Word order in Gevey
Despite appearances to the opposite, Gevey does not posess a free word order structure. In fact, word order plays a crucial grammatical role in the language, determining the relative importance of the words within a clause.
The following templates show how words fit together within compounds and phrases, and how phrases are ordered within the clause in line with the rules of focus, which is described in more detail on the Gevey focus webpage.
The following key is used in the models below:
- . morpheme boundary
- ' apostrophe between words
- ~ word boundary
- { ... } 0, 1 or more of the morphemes/phrases enclosed may appear in the phrase or clause
- [ ... ] 0 or 1 of the morphemes/phrases enclosed may appear in the phrase or clause
Object compounding
The various techniques used to compound two words to produce a third word are dealt with on the word compounding webpage. There are a number of common templates used for word compounding, each of which will vary according to whether the compounded word will act as the subject, direct object or indirect object in the clause:
Compounding through listing
Example:
kennel (dog house) - goegu tet tusre, yu goeg tet ye tuseir, tagoeguks tet tusreks (also: tagoegu tet tusreks)
Subject head stem . head complex ~ { conjunction ~ secondary stem . secondary complex ~ } goeg u tet tusr e Direct object head complex ~ head stem ~ { conjunction ~ secondary complex ~ secondary stem ~ } yu goeg tet ye tuseir Oblique object preposition . head-stem . head-complex ~ { conj ~ [ prep . ] s-stem . s-complex ~ } ta goeg uks tet tusr eks ta goeg u tet tusr eks
Object modifier compounding
Example:
garden path - kliyu ândenixu, yu ândenixu kliy, takliyuks ândenixu
Subject head stem . head complex ~ object modifier kliy u ândenixu Direct object head complex ~ object modifier ~ head stem yu ândenixu kliy Oblique object preposition . head stem . head complex ~ object modifier ta kliy uks ândenizhuu
Compounding with verb stems
Examples:
dead dog - tusruezvedxu, yu tusruezvedx, tatusruezvedxuks
bitten man - loiftralje, ye loiftral, taloiftraljeks
Subject head stem . [u] . verb stem . head complex tusr u zvedx u loif tralhj e Direct object head complex ~ head stem . [u] . verb stem yu tusr u zvedx ye loif tralj Oblique object preposition . head stem . [u] . verb stem . head complex ta tusr u zvedx uks ta loif tralj eks
Genetive compounding
Examples:
my dog - tusre ten, ye ten tuseir, tatusreks ten
my brother's dog - tusre huespen ten, ye huespen tuseir ten, tatusreks huespen ten
the engineer's wife's dog - tusre totjpen nets batatjen, ye totjpen tuseir nets batatjen, tatusreks totjpen nets batatjen (also: tatusreks totjpe nets batatjen)
Subject head stem . head complex ~ genetive object ~ { [ conjunction ~ ] genetive object ~ } tusr e ten tusr e huespen ten tusr e totjpen nets batatjen Direct object head complex ~ genetive object ~ head stem ~ { [ conjunction ~ ] genetive object ~ } ye ten tuseir ye huespen tuseir ten ye totjpen tuseir nets batatjen Oblique object preposition . head stem . head complex ~ g-obj ~ { [ conjunction ~ ] g-obj ~ } ta tusr eks ten ta tusr eks huespen ten ta tusr eks totjpen nets batatjen ta tusr eks totjpe nets batatjen
Mixed compounding
Examples:
my big dog - tusre dxarixe ten, ye dxarixe tuseir ten, tatusreks dxarixe ten
the old man's big dog - tusre dxarixe loifen velixe, ye dxarixe tuseir loifen velixe, tatusreks dxarixe loifen velixe
Subject h-stem . h-comp ~ o-mod ~ g-obj ~ {[cj ~] o-mod ~} {[cj ~] g-obj ~ {[cj ~] o-mod ~}} tusr e dxarixe ten tusr e dxarixe loifen velixe Direct object h-comp ~ o-mod ~ h-stem ~ g-obj ~ {[cj ~] o-mod ~} {[cj ~] g-obj ~ {[cj ~] o-mod ~}} ye dxarixe tuseir ten ye dxarixe tuseir loifen velixe Oblique object prep ' h-stem . h-comp ~ o-mod ~ g-obj ~ {[cj ~] o-mod ~} {[cj ~] g-obj ~ {[cj ~] o-mod ~}} ta tusr eks dxarixe ten ta tusr eks dxarixe loifen velixe
Phrase structure
There are five main phrase structures in Gevey: the subject phrase, the direct object phrase, the indirect object phrase and two principal verb phrases. To simplify them, the templates that follow do not take into account the possible compounding techniques described above. However, it should be remembered that each of the head objects can be expanded through compounding.
The subject phrase [conjunction ~] head_stem . head_complex ~ {conjunction ~ head_stem . head_complex ~} The direct object phrase [conj ~] [preposition .] h-complex ~ h-stem {conj ~ [preposition .] h-complex ~ h-stem ~} The indirect object phrase [conj ~] preposition ' h-stem . h-complex ~ {conjunction ~ [preposition '] h-stem . h-complex ~} The principal verb phrase - simple verb construction {aspect ~} [prep '] verb ~ {mod ~ {conj ~ mod ~}} {conj ~ [prep '] verb ~ {mod ~ {conj ~ mod ~}}} The principal verb phrase - compound verb construction {aspect ~} [prep '] aux ~ verb ~ {md ~ {cj ~ md ~}} {cj ~ [prep '] aux ~ verb ~ {md ~ {cj ~ md ~}}}
Examples of these constructions can be found throughout this website, and in particular in the translations section of this website.