Draft Proposal: integration of vectors into main grammar
Jack Durst
free, sometimes interfering with the correct parsing of other elements.
Similarly, there are few fixed rules, allowing them to take on
characteristics inconsistant with the rest of the language. The following
proposal inproves learnability and parsing of vectors by restricting them
to certain grammatical positions.
NOTE: This proposal treats vector chains as a unit, the ordering of
vectors is left to the module itself. I openly invite discussion and
improvements, this is a first draft and is nowhere near perfect yet.
PROPOSALS:
1. Temporal vectors applying to verbs should be treated as inflections for
purposes of word order. They may appear either before the verb (like a
PVS auxiliary chain), directly after the verb, or after the verb and its
content adverbs. They may also be used in the SDiOV construction to alter
word order without case inflection. They may be used either with Nilenga
pronouns or with the standard person inflection on the verb, if both are
attached, the person inflection goes first {mi fu tibe -> tibeomfu} for
compatibility with TVS (and in compliance with a universal)
Examples: {mi fu tibe vonig u' mar} can also be written {fu tibeom vonig
u' mar, mi tibefu vonig u' mar, mi tibe vonig fu u' mar, mi fu u' mar
tibe vonig} (other orders can be achieved by case-marking and moving the
nouns or pronouns of the sentence. The only invalid positions are between
the verb and its adverbs or inflections.)
This proposal allows most of the freedom present in VTT chains to remain,
but fits them into existing constructions in the main grammar of the
language. It also allows importation of the Tokcir/Zumirtok negative
question and negation rules without modification (a negative question if
it follows the chain and is before the verb, a negation if it preceeds
both)
2. Spacial vector chains with origins other than the default should be
treated as prepositions for purposes of the main grammar, they should
preceed their origin if a noun phrase (noun with article and all
applicable adjectives) in the sentence. Like all prepositions, a single
morpheme vector may be appended to the beginning of a verb of motion to
make a more specific verb of motion {tibe -> inkutěbe}, as always the
stress shifts to the first sylable of the verb. Spacial vectors with the
default origin may be used as adverbs describing a verb of motion, or (if
the rules of the module permit) incorporated into the inflectional vector
chain (effectively making it a single 4-dimensional description of the
activity)
Examples: {Mi tibe inkor q vod. Inku, mi tibe. Inkutěbeom. Mi fu inku
tibe.}
This proposal massively decreases the freedom of motion of the spacial
vectors, but always makes the origin clear when explicit and makes parsing
easier. It also makes the language uniform in its handling of spacial
relations.
3. All vector chains can also be used as clause or sentence modifying
adverbs {Fu, tibeom ...} is equivilant to {Fucig, tibeom ...} and as with
all sentence modifying adverbs, modify the meaning of the entire sentence.
4. The main grammar should treat vector chains as indivisible wholes, just
as it does PVS chains, TVS inflections, and derived prepositions. This
insures the module's internal rules aren't disrupted by the workings of
external rules of grammar.
With these four rules, it should be possible to fit VXT comfortably into
the main grammar, with a minimal loss of freedom but a large gain in
dialect compatibility and an instant transfer of *all* the grammar rules
of the rest ot the language. I look forward to your comments and
improvements, Jerry.
Sincerely,
Jack Durst
Sp...@sierra.net
[this posting written in Net English]