First People talked to each other and laughed and sang and danced around the fire.

Yéi

then.PST

Ndra

tiger

dźi

come_to.3A

lea

enter

myèc,

SGV\village

o

and

dzó

same.A

li

pull

soc

give

dźi

come_to.3A

śao

body

yu

of

mae

deer

kwò

ATTR\big

bùn

REL.A

dzó

same.A

móc

kill

tśi.

3A.SG

Then Tiger came in, dragging the body of a huge deer that he had killed.

Ndra

tiger

nàc

take

zò

put

kànc

meat

lin

lie

myuc

among

hká

hearth

rao

in_order_to

dzó

same.A

ndźáo

cook

to,

3I.COLL

He put the meat on the hearth in order to cook it,

grac

resulting_in

wo

INSTR

śao

body

yu

of

mae

deer

kèa

strike

fi

wrap

mó

cover

śea

hide

kec

fire

pec

NEG

handàc

PASS\extinguish

ko,

barely

with the result that the body of the deer ended up covering the fire and almost putting it out,

o

and

myèc

SGV\village

lo

become

lo

become

trae

cold

pyonc.

dark

and the house became cold and dark again.

Twín

PL\person

bùn

REL.A

ndźí

3A.PL

té

sit

wèi

outside

wèi

outside

kec

fire

tsao

feel_cold

nù,

really

The people who were sitting far away from the fire felt so cold

drenc

therefore

dzó

same.A

tou

begin

tréa

shiver

trìc

shake

nac

teeth

dyò,

loud

o

and

dzó

same.A

pec

NEG

nrà

be_able

mbùn

good

tei

say

sei.

words

that their teeth began to chatter and they could not speak well.

Twín

PL\person

źù

afraid

húoc

reach_out

bí

catch

lóc

hold

li

pull

soc

give

dźi

come_to.3A

twín

PL\person

myuc

in_reach_of

ndźí,

3A.PL

The people were frightened and reached out for those near them, pulling them close,

grac

resulting_in

htwè

PASS\split

źec

group[POSS]

twín

PL\person

lo

become

ni

many

hrèc

tribe

mìn.

ATTR\small

and so they became divided into many small groups.

Nè

every

hrèc

tribe

tou

begin

tei

say

sei

words

wo

INSTR

kwì

method

gèn,

ATTR\different

Each group began to speak in a different way,

o

and

wo

INSTR

ki

this

méc

events

htwè

PASS\split

ronc

language[POSS]

Mác

first

Twín,

PL\person

o

and

dzó

same.A

lo

become

ni

many

raonc

PL\language

bùn

REL.A

hei

1PL

wuc

hear

ndźí

3A.PL

htsí.

now

and in this way the language of the First People was divided into the many languages that we hear today.

About the different types of ducks

Láo ric gèn mpsac.

Tà san nà tei tyuc zò ric gèn mpsac wonc dànc. “Tróu ric mbzac ki no ngóu? Tróu ric mbzac śac bwá xie o dzó bù kòun téc tra sun?”

No dao fae níe do tra sun yu fwenc o dzó bù kòun hkwì xie. Tà san nà tei me dànc: “Ki no ngóu mbzac-hxáe. Rao myen myen dźé dro. Tróu ric mbzac lóa kù no ngóu?”

No té gao mbèin o dzó mic myen láo dànc. “Nyú tenc kù no śoc roa! Tśi ngóu mbzac-ploc. Tśi té gao mbèin o dzó hpúoc o dzó té fi mó radźáo mwác. Tśi dro dyen kyáo lo xon. Pyec tenc tśi yoc myen mic ndźù gonc, mbzac-ploc zúc dyòun gyè zènc.”

Tà san nà mpao mbzac kei. “Trén nànc hei nàc soc ló ki ric mbzac, bùn tśi yo lei ngòc wo ngèi gibyonc rie ndzì?”

No dao dao kòun nyu pou gonc – o dzó do nàc tyòu to. “Ki mbzac ngóu mbzac-rigéi. Kèc san hei wuo wuo zróu mpsac-rigéi.” Dànc tùc nyu ndźei ki ric mbzac.

“Ki táo dzónc. Na sunc yu kèc san hei wuo wuo ngóu na rigéi bùn trùc ndè ndźí suo myèc yu tśi, o rón rei orà kèc wuo wuo zróu mpsac-rigéi, bùn ndźí yo rigéi gibyonc suo rie ngòc. Mbzac-rigéi ngóu no gló. Fùn tenc bún ndźei táe yu tśi. Bún yunc dráo nàenc.”

Tà san nà tòc wa tenc dànc ngwae wuc dwá ndzáo ndźei mpsac.

Interlinear gloss

Láo

watch

ric

type[POSS]

gèn

ATTR\different

mpsac.

PL\duck

About the different types of ducks.

Tà

grandmother

san

related_to

nà

mother

tei

say

tyuc

talk_about

zò

put

ric

type[POSS]

gèn

ATTR\different

mpsac

PL\duck

wonc

BEN

dànc.

PL\child

The great-grandmother teaches the different types of ducks to the children.

“Tróu

which.A

ric

type[POSS]

mbzac

duck

ki

this

no

bird

ngóu?”

COP

“What type of duck is this bird?”

“Tróu

which.A

ric

type[POSS]

mbzac

duck

śac

do

bwá

resemble

xie

fish

o

and

dzó

same.A

bù

swim

kòun

move_around

téc

LOC.DYN

tra

under

sun?”

water

“What type of duck behaves like a fish and swims under the water?”

No

bird

dao

fly

fae

fall

níe

sink

do

come_to.3I

tra

under

sun

water

yu

of

fwenc

river

o

and

dzó

same.A

bù

swim

kòun

move_around

hkwì

manner_of

xie.

fish

The bird dives into the river and swims around like a fish.

Tà

grandmother

san

related_to

nà

mother

tei

say

me

tell

dànc:

PL\child

The great-grandmother tells the children:

“Ki

this

no

bird

ngóu

COP

mbzac-hxáe.”

duck-PL\fish

“This bird is a cormorant.”

“Rao

in_order_to

myen

look

myen

look

dźé

1PC

dro.”

do_the_same

“Let's keep looking.”

“Tróu

which.A

ric

type[POSS]

mbzac

duck

lóa

there

kù

that

no

bird

ngóu?”

COP

“What type of duck is that bird over there?”

No

bird

té

sit

gao

in_middle_of

mbèin

nest

o

and

dzó

same.A

mic

turn_around

myen

look

láo

watch

dànc.

PL\child

The bird sits in the middle of its nest and turns its head to face the children.

“Nyú

PASS\see

tenc

SUB

kù

that

no

bird

śoc

rest

roa!”

feel_comfortable

“It's obvious that that bird is resting comfortably!”

“Tśi

3A.SG

ngóu

COP

mbzac-ploc.”

duck-round[3D]

“It's a pot-bellied duck.”

“Tśi

3A.SG

té

sit

gao

in_middle_of

mbèin

nest

o

and

dzó

same.A

hpúoc

lay_eggs

o

and

dzó

same

té

sit

fi

wrap

mó

cover

radźáo

CAUS-warm

mwác.”

eggs

“It sits in the middle of its nest and lays eggs and sits on the eggs to keep them warm.”

“Tśi

3A.SG

dro

do_the_same

dyen

so_that

kyáo

PL\baby_bird

lo

become

xon.”

healthy

“It does this so that its hatchlings will be healthy.”

“Pyec

continue

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

yoc

hungry

myen

look

mic

turn_around

ndźù

search

gonc,

food

mbzac-ploc

duck-round[3D]

zúc

walk

dyòun

squat

gyè

shift_position

zènc.”

funny

“When it is hungry and looking for food, the pot-bellied duck walks in a funny waddling manner.”

Tà

grandmother

san

related_to

nà

mother

mpao

point_at

mbzac

duck

kei.

ATTR\beautiful

The great-grandmother points at a beautiful duck.

“Trén

which.I

nànc

name

hei

1PL

nàc

take

soc

give

ló

DAT

ki

this

ric

type[POSS]

mbzac,

duck

bùn

REL.A

tśi

3A.SG

yo

wear

lei

decorate

ngòc

eyes

wo

INSTR

ngèi

color

gibyonc

ATTR\dark

rie

around

ndzì?”

3A.COLL

“Which name do we give to this type of duck, which decorates its eyes by wearing a dark color around them?”

No

bird

dao

fly

dao

fly

kòun

move_around

nyu

see

pou

find

gonc

food

—

 

o

and

dzó

same.A

do

come_to.3I

nàc

take

tyòu

eat

to.

3I.COLL

The bird flies around for a while and finds some food – and it goes there and takes it and eats it!

“Ki

this

mbzac

duck

ngóu

COP

mbzac-rigéi.”

duck-mask

“This duck is a masked duck.”

“Kèc

ancestors

san

related_to

hei

1PL

wuo

live

wuo

live

zróu

change_into

mpsac-rigéi.”

PL\duck-mask

“Our ancestors become masked ducks.”

Dànc

PL\child

tùc

know[savoir]

nyu

see

ndźei

know[connaître]

ki

this

ric

type[POSS]

mbzac.

duck

The children already recognize this type of duck.

“Ki

this

táo

thing

dzónc.”

true

“This is correct.”

“Na

all

sunc

face

yu

of

kèc

ancestors

san

related_to

hei

1PL

wuo

live

wuo

live

ngóu

COP

na

all

rigéi

mask

bùn

REL.A

trùc

shaman

ndè

keep

ndźí

3A.PL

suo

LOC.STAT

myèc

SGV\village

yu

of

tśi,”

3A.SG

“The faces of our ancestors live on in all the masks that the shaman keeps in his house,”

“o

and

rón

PASS\recite

rei

QUOT

orà

PL\spirit[POSS]

kèc

ancestors

wuo

live

wuo

live

zróu

change_into

mpsac-rigéi

PL\duck-mask

bùn

REL.A

ndźí

3A.PL

yo

wear

rigéi

mask

gibyonc

ATTR\dark

suo

LOC.STAT

rie

around

ngòc.”

eyes

“and it is said that their souls live on in the masked ducks, who wear a dark mask around the eyes.”

“Mbzac-rigéi

duck-mask

ngóu

COP

no

bird

gló.”

ATTR\significant

“The masked duck is a significant bird.”

“Fùn

it_is_good

tenc

SUB

bún

2PC

ndźei

know[connaître]

táe

legend

yu

of

tśi.”

3A.SG

“It's good that you know its story.”

“Bún

2PC

yunc

awake

dráo

eager

nàenc.”

clever

“You pay good attention.”

Tà

grandmother

san

related_to

nà

mother

tòc

watch_out

wa

guard

tenc

SUB

dànc

PL\child

ngwae

do_properly

wuc

hear

dwá

understand

ndzáo

learn

ndźei

know[connaître]

mpsac.

PL\duck

The great-grandmother makes sure that the children learn everything about ducks properly.

---

This text was written on Nov 13, 2014 as part of Tumblr Conlang Relay 4. Translated from phi2dao's Nuim.

Before sunrise

Ki línc mumbùn nyac. Nyu nrènc, hunc ndzu kein zúc zúc do ruoc runc sáe rae yaon. Trà sru yéi poun poun màc yu ndzì ko, kè wèi kù hru, myòu trae làe o dzó pec tác kàc tè tè léi.

Hunc tò pùn suo sáe o dzó gyè ruzruo ngòc yunc myen nyu láo myéc. Ndzì tsáo ndźei dwá trén tsèi gyào twín yèanc, trén tsèi gyào ndźi lùo lùo zrin trá ndáo tó, o trén tsèi gyào ndźí ndźù pwì pou mba myéc bùn źùn bwí nwa xòac nú myéc.

Interlinear gloss

Ki

this

línc

SGV\time

mumbùn

INTENS~good

nyac.

win

This moment was very much perfect.

Nyu

see

nrènc,

sunrise

hunc

elders

ndzu

rise

kein

go_from.1

zúc

walk

zúc

walk

do

come_to.3I

ruoc

megalith

runc

beside

sáe

shores

rae

at_edge_of

yaon.

lake

Before sunrise, the elders got up and walked to the megalith at the shore of the lake.

Trà

exist

sru

INDEF.A

yéi

SGV\clouds

poun

above

poun

above

màc

village

yu

of

ndzì

3A.COLL

ko,

barely

There was a single cloud high above their village,

kè

but

wèi

outside

kù

that

hru,

detail

myòu

sky

trae

cold

làe

clear

o

and

dzó

same.A

pec

NEG

tác

hold

kàc

carry

tè

any

tè

any

léi.

clouds

but apart from that the sky was cold and clear and completely free of clouds.

Hunc

elders

tò

silent

pùn

stand

suo

LOC.STAT

sáe

shores

o

and

dzó

same.A

gyè

shift_position

ruzruo

lift

ngòc

eyes

yunc

concentrate

myen

look

nyu

see

láo

watch

myéc.

stars

The elders quietly stood at the shore and looked up to the stars.

Ndzì

3A.COLL

tsáo

wise

ndźei

know

dwá

understand

trén

which.I

tsèi

reason

gyào

REL.I

twín

PL\person

yèanc,

sad

They were wise and understood why people were sad,

trén

which.I

tsèi

reason

gyào

REL.I

ndźi

3A.PL

lùo

worry

lùo

worry

zrin

HYP

trá

Q

ndáo

PL\thing

tó,

significant

why they kept worrying whether things might have a hidden meaning,

o

and

trén

which.I

tsèi

reason

gyào

REL.I

ndźí

3A.PL

ndźù

search

pwì

try

pou

find

mba

SGV

myéc

stars

bùn

REL.A

źùn

shine

bwí

bright

nwa

exceed

xòac

all.COLL

nú

other

myéc.

stars

and why they were trying to find out which star was the brightest one.

---

This text was written on Feb 23, 2018 as part of CBB Relay IX. Translated from Dormouse559's Silvish.

There's a fox in the village!

Hun tenc nonc źù htroa. Dzó lùo tyuc mé ne rei sru xan ban tsì lea ngoun màc. Nonc yao tei rei dzó pec ndźei trén tsèi gyào tśi zúc tò kòun twinc. Kè trà zrin xan yoc, o tśi myen myen mic ndźù gonc téc runc mba pínc gźí kwò ke myèc yu ne. Nonc tei rei dzó ràe nù tenc xan pec bí kónc tyòu Tánc. Ne hláo ndźei trén tsèi gyào tśi ao tyòu Tánc? Nonc tei rei dzó pec nyu pou Tánc suo wínc, o tśi dwao té té suo mbèin ngoun kinc gao kù mba pínc. Yéi ko ne hic tenc Tánc ngóu mbzac-rigéi!Nonc tei rei dzó tsin tenc brec pyè san tśi wuo wuo ngóu ki no. Pyè yéi hsoc tác kàc nànc lá Tánc yao. Tśi ntrèc hxanc kàc srùn gambàn nic tsac tac tśi. O ki mbzac-rigéi léi naonc nggéc gwàonc kwò nic rec tac tśi. O ta ki xéa nonc piec ràe nù tenc xan pec tyòu no.'

Interlinear gloss

Hun

obvious

tenc

SUB

nonc

girl

źù

afraid

htroa.

lose

It was clear that the girl was very much scared.

Dzó

same.A

lùo

worry

tyuc

talk_about

mé

PASS\tell

ne

1SG

rei

QUOT

sru

INDEF.A

xan

fox

ban

today

tsì

come_to.1

lea

enter

ngoun

inside

màc.

village

She said to me worriedly that a fox had come into the village today.

Nonc

girl

yao

also

tei

say

rei

QUOT

dzó

same.A

pec

NEG

ndźei

know

trén

which.I

tsèi

reason

gyào

REL.I

tśi

3A.SG

zúc

walk

tò

silent

kòun

move_around

twinc.

here

The girl also said that she didn't know why it was sneaking around here.

Kè

but

trà

exist

zrin

HYP

xan

fox

yoc,

hungry

o

and

tśi

3A.SG

myen

look

myen

look

mic

turn_around

ndźù

search

gonc

food

téc

LOC.DYN

runc

beside

mba

SGV

pínc

oaks

gźí

ATTR\hollow

kwò

ATTR\big

ke

behind

myèc

SGV\village

yu

of

ne.

1SG

But the fox might be hungry, and it had been searching for something near the large hollow oak tree behind my house.

Nonc

girl

tei

say

rei

QUOT

dzó

same.A

ràe

wish

nù

really

tenc

SUB

xan

fox

pec

NEG

bí

catch

kónc

bite

tyòu

eat

Tánc.

NAME

The girl said that she really hoped the fox wouldn't eat Tánc.

Ne

1SG

hláo

request

ndźei

know

trén

which.I

tsèi

reason

gyào

REL.I

tśi

3A.SG

ao

want

tyòu

eat

Tánc?

NAME

I asked: Why would it want to eat Tánc?

Nonc

girl

tei

say

rei

QUOT

dzó

same.A

pec

NEG

nyu

see

pou

find

Tánc

NAME

suo

LOC.STAT

wínc,

pond

o

and

tśi

3A.SG

dwao

do_often

té

sit

té

sit

suo

LOC.STAT

mbèin

nest

ngoun

inside

kinc

hole

gao

amid

kù

that

mba

SGV

pínc.

oaks

She said that she hadn't seen Tánc at the pond, and he would often sit in a nest within that hollow oak tree.

Yéi

then.PST

ko

barely

ne

1SG

hic

realize

tenc

SUB

Tánc

NAME

ngóu

COP

mbzac-rigéi!

masked_duck

Only then I realized that Tánc was a masked duck!

Nonc

girl

tei

say

rei

QUOT

dzó

same.A

tsin

believe

tenc

SUB

brec

spirit[POSS]

pyè

grandfather

san

related_to

tśi

3A.SG

wuo

live

wuo

live

ngóu

COP

ki

this

no.

bird

The girl said she believed that her grandfather's soul lived on in this bird.

Pyè

grandfather

yéi

then.PST

hsoc

PASS\give

tác

possess

kàc

carry

nànc

name

lá

build

Tánc

NAME

yao.

also

Her grandfather had also been given the name Tánc.

Tśi

3A.SG

ntrèc

long_ago

hxanc

PASS\hurt

kàc

carry

srùn

scar

gambàn

ATTR\long

nic

on

tsac

SGV\shoulders

tac

left_of

tśi.

3A.SG

He had once been hurt and carried a long scar on his left shoulder.

O

and

ki

this

mbzac-rigéi

masked_duck

léi

PASS\decorate

naonc

characterized_by

nggéc

spot

gwàonc

ATTR\white

kwò

ATTR\big

nic

on

rec

wing

tac

left_of

tśi.

3A.SG

And this masked duck had a big white spot on his left wing.

O

and

ta

by

ki

this

xéa

knowledge

nonc

girl

piec

wild

ràe

wish

nù

really

tenc

SUB

xan

fox

pec

NEG

tyòu

eat

no.

bird

And because of this, the girl really hoped that the fox would not eat the bird.

---

This text was written on Jan 04, 2018 as part of Conlang Relay 25. Translated from Daniel Bowman's Angosey.

Two paintings

Tao pùn láo káe tyòc xònc ndòu rae traen yu tśi. Wo pìc ki tyòc kàc kwac, kè tao pec nrà nyu tśi pyu traen pyonc. Wo tsyú vei ngglì yu kwac ngóu tśèin kwá fi mó śea trac na troc. Tśi té yo nu gibyonc, gyào to léi naonc ni nihtrìc. Hlá léi to fyec nic hoc tróun ya zàe.

Tao mic pùn láo nú tyòc. Wo kù tyòc kàc nonc dźen, bùn tśi té lá lei nu wonc tśi wo nihtrìc.

Tao pùn fwinc ki xiec. Dzó yéi mic pùn myen téc wèi gzòu. Mbí kwéi źùn. Na na ndáo ngóu bra, se se ndáo ngóu kòun, kè lánc pyec fou fou. Tao fwinc rei tráe tenc tśi pec yenc. Ló tśi manc, kè tśi tèin tou yenc bonc línc konc do syu kyá to.

Interlinear gloss

Tao

man

pùn

stand

láo

watch

káe

two

tyòc

painting

xònc

on

ndòu

walls

rae

at_edge_of

traen

room

yu

of

tśi.

3A.SG

A man stood there and looked at the two paintings on the wall of his room.

Wo

INSTR

pìc

one

ki

this

tyòc

painting

kàc

carry

kwac,

woman

One of the paintings depicted a woman,

kè

but

tao

man

pec

NEG

nrà

be_able

nyu

see

tśi

3A.SG

pyu

because

traen

room

pyonc.

dark

but the man could not see her because the room was dark.

Wo

INSTR

tsyú

hair

vei

from

ngglì

head

yu

of

kwac

woman

ngóu

COP

tśèin

hang

kwá

descend

fi

wrap

mó

cover

śea

hide

trac

PL\arm

na

and

troc.

shoulders

The hair on the woman's head was hanging down, covering her arms and shoulders.

Tśi

3A.SG

té

sit

yo

wear

nu

clothes

gibyonc,

ATTR\dark

gyào

REL.I

to

3I.COLL

léi

PASS\decorate

naonc

characterized_by

ni

many

nihtrìc.

PL\jewel

She was wearing a dark robe which was decorated with many jewels.

Hlá

PASS\build

léi

PASS\decorate

to

3I.COLL

fyec

happen

nic

at

hoc

twice

tróun

twenty-four

ya

previous

zàe.

year

It had been crafted forty-eight years ago.

Tao

man

mic

turn

pùn

stand

láo

watch

nú

other

tyòc.

painting

The man looked at the other painting.

Wo

INSTR

kù

that

tyòc

painting

kàc

carry

nonc

girl

dźen,

ATTR\young

bùn

REL.A

tśi

3A.SG

té

sit

lá

build

lei

decorate

nu

clothes

wonc

BEN

tśi

3A.SG

wo

INSTR

nihtrìc.

PL\jewel

It showed a young girl who was decorating a robe with jewels.

Tao

man

pùn

stand

fwinc

consider

ki

this

xiec.

idea

The man stood and thought about this.

Dzó

same.A

yéi

then.PST

mic

turn

pùn

stand

myen

look

téc

LOC.DYN

wèi

outside

gzòu.

window

Then he turned and looked out of the window.

Mbí

sun

kwéi

warm

źùn.

shine

The sun was shining warmly.

Na

all

na

all

ndáo

PL\thing

ngóu

COP

bra,

stay

se

none

se

none

ndáo

PL\thing

ngóu

COP

kòun,

move_around

kè

but

lánc

time

pyec

continue

fou

pass

fou.

pass

Everything stayed the same, nothing moved, but time still kept passing.

Tao

man

fwinc

think

rei

QUOT

tráe

preferable

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

pec

NEG

yenc.

sleep.

The man thought that he'd rather not sleep.

Ló

DAT

tśi

3A.SG

manc,

tired

kè

but

tśi

3A.SG

tèin

then.FUT

tou

begin

yenc

sleep

bonc

CIRC

línc

SGV\time

konc

ATTR\right

do

come_to.3I

syu

meet

kyá

arrive

to.

3I.COLL

He felt tired, but he would sleep when the right moment for sleep had come.

---

This text was written on Jan 18, 2015 as part of CBB Relay VI. Translated from DesEsseintes' Dánıdoo.

A tradesman falls to the ground

Táe yu tao gyào gwaec bùn tśi fae lin kwé.

Tao gyào gwaec ngóu lo hśac dyen dzó tèin nrà tou ndzu pei tyòu yenc do. Dzó ngóu zò soc dzùn nanggàc na dac do poun yàe-kàc yu tśi, gyào lí to ta nyec.

Htlanc ki línc, pwanc zúc do lóa fa kác. Hun tenc pwanc yoc; dzó do lea ngoun myèc rao dzó ndźù nàc tyòu gonc. Kè ngèc san pwanc pec twi tenc kác do lea ngoun myèc. Kuc tei myóa kác té sruo suo wèi nyù, o kuc lú kác suo myuc yenc wo pàn.

Yéi tao gyào gwaec nu zò kòa diec do poun yàe-kàc. Tśi ao lú lóc to, kè dzó ka pàn duc. Kè we, trà mpàn gzu runc tśi nù! Tao yonc húoc bí lóc li soc dźi mpàn — o htsí kác htsóc wóc xù xù ráon dźi! Tao źù dric gyóc kác hkúnc hxanc piec xù. Yao nyec lo źù htroa, o dzó tou tswi ráon li soc pei yàe-kàc. Tao gyào gwaec lí fwí hlulú wo mpàn o dzó fae lin kwé, o wo yàe-kàc ko suc kèa yenc o hto hríe hkú tú.

Interlinear gloss

Táe

story

yu

of

tao

man

gyào

ATTR\offer

gwaec

ATTR\acquire

bùn

REL.A

tśi

3A.SG

fae

fall

lin

lie

kwé.

ground

Story of a tradesman who falls to the ground.

Tao

man

gyào

ATTR\offer

gwaec

ATTR\acquire

ngóu

COP

lo

become

hśac

ready

dyen

so_that

dzó

same.A

tèin

then.FUT

nrà

be_able

tou

begin

ndzu

rise

pei

go_from.3A

tyòu

eat

yenc

sleep

do.

come_to.3I

A tradesman was getting ready so that he could begin traveling.

Dzó

same.A

ngóu

COP

zò

put

soc

give

dzùn

contain

nanggàc

PL\basket

na

and

dac

PL\box

do

come_to.3I

poun

above

yàe-kàc

travois

yu

of

tśi,

3A.SG

He was loading baskets and boxes onto his travois,

gyào

REL.I

lí

PASS\pull

to

3I.SG

ta

by

nyec.

female_horse

which was beinɡ pulled by a horse.

Htlanc

during_situation

ki

this

línc,

SGV\time,

pwanc

child

zúc

walk

do

come_to.3I

lóa

there

fa

with

kác.

male_dog

At the same time, a child came walking along with a dog.

Hun

seem

tenc

SUB

pwanc

child

yoc;

hungry

It seems that the child was hungry;

dzó

same.A

do

come_to.3I

lea

enter

ngoun

inside

myèc

SGV\village

rao

in_order_to

dzó

same.A

ndźù

search

nàc

take

tyòu

eat

gonc.

food

it went into a house in order to get some food.

Kè

but

ngèc

parents

san

related_to

pwanc

child

pec

NEG

twi

allow

tenc

SUB

kác

male_dog

do

come_to.3I

lea

enter

ngoun

inside

myèc.

SGV\village

But the parents of the child did not allow the dog to enter the house.

Kuc

3A.DU

tei

say

myóa

command

kác

male_dog

té

sit

sruo

wait

suo

LOC.STAT

wèi

outside

nyù,

door

They ordered the dog to sit and wait outside,

o

and

kuc

3A.DU

lú

tie

kác

male_dog

suo

LOC.STAT

myuc

in_reach_of

yenc

SGV\deciduous_forest

wo

INSTR

pàn.

rope

and they tied him to a tree with some rope.

Yéi

then.PST

tao

man

gyào

ATTR\offer

gwaec

ATTR\acquire

nu

push

zò

put

kòa

final

diec

box

do

come_to.3I

poun

above

yàe-kàc.

travois.

Now the tradesman placed the last box onto the travois.

Tśi

3A.SG

ao

want

lú

tie

lóc

hold

to,

3I.SG,

kè

but

dzó

same.A

ka

lack

pàn

rope

duc.

ATTR\sufficient

He wanted to attach it, but he did not have enough rope to do so.

Kè

but

we,

hey,

trà

exist

mpàn

SGV\rope

gzu

ATTR\present

runc

beside

tśi

3A.SG

nù!

really

But hey, there was a piece of rope lying around nearby!

Tao

man

yonc

happy

húoc

reach_out

bí

catch

lóc

hold

li

pull

soc

give

dźi

come_to.3A

mpàn —

SGV\rope.

The man happily reached for the rope and pulled it towards him —

o

and

htsí

now

kác

male_dog

htsóc

PASS\untie

wóc

free

xù

shout

xù

shout

ráon

quick

dźi!

come_to.3A

and now the dog got free and came running and barking at him!

Tao

man

źù

afraid

dric

attack

gyóc

kick

kác

male_dog

hkúnc

PASS\surprise

hxanc

PASS\injure

piec

wild

xù.

shout

The man was afraid of the dog and kicked him, and the dog was shocked and cried out in pain wildly.

Yao

also

nyec

female_horse

lo

become

źù

afraid

htroa,

lose,

o

and

dzó

same.A

tou

begin

tswi

jump

ráon

quick

li

pull

soc

give

pei

go_from.3A

yàe-kàc.

travois

The horse was afraid too, and it started running and pulling the travois away.

Tao

man

gyào

ATTR\offer

gwaec

ATTR\acquire

lí

PASS\pull

fwí

PASS\squeeze

hlulú

PASS\tie_down

wo

INSTR

mpàn

SGV\rope

o

and

dzó

same.A

fae

fall

lin

lie

kwé,

ground

The tradesman got entangled in the rope and fell to the ground,

o

and

wo

INSTR

yàe-kàc

travois

ko

touch

suc

collide

kèa

hit

yenc

SGV\deciduous_forest

o

and

hto

same.I

hríe

collapse

hkú

PASS\break

tú.

defunct

and the travois crashed into a tree and broke apart.

---

This text was written on Jun 26, 2015 as part of Conlang Relay 22. Translated from Zach Wellstood's łaá siri.

A young queen comes of age

Htlanc mun myen láo ne wo ngòc na túc na brec, mun prec nyu ndźei hic hru gyúnc śac mác myéc mun: Fyec ya zàe nic kóu, mun yéi nù myen bwá kù nonc dźen nge mun!

Ndźei ndźei tenc mun ngànc tśi, mun ndźei ndźei tenc pwanc ndèin nggùnc lo ugwac fyec tè man. Mun soc nonc sruo hpi mun fyao bwìn soc gónc tśi, hpi tśi ndzáo lec ndáo grac dzó lo nàenc mì twó onc ngwae. O htsí nonc ngóu kwac nù! Mun nrà nyu tśi róu!

Ne htsí dráo nàc wín tao o lo ugwac. Dźéc nù tenc mun nggà to.

Interlinear gloss

Htlanc

during_situation

mun

2SG

myen

look

láo

watch

ne

1SG

wo

INSTR

ngòc

eyes

na

and

túc

heart

na

and

brec,

spirit[POSS],

While you were looking at me with your two eyes and your heart and your soul,

mun

2SG

prec

do_suddenly

nyu

see

ndźei

know

hic

realize

hru

detail

gyúnc

ATTR/surprise

śac

do

mác

first

myéc

SGV/events[POSS]

mun:

2SG

you suddenly recognized a striking detail for the first time:

Fyec

happen

ya

previous

zàe

year

nic

at

kóu,

eighteen

mun

2SG

yéi

then.PST

nù

really

myen

look

bwá

resemble

kù

that

nonc

girl

dźen

ATTR/young

nge

before

mun!

2SG

18 years ago, you had looked just like that young girl in front of you!

Ndźei

know

ndźei

know

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

ngànc

give_birth

tśi,

3A.SG

Since you had given birth to her,

mun

2SG

ndźei

know

ndźei

know

tenc

SUB

pwanc

child

ndèin

about_to

nggùnc

grow_up

lo

become

ugwac

queen

fyec

happen

tè

any

man.

day

you had known that the child would grow up to become queen one day.

Mun

2SG

soc

give

nonc

girl

sruo

wait

hpi

during_period

mun

2SG

fyao

pour

bwìn

wash

soc

give

gónc

feed

tśi,

3A.SG

You made her wait while you raised her,

hpi

during_period

tśi

3A.SG

ndzáo

learn_facts

lec

learn_skills

ndáo

PL/thing

while she learned facts and skills

grac

resulting_in

dzó

same.A

lo

become

nàenc

clever

mì

skilled

twó

strong

onc

do_correctly

ngwae.

do_well

so that she would become smart and strong enough to do things the right way.

O

and

htsí

now

nonc

girl

ngóu

COP

kwac

woman

nù!

really

But now the girl is a woman!

Mun

2SG

nrà

be_able

nyu

see

tśi

3A.SG

róu!

be_who

You can see who she is!

Ne

1SG

htsí

now

dráo

eager

nàc

choose

wín

marry

tao

man

o

and

lo

become

ugwac.

queen.

I am now ready to choose a husband and become queen.

Dźéc

desired

nù

really

tenc

SUB

mun

2SG

nggà

approve

to.

3I.SG

It is desired that you approve of this.

---

This text was written on Sept 19, 2015 as part of CBB Relay VII. Translated from Clıck's Ardelian.

Story of an ambitious warrior chieftain

Táe yu ugei fec gibyùc.

Trà ntrèc ugei bùn tśa tou runc vyei yu fwenc odzac twinc. Fyec sru man ugei dàon tyóu nyu ndlíc glúo. Ndzì nu soc tśi bè fwinc hxaenc gibyùc tśi, o ndzì yao nu soc tśi ràe tenc tśi lo pwec ró nanda. Wo ki hxaenc tśi, ugei ao kóan ndźi ndźi tou nù gyào dzó tèin gyác to. O trà mè tśi nrà ndza dzac ki kén, pyu kù ndlíc pòc zò tśi mbrinc tùc en ndùc. Ugei tyòu ndzì, o dzó yéi dric kèa ndźác dyao.

Interlinear gloss

Táe

story

yu

of

ugei

chieftain

fec

warrior

gibyùc.

ATTR\ambitious

Story of an ambitious warrior chieftain.

Trà

exist

ntrèc

long_ago

ugei

chieftain

bùn

REL.A

tśa

dwell_at

tou

land

runc

beside

vyei

source

yu

of

fwenc

river

odzac

north_of

twinc.

here

Long ago there was a chieftain who lived in the land near the source of the northern river.

Fyec

happen

sru

INDEF.A

man

day

ugei

chieftain

dàon

dare

tyòu

eat

nyu

see

ndlíc

magical_herbs

glúo.

ATTR\strong

One day, the chieftain dared to try some strong magical herbs.

Ndzì

3A.COLL

nu

push

soc

give

tśi

3A.SG

bè

be_intoxicated

fwinc

think

hxaenc

ideas[POSS]

gibyùc

ATTR\ambitious

tśi,

3A.SG

They made him think ambitious thoughts,

o

and

ndzì

3A.COLL

yao

also

nu

push

soc

give

tśi

3A.SG

ràe

wish

tenc

SUB

tśi

3A.SG

lo

become

pwec

famous

ró

special

nanda.

become_powerful

and they made him desire that he would be more powerful.

Wo

INSTR

ki

this

hxaenc

ideas[POSS]

tśi,

3A.SG

Having these ideas,

ugei

chieftain

ao

want

kóan

conquer

ndźi

much

ndźi

much

tou

land

nù

really

gyào

REL.I

dzó

same.A

tèin

then.FUT

gyác

control

to.

3I.COLL

the chieftain really wanted to conquer much more land which he would then rule over.

O

and

trà

exist

mè

MIR

tśi

3A.SG

nrà

be_able

ndza

successful

dzac

finish

ki

this

kén,

task

And he was indeed able to achieve this goal,

pyu

because

kù

that

ndlíc

magical_herbs

pòc

give

zò

put

tśi

3A.SG

mbrinc

brave

tùc

know

en

fight

ndùc.

battle

because the magical herbs had given him the courage and knowledge to fight a battle.

Ugei

chieftain

tyòu

eat

ndzì,

3A.COLL

The chieftain ate them,

o

and

dzó

same.A

yéi

then.PST

dric

attack

kèa

strike

ndźác

defeat

dyao.

enemies

and then he attacked and defeated his enemies.

---

This text was written on Oct 09, 2016 as part of Conlang Relay 23. Translated from Andrew Orr's "'račonese.

Lexicon

• Ronc Tyu/Lexicon