The BG Language Creation Guide

Example: Syntax

• There is no article system analogous to that in English. When it is necessary to mark information as new the inflectional suffix -yi (new) may be affixed to the element in question.

  haha-yaq mici-ya-ma u-papa-naqu-sia
  idea-give person-small-pl 3p-past2-bright-ingest
  The children just saw the teacher. (The one we already know about)

  haha-yaq-yi mici-ya-ma u-papa-naqu-sia
  idea-give-INDEF person-small-pl 3p-past2-bright-ingest
  The children just saw the teacher. (The one we don't already know about)
  Note that -yi is polysemous with the bound affix meaning ,original,. Thus, the following

  mana-yi wiwi

  could mean either

  sun-origin beautiful
  The horizon is beautiful
  or

  sun-INDEF beautiful
  a sun is beautiful

• Liqupan is an OSV language.

  qu-mana-yi amu a-pa-yiyi.
  captive-sun-INDEF 1p 1p-PAST-begin
  a/campfire we began
  We lit a fire.

  maqu-mu a-mu a-pi-wu-la-sia
  fish-PL 1-PL 1-food-NEG-food-ingest
  We do not eat fish.

• Locatives in Liqupa are post-positions. they agree in person with their objects. If there is no main verb in the clause, the locative serves as a verb meaning 'move', 'go' 'appear' or 'remain' and in this instance it can carry a tense morpheme. Note that the post position always agrees with its own object rather than with the subject of the sentence.
  • -du-sa (toward-go) toward
    dusi u-du-sa
    yurt 3p-toward-go
    toward the yurt
    kaqu dusi-mi u-pa-du-sa
    wildfire yurt-PL 3-past1-toward-go
    the wildfire moved toward the yurts.
    i-mi kasusu u-pa-du-sa
    1p-pl shorreline 3p-past1-toward-go
    We moved toward the shoreline.

    The locative verb agrees with the object of the preposition not the agent of the main verb. To demonstrate this clearly, here is a sentence with both a locative and a main verb. The main verb is 'cinalapiqu' (ci-nala-piq-u -- hardened-sand-alive-verb dragon-verb)) literally ,to dragon, which refers either to the wild, destructive motion of a storm or a river or an uncontroled destructive rampage, charge or attack. The first example shows the main verb in use without a direction. The second shows the addition of a locative phrase. Note the addition of the locative does not change the inflections on the main verb which still agrees with its agent.

    i-mi i-pa-ci-nala-piqu
    1-PL 1-past1-dragon-verb
    We stormed (around)

    i-mi kasusu u-du-sa i-pa-cinalapiq-u
    1-PL shoreline 3-toward-go 1-PAST-dragon-VERB
    We stormed toward the shoreline.

    malaq i i-du-sa u-pa-cinalapiq-u
    yak 1 1-toward-go 3p-PAST1-dragon-verb
    The yak charged toward me.

  • The list of locatives follows:
    -du-sa (toward-go) toward
    -du-wu-sa (toward-neg-go) away (from)
    -ai-sa (up-go) on (as in on top of)
    -qu-sa (below-go) under
    -hila-sa (in-go) in
    -hala-sa (out-go) out
    (note the berv hila-hala 'to dash in and out as in small children playing or the motion of waves on a beach'.)
    -hu-sa (near-go) near

    Additional examples:

    lisa u-hu-sa
    river 3-near-go
    near the river

    palama-ma u-hila-sa
    branch-PL 3-in-go
    in the tree
    (Note that literally translating 'tree' here would mean within, as in inside a hollow tree. The appropriate Liqupa translation is 'in the branches'.)

  • Adjectives precede nouns.

    yuq pimala-ma
    big tree-PL
    big trees

  • yali-na lisa
    long-agr river
    long river
    Note that 'river' is -na class but singular. OSV = head-final
    ADJ-N = head-final
    post positions = head-initial
    given this, it is poossible to say that Liqupa is one of the languages where the predicted word order is not as expected.
  • Here are the Liqupa Coordinating conjunctions:
    • au and
    • We eat seeds and xx (Fill in the name of a vegetable here).
      ci-mi au mana-pila-ma amu a-pila-sia.
      seed-PL and sun-food-PL 1-PL 1-food-ingest
      We eat seeds and strawberries.
    • ciq or
      maqu-mu ciq pipa-ma amu a-pi-wu-la-sia
      fish-PL or bird-PL 1p 1-food-NEG-food-ingest
      We do not eat fish or birds.
    • aima but
      amu hula a-maqu-sa aima
      1p many 1-fish-go but
      We swim a lot, but
      Note the term for 'much' is used here as an adverb.
    • huhadiq because
      Susu amu a-si-wuk-a huhadiq
      water 1p 1-ingest-NEG-ingest because
      we do not drink the water because

      maqu-mu u u-hila-sa u-maqu-sa
      fish-PL 3 3-in-go 3-fish-go
      fish swim in it.

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Updated 4/3/2010