80 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
80 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
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# Sentence Structure Semantics
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## Independent Clause Structure
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Most of the time L'ewa sentences have only one clause. This can be anything from
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a single verb to a subject, verb and object. However, sometimes more information
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is needed. Consider this sentence:
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```
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The dog which is blue is large.
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```
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This kind of a relative clause would be denoted using `hoi`, which would make
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the sentence roughly the following in L'ewa:
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```
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le wufra hoi blanu xi brado.
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```
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The particle `xi` is needed here in order to make it explicit that the subject
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noun-phrase has ended.
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Similarly, an incidental relative clause is done with with `joi`:
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```
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le wufra joi blanu ke brado
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the dog, which by the way is blue, is big.
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```
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## Questions
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There are a few ways to ask questions in L'ewa. They correlate to the different
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kinds of things that the speaker could want to know.
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### `ma`
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`ma` is the particle used to fill in a missing/unknown noun phrase. Consider
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these sentences:
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```
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ma blanu?
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what is blue?
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```
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```
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ro qa madsa ma?
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you are eating what?
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```
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### `no`
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`no` is the particle used to fill in a missing/unknown verb. Consider these
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sentences:
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```
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ro no?
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How are you doing?
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```
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```
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le wufra xi no?
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The dog did what?
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```
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### `so`
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`so` is the particle used to ask questions about numbers, similar to the "how
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many" construct in English.
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```
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ro madsa so spalo?
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You ate how many apples?
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```
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```
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le so zasko xi qa'te glowa
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How many plants grow quickly?
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```
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