Sentences (1)
Types of Utterances
Tatari Faran utterances may be classified into several categories, each of which is composed of different elements.
A statement of equivalence states that two things being referred to are equal or identical. It consists of a subject and a predicate, both of which are noun phrases.
An adjectival statement describes a particular thing using one or more adjectives. It consists of a subject and one or more adjectival phrases.
A statement of being asserts the existence (or non-existence) of a particular thing. It may be considered to be a special case of a verbal statement. It consists of a subject and a verb of existence.
A verbal statement describes an action that occurs between one or more participants. It consists of a subject, a verb, and zero or more participants.
The order in which these elements occur in an utterance depends on the mood of the utterance.
Mood
A Tatari Faran utterance has one of several possible moods, which indicates its intention. The ordering of elements in a clause depends on its mood.
The indicative mood is used for statements of fact. A finalizer is used at the end of the sentence to emphasize the factuality of the statement.
The interrogative mood is used for questions. Interrogative sentences also have interrogative particles present.
The subjunctive mood is used for hypothetical statements. Subjunctive markers are present to distinguish subjunctive sentences from imperative sentences, which share the same word order.
The imperative mood is used for requests, commands, and exhortations. There may be imperative markers present to strengthen or weaken the imperative. The finalizer is also sometimes used to emphasize the command.
In the following sections, we shall describe the different types of statements possible in Tatari Faran and how they appear in various moods.
Statements of Equivalence
The simplest sentences in Tatari Faran are statements of equivalence. A statement of equivalence states that two noun referents are equal. These statements consist of two noun phrases (NP's): a subject, and a predicate.
Indicative mood
In the indicative mood, the subject NP appears first, and is marked with the conveyant case; while the predicate is an absolutive NP. For example:
san sa bata' misanaran.
| san |
| person |
| sa |
| CVY.M |
| bata' |
| chief |
| misanan-an. |
| village-GEN |
The man is the chief of the village.
The subject here is san sa, which is san, “person”, followed by the masculine conveyant marker sa. The predicate here is bata' misanaran, which is bata', “chief”, followed by the genitive misanaran, “of the village”. There is no case marker because this NP is in the absolutive case.
Sometimes, the finalizer ai (meaning “yes” or “indeed”) is added to the end of the sentence. Finalizers are clause-final words in Tatari Faran used for emphasizing the indicative mood and giving a sense of finality to an indicative statement. The finalizer ai is used for emphasis in a statement of equivalence. For example:
san sa bata' misanaran ai.
| san |
| person |
| sa |
| CVY.M |
| bata' |
| chief |
| misanan-an |
| village-GEN |
| ai. |
| FIN |
The man is indeed the chief of the village.
This use of ai is also common in formal speech.
Interrogative mood
In the interrogative mood, the ordering of the subject and predicate may sometimes be switched, depending on emphasis. Interrogative particles will be present to indicate that it is a question. For example:
bata' ta san sa?
| bata' |
| chief |
| ta |
| Q |
| san |
| person |
| sa? |
| CVY.M |
Is the man the chief?
san sa bata' ta?
| san |
| person |
| sa |
| CVY.M |
| bata' |
| chief |
| ta? |
| Q |
Is the man a chief?
The difference in nuance between these two will be discussed later when we consider questions in more detail.
Subjunctive mood
In the subjunctive mood, the predicate appears first, followed by a subjunctive marker, and then the subject.
bata' era san sa ...
| bata' |
| chief |
| era |
| if |
| san |
| person |
| sa |
| CVY.M |
If the man were a chief ...
Adjectival statements
The next simplest Tatari Faran sentence is the adjectival statement. An adjectival statement describes the quality or qualities of a particular noun referent. These statements consist of a subject NP in the conveyant case, followed by one or more adjectival predicates.
An adjectival predicate consists of an adjective followed by a matching finalizer. Every verb and every adjective in Tatari Faran has a corresponding finalizer, which appears at the end of the clause or sentence in the indicative mood and is usually synonymous with the verb or adjective.
Indicative mood
Here is an example of an adjectival statement in the indicative mood:
bata' sa busan miin.
| bata' |
| chief |
| sa |
| CVY.M |
| busan |
| fat |
| miin. |
| FIN |
The chief is fat.
The subject NP bata' sa consists of bata', “chief”, and the masculine conveyant marker sa. The adjectival predicate busan miin consists of busan, “fat”, and the finalizer miin, which roughly means “satiated” or “filled”. The finalizer strengthens the adjective busan and gives finality to the statement. Note that the English translation usually omits the finalizer, because it has no equivalent in English and is usually synonymous with what has already been stated.
Another example:
firasa sei iranas muin.
| firasa |
| flower |
| sei |
| CVY.F |
| iranas |
| fragrant |
| muin. |
| FIN |
The flower is fragrant.
Here, the subject is firasa sei, which consists of firasa, “flower”, and the feminine conveyant marker sei. The predicate is iranas muin, consisting of iranas, “fragrant”, and the finalizer muin, which roughly means “refreshing”. Again, the finalizer is left untranslated.
Interrogative mood
In the interrogative mood, the ordering of the subject and the adjectival predicate(s) may be reversed. For example:
firasa sei iranas ta?
| firasa |
| flower |
| sei |
| CVY.F |
| iranas |
| fragrant |
| ta? |
| Q |
The flower: is it fragrant?
iranas ta firasa sei?
| iranas |
| fragrant |
| ta |
| Q |
| firasa |
| flower |
| sei? |
| CVY.F |
Is the flower really fragrant?
The difference between these two is in nuance. Note that the finalizer is omitted from the adjectival predicate in the interrogative mood, being replaced by the interrogative particle ta.
Subjunctive mood
In the subjunctive mood, the subject appears last. For example:
iranas era firasa sei ...
| iranas |
| fragrant |
| era |
| if |
| firasa |
| flower |
| sei |
| CVY.F |
If the flower were fragrant ...
As with the interrogative mood, the finalizer in the adjectival predicate is omitted, and replaced with the subjunctive marker era.
Statements of Being
Tatari Faran has no copula: it has no equivalent of the English verb to be. Statements of being are expressed using the verbs tsuni ... ira, “to find”, and kibas ... ham, “to breathe” or “to live”. The former is used for inanimate objects, whereas the latter is used for living things.
Indicative mood
In the indicative mood, the subject appears first, followed by the verb. For example:
buara sa tsuni ira.
| buara |
| volcano |
| sa |
| CVY.M |
| tsuni |
| find |
| ira. |
| FIN |
Volcanoes exist. (Lit., volcanoes are found.)
san muras so kibas ham.
| san |
| person |
| muras |
| grey |
| so |
| CVY.N |
| kibas |
| breathe |
| ham. |
| FIN |
Lava artists exist. (Lit., lava artists live.)
The verb tsuni ... ira is also used to make statements of location, as shown in the following example:
san tan'as so tsuni misanan ipai ira.
| san |
| person |
| tan'as |
| hundred |
| so |
| CVY.N |
| tsuni |
| find |
| misanan |
| village |
| ipai |
| at |
| ira. |
| FIN |
There are 100 people in the village. (Lit., 100 people are found in the village.)
The phrase misanan ipai is a postpositional phrase meaning “in the village”. Postpositional phrases are described in the Postpositions section.
Interrogative mood
In the interrogative mood, the verb always appear last in the clause, and the finalizer is omitted. Interrogative particles are present to indicate that it is a question. For example:
san muras so kibas ta?
| san |
| person |
| muras |
| grey |
| so |
| CVY.N |
| kibas |
| breathe |
| ta? |
| Q |
Do lava artists exist?
Subjunctive mood
In the subjunctive mood, the verb always appear first in the clause, followed by the subject. The finalizer is omitted. For example:
kibas era san muras ...
| kibas |
| breathe |
| era |
| if |
| san |
| person |
| muras |
| grey |
If lava artists exist, ...
These constructions are similar to adjectival statements, except that full-fledged verbs are used instead. The subject NP for these particular statements happen to be in the conveyant case; but with verbs, other core cases may also be used in the subject NP. We shall see this in the next section.
Verbal Sentences
A verbal sentence describes an action with one or more participants. It consists of a subject, which is one of the participants, a verb describing the action, and any other participants, called the arguments of the verb. The roles of the participants are indicated using different noun cases.
Word Order
The order in which the various parts of a verbal sentence appear depends on the mood of the sentence:
| Indicative: | subject - verb - arguments - finalizer |
|---|---|
| Interrogative: | subject - arguments - verb - (interrogative marker) |
| Subjunctive: | verb - subjunctive marker - subject - arguments |
| Imperative: | verb - subject - arguments - (finalizer) |
Noun Cases
The subject or topic of a verbal sentence is simply the NP that appears before the verb, and can be marked for any case. Any NP can be made the subject simply by placing it in subject position according to the word order of the mood of the sentence. A postpositional phrase may also be made subject in this way. The argument NP's likewise can also be in any case.
The next section shall explain how the case system works, and how the cases function in a sentence.
