Ronc Tyu/Basic syntax

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.