Béu : Chapter 4 : Adjective

Welcome to béu

.. Adjectives => Verbs

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Some concepts that are coded as adjectives in English, are coded as verbs in béu. Usually they are body internal processes or states. So joining "to sleep", "to love", "to hate" (which are stative verbs in English) we have concepts like "to be angry", "to be jealous", "to be healthy" encoded as verbs in their base state.

[Note ... most of these are mental states]

Now in béu all multi-syllable adjectives become verbs simply by adding the verb train to them. For example ...

coga = wide

coguran komwe = it seems they have widened the road

However ... to make the corresponding maŋga you must add the suffix do. For example ...

cogako = to widen

For the few mono-syllabic adjectives that exist, this suffix must be present all the time. For example ...

àu = black

auko = to blacken

aukuran komwe = it seems they have blackened the road

Notice that these derived verbs are all transitive. To have the intransitive sense, you must use the verb tezau "become" along with the adjective.

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..... 4 adjectives => verbs via derivation

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bòi^*	good
kéu^*	bad
fái	rich ^**
pàu	bland

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The above adjectives have an "s" affixed and change into verbs. However the meanings derived are a bit quirky.

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bòis^***	to be healthy/health	boizora	she is healthy
kéus	to be sick/illness	keuzora	he is ill
fáis	to be attentive/to like/attention	faizora	she is interested
pàus	to be bored/boredom	pauzora	he is bored

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^* The adverb derived from these words are slightly irregular. Instead of boiwe it is bowe. People often shout this when impressed with some athletic feat or sentiment voiced ... bowe bowe (well done) => bravo bravo Also instead of keuwe we have kewe. People often shout kewe kewe kewe if they are unimpressed with some athletic feat or disagree with a sentiment expressed. Equivalent to "Booo Boo".

^**"rich" in its non-monetary sense. If applied to food it means many flavours and/or textures. If applied to music it means there is polyphony. If applied to physical design it means baroque.

^***This appears in its subjunctive form as an expression often used when people are parting for what is expected to be some time. boiʒis => "may you be well".

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... 10 adjectives which never appear as verbs

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sài	young
gáu	old (of a living thing)
jini	clever, smart
tumu	stupid, thick
wenfo	new
yompe	old, former, previous
dìa	east, dawn, sunrise
cúa	west, dusk, sundown
bene	right, positive
komo	left, negative

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Of course you can always use a periphrastic expression if you wanted. For example ...

sàr tumu = I am stupid

tezar tumu = I become stupid

gàr tumu = I make (someone) stupid

Some of the above can be considered more nouns than verbs. For example ... dìa and cúa.

These two are of interest for another reason ... dìa combines with día .. "to arrive" to make the word ... diadia .. "to happen". Also cúa combines with cùa .. "to depart" to make the word ... cuacua .. "to fade away".

Note that although the components going into these words have exactly opposite meanings, the compound words do not.

diadia appears in quite common expressions. For example ...

nén r diadila = "what's happening"

nén diadori = "what happened"

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... 16 adjectives => verbs with zero derivation

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boʒi	better	kegu	worse
faizai	richer	paugau	blander
maze	open	nago	closed
saco	fast	gade	slow
fazeu	empty	pagoi	full
hauʔe	beautiful	ʔaiho	ugly
ailia	neat	aulua	untidy
coga	wide	deza	narrow

Note that the first two are irregular comparatives. The standard method for forming the comparative and superlative is ... ái = white : aige = whiter : aimo = whitest. ..

These adjectives directly become verbs. For example ...

bozor	he improves	kegor	he worsens	boʒido	to improve	kegudo	to made worse
faizor	she develops	paugado	she runs down	faizado	to enrich/develope	paugado	to run down

But notice that the infinitive form of this derived verb has the affix "do".

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... 38 adjectives => verbs with derivation

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ái	white	àu	black
hái	high	ʔàu	low
guboi	deep	sikeu	shallow
seltia	bright	goljua	dim
taiti	tight	jauju	loose
jutu	big	tiji	small
felgi	hot	polzu	cold
baga	simple	kaza	complex
naike	sharp	maubo	blunt
nucoi	wet	mideu	dry
wobua	heavy	yekia	light
pujia	thin	fitua	thick
yubau	strong	wikai	weak
fuje	soft	pito	hard
gelbu	rough	solki	smooth
ʔoica	clear	heuda	hazy
selce	sparce	goldo	dense
cadai	clean	dacau	dirty
igwa	elegant	uʒya	crude

These adjectives do not become verbs directly, even as finite verbs (helgo form) they have the affix do.

aikor	he whitens	aukor	he blackens	aiko	to whiten	auko	to blacken
haikor	she raises/rises	ʔaukor	she lowers	haiko	to raise	ʔauko	to lower

So why do some verbs have ko in their finite form and others not. Well monosyllable adjectives always take ko. As for the rest, the ones that appear often as verbs, drop the ko in their finite form.

Notice that for multi syllable adjectives ending in a diphthong, the final vowel s dropped before appending ko.

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However not quite all antonyms fall into the above pattern. For example ...

loŋga = tall, tìa = short

wazbia = far : wazbua or mùa = near : wazbi = distance : wazbai = about 3,680 mtr

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..... Family

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Usually the words below are used to address members of your family (names are not usually used). All the words below have a special vocative case ... formed by prefixing a.

amama ... klogau dá = Mum, where are my shoes ?

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There are 14 primary family relationships ...

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mother	mama
son	yaya
daughter	jaja
grand-daughter	fafa
father	baba
older sister	gaga
older brother	dada
grand-mother	caca
female cousin	saza
younger sister	kaka
grandson	papa
younger brother	tata
grandfather	wawa
male cousin	nana

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Below are 8 secondary family relationships.

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daba	uncle	the older brother of your father
taba	uncle	the younger brother of your father
gaba	aunt	the older sister of your father
kaba	aunt	the younger sister of your father
dama	uncle	the older brother of your mother
tama	uncle	the younger brother of your mother
gama	aunt	the older sister of your mother
kama	aunt	the younger sister of your mother

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And below are a further 8 secondary family relationships.

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yaja	offspring
maba	parents
cawa	grandparents
data	brothers
gaka	sisters
daga	elder syblings
taka	younger syblings
fapa	grandchildren

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It is worth mentioning that theae 30 words are all automatically taken as related to the speaker if no other possessor is mentioned. For example ...

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..... Numbers

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The standard set comprises of the numbers from 1 to 1727₁₀ (which is 1 to 1000₁₂ in base twelve). Every number in the standard set has a unique form.

Five random numbers are given below to demonstrate ...

oila	= 6
eucaifa	= 72₁₂
odauba	= 503₁₂
odaugaiba	= 543₁₂
oilaugai	= 640₁₂

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And below is how these numbers are written within a body of text.

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Within a body of text ("textblock" from now on) a number written vertically and is headed up by a special three sided bracket. The only use of this bracket is to indicate a number within a textblock.

Below this bracket, the number is written with a letter representing each digit of the number

Under the bracket the number is written using a letter symbol.

letter		digit	.....	letter		digit	.....	letter		digit
J	=>	1		D	=>	5		K	=>	9
F	=>	2		L	=>	6		P	=>	10
B	=>	3		C	=>	7		T	=>	11
G	=>	4		S	=>	8

You can see that base 12 is being used. (just for explanatory purposes I will use "T" for 10 and "E" for 11)

More or less the same symbols is used for the number digit as for the letter. They take their initial, medial or final form, depending on whether the are the first, second or third number of the three digit group. táu ʔusʔa is used for inserting zeroes. táu ʔusʔa is never pronounced, it is only a place holder as number magnitude depends on position.

Although there is a unique word for 1727 numbers, it is not necessary to memorize 1727 unique forms. The 1727 numbers are built up from smaller elements. These elements are shown below ...

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100₁₂ =	ajau	10₁₂ =	ajai	one =	aja
200₁₂ =	ifau	20₁₂ =	aifai	two =	ifa
300₁₂ =	ubau	30₁₂ =	ubai	three =	uba
400₁₂ =	egau	40₁₂ =	egai	four =	ega
500₁₂ =	odau	50₁₂ =	odai	five =	oda
600₁₂ =	oilau	60₁₂ =	oilai	six =	oila
700₁₂ =	eucau	70₁₂ =	eucai	seven =	euca
800₁₂ =	aizau	80₁₂ =	aizai	eight =	aiza
900₁₂ =	aukau	90₁₂ =	aukai	nine =	auka
T00₁₂ =	yapau	T0₁₂ =	yapai	T =	yapa
E00₁₂ =	watau	E0₁₂ =	watai	E =	wata

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To construct a number from the above ...

1) Select which elements you need. For example, for 543₁₂, you will need the elements odau + egai + uba

2) If the element is non-initial, delete the initial vowel of the element => odau + gai + ba ... (note that ya and wa were originally ia and ua ... they should be deleted)

3) Join the elements up => odaugaiba

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There is a soecial form for 1, 2 and 3 ... aja, ifa and uba, while used for building up larger numbers, are never used by themselves when qualifying animate things. Instead we use ...

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ʔà	one
hói	two
léu	three

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ʔà along with its plural form ʔài are also used to code indefiniteness.

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Numbers are never written out in full. Always the method given above is used. It is as if in a body of English text you never came across the "seven" but only "7".

With fractions, cardinal numbers and numbers denoting group size, there is the choice of writing 7^th or seventh. That is you can either use the symbols given below or you can write out in full ... in this example sega, nega and bega.

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Note ... If you had a leading zero you would use the word jù. 007 would be jù jù euca (three words). To deal with a telephone number, you would lump the numbers in threes (any leading zero or zeroes by themselves though) and outspeak the numbers. If you were left with a single digit (say 4) it would be pronounced egau. If you were to pronounce it ega, it would of course mean 004. Also you would probably add the particle dù at the end.

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..... Numbers ... (the extended set)

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So far we have covered the standard set (1 -> 1727). To expand this into "the extended set" we use "magnitude" words. There are seven of these.

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The first column gives the magnitude symbol, the second ... how the symbol is pronounced, the third ... the meaning^*, and the last ... the magnifier that the symbol represents.

.^* Yes all the magnitude words double up as animal names. But actually this never causes any problem. If you hear huŋgu huŋgu you know it means "5,159,780,352 Swans" ... there is no ambiguity.

To demonstrate the use of the magnitude words, let's take a long number ... 1,206,8E3,051.58T,630,559

Which is written as ...

and pronounced as ... aja huŋgu ifaula nàin aizautaiba wúa odaija ʔomba odauzaipa yanfa oilaubai mulu odaudaika ʔiwetu dù

You can see that the digits are still grouped into bunches of three. Within the triplets, leading zeros can be dropped ... giving doublets or even singletons.

All the magnitude words are spoken out. Notice the final dù. This means "exactly". You usually add this when pronouncing numbers from the extended set.

When you write an extended set number, you must finish the number off with a bracket. (in contrast the final bracket is never used if the number is from the standard set)

Anyway ... the above is only an example. You are unlikely to find something with so big a dynamic range within a textblock.

Below are examples of numbers which you would more typically find in a text block ...

Pronounced uba wúa odaija dù and odaija ʔomba odauzai respectively.

(a) uba wúa odaija dù is an whole number.

odaija ʔomba odauzai is not a whole number. Notice that the 4 versions of odaija ʔomba odauzai have been given different kinds of final brackets.

(b) This one shows that 51.58₁₂ is an approximation to the actual value. (pronounced daula)

(c) This one shows that 51.58₁₂ has been rounded down. That is .. if A = "actual value", then 51.59 =< A =< 51.58

(d) This one shows that 51.58₁₂ has been rounded up. That is .... if A = "actual value", then 51.58 =< A =< 51.57

(e) This one shows that 51.58₁₂ has been rounded up or down to the nearest digit. That is .... if A = "actual value", then 51.585 =< A =< 51.575

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dù and daula ( plus ? plus ? plus ?) as well as giving information about the accuracy of the number, also lets the listener know that the speaker has finished.

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..... Numbers ... (free form + plus mathematical notation)

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The numbers considered above were all in what is called "block form". That is ... the form they appear as within a body of text. There is also a way to write numbers when they are not inside a text block. That would happen on a page given over to mathematical formula. In this environment the numbers are written horizontally ... from left to right. There are some slight differences between the free form version of the numbers and the block form versions. The free form version of the numbers are ...

As with the block form, they always occur in triplets. However their form doesn't vary depending on which one of the triplets the character is ... the digits are always exactly the same. There is a special egg-shape symbol for zero (actually called táu kyái, where kyái means "egg"). In free form it is not permitted to drop leading zero's ... well not triplet leading zero's, word leading zero's can of course be dropped.

Below is how the five numbers given previously appear in free form ...

And that long number mentioned in the previous section (a number from the extended set) ...

It is, of course, pronounced exactly as the block form number. That is ... aja huŋgu ifaula nàin aizautaiba wúa odaija ʔomba odauzaipa yanfa oilaubai mulu odaudaika ʔiwetu dù

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Below are some more symbols used in mathematics. These would appear in a free form page (or part of a page).

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The top 3 symbols in the leftmost column designate "operations". These modify a number and are placed immediately left of the number they modify. If a number has more than one operator they come in the order "minus sign", then "i", then the inverse ("1/x") symbol.

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And below is a few examples of equations written in this notation.

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..... Possibility and Obligation

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This section is just me thinking allowed. I reckon it is finally time to get to the bottom of the English Modal Verbs.

At the start of Chapter 3 ... 3 verb forms and 3 verb constructions were given (apart from the base form ... maŋga. However these forms/constructions don't quite cover everything that needs to be expressed ... specifically we need to express possibility and obligation.

First let us look into possibility. In the diagram below the black boundary encloses all the situations where it is the ability of the subject which are relevent. Between the black boundary and the red boundary are situations where it is conditions outwith the subject which are relevant. The area inside the red boundary represents all situations that make the relevant action possible.

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There is commonly reckoned to be 9 modal verbs in English. I have shown them below in the black boxes. I have put a red cross next to "may" and "shall". This is because they are not in the English I speak. I recognize and process these words successfully. But they never come out my mouth.

I have taken the etymology back as far as possible [ using http://www.etymonline.com ]. The red spiral things represent a shift in meaning. (Actually I am not sure about the meaning of Proto-Germanic willjan , it seems a bit suspect if you ask me).

If you want further information on this type of thing ... The Evolution of Grammar by Joan Bybee, Revere Perkins and William Pagliuca is very good.

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Actually I do not use "might" very often* ... usually a clause initial "maybe", "perhaps" or "possibly" (all classed as adverbs, having scope over the whole clause) is preferred. So this leave only six of them.

The base meaning of these remaining six are ...

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must ....... strong obligation

should .... weaker obligation

will ......... future

would .... irrealis future .......... future but blocked because of a contingency

can ....... possibility

could .... irrealis possibility .... possibility but blocked because of a contingency

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One thing that stand out from the above chart is that the two particles with irrealis meaning end in -"ould". In fact "would" is an old past tense form of "will" and "could" is an old past tense form of "can". But how did they acquire their irrealis connotations. Well the answer is that they always occurred in irrealis situations and hence picked out irrealis connotations/meaning ... this is how grammaticization works. For example ... take (1)"can" which is the word for "root possibility" ... plus (2)"a past tense situation" ... plus (3)"a verb which represents an accomplishment" => "Yesterday I could have finished painting your bedroom". Now the question arises ... what sort of situation would occasion this sentence. Obviously if the task was accomplished, the only sentence appropriate would be "Yesterday I finished painting your bedroom". The only time "Yesterday I could have finished painting your bedroom" would be appropriate is when some contingency has come up and blocked the accomplishment of that task, such as "but I ran out of paint".

The same for "will" and "would". Back when "would" was the past tense form of "will" it actually meant "to want". So "Yesterday I wanted to finish painting your bedroom"

Actually "should" is a past tense form of "shall" and "might" is a past tense form of "may". I guess when the "shall"/"should" doublet originated "shall" had still the meaning of obligation more or less. Now the clause with the past tense "should" would inevitably be followed by a blocking contingency ... it would be followed by a "but" clause. Now this blocking contingency could come from many different directions ... and some of these directions actually decreased the force of the obligation. For an (slightly facetious) example ... "You should go and visit your mother even if she can't stand the sight of you".

In modern English "should" codes weaker obligation and is often followed by a "but" clause. "must" codes stronger obligation and is rarely followed by a "but" clause.

Like I said before "may" and to a lesser extent "might" don't figure too much in my English. But I found and example online that shows the irrealis nature of "might". Preumably when the "may"/"might" doublet originated "may" had the meaning "middle likelihood". ( from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemic_possibility )

1) Hitler may have been victorious in World War II

2) Hitler might have been victorious in World War II

The first statement is considered wrong. However the second one is acceptable as it is taken as irrealis ... it is understood that a "but" clause is coming along (or exists somewhere) and will block the reality of the state/event.

By the way ... I would probably express (2) as "Hitler could have been victorious in World War II if ... "

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I decided to plot out the diachronic developement of these modal verbs ... ll from the history of the 9 English except one Mandarin modal that I came across.

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Notes on the green highlihted numbers.

1) All these functions shown on the chart are called “modality” in the Western Linguistic Tradition. And indeed all these functions do seem to be connected. However if it wasn’t for the arrow joining “ability” to “obligation” the chart could be split in two … and we presumably would not be content with one cover term for everything (modality) and would think up two terms … one for each part of the chart.

The common English word “must” seems to have this provenance … that is, at one time it it stood for “ability” but through time got to stand for “obligation”. I find this change of meaning a bit strange … a bit unlikely. That is, the one who has the ability/power/possibility has an obligation to use it for the common good. I hypothesize that this shift in meaning took place when most people lived in small family groups … and hence altraism to this extent existed.

2) "may" seems to have meant "to be powerful" in the distant past. And in the recent past it seems to have meant "to have permission". I find it hard to see how this transformation of meaning came about ... unless that beyond the recent past "may" had the meaning "possibility" but by some mechanism the "possibility" semantic area shrank down to the "to have permission" semantic area.

3) It is not inevitable that "obligation" => "future" ... however it did happen with "shall".

4) I strongly object to the term "epistemic possibility" for this concept. (I want to seperate the concepts of "possibility" and "epistemic possibility" ... but looking at these term .. you would presume ... of course ... that "epistemic possibility" was a subset of "possibility"). Unsuitable terms are what makes linguistics so hard. I have made up my own term for this concept "middle likelihood" ... nothing wrong with the good old Anglo-Saxon.

5) "have" could conceivably change to 'obligation" and hence to "future". But in other languages "have" could change to "perfect aspect" and hence to "past". However all these transforms are not that common. I thought this was worth mantioning anyway.

6) "Possiblity" and "middle likelihood" are two separate things. English speakers might get confused between the two concepts because the word "possibly" is one way used to indicate "middle likelihood". And the Latinate term "possiblity" is used (by me and others) to encompass the semantic range of the word "can". But note "possibly" is not to "possible" as "quickly" is to "quick"

To understand how these two concepts are sometimes entangled ... imagine a dog inside a house... someone leaves the house and forgets to shut the front door ... now the dog "can" get out ... it has the "possibility" to get out. Given time the "probability" that the dog will go out increases with time.

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But I don't like this example very much ... we have the vagouries of dog nature. If we take into account things like the circadian rythm of the dog, the weather, noises emanating from outside ... well you get a very irregular graph. To get perfect regularity we must go the subatomic root. OK ... imagine a cat in small cage ... also a small black box in the cage. This box will release poisoned gas if it detects a gamma ray in a special small chamber it has. Exactly one atom of Lawrencium 266 (Lr 266 has a half life of 11 hours) is put in the chamber and the chamber sealed. From this point in time, the "possibility" exists that the cat has died.

This scenario gives us a nice smoothe likelihood curve. After 2 hours we can say "the cat is probably alive" ... after 5 hours we can say "maybe the cat is is dead" ... after 32 hours we can say "probably the cat is dead". Well anyway ... you get the idea ?

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So in some languages the word denoting "middle likelihood" is derived from an earlier word meaning meaning "possible". However this path is not inevitable. For example although the adverbs "maybe" and "possibly" have a "possible" past, "perhaps" does not. I like the "middle likelihood" adverb used in Shakespeare's time ... "perchance" (< through chance).

In béu the two concepts are kept apart. The béu method of expressing "likelihood" has been given already in Ch3.10. Two particles are used ... màs and lói. Pretty straight-forward.

más is used against a back ground that no event will occur. más bù is used against a back ground that an event will occur.

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Below is a chart showing how béu handles "possible". glù signifies mental ability, mài signifies permission. blèu can be used instead of mài and glù ... it signifies root possibility.

The above three words also serve as normal verbs as well ... transitive verbs that can take a noun as an object. glàr jono = I know John ... maryə toilia = I got some books ... blara toili = I am holding a book

blèu when followed by a noun has the meaning "hold in your hand" ... the idea is that when you hold something in your hand, you have total mastery over it. I extended the meaning and when blèu is followed by a verb it takes the meaning "root possibility".

Note ... in English "must" has two distinct functions. It codes "obligation" as in "You must visit your Mother" and it codes a "sort of likelihood" as in "You must be hungry". The last one means 100% certainty but it is also a bit like a question. It is expected/hoped that the 2nd person will reply in the affirnative. Also what is asserted has been "assembled" by the 1st person from diverse clues/facts. For instance ... (1) The first person has just got off a train ... (2) It was a long journey ... (3) The train was delayed in the middle of nowhere by an additional 5 hours ... (4) There was no buffet car on the train ... (5) There were no stops apart for alighting passengers.

If the 2nd person answers in the affirmative, the 1st person will be a bit chuffed. He is a bit Sherlock-Holmes-like.

In béu byó only has the "obligation" function. For the other function you would append the -n evidential to the verb. Also perhaps you would add the YES/NO question particle to the end of the utterance.

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..... Twelve important verbs

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[ perhaps meaning "to have easy access to" if taking about a larger object ]

jonos yora toili = John has a book (on him)

jonos yora jò nambon = John should go home

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jonos byór fanfa = John owns a horse

jonos byora jò tunheun = John must go to the townhall

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jenes core nambo yindos = Jane left home (earlier today)

jenes core kodai idai = Jane stopped work at 4 o'clock (in the afternoon)

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jonos dori nambo ezai = John arrived home at ten o'clock (at night)

jonos dori solbe tàin léu dinda = John started to drink three days ago

jonos doru kodai jáus léu dinda = John will start working in three days time.

jonos dorua kodai jáus léu dinda = John intends to start working in three days time.

weuno dori doika = the engine started .... note that the verb doika "to walk" or "to operate" is necessary here

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jonos igor london = John stays in London

jonos igor doika nambon = John keeps on walking home = John continues to walk home

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waulos yanfa dwora = The dog is chasing the hare

waulos yanfa dwora holda = The dog is trying to catch the hare

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waulos yanfa holdoryə = The dog has caught the hare

holdari bunda nambo = I managed to build a house

nùa holdari holda = I managed to catch the mouse

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blara biabia = I've got a butterfly in my hand

blàr bunda nambo = I can build a house

blèu can also take a complement clause [ CC ] that represents a fact. This CC has the complementizer gò. In this situation it is equivalent to the "believe"

blàr gò jene r jini = I believe that Jane is clever

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jenes glòr tomo = Jane knows Thomas

jenes glòr laigau = Jane knows calculus

jenes glòr kludau = Jane knows how to write

This verb can also take a complement clause [ CC ] that represents a fact. This CC has the complementizer gò ...

glàr gò jene r jini = I know that Jane is clever

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maryə toilia = I have received some books

maryə toilia nufi = I have received some books from them

màur jò nambon idai = We are allowed to go home at 4 o'clock

Note ... the meaning of mài with a maŋga is the passive of náu (next verb) with a maŋga when translated into English.

This verb can also take a complement clause [ CC ] ... again introduced by gò. This can happen in the situation where you are responsible for someone else (usually an offspring) and someone in authority has given permission (via you) for your offspring to do something (or not do something). For example ...

maryə gò jonos bù yora jò haundan tomorrow = I have been told that Johnny doesn't have to go to school tomorrow

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This is a 2 place verb. Well the recipient is in the dative, so that doesn't count towards the valancy ... right ? But unlike mài ... this one sort of needs a dative to make sense.

ós pàn nore toilia = He gave some books to me (earlier on today)

ós pàn nore jò nambon = He let me go home = He allowed me to go home

*jonos nore jò nambon pàn = ... béu does not like the dative separated from the verb by a two-word object ... well not when the dative is one-word anyway.

This verb can also take a complement clause [ CC ] introduced by gò.

ós pàn nore gò jonos bù yora jò haundan tomorrow = He told me that Johnny doesn't have to go to school tomorrow

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jaja ʔór fanfita = My daughter wants a pony

jaja ʔór jò nambon = My daughter wants to go home

This verb can also take a complement clause [ CC ] introduced by gò.

jaja ʔór gò kaka jò nambon = My daughter wants her younger sister to go home

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Below is a summary of what type of object these verbs can have ...

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Notice that when one of these words takes a maŋga, the maŋga must immediately follow. As usual, if the maŋga has an object it must immediately follow the maŋga. For all these twelve verbs, the maŋga has no subject ... or the subject is the same as the main verb.

In English usage (in fact all the Germanic languages) ... the way to negate modal words is a confusing. Consider "She can not talk". Since the modal is negated by putting "not" after it and the main verb is negated by putting "not" in front of it, this could either mean ...

(a) She doesn't have the ability to talk "or" (b) She has the ability to not talk

Note ... Only when the meaning is (a) can the proposition be contracted to "she can't talk". In fact, when the meaning is (b), usually extra emphasis must be put on the "not". (a) is the usual interpretation of "She can not talk" and if you wanted to express (b) you would rephrase it to "She can keep silent". This rephrasing is quite often necessary in English when you have a modal and a negative main verb to express.

In béu it is possible to negate the active verb and to negate the maŋga separately. The maŋga negator is jù. This is the same negator used for nouns. It only has scope over the NP following it (unlike bù which has scope over the whole clause). For example ...

jenes bù blòr flò coko => Jane can't eat chocolates (Jane lacks the ability to eat chocolates) ... for example she is a diabetic and can not eat anything sweet.

jenes blòr jù flò coko => Jane can not eat chocolates (Jane have the ability not to eat chocolates)... meaning she has the willpower to resist them.

jenes bù blòr jù flò coko => Jane can not not eat chocolates (Jane lacks the ability, not to eat chocolates) ... meaning she can't resist them.

And another example ...

(jés) bù byér flòn jodoi = You lot don't have to feed the animals

(jés) byér jù flòn jodoi = You lot mustn't feed the animals ... (this is for a general/timeless situation ... kyà flòn jodoi would be used for a "here and now" situation)

(jés) bù byér jù flòn jodoi = You lot can feed the animals if you want

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..... The adverbs

There are 4 types of word that function as adverbs in béu.

1) There are adjectives which are changed into adverbs by suffixing -we. For example ...

saco = quick

sacowe = quickly

THIS type of adverbs can have any position within a sentence. However if they immediately follow the verb which they are qualifying, the suffix is deleted. For example ...

doikor saco nambon = doikor nambon sacowe = sacowe doikor nambon = she is walking quickly home

2) There are nouns which are changed into adverbs by suffixing -we. For example ...

deuta = soldier

deutəwe = "in the manner of a soldier"

Note that the final vowel in deuta changes here. This is because as well as being a suffix, wé is a noun in its own right meaning "way" or "method" (see the section on word building)

Just as saco is an adjective which is considered an adverb when immediately following a verb, so deutəwe is an adverb that is considered an adjective when immediately following a noun.

Also a noun is formed by suffixing -mi to the end.

deutəwemi = soldierliness

3) One of the functions of a nouns with pilana 1 => 8 + 15 is as an adverb. This type of adverb must follow the verb immediately. In a similar manner to type 2), if this form comes after a noun it is considered an adjective. For example ...

moŋgos flor halma pazbamau (the gibbon eats an apple on the table) pazbamau is an adjective describing where the apple is.

moŋgos flor pazbamau halma (the gibbon is eating an apple on the table) pazbamau is an adverb describing where the "eating" is taking place.

Note ... In English, the sentence "the monkey eats the apple on the table" is ambiguous.

Go thru the other pilana ???

4) This type of adverbs are nouns that are stand for time periods. For example tomorrow, yesterday, the past et. etc. Basically when they are not copula subjects, copula complements or in the ergative case, they are adverbs.

5) Words such as "often" ??? ( = many times ???) ... a particle ???

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..... Quantity

... many, a lot, very

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haì = many

haì bawa = many men

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This word is only used with countable nouns. With un-countable nouns we use hè.

hè comes after the noun that it qualifies.

moze hè = a lot of water

hè also can qualify verbs. As with normal adverbs, if it doesn't immediately follow the verb it must take the form hewe.

glá doikori hè = the woman has walked a lot

hewe glá doikori

báus timpori glá hewe = the man hit a woman a lot

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glá r hauʔe sowe = the woman is very beautiful

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... few, a little, a bit a little bit

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uhai = few

uhe = a little

However a word meaning the same as uhe is iyo (also iyowe, when used as an adverb separated from the verb). iyo occurs twice as much as uhe.

hemai = amount, quantity .... there is no word *haimai

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... to a greater degree

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Appended to an adjective, ge indicates to a greater degree.

Appended to an adjective, mo indicates to the greatest degree.

When we have this sort of construction, we are usually comparing to people or things. The background person or thing has the pilana wo. For example ....

jene r jutuge jonowo = Jane is bigger than John

jene r jutumo = Jane is biggest

Note ... In English the words "more" (also "most", "less" and "least") can occur with multi-syllable adjectives. Also "more" can qualify nouns and verbs as well. The béu equivalent of "more" when qualifying nouns (non-countable) and verbs is hege. haige is used for countable nouns.

[ haige would translate Thai " ììk ", as in " ììk nɯɯŋ bìa " ]

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... to a less degree

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Also we have zo which indicates a lesser degree.

Plus we have zmo which indicated the least degree.

However the above two suffixes don't appear that often. The most common adjectives have polar forms. And it is usual to switch to the form which will allow you to express yourself using the ge or the mo suffix. But here is an example from an adjective that doesn't have a polar form.

dè r mutuzo = that one is not so important

dí r mutuzmo = this one is the least important

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... to the same degree

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As well as ge, mo, zo and zmo there is one more suffix that is appended to adjectives. It is la (note this is a pilana when appended to nouns)

jene r jutula jonowo = Jane is as big as John

jene r ʔes jutumi jonowo = Jane is as big as John

jene r uʔes jutumi jonowo = Jane is not the same size as John

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... Antonym phonetic correspondence

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In the above lists, it can be seen that each pair of adjectives have pretty much the exact opposite meaning from each other. However in béu there is ALSO a relationship between the sounds that make up these words.

In fact every element of a word is a mirror image (about the L-A axis in the chart below) of the corresponding element in the word with the opposite meaning.

ʔ
m
y
j		ai
f		e
b		eu
g		u
d		ua		high tone
l	===========================	a	============================	neutral
c		ia		low tone
s/ʃ		i
k		oi
p		o
t		au
w
n
h

Note ... The original idea of having a regular correspondence between the two poles of a antonym pair came from an earlier idea for the script. In this early script, the first 8 consonants had the same shape as the last 8 consonants but turned 180˚. And in actual fact the two poles of a antonym pair mapped into each other under a 180˚ turn.

An adjectives is called moizana in béu .... NO NO NO

moizu = attribute, characteristic, feature

And following the way béu works, if there is an action that can be associated with noun (in any way at all), that noun can be co-opted to work as an verb.

Hence moizori = he/she described, he/she characterized, he/she specified ... moizus = the noun corresponding to the verb on the left

moizo = a specification, a characteristic asked for ... moizoi = specifications ... moizana = things that describe, things that specify

nandau moizana = an adjective, but of course, especially in books about grammar, this is truncated to simply moizana

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