The fluid nature of personal pronoun reference is compensated for by an almost unvarying pattern for introducing a sentence. Following an optional introductory phrase, the verb comes first, followed by the subject and an appropriate personal pronoun, which always refers to the subject and may not be omitted. Verbal objects follow the subject. The pattern is so formulaic that speakers always give their own name before using the first person pronoun alone, and likewise address the person they are speaking with by name in the first instance. (When the listener's name is not known, an appropriately deferential common noun may be used instead.) In subsequent sentences, the antecedent may be omitted if context is clear, and nouns that first appeared as objects may also be referred to by pronoun. If the speaker wishes to depart from the usual personal associations (1=self, 2=another person, present or absent, 3=an impersonal thing), the departure is almost always emphasized by first presenting the noun in question as the subject of a sentence, with its unusual pronoun in immediate apposition.
Consider the following sample of dialog (refer to list of abbreviations if needed):
Cinsir:
Petâs Cinsir i mimet. V-viv.vol.1 N-abs.sing. PP-1.abs. N-abs.sing. I love this book.
Athiar:
Ac, narsimetin mimet â pi ith phaph. INTJ
V-viv.vol.2
N-abs.sing.
PP-2.abs.
PREP
PP-1.ref.
ADV
Yes, it (2nd person) pleases me too.
Cinsir:
Apaltselir Athiarâ a â. V-pot.vol.2 N-caus.sing. PP-2.caus. PP-2.abs. You may borrow it (2nd person).
In conventional English word order, but with literal pronouns:
I ,Cinsir, love this book.Yes, you ,book, please me too.
You, Athiar, may borrow you.
The subject of the first sentence is I-Cinsir; the subject of the second is you-book, and of the third you-Athiar. Athiar might have said Ac, petâs Athiar i ehte phaph "Yes, I love it too", but she wanted to convey the specialness of the book by referring to it in the second person, which required placing the book as the subject and using a different verb (narsimet "to please"). In the third sentence, Cinsir respectfully addresses Athiar by name along with the pronoun (Athiarâ a), although the book is referred to with a simple "you" (â), following Athiar's shift to the second person for the book.
A noun phrase may precede the verb, acting as a sentence modifier. A few of the common uses of the introductory phrase are listed here:
Causation. An introductory phrase with its head noun in the causative case is used to indicate causation, corresponding to English expressions like "John made Mary answer the door", "The king ordered the soldiers to fight", or "The wind caused the tree to fall over." The distinctions captured by the different choices of verb in the English example are generally not expressed in Iltârer. However, some nuance is provided by the fact that the mood of the main verb accords with the type of causation expressed by the causative phrase, although its person and aspect are determined by its grammatical subject. Consequently, when the causal force is a human agent, the main verb will usually be in the volitional mood. If the causal agent is a natural phenomenon, the fatal or spontaneous mood is likely to be used instead.
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Reference. An introductory phrase in the reference case may be used to express a wide range of meanings, similar to, but more diverse than, those expressed in English by expressions such as "pertaining to...", "speaking of...", "concerning...", "as regards...".
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Location. An introductory phrase with a locative preposition is frequently used to indicate where the events of the main clause take place.
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Time. Likewise, a phrase with a temporal preposition indicates when the events of the main clause occur.
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The idiom in much "crafted language" (poetry, literary prose, liturgy, etc.) indicates time using an introductory reference phrase, where the head noun of the phrase has temporal implication. A few of the most common idioms are listed here:
natnaña in memories (past time)
âstethaña in histories (past time, perfect sense)
esilâthenler in anticipations (future time; neutral quality)
mâtâraña in fears (future time; negative quality)
ârahtaña in desires (future time; positive quality)
There are no relative pronouns in Iltârer. Rather, an uniflected particle, nan, is used to introduce all relative clauses. The clause invariably contains a third-person pronoun referring to the antecedent in the primary clause, even when a different person might be called for by sense or idiom.
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The relative particle is used in combination with the abstract demonstrative pronoun to convey indirect discourse and similar constructions. The pronoun serves as a placeholder for the thing said, understood, heard, hoped, feared, etc., and is followed by a clause that serves as the pronoun's referent. The pronoun is typically singular, with a case determined by the grammatical requirements of the verb used in the main clause. The clause itself is often unmodified direct quotation, with no third-person pronoun such as found in proper relative clauses. Most verbs of communication take a person as direct object, with the thing said being in the reference case without a preposition. Verbs of knowing, understanding, etc., take the thing known as direct object.
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Both ñeñer nan and ñeñ nan were often contracted to ñenan in speech, and somethimes in writing as well.
In Iltârer, the copula is not syntactically a verb, but rather an uninflected particle, ña. The sentence structure for a statement of identity is subject-copula-complement when the complement is a noun and the clauses expresses simple identity or inclusion. When the complement is a modifier (for example, a noun in refernce case or a prepositional phrase, the copula comes first, followed by the noun and then the modifier.
Questions are normally formed by attaching the interrogative particle sa- to the verb:
Mâtana Ilin â arñili. Ilin fears snakes.
Sa-mâtana Ilin â arñili? Does Ilin fear snakes?
The interrogative pronouns are sar ("who", used when a first- or second-person pronoun would be used) and sael ("what", when a third-person pronoun would be used. The interrogative pronouns are declined like nouns. Unllike in English, word order remains the same as in declarative sentences:
Mâtana sar arñili? Who fears snakes?
Mâtana Ilin â saeli? What (things) does Ilin fear?
Iltârer provides a mechanism for creating interrogative words from common nouns by prefixing them with sa-. A few of these (sasam, what-place, "where") have become very conventionalized (effectively becoming interrogative pronouns), but others are basically temporary compounds.This usage overlaps somewhat with sael followed by a referential plural, meaning "which..."
Mâtana Ilin â sael arñilin? Which snake does Ilin fear?
Perciraht a Ilin sapinaner? When (what day) did you see Ilin?
Perciraht a Ilin saelith pinaner? Which day did you see Ilin?
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Copyright © 2001-2004 Tom Little