All of Beddy-Byes and a bit more
Jacques B.M. Guy
But first, my apologies. Having posted the first instalment I plumb
forgot
about the rest. A congratulatory message from a passing Klingon visitor
reminded me about Beddy-Byes and my failure to continue. There are
EIGHT installments to it, would you believe, and I fear I may forget
or stuff up if I post them piecemeal. So here is the lot!
Beddy-Byes
or
the Ultimate Centre-Embedding Language
Beddy-Byes is spoken by a sentient mollusc-like people living
in the methane oceans of the fifth planet of Deneb.
It would be futile to use the IPA, or any other phonetic alphabet, to
represent the sounds of Beddy-Byes, as those sounds are produced by
organs somewhat resembling the jet-propulsion organs of our own Terran
squids. Only one variety to Beddy-Byes is known, being that spoken, or
rather, gurgled, by the schools near the southern shores of the land
mass known to us as Nova Scotia. I shall call this language "Nova
Scotia".
Nova Scotia has 82 phonemes. We could represent them by numbers, from 1
to 82. But for human pronounceability reasons, I shall represent them by
combinations of one consonant followed by one vowel. Thus: ba, be, bi,
bo, bu, ca... and so on.
Nova Scotia syntax -- and grammar -- is, according to Nova Scotian
scholars, wholly accounted for in one single rule: the determinant
is embedded in the determinded. Embedding occurs always immediately
after the first phoneme. Thus, if English syntax were like that of
Nova Scotian, "one fat cat" /w@n fat kat/ would be: /kfw@natat/. Or,
for a Nova Scotian example: "one juicy fish":
"one" kabe
"juicy" muhikana
"fish" lohi
giving:
"juicy (determinant) fish (determined)" lo-muhikana-hi
whence:
"one (determinant) juicy fishy (determined)"
lo-mu-kabe-hikana-hi
Or, since in Nova Scotia, the order of determinant is purely
semantically determined, so that you can say "juicy one fish" as easily
as "one juicy fish":
lo-ka-muhikana-be-hi
Most Nova Scotian words being diphonemic (of, in this representation,
disyllabic), it is not really so bad as it seems. More on Nova Scotian
later, maybe.
PS. The most commonly used native name for Nova Scotia is
pehokanigokeqabiqoba, consisting of:
peba methane
hoqo pleasantly warm
kabi in-the-vicinity-of
niqa giant googol clam
goke (plural marker)
------------------------------ Part 2 ----------------------------------
MORE ON BEDDY-BYES (NOVA SCOTIA, DENEB V)
A few examples will help the reader grasp the fundamentals of Nova
Scotian
Beddy-Byes syntax better than long explanations.
VOCABULARY
Gebo = to swim.
Sade = swift.
Babi = meaning-reversing modifier (very much like Esperanto mal-)
Moga = I
Toto = you/he/she/it (Beddy-Byes distinguishes only two persons: first
and the rest)
SOME SIMPLE SENTENCES
Gesadebo = to swim swiftly. "Swiftly" (sade), modifying "to swim"
(gebo), is embedded immediately after its first phoneme/syllable.
Gesababidebo = to swim slowly. Literally: to swim un-swiftly.
Geqamogaqabo = I swim. "To swim" (gebo) is determined by the subject
marker (qaqa), itself determined by the first-person pronoun (moga).
This is really not an alien construction after all, as we find
constructions that can be similarly analyzed in some Terran languages,
Japanese, for instance. In Japanese, the determinant precedes the
determined, and "I swim" is: watakushi (I) wa (subject marker) oyogu
(swim). We could hold that the verb (oyogu) is determined by the
subject marker (wa), which is itself determined by the personal pronoun
(watakushi). That is exactly what Beddy-Byes does, except that in
Beddy-Byes the determinant is *embedded* in the determined.
Geqaqabo = someone swims. Here the subject marker is left undetermined,
hence the general meaning: "(some)one swims" (viz French: "on nage",
German "man schwimmt"). Imagine that you could say "wa oyogu" in
Japanese. The Beddy-Byes construction is exactly the same.
IMPORTANT
Note the difference between these two sentences:
(1) Gesaqaqadebo = someone swims swiftly.
(2) Geqasadeqabo = someone swift swims.
In (1) "sade" (swift) is embedded in, and therefore modifies, "gebo"
(swim). In (2), however, "sade" is embedded in the subject marker
"qaqa", and therefore modifies the subject, not the verb.
HOMEWORK
Translate into Beddy-Byes:
You swim swiftly
Someone swift swims slowly.
I who am swift swim slowly.
She who is slow swims slowly.
-------------------------------- Part 3 ---------------------------
EVEN MORE ON BEDDY-BYES (NOVA SCOTIA, DENEB V)
VOCABULARY
Cidu = current
Beji = ocean
Diba = great
Rofu = locative marker, as answer to "where?" (Latin ubi)
Lido = locative marker, as answer to "where to?" (Latin quo)
Piqo = locative marker, as answer to "when from?" (Latin unde)
Qaqi = locative marker, as answer to "where through?" (Latin qua)
SOME SIMPLE SENTENCES
Geqamogaqabo I swim
Gerobejifubo To swim in the ocean
Combining those two sentences, we express "I swim in the ocean" thus:
Geqamogaqarobejifubo (lit.: swim I in-the-ocean)
or:
Gerobejifuqamogaqabo (lit.: swim in-the-ocean I)
Be careful to distinguish these two constructions:
(1) Geqamogaqarobejifulicidudobo I swim in the ocean into a current
(2) Geqamogaqalicirobejifududobo I swim into a current in the ocean
In (1) qamogaqa (I), robejifu (in the ocean), and licidubo (into a
current) determine gebo (to swim).
In (2) robejifu (in the ocean) is embedded in cidu (current), and
therefore *determines* "current".
Sentence (1) means that, already in the ocean, the speaker (or rather,
gurgler) swims into a current. Sentence (2) means that, being out of the
methane ocean -- for instance, on land, or on an ice floe -- the gurgler
swims into a current in the ocean.
HOMEWORK
Translate into Beddy-Byes:
He swims through a current.
I swim into a swift current.
You swim in the great ocean.
Translate into English:
Gepicisadeduqoqasababideqabo
Geqatosababidetoqarocidibadufubo
Geqamosadegaqaqacidibabibasadedurobedibajifuqibo
SOLUTIONS TO LAST WEEK'S HOMEWORK
You swim swiftly
Gesaqatotoqadebo
Someone swift swims slowly.
Gesabaqasadeqabidebo
I who am swift swim slowly.
Gesabaqamosadegaqabidebo
She who is slow swims slowly.
Gesabaqatosababidetoqabidebo
---------------------------- Part 4 -------------------------------
AROUND BEDDY-BYES: THE NOVA-ENGLISH PROJECT
Monrovia, 14 September 2146 (Reuter). The Secretary General of the UN,
Dr Bitos-Gilly Gilly, has announced the launch of the Nova-English
project headed by Professor Emeritus Kool Tooter of Yule University.
"This project", said Dr Bitos-Gilly Gilly, "aims at enhancing mutual
comprehension between the peace-loving people of Earth and Nova Scotia
on Deneb V." All five members of the UN have signed an international
treaty pledging to introduce school children to Nova Scotian syntax from
kindergarten on. Professor Emeritus Kool Tooter commented: "We have long
known at Yule that language is recursive and that the reason why we
seldom observe double centre-embedded sentences and never triple
centre-embedded ones is to be found in Chumpski's theory of prurience
and appetence. Nova Scotian syntax vindicates prurience and appetence.
It is high time we humans raised our level of appetence to match our
prurience. The Nova Scotians have, why don't we?".
Meanwhile in Oceania, Admiral Qanqargh commented to the press: "Never
mind what the old farts in war-torn Monrovia say. We just can't afford
to have yet another fleet *thought* into inexistence by those squids
just because some pea-brained human translator stuffed up big time. The
Galactic Trade Union rule that forbids the use of machine translators
has got to go."
Back in Monrovia all two kindergarten schools of the five members of the
UN, the suburbs of Peace, Love, Friendship, Prosperity and Fraternity,
are preparing themselves to teach "Nova English", English with a Nova
Scotian syntax. Nova English will be taught in three stages:
deep-structuring, de-verbing, centre-embedding.
Deep-structuring: all determinants will be replaced by a corresponding
deep structure. For instance "bright-green ideas sleep very deeply"
will be rephrased: "ideas which are of a green which is bright sleep in
a
manner which is of a deep which is deep"
De-verbing: verbs will be replaced by nominal constructions. For
instance "ideas sleep" will be rephrased "sleeping which is done by an
agent which is ideas".
Centre-embedding: "This phase", said Professor Emeritus Tooter of Yule,
"will be the easiest and surest to implement, as it is the mere
application to English of the word order of German relative clauses".
From Professor Tooter's explanations, it would appear that "a red apple"
will be rephrased as "an apple which red is". Professor Tooter next
consulted his notes and said that "very obviously and naturally,
'bright-
green ideas sleep very deeply' will very obviously and naturally become
in full Nova English 'sleeping which by an agent which ideas which of a
green which bright is are is in a manner which of a deep which deep is
is is done is'. Nevertheless, in order to ensure the success of the
project, the children will be kept immersed in Nova English. The schools
will be outfitted so that they are entirely self-contained, and no
contact with the outside will be necessary nor encouraged". UN Secretary
General Dr Bitos-Gilly Gilly commented: "If nothing else, the Nova
English project will have kept four children off the streets and
probably saved their lives. Stray laser beams and plasma grenades are
not a healthy environment for children to grow up in". He was
interrupted then by Professor Tooter who warmly congratulated him for a
"lovely example of centre embedding".
----------------------------- Part 5 ------------------------------
IS BEDDY-BYES ERGATIVE?
VOCABULARY
Kani = to eat
Piko = to drink/breathe
Paji = enjoyable
Buso = small googol clam
Rona = subject marker
Jule = object marker
Diro = and...
Lohi = fish
SOME SIMPLE SENTENCES
Geqatotoqabo = you/she/he/it swims (subject marker: qaqa)
Karototonajulohileni = you/he/she/it eat(s) a fish (subject marker:
rona)
Karolohinajubusoleni = a/the fish eats a small googol clam
Karototonajuleni = you/he/she/it eat(s) it/something/someone
Karototonani = you/he/she/it are/is satiated
RULE CONCERNING THE USE OF qaqa AND rona
Qaqa marks the subject of an intransitive verb.
Rona marks the subject of a transitive verb, used with or without an
object.
IS BEDDY-BYES ERGATIVE?
Professor Emeritus Kool Tooter of Yule, asked this question, answered:
"Beddy-Byes is ergative. The surface structure of karototonajubusoleni
(you/he/she/it eats a googol clam) is clearly derived from the deep
structure karototonaqabusoqani by the qaqa-jule replacement rule.
Therefore, Beddy-Byes is clearly ergative".
We, with the late Metalleus, just hold that Beddy-Byes is different.
After this illuminating a parte, back to brass tacks.
SOME MORE SIMPLE SENTENCES
Kaparomoganajubusolejini = I like small googol clams (lit. I enjoyably
eat small googol clams)
Lopajihi = good fish (lit. enjoyable fish)
GeparoBeDibajifujibo = I like swimming in the Great Ocean (lit. I
enjoyably swim in the Great Ocean)
Kapajulodibusorohilerototonajini = you like fish and small googol clams.
Note how diro (and) is used. Diro is a modifier "etc., et al." here
itself modified by the embedded buso (small googol clams). Indeed, you
can say:
Kaparomoganajulodirohilejini = I like fish and suchlike stuff (lit. I
enjoyably eat fish et al.)
SOLUTIONS TO LAST WEEK'S HOMEWORK
He swims through a current.
Geqatotoqaqaciduqibo or:
Geqaciduqiqatotoqabo
I swim into a swift current.
Geqamogaqalicisadedudobo or:
Gelicisadedudoqamogaqabo
You swim in the great ocean.
Geqatotoqarobedibajifubo or:
Gerobedibajifuqatotoqabo
Gepicisadeduqoqasababideqabo
The slow one swims out of a swift current
Geqatosababidetoqarocidibadufubo
You/she/he/it who is slow swims in the great current
Geqamosadegaqaqacidibabibasadedurobedibajifuqibo
I who am swift swim through a small (dibabiba) swift current in the
great ocean.
THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK
We have the flu, our brain is pickled, this week's homework will fall
next week, like Friday 13th on a Thursday.
Pipajiko!
--------------------------------- Part 6 -----------------------------
Transcript of two sessions between a human linguist
and a Nova Scotian informant
Octember 33rd
H. Pipajiko!
I. Good day to you too!
H. Let me start from where we left off last time. Lodibusorohi is "fish
and small googol clam" isn't it? Diro means something like "etc, and
sundry", and is being modified here by buso "small googol clam"?
I. Correct, and kapajini it is too.
H. (mumbling into his gurgle transvocator) ka... paji... ni
fo... enjoyable.. od... ah yes, "enjoyable food". Now, "fish and
small googol clam and giant googol clam" that would be...
lodibudiniqarosorohi?
I. No. You can't say that. The taste of giant googol clam does not go
well at all with fish. Not well at all.
H. Wait, I am a human, we humans may have different tastes from yours.
Now, suppose I *wanted* to try giant googol clam with fish, how would
I ask for it?
I. That is impossible. First, you cannot breathe liquid methane, and
second, if even you found a way to eat our food, it would freeze you
to death of course.
H. Now let us suppose that I wanted to *buy* some fish, some googol
clams, and some giant googol clam to take with me in my home bubble,
leave them in our atmosphere for a while, until they reach room
temperature, and...
I. Oh, I see... then you would say: gomelodibudiniqarosorohilito
H. Gomelo... lito... what is gomelito?
I. Goto is craving for something, meli is obtaining in the proper
manner, by buying, of sorts. Literally it is: there is a craving for
the obtention of ... yuck! pardon me, but you ARE weird.
Octember 36th
H. Pipajiko!
I. Indeed the methane is very enjoyable to breathe to-day. To your
health!
H. If I want to say "I would like to buy some fish, small googol clams,
giant googol clam and purpleweed", that would be... hmm... purpleweed
is hake... hmmm...
gomelodibudinidihakeroqarosorohilito?
I. You are weird. But yes, that is correct.
H. And if I want teko, ballweed, in addition, then I say...
gomelodibudinidihaditekorokeroqarosorohilito?
I. I beg your pardon?
H. Gomelodibudinidihaditekorokeroqarosorohilito.
I. That is nonsense.
H. Isn't lodibudinidihaditekorokeroqarosorohi "fish (lohi) and small
googol clams (buso) and giant googol clam (niqa) and purpleweed
(hake) and ballweed (teko)"? And isn't gomelito "a craving (goto) of
obtention (meli)", so that for instance gometekolito means "craving
to get ballweed"?
I. Absolutely.
H. So! I embed lodibudinidihaditekorokeroqarosorohi slap bang in the
centre of gomelito I get
gomelodibudinidihaditekorokeroqarosorohilito.
There, a perfectly good, grammatical sentence!
I. Nonsense. That was gibberish.
H. Look, just yesterday, I tried that very sentence on Pehoqoba and he
said it was perfectly all right.
I. She, not he. Of course she would possible find *that* all right.
H. But you don't???
I. Pehoqoba is a female, you know. I am a male.
H. You have different languages?
I. You ARE weird. We speak the same language of course.
H. Now why do YOU reject a perfectly good grammatical sentence that
Pehoqoba said was perfectly all right?
I. How many tentacles do I have?
H. Er... ten.
I. So there you are. How many tentacles has Pehoqoba?
H. Well, ten.
I. No. Females have twelve tentacles. Twelve eyes, twelve ears, twelve
brains. Twelvefold symmetry. We males have a tenfold symmetry.
Our recursion stacks are accordingly ten deep. Females' are twelve
deep. I could follow what you said right up to gomelodibudinidihadi.
Then you said something that blew my recursion stack.
------------------end of recording---------------------------
Seriously now, folks.
The informant's initial rejection of "fish and small googol clams and
giant googol clam" is something I have encountered in fieldwork (it was
not about googol clams, however, small or giant).
The difference in linguistic abilities between males and females, and
the reason for it, I made up in one of my zanier moods. But, to my
astonishment, I have encountered something like it since. I was telling
my wife about that silly language I was inventing, which forced
centre-embedding upon centre-embedding. So she asked me what
centre-embedding was. I gave her an example (in English) of single
centre-embedding, then of double centre-embedding (a cat chasing a rat,
you know the boring story only too well by now). She said to me: "Yes,
so what's wrong with that?". Well, there you are: double
centre-embedding, which I cannot process without thinking hard, she can
with no trouble at all. Triple centre-embedding, however, she can't, and
rejects as nonsense.
So this is my theory. Men (tend to?) use only one side of the brain for
language processing. Women (tend to?) use both sides. And, like the
sentient squids of Deneb V, our recursion stack is accordingly one deep,
and theirs two deep.
-------------------------- Part 7 ------------------------------------
New Inverness, Deneb V, Octember 42nd, 2156 (Reuter). A new school of
sentient squids has been discovered off the north-eastern shore of Nova
Scotia on Octember 12th circa 16.7142 Galactic Time and a peace treaty
signed 4 decihours later. Admiral Qanqargh congratulated the Galactic
Trade Union for allowing cyberdroid linguists to be employed in the
Starfleet. "It took THX313 here 4 centihours to crack their language,
which is only a dialect of Beddy-Byes anyway. Thor only knows how long
it would have taken the duds from Yule and how many fleets the squids
would have zapped while they were artsy-fartsing around".
Professor Emeritus Kool Tooter of Yule University declared: "I take
exception to this slur. Waky-wakies, as the so-called language of those
squids is vulgarly known, is no language at all. Indeed, although its
vocabulary is identical with that of Beddy-Beddies, it resorts to
staggered embedding, which is as ungrammatical as "the scissors are
unhappy". All languages are grammatical. Staggered embedding is
ungrammatical. Waky-wakies makes extensive use of staggered embedding.
Therefore, Waky-wakies is not a language, and whether Waky-wakies
speakers are sentient is open to question, as is consequently the
validity of the peace treaty signed with them by the military
establishment".
--------------------------- Part 8 -----------------------------------
A SKETCH OF WAKY-WAKIES
by
THX313
Waky-wakies is gurgled by the inhabitants of the north-eastern offshore
of Nova Scotia. Their language is almost identical to Beddy-Byes,
differing from it in only two points, one of vocabulary, one of syntax.
Vocabulary. Every word of Waky-wakies is the corresponding Beddy-Byes
word, reversed. Thus:
Beddy-Byes Waky-Wakies
kabe beka one
muhikana nakahimu juicy
lohi hilo fish
peba bape methane
niqa qani giant googol clam
goke kego plural marker (use sparingly)
gebo boge to swim
sade desa swift
Only one exception has been found so far: Waky-wakies veve "this side"
which in Beddy-Byes means "the opposite side, the other side".
Syntax.
Whereas in Beddy-Byes the determinant is centre-embedded in the
determined, in Waky-Wakies it is staggeredly embedded. For instance:
"To swim swiftly"
Beddy-Byes Waky-Wakies
to swim: gebo to swim: boge
swift: sade swift: desa
ge bo bo ge
sade de sa
gesadebo bodegesa
Some have proposed the terms "exbedding", "outbedding" and
"disembedding" for this construction. I would favour "disembedding".
Recapitulation.
That is all there is to it. The north-eastern offshore of Nova Scotia
where Waky-Wakies speaker swim is called Vekiveki, literally "this side
of the island". In Beddy-Byes it is called Vekikive "the other side of
the island".
Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention.
THX313
Octember 13th, 2156