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Personal Pronouns

Tyl-Sjok distinguishes three persons: the speaker, the listener and others. There is no distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person as in many languages. (Note that Tyl-Sjok also does not distinguish the number with pronouns as it is never distinguished).

Determiners

There are two determiners one of which is the only demonstrative in Tyl-Sjok meaning either `this' or `that'.

DET this, that
WHICH which
so such

To be more precise with DET, you can use genitive constructions on it to clarify the meaning if necessary, e.g. `that book' may be something like `you DET book' or `he DET book' or `far DET book'. And `this book' may be `I DET book' or `near DET book'.

If you think that only one demonstrative is imprecise, please note that modern German has almost the same level of imprecise demonstratives. In earlier times, `dies' was `this' and `jenes' was `that'. Nowadays, the normal definite article may be used for both (it is stressed more with this usage). Today, `jenes' is old-fashioned and `dies' is used less frequently than `das hier'. If you ask `This or that?' in German, it is usually rendered as `Das oder das?' with the finger clarifying the meaning. (Of course, this paragraph is also valid for the two other genders in German).

The complex distinction some languages have by proximity to the speaker, listener, by visibility, discourse, etc., is not (yet) available in Tyl-Sjok.

FIXME: Can Tyl-Sjok form complex demonstratives by genitive construction, which is judged to have the needed expressiveness??.

The words `when', `where', `who', `how' are rendered with WHICH. Accordingly, `then', `there', `here', `this/that person', `this/that way' are rendered with the help of DET.

hurt you happen-at WHICH ?
hurt you happen-at WHICH?
When did you hurt yourself?

hurt you be-at WHICH ?
hurt you be-at WHICH?
When did you hurt yourself?

WHICH SKIP hurt you?
Who hurt you?

you hurt use WHICH SKIP
you hurt use WHICH
How did you hurt yourself?

See Chapter 12.1.2 for comments on these sentences, which are often seen differently in colloquial language.

DET can be used together with a subsequent phrase (adjectival usage), or it can be used alone (pronomial usage).

`In such a way' may be translated using use so. It either modifies the verb directly or the whole phrase.

birth please use so, you, happen-until I.
birth please you, use so, happen-until I.
Your life as it has been is over.
`The manner that your birth used to please you has existed until now.'

Usage of DET

now; at this time (I, you, he, near, far) DET time
then; at that time (I, you, he, near, far) DET time
here (I, you, he, near, far) DET place
there (I, you, he, near, far) DET place

Qualifiers

All qualifiers can modify countable as well as uncountable objects. There is only one form. Tyl-Sjok has the following qualifiers.

all, each, both, any all
some some, NEG all

The qualifier `no' is rendered using the negative particle NEG.

Other qualifiers may be composed as follows:

few, little small some
a lot, many, much big some
almost all near all
...

Conjunctions

 

Co-Ordination

For co-ordination, there is only one conjunctive particle: the sequence particle SEQ, which, if not used with any additional words, may be translated as `and', `or', `but', `though', etc. depending on the context.

The word `to add' is often used without SEQ (especially in numbers), and may seem to be a conjunction, but it is not.

SEQ's usage is purely syntactical: it is to link two constituents together that do not control each other. This section and Section 8.3 show examples.

Some conjunctions known from English are translated as follows:

A, SEQ add B
A and B

A, SEQ not alternative, B
A and surely B

A, SEQ (EMPH) truth B
A but B

A, SEQ alternative, B
A or B (underspecified: inclusive or exclusive)

alternative A, SEQ alternative, B
A or B (inclusive)

A, SEQ not add, B
A or B (exclusive)

Further note that the sequence particle may be dropped. If no additional modifier is given, this is likely only to happen for top-level phrase composition. Often, when a modifier is given and when the sequence is clear, it also happens in embedded structures (e.g. typically if the constituents are modified with a YN particle):

A add B
A and B

70 add 5
75

Also, phrases that could be linked with cause alone often use SEQ kel instead for stylistic reasons.

Sub-Ordination

Sub-ordination is done by verbs and direct embedding in Tyl-Sjok. E.g., with the verb cause.

Examples

Rain cause I NEG come.
Because it rained, I did not come
`The rain causes/caused my non-coming.'

you arrive happens-when I fetch.
When you arive, I'll fetch you.
`My fetching you happens when (you) arrive.'
Note that `happen-when is a verb in Tyl-Sjok.

destroy world NEG cause surprise I
If the world goes down, I will not be surprised.
`The world being destroyed does not cause me to be surprised.'
This can be expressed without `cause' as well. Then `destroy world' is the agent of `surprise'.

FIXME: Translate: `but'. It could is actually be the same as `and'..

Prepositions

There are no prepositions. Verbs are used instead.

To show how this works, here are some example applications.

Place

Use the Location, Sub-Position and Re-Postion Verbs. See Sections 5.5, 5.7 and 5.8.

Time

Use the Time, Sub-Position and Re-Postion Verbs. See Sections 5.6, 5.7 and 5.8.

Instrumental

For `with, using, with the help of' use the verb `to use':

I eat pizza use hand
I eat pizza with my hands.

I want eat use chop-sticks
I want to eat with chop-sticks.
Mandarin uses SVC for this, but the basics are the same: `Wo xiang yòng kuāizi chī fàn'

FIXME: check tone of `yong' and `kuaizi'.

uses SVC.

FIXME: Translate: `I would not be surprised about the world going down.': X surprises Y..

FIXME: Translate: `Concerning/About today's lesson I have questions.'.

FIXME: Translate: `Of all fish, I like salmon most.'.

FIXME: Translate: `After dinner I will read a book.'.

FIXME: Translate: `Learning by doing.' (to use?).


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Home Up: Tyl-Sjok--An Artificial Isolating Human Previous: Adjectives Next: Particles

Henrik Theiling
Sat Jun 9 18:52:24 CEST 2001