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§12 Syntax

Syntax encompasses the rules of Pine at the phrase level. This section describes how phrases are organised, the function of the nominal case system, verbal moods, word order, relative clauses, conjunctions, indirect and direct interrogatives, modality, topic marking, concord and negation and more.

§12.1 Grammatical Cases & Their Use

Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals assume different forms depending on their grammatical function in the phrase, which is indicated by the use of grammatical cases. The Pine case alignment system is called diplologous, or active-accusative, characterised by having two distinct subject cases but only one object case.

Alternatively, the alignment of Pine subject and object cases can be explained as a function of function, agentivity and form:

Pine distinguishes nine different cases, which are the active, patientive, accusative, genitive, inessive, illative, elative, comitative and the essive case. However, three of these nine cases are distinguished only in function and not in form – the patientive, the accusative and the genitive cases all have the same form. Certain nouns have special genitive forms, mostly human possessors. Because these three cases share a single form, they are often referred to as the sematic form, while the active case is often called the asematic (or unmarked) form. Moreover, the essive case is generally grouped with the asematic as it is not affected by diaphony or apophony. The inessive, illative, elative and comitative are grouped together as locative cases (even though the comitative very often does not have a purely locative meaning), and both sematic and locative form groups are jointly referred to as oblique cases.

Each case has a singular and a plural form. This means that for each declinable word, be it a noun, an adjective, a pronoun or a numeral, there will be 14 different forms, although in some cases two forms may be identitcal, namely the sematic and comitative singular.

§12.1.1 The Active Case

The active case is the default citation case. It is also called the asematic form, as it is unmarked. Beyond being the reference form, it serves as the case for agentive subjects of verbs. Generally, agentive subjects have some degree of volition, control, will or consciousness when acting. Some verbs have obligate agentive subjects, such as the copula (both the predicate and the subject), all adjectival predicative verbs, and a great number of other verbs, especially so with animate subjects. The asematic form of words ends in either a consonant (-n, -t, -ts, -k, -ḳ, -s, -ṡ, -l, or -r) or a tense vowel (-i, -u, -a or -y), although a small number of nouns in -ů do exist as alternative forms to nouns in -y, and a handful of monosyllabic nouns end in -uo, for example bįuo ‘little boy’.

Examples of the active case are given below:

§12.1.2 The Patientive Case

The patientive case is in the sematic form, along with the accusative and most genitive forms, and its function is to mark the unagentive subject of a verb. Unagentive subjects usually have a lack of control, volition, will or consciousness or may be the recipient of a sensory experience, or otherwise function as an experiencer rather than an actor. Even though the patientive case is a subject case, it is never the citation or reference form of a word, but rather the marked form. All translative verbs have unagentive subjects, as well as a large number of obligately unagentive verbs, and a significant number of verbs whose meaning can either lend itself to both agentive or unagentive subjects, or have a different meaning depending of the agentivity of its subject.

Although the patientive case can have many endings, it is safe to assume that any declinable word ending in a lax vowel will be in the sematic form.

Below are examples of the patientive case:

§12.1.3 The Accusative Case

The accusative case is one of the three sematic cases, whose main function is to mark the object of a verb. Both the fix word order and obviation serve to differentiate the object from the subject, such that even if they both have a sematic form, it is always possible to tell one from the other:

migveikvin sṇeuƛut mi puohe na

‘light attracts butterflies’

Here, both the subject (puohe ‘light’) and the object (sṇeuƛut ‘butterflies’) are in the sematic form, but the subject is in the patientive case while the object is in the accusative case. The word order here precludes any other reading than that which is given above, which is reinforced by the presence of a subject determiner phrase, which is required when an object and subject nominal phrase are adjacent, regardless of whether the subject is semantically determined or not.

While indirect objects of ditransitive verbs are treated differently (indirectively) than objects of transitive verbs within the polypersonal verb – ditransitive polypersonal agreement within the verb is indirective, the case of the corresponding nominal argument is illative (or elative in some cases) irrespective of the type of ditransitivity. When a ditransitive verb’s direct object is dropped, its verbal indirect object is promoted to direct object (called the antergate) within the verb, such that the verb becomes hemiditransitive and therefore exhibits anti-ergativity, whereby the indirect object is treated like a direct object of a transitive verb. Pine does not allow antergates outside of verbs, such that hemiditransitive verbs become transitive with an illative or elative indirect argument and an obligate direct object if the antergate appears as an independent pronoun or noun.

However, an antergate outside the verb is unchanged and remains in the illative (or elative) case rather than the accusative. In other words, for hemiditransitive verbs, the antergate object is the direct object within the verb, but remains an indirect object outside the verb if present. One exception to this is that in non-restrictive relative clauses, the antergate can be relativised in the accusative in more formal registers, for example:

nennen, nama~namet nannit ipeġuttakkassian nikkin įo

‘a friend whom I told’.

Compare the following three examples

The accusative case is also commonly found in various time expressions and sometimes also serves an adverb-like function. The accusative is thus used to indicate when something happens, either a determinated or indeterminate point in time, a past of future positive duration (negative duration, or the time for which something has not happened, is typically expressed with the illative). Note that many nouns relating to time have irregular forms for determinate and indeterminate time expressions, which are remanents of an old accusative case form which is no longer productive and was replaced the sematic form of the patientive and genitive. For example, ‘this morning’, a determinate time expression, is hauddot (an old accusative form) and ‘in the morning’, an indeterminate time expression, is hautut (also an old accusative form but in the plural). Many words related to time or periods of time have a normal accusative plural and a special plural for indeterminate time expressions, for example lunnen haytit ‘previous mornings’ but haytyt ‘in the morning’, or mintten hevvit ‘(for) the coming nights’ but hevvyt ‘at night, in the night’. However, other time expressions using haudda conform to the normal accusative form, such as lunnen hayti ‘last morning, the previous morning’, kủt ůḷů haytit ỉ ‘two mornings in a row’ or miṡivvas hayti ‘stay for the morning’. The postposition dảlįen ‘during, while’ is in fact the accusative form of dallįi ‘time’.

Below are examples of time expressions using the accusative:

The other secondary role of the accusative case is adverb-like in nature, and often appears as a predicate. For example, taigga sảktsen ‘I am wake’ uses the accusative predicate form of saska ‘wakefulness’, or taigga vỉskon ‘I’m sorry’, where vỉskon is the accusative form of vitsku ‘regret’. To make such expressions translative, the verb aḷḷ- ‘to change’ can be used with agentive pronouns, exceptionally, for example kỉlảḷḷỉn gỉḷo gvaiggas ‘everything returned to normal, to how it used to be’.

Other adverb-like accusative forms include:

§12.1.4 The Genitive Case

The genitive case is one of the three sematic cases whose main function is to indicate the possession of an object, or may simply relate an object to a head noun. Words in the genitive precede that which is possessed. In most cases, the genitive does not differ from the accusative or the patientive, but in the case of nouns whose sematic form ends in a tense vowel, it may become lax in the genitive, especially when the genitive noun is a person. For example, bỉṡki ‘child’ has the sematic form bįaktṡu, but can sometimes appear in a special genitive form as bįaktṡo, as in bįaktṡo summaġan ‘the boy’s mother’. Likewise, some bisyllabic nouns in -n whose sematic form is in -ma may have a special genitive form in -n. The genitive is commonly used for actual possession, to indicate a part of something, an essential relation or quality,

Some genitive phrases can instead be expressed by compound nouns, for example kỉƛu hỉdna ‘a pile of wood’ contrasts with kiƛƛehỉdna ‘a pile of wood’. Both words have more or less the same meaning, but kỉƛu hỉdna may be understood to be a pile of wood, as opposed to a pile of something else, consisting of (previously mentioned) wood, or it can also stand with some descriptive specific to the wood, for example tṡoaḷḷu kỉƛu hỉdna ‘a pile of dry wood’, while kiƛƛehỉdna is simply pile of wood as a single concept, or a known pile of wood, which has already been established or is understood to be specific or determined in nature.

A restrictive relative clause can also be found surrounding the genitive noun:

immugiggeddan mi ruoḍḍutummỏ kỉƛu na hįannot boaġut

‘s/he gathered branches into a pile of wood to be burnt’

The genitive is also the case which nearly every postposition governs. A postposition cannot appear after a noun in its asematic form, and with only a handful of exceptions, such as uġġit ‘without (+com)’, ỉtsa ‘through (+iness/+illat)’, lidno ‘according to (+com)’ and aukka ‘except (+elat)’ all postpositions are found after a genitive form. When postpositions modify an independent pronoun however, they appear in their possessed form.

§12.1.5 The Inessive Case

The inessive case is one of the four locative cases and indicates a static position at, in or on a location, or in some cases in time. In the singular, the inessive case ending is -imut/-imyt/-umit/-amit/-ymit or -(i)mmut/-(i)mmyt/-(u)mmit/-(a)mmit/-(y)mmit. Forms in -imyt/-immyt/-(i)mmyt are found when no back vowels (excluding a, but not oa) are in the stem. A number of words, mostly adverbs derived from indefinite pronouns, postpositions and in certain fixed cases have an inessive in -ia. The plural inessive case markers are -isit/-usut/-ysyt. Although the inessive case does not distinguish position in from position on something, both can be specified with postpositions, for example nanna ‘inside’ and hilla ‘above, on’. The inessive case is also found in some infinitival clauses to indicate an ongoing action, for example gamma migvat nin nammut ‘I am currently eating’. When the inessive is used in temporal expressions, it indicates the total duration of an event, or how much time it takes or lasts, for example gesiḷḷummet kủt keukvusut ỉ ‘I did it in three days’. , The postposition dallįein indicates in how much time something happens, or after how much time something will happen, for example kủt keukvut ỉ dallįein ‘in three days’ or ‘in three days’ time’. As with all locative phrases, words in the inessive tend to be found after the verb, but may be preceded by adverbs.

A great deal of postpositional adverbs have an inessive form, although many such forms lack the typical inessive case marker, but are nonetheless inessive forms by meaning. In a few cases, postpositional adverbs may have an inessive meaning but a comitative ending, or an ending in -n.

Examples of the inessive case:

Some examples of postpositional adverbs with an inessive meaning include:

§12.1.6 The Illative Case

The illative case is one of the four locative cases and broadly indicates movement to, into or onto something. It is also the case of the indirect object of ditransitive verbs when the indirect object is a noun, adjective or numeral, and in the case of anthemiditransitive verbs, the illative indicates to or for whom the action or quality is. This is also true of other types of expression, where the illative marks the benefactor, recipient or experiencer of an experience, for example gesiḷḷummet nannet ‘I did it for her/him’. The illative case ending is -et/-ot/-ůt in the singular and -ittit/-uttut/-yttyt in the plural. It can also be found in infinitival clauses to indicate something which is about to happen, for example ikken lỏmisƛuttat nỉn nannet ‘I was (just) about to fall asleep’. Unlike postpositional adverbs with an inessive meaning, all such adverbs with an illative meaning have illative case endings.

The illative is also used in time expressions to show a negative duration, or for how long something has not occurred, for example nekkyt mitṇa tyvittit ỉ nủkungi ‘I have not seen her/him for many years’. In positive clauses, the illative is used to show when something will happen, for example: gamindvuṡ kủt keukvuttut ỉ ‘I will come in three days’. The postposition dảlįet indicates for how much time something will last, for example kủt keukvut ỉ dảlįet ‘for three days’.

Locative cases of movement, such as the illative and elative, may trigger the appearance of a cislocative marker with many verbs of movement. The cislocative si(s)- often occurs with the illative, as it indicates movement towards some point, although gi-/geg- also commonly occurs if the movement towards something is seen as being a departure from a location or away from the speaker or the deictic centre of the utterance. For example, lulli ‘s/he left’ but gi-lulli kỉkot ‘s/he left for the forest’.

Some examples of postpositional adverbs with an illative meaning include:

§12.1.7 The Elative Case

The elative contrasts with the illative case in showing movement from or out of something. The singular elative case endings are -innit/-unnit/-ynnit and the plural case endings are -ingit/-ungit/-yngit. The elative is also commonly used with partitive constructions, to indicate part of something, in which case the elative clause usually precedes the head noun, such as sagvemungit misku ‘one of the men’, nỉktṡungit nannaski ‘many of the people’, ỉngit kukva ‘two of them’, tsatsintva ṇeungit niƛƛa ‘you drink the least out of us’. Such elative partitive constructions are not usually found within determiner clauses other than numeral determiner clauses, for example ỏha ṇivit ỉ sineskat tsindva 'you can ask any of us’, although one could equally say ṇeungit ỏhadadda sineskat tsindva. When the elative indicates movement from, it commonly triggers a kinetic preverb on verbs of movement.

With some ditransitive verbs, the nominal indirect object may appear in the elative if instead of being the recipient of a direct object, the direct object is removed or taken away from the indirect object, for example gảnįỉkvet bįůeƛƛỉn ‘I took it from the boy’.

The elative can be found in infinitival clauses to indicate the reason, explanation for an action, for example ṇiskukkisƛussin lembat auna nannit gami ‘I became tired from working’.

The elative is found in temporal constructions to indicate from what time or since what time something has happened.

Some examples of postpositional adverbs with an illative meaning include:

§12.1.8 The Comitative Case

The comitative case is the last of the locative cases and serves many purposes in Pine. The comitative singular case endings are -igut/-ugit/-ygit, -ikkut/-ukkit/-ykkit or -CCit/-CCut, and in the plural they are -ein/-uin/-ůin. Its primary role is to mark with what or whom something is done, which is not a truly locative function. The comitative serves a number of purposes beyond accompaniment. It is used to form many adverbial forms of adjectives (functioning like an adverbial case), it can indicate location, and it can have a purely instrumental meaning. Its secondary and truly locative function is that of the perlative case, indicating movement along a path, across a location or a radius or area (of a surface).

An older set of case endings that has been called the old comitative or the instrumental had endings in -(v)en/-(v)on/-(v)ůn, and many expressions, postpositions and adverbs still use them. It is also the bases for the abessive -(v)uġġit, which is a no longer productive case.

The comitative form of many postpositional adverbs are nearly exclusively perlative in meaning, though this may be less obvious in some cases, as with ḷoḷven ‘against the wind’, or more literally ‘along the opposite flow of the wind’. Locative adverbs on the other hand have a general or areal meaning, for example deissit ‘around here’, but gaṡkein ‘along the south(ern side)’. A number of verbs govern the comitative, as well as the postposition uġġit.

Time expressions with the comitative indicate that an event follows or occurs along or at some point during a longer period of time, for example tṃinduṡ kvayvigyt ‘s/he will come (sometime) during the summer’, or tṡůivehami hevvikkyt ‘it get colds as the night wore on’. Note that the combination of nannit and a time expression in the comitative means ‘starting’, for example nannit skeukvukkit ‘starting today’.

The comitative in infintival clauses indicates how something occurs, for example gaiṡkva piskat nin nakkut ‘I learn by listening’.

§12.1.9 The Essive Case

The essive case differs from sematic cases in that it is formed on the basis of the asematic form, and has for function to indicate a state (either a transient state or the state resulting from a change), or the capacity in which something is acting, including resultative predicates, for example gendots helvi ‘it grew tall’. The essive often occurs where a simple predicate is found in English, for example nả keƛkảts ġveni ‘the wind was a problem (lit. the wind was as a problem), as the wind functions or is temporarily in the state of being a problem, as the copula does not describe the general nature of what wind is. The essive singular ending is -ts and the plural case endings are -tset/-tsot/-tsůt. Essive nouns tend to come before the verb when they indicate the state of the subject, although they can also be found after the verb. The essive can appear both with subjects and objects. A number of verbs govern an essive argument.

The essive is used in infinitival clauses to indicate an even either synchronous to the main verb or completed at the time of the main verb, for example migvat nuna nats ‘having eaten, after eating’. Likewise, a few expressions use the essive to indicate a temporary time period, for example siġvảts ‘in the rain, while there is rain’, uṛṛủts ‘while there is mist, in the mist’, daldoṛilguts ‘in the sunshine, while the sun is shining’, hauddoats ‘while it is (still) morning’. This is also true of the postposition dảllįỉts ‘while, during, as it is (still)’.

§12.1.10 Other Cases

Throughout previous stages of the language, other case endings were more common and some of these have survived into modern Pine. Some of the endings have been re-analyzed as postpositions, or vice-versa.

§12.1.10.1 The Terminative & Egressive Case

At an earlier stage of the language, the postpositions (a)gỉt ‘until’ used to govern the illative case instead of the genitive case in modern Pine, such that the endings -t gỉt coalesced to form a terminative case ending in -ggỉt in the singular and -begỉt in the plural. Likewise, the postposition (a)gỉn ‘since’ used to govern the elative, resulting in a fusional egressive case ending in -ngỉn in the singular and -ngiggỉn in the plural. Such endings are still used is some fixed expressions:

terminative case

egressive case

§12.1.10.2 The Abessive Case

The postposition uġġit governs the comitative in modern Pine, but in older stages of the language there was an abessive case with the ending -(v)eġġit/-(v)oġġit/-(v)ůġġit, or alternatively -auġġit with verb stems. These endings still survive in a few terms, most of them adverbs or postpositions, although many can be used attributively or predicatively as well, for example leůmmeġġit sakvin ‘a sleepless man, a man unable to sleep’, sảḷḷi geummoġġit ‘s/he lost consciousness’. Some speakers even use such terms as adjectives or verbal adjectives, for example įalįoġġeggi ‘s/he was lifeless’

§12.1.10.3 The Ornative Case

The ornative case is a semi-productive, somewhat irregular case that has a limited use to indicate that something has the noun (or adjective) as a physical characteristic, often ‘(go/move) looking like Ø’ or ‘with Ø’. Its endings are -issit or -ussit.

The ornative case is unique in that it does not trigger apophony but triggers diaphony in non-consonantal nouns. It often mirrors the comitative, especially consonantal forms in -ssit/-ttit/-kkit or -ssut/-ttut/-kkut, but they are exclusively found in -ussit/-issit: tavvan ‘foot’ ⟫ tavunnit ‘foot (com)’ ⟫ tavussit ‘with such and such feet’, or skorruk ‘hunchback’ ⟫ skorrukkit ‘hunchback (com)’ ⟫ skorrussit ‘with a hunched back’. Ornative nouns can be made into verbs through the ornative medial -issin-/-ussin-. For example, from the adjective artṡunget ‘hunched over’, one can derive the verbal form inugartṡussinni ‘s/he was going around all hunched over’. Many of these forms have fixed attributive forms that do not distinguish animacy, for example moiggussinnen~moiggussit sakven ‘big bellied man’, tsigvussinnen~tsigvussit ỉski ‘white-wearing woman’, humussinnen~humussit kigga ‘dark forest, forest that appears or is dark’ or boaƛṃissinnen~boaƛṃissit bỉṡki ‘child wearing loose clothes’ while some are used as a nominal expression using determiner clauses, for example mi bevissinnen~bevissit įo ‘a Pine person wearing traditional regalia’, from bevissin- ‘be or go somewhere dressed in bevveġi, traditional Pine regalia’. A number of attributive ornative forms in -neġussit based on verbs in -neġ- exist, such as -unneġussit ‘with a big’, -inneġussit ‘with a small’, -nanneġussit ‘with many’, -panneġussit ‘with few’, -nįukkuneġussit ‘with a lot of’, for example tammiṇįirrineġussit or ṇįirrunneġussit ‘with a big nose’, tammatṇaneġussit ‘with big hands’.

ornative forms

(the woman was in a state where her hair was dirty)

(the man appeared to be pine)

tanni ỉlpput siḷḷussit hỉƛṃumit mi tselga įo

‘the young woman stood in a field with the smell of flowers’

(the field happened to smell of flowers when she stood in it)

Ornative expressions are usually descriptive adjuncts, or non-restrictive in nature, while corresponding adjectival or restrictive relative clauses are more restrictive, and describe a more unalienable characteristic of the head noun.

geneggin lůrrůthiṡkoha įaktṡon

‘I saw a dirty-haired woman’

(having dirty hair is what characterises the woman)

gemininen oaįįut niṡkullenutṇoha sagvema milįen

‘we passed an/the obviously pine-looking man’

(the appearance of being pine is characteristic of the man)

beuhots hiḷvemi ilbi

‘a sweet smelling flower’

(the fact of smelling sweet characterises the flower)

§12.1.10.4 The Distributive & Universal-Distributive Case

The distributive case only occurs in a handful of words and is derived from the illative singular and the addition of -nuḳ, such that it has the forms -ennuḳ/-onnuḳ/-ůnnůḳ. The distributive indicates distribution by piece, for example nỉktṡonnuḳ ‘per person’ or mỉntset tyvennuḳ ‘once a year’. The most common nouns found in the distributive are:

Similar in meaning is the universal-distributive case which is added to the asematic ending of words (causing relaxation), and which has the ending -deddet and forms temporal adverbs denoting a reocurrance at every instance of the head word, for example heydeddet ‘every night’. It is related to the adverb dette ‘every’, as in dette dảlįen va ‘every time, when ever’.

§12.1.10.5 The Temporal Case

The temporal case is a case form based on the inessive singular which indicates time. The ending -ts is added unto the inessive endings -mit/-mut/-mut ⟫ -mits/-muts. The form -myt becomes -mits with the temporal ending -it (*-myts is not found). The temporal case is nearly exclusively found on numerals to tell time. Numerals normally only have plural sematic forms, but with the temporal case, the singular endings are used.

§12.1.10.5.1 The Temporal Case & Time Expressions

The temporal case is found in numerals in combination with other words to indicate time:

To indicate how much time is left until a specific time, one uses the temporal case preceded by a word typically found in the illative, for example tavỉmet ‘quarter to’, kukỉmet ‘half to’, tṇaġġuttut ‘five to’. Likewise, the elative is used to express time past a specific time, for example tṇaġġingit ‘five past’, tġeůt nakki tġůtsyngit ‘33 minutes past’.

§12.2 Mood

Pine has 5 moods – the indicative, dubitative, optative, conditional and potential mood. Their use and function is described in this section.

§12.2.1 Indicative

The indicative mood is the default mood in Pine. It is neutral with regard to evidentiality, although it can also be said to be assertive (in contrast with the evidential moods, the dubitative and optative). The indicative is one of the three realis moods along with the dubitative and optative.

§12.2.2 Dubitative

The dubitative mood is functions as the inferential version of the indicative mood. It has a range of function in both autonomous and hyponomous phrases. The future tense is considered part of the dubitative. The dubitative also has a pluperfect mood which is absent in the indicative mood – it is only found in the dubitative and optative, and does not exist at all in the autonomous order.

The dubitative and pluperfect tenses are included in the dubitative mood set for mostly historical reasons. In the case of the future tense, archaic forms more readily explain this classification. For example, ‘I will eat’ is gamigvuṡ (cf. gamigvỏs in the dubitative present) but archaic forms in įỏ gamigvỏṡ ‘that I (apparently) eat’ used to be common. Likewise, the pluperfect form įu gemigvivvun ‘when I had eaten’ (cf. įỏ gemigvun ‘that I (apparently) ate’) was once įu gemigvevun ‘when I had eaten’ in the dubitative past).

The future and pluperfect are clearly derived from dubitative forms, and therefore considered dubitative tenses.

Fundamentally, the dubitative indicates that the information given by the verb is of a lower certainty than that of the indicative mood. The dubitative mood is triggered in seven broad cases:

future and pluperfect dubitative

Syntactically infinitive future and pluperfect

sensory dubitative

reportative dubitative

Reported, assumed or otherwise unconfirmed innformation

quotative dubitative

Information given as a quote coming from someone else than the speaker

unrealised dubitative

Actions not yet or only potentially realised

subordinated dubitative

Verbs governing a dubitative dependent verb

§12.2.2.1 Future & Pluperfect Dubitative

A verb which would normally stand in the indicative mood must be dubitative if it appears in the future tense. Or rather, the future tense is part of the dubitative mood.

Likewise, a syntactically indicative pluperfect verb appears in the dubitative. Pine only allows pluperfect forms in hyponomous orders. The pluperfect requires a past reference point before which the pluperfect action occurs. This reference point is always put in the autonomous in Pine, and the pluperfect therefore only appears in the hyponomous phrase. This is often opposite to how English formulates pluperfect phrases. For example, ‘you had already left when I arrived’ has a simple past verb (‘arrived’) in the subordinated clause (‘when I arrived’) but a pluperfect verb (‘had left’) in the main clause. Pine only allows the opposite, that is to say ‘I arrived when you had already left’: gemikvevin įu edda tselůellivvůn.

§12.2.2.1.1 Past Future Dubitative

The future tense of the dubitative mood can be used to indicate a future time frame anchored in a past reference point, for example 'I know s/he would do that'. Such future-in-the-past expressions are often introduced by the dubitative complementiser įon/įỏ rather than the neutral complementiser įa or the future complementiser įuṡ.

gemidin, įỏ mi ai-ni tsiḷḷusseutṡ

'I knew that s/he would do that'

(lit. I knew that s/he will do that)

§12.2.2.2 Sensory Dubitative

Certain verbs depicting sensory experiences sometimes require the dubitative mood. English expresses this nuance in some cases, for example ‘I see that you are angry’ and ‘it seems to me that you are angry’ – the second phrase emphasises a sensory experience which is out of the experiencer’s control. Pine does something similar by using the dubitative (and unagentive pronouns) with certain verbs. The indicative form of such verbs often imply a certain epistemic ability to perform them, for example ganegga ‘I see’ can also be translated to ‘I can see (that…)’, whereas ṇenegỏ ‘I see’ emphasises the inferential and subjective sensory experience and can best be translated as ‘it seems to me’. Due to their inferential nature, complementised phrases of sensory dubitative verbs are generally introduced using the dubitative complementiser and therefore are themselves in the dubitative form.

§12.2.2.3 Reportative Dubitative

One of the core functions of the dubitative is to indicate that information is reported, not first-hand. The dubitative functions as a confidence reducing mood when compared to the indicative. There is a number of speech particles that further specify the nature of this lowered confidence. Reportative dubitative can also stand without any particle.

‘probably, likely’

‘apparently, it is said, I heard, they say’

‘I bet, I predict’

§12.2.3 Optative

The optative mood expresses desires, wishes or hopes, and it may also function as an inchoative with translative verbs. In autonomous clauses, the optative mood has a direct desiderative meaning – an autonomous verb in the optative generally indicates a direct desire, wish or hope, for example gamindusut ‘I want to go’. This is called the direct (desiderative) optative. In hyponomous clauses and with copular infinitives, the optative is often required by a main clause verb of desire, wish, hope or command, and therefore functions to indicate an indirect desire. Such indirect optative forms are very common with copular infinitives, and are more akin to subjunctive or conditional clauses in European languages. For example, ang- ‘help’ requires the optative in the infinitive clause it governs: ai sisiḷḷuttat tsangemat ‘I help you do it’ (lit. I help you that you do (opt) it). The verb ang- necessarily governs an unrealised infinitive clause, as helping must come before the actual accomplishment of the secondary verb. By that logic, Pine speakers use the optative rather than the dubitative (although it’s unlikely to be considered ungrammatical to use the dubitative here) as there is some sort of wish or volition involved with the act of helping someone to do it (or alternatively necessity, which the optative may also be said to encompass to some degree).

The optative is used in the following complementised constructions:

§12.2.3.1 Direct Optative

The direct desiderative optative mood is found in autonomous clauses and as the name implies, indicates a true, direct wish or desire of the subject to perform the action. In addition to a direct desiderative meaning, with certain unagentive verbs, the direct optative mood may instead indicate a necessity or need, then called the direct deontic optative. For example, gamindusut ‘I want to go’ but ṇemindusut ‘I need to go (pee)’. Although some common verbs also have desiderative medial forms, such as gamigvusut ‘I want to me’ and ṇemigvisigga ‘I want to eat, I feel like eating, I’m hungry’, there is usually a nuance in meaning in using the optative mood, which is usually a more literal desire or more direct wanting, whereas the desiderative medial may be more akin to a feeling or sensation. A number of verbs that have a syntactically inverse alignment, such as ṇetaḍḍogeset ‘I am interest in it (lit. it interests me)’ also commonly have optative forms, for example ṇetaḍḍogissuts, which often emphasise an opinionative reading of the verb, such that ṇetaḍḍogissuts is more of a statement of opinion (‘I find it interesting)’ than ṇetaḍḍogeset (‘it interests me’) which is more neutral, perhaps a little more detached. There are a handful of such verbs where the optative has a more opinionative meaning, and they are invariably verbs that have separate transitive (often causatives in -(e/o)d-) and intransitive forms

Using the direct optative necessarily precludes the verb from being in another mood, for example the conditional or the potential, which can be circumvented by using the copula in that mood and an optative complementiser (įus) to form a complementised optative phrase, for example įaįįa įus gamigvussin ‘I could eat, it could be that I would want to eat’.

There are therefore two types of direct optative verbs: direct desiderative and direct deontic optative verbs.

direct desiderative optative

direct deontic optative

§12.2.3.2 Indirect Optative

The indirect optative is one of the functions of the optative mood, whereby a subordinated verb or copula is found in the optative due a requirement of the subordinating verb. Instead of indicating that the subject of a verb desires, wishes or hopes to perform the action, the indirect optative instead functions to mark that the verb is subordinated to some expression of desire, wish or hope. The indirect optative may also function in a subordinated clause to indicate that the action should be done in some prescribed or accepted way, for example with mid- ‘know (how to)’, especially for example in indirect interrogatives as in mittyt mi ai de silidnat nỉset nus ai nủka ‘I don’t know how to say this’, where the restrictive indirect interrogative contains the optative copula nummin. The same can be expressed with a relative indirect interrogative: mittat nukka, nỉset mi ai-t de silidnat nus The optative is also found in dependent imperatives. Permissive causative verbs in -elt- and persuasive verbs in -agag- also generally govern the optative, for example neitṇelt- ‘invite to sit down’ or tintselt- ‘invite to drink’, lukkagag- ‘urge to’. A significant number of verbs and constructions require this, some of which are given here:

verbs governing indirect optative with si-

verbs governing indirect optative with gi-

other indirect optative governing expressions

§12.2.3.2.1 Dependent Imperative Optative

Dependent imperatives are imperative forms that are subordinate to a main verb, and cannot bear true imperative markers, for example gipỉddeggin įuġus siḷḷupput nuttohuhin ‘I asked her/him not to do it’. The optative serves as a sort of reportative or indirect imperative. This use of the optative is rare in spoken language. Often, speakers will prefer to use a regular imperative form of the verb, followed by a reportative particle such as -t ƛi:

gipỉddeggin įuġus siḷḷupput nuttsohe-t ƛi

'I asked her/him not to do it'

(lit. I asked him 'don't do it')

§12.2.4 Conditional

The conditional mood is one of two irrealis moods in Pine. Conditional clauses indicate an action that is not actualised but instead belong to a projected, hypothetical or contingent reality. The conditional mood has two main functions in Pine. It is used with hypothetical predictions and counterfactual situations, but unlike English, reported or prospective events framed from a past perspective are generally expressed using the dubitative future tense, which functions as a future-in-the-past tense.

The conditional mood is used with the following constructions:

§12.2.4.1 Conditional Protasis & Apodosis

The conditional mood in Pine is used in hypothetical predictions, which generally contain a protasis (if-clause) and its ensuing result, or apodosis. Both protatic and apodotic clauses are found in the conditional in Pine. The protasis is introduced by įu for positive clauses and įuḥḥi for negative clauses, and it is hyponomous to the apodosis. The apodosis is nearly always found preceding the protasis:

[apodosis], įu [protasis]

siskiminttutṡut, įu gemittuttṡin

'if I had known, I would have come'

However, should the protasis come first, the subordinating conjunction įu will come in second position, directly following the first word (or rather the first phrase) of the protasis:

gemittuttṡin įu, siskimintutṡut

'if I had known, I would have come'

§12.2.5 Potential

The potential mood in Pine marks events or states that are presented as possible but not entailed – situations that the speaker views as lying within the range of ability, capacity or circumstantial possibility, without asserting them as actual. Because it belongs to the irrealis mood set like the conditional, the potential may entail a conditional protasis. The potential is used to indicate:

1) ability or inherent possibility

siskiminttilit, įu gemiḍḍuttṡisin

'I could have come, if I had wanted to'

2) circumstantial possibility

gasiḷḷuppuḷḷet, įu siskiminttattṡin

'I could do it if I came'

3) epistemic possibility

įul įa siskiminttuḷḷin

'I may come, it could be that I come'

The potential mood is found with a variety of constructions, such as:

§12.3 Order, Constituent Ordering

The word order, or constituent ordering (to distinguish it from order), in Pine depends on the order of the verb, that is whether the verb is in the autonomous or hyponomous order, and the specific type of clause. Pine distinguishes two major classes of clause: independent and dependent. The basic word order for independent clauses in Pine is VOS, or verb-initial, and SOV for dependent clauses, or verb-final. Each of the 24 subtypes of clauses has one or more possible word order. However, verb-initial and verb-final are the two main contrasting types.

An independent clause can be autonomous or conjunctive hyponomous clauses (although they can also appear in the dependent order, more or less in free variation). Independent clauses in the autonomous order are the default, citation type clauses. For example, tsiggan vỉḷvut mi minda įo ‘the girl hears birds’ is an example of an independent autonomous clause with an VOS order. It can be made into a conjunctive clause, with no effect on constituent ordering other than the predicative phrase preceding the verb (OVS), by introducing it with a conjunction and changing the order from the autonomous to the hyponomous: įu vuogvut tsikkutan mi minda įo ‘when the girl hears birds’, or vuogvut įu tsikkutan mi minda įo, with the conjunction in second position.

A dependent clause is always found in the hyponomous order. Dependent clauses include relative clauses, infinitive clauses and indirect interrogative clauses. The default word order for dependent clauses is OVS, although relative clauses sometimes require SOV(A), where the relativised antecedent must be found clause finally:

'the man who lives here'

'the friend whom the man introduced'

The order is OVS when the subject appears as the relative pronoun (in the example above, nami ‘who’) and is therefore the head of the relative clause. The dependent order is SOV when a nominal or pronominal subject not be the head of the dependent clause – in such cases, it appears directly following the relative pronoun separated from the rest of the clause by the focus particle įo.

The constituent order of polar indirect interrogative clauses is the only subtype of dependent clauses that has the VOS word order. Polar indirect interrogatives behave like an independent tag interrogative (although it is hyponomous) with an in-situ interrogative phrase.

Although constituent ordering at the phrase level is dependent on order and the type of clause, the constituent of phrases other than the verb phrase is mostly unchanged. For this reason, constituent ordering of phrases other than the verb phrase will be described before going into the ordering of constituents at the sentence level and the verb phrase.

The table below summarises the various types of clauses and their general order. For clarity, [H] indicates the head of a relative clause, as its role as object or subject may cause changes in the constituent ordering.

§12.3.1 The Noun Phrase

A noun phrase has as its head a noun. Pine noun phrases generally have a head-last directionality, meaning the head of the phrase tends to appear last, only followed by independent pronouns in the case of noun phrases, with the exception of noun phrases which contain an indefinite or determiner pronoun (which are collectively called dependent pronouns), in which case an independent pronoun will follow the head of the noun phrase. The constituents of the noun phrase are the attributive adjective phrase, noun adjunct phrase, dependent pronoun phrase and the postposition phrase.

attributive adjective phrase

Attributive adjective phrases (adjp) are found directly preceding the head noun. The adjective phrase can contain other dependents, most commonly adverbs, but occasionally noun adjuncts.

adjp ⟫ n

noun adjunct phrase

Noun adjunct phrases (na) contain nouns, pronouns, adnominal adverbs, infinitive clauses or non-restrictive relative clauses, which function in a similar way to adjectives in that they qualify the head noun – they are adjunct to the noun, but do not necessarily only contain nouns. Nominal noun adjuncts are found in the genitive in Pine. They are found preceding attributive adjectives. They often co-occur with determiners, which themselves co-occur with an independent pronoun following the head noun. In some cases, the determiner pronoun phrase can be understood to be part of the adjunct phrase, and in other cases it can be understood to be part of the noun phrase, with slightly different reading depending on the association of the determiner. Should more than one noun adjunct occur, their internal order is pronoun ⟫ noun ⟫ adnominal adverb ⟫ infinitive clause ⟫ non-restrictive relative clause.

(det) ⟫ na ⟫ adjp ⟫ n ⟫ (ind.pron)

kủt bįaktṡut ỉ kuolaƛƛat nin nannet raykvi gaiḥy

‘the two babies’ powerful need to suckle’

Non-restrictive relative clauses adjunctive to a noun phrase are nearly always introduced by a definite determiner, but are part of the noun adjunct phrase.

kủt bįaktṡut ỉ kuolaƛƛat nin nannet kįasƛet heḷvemi raykvi gaiḥy

‘the two babies’ rapidly growing powerful need to suckle’

Definite genitive noun phrases are often excluded from the adjunct clause if it is already filled, but are included if they are not definite, or if they are definite but the independent pronoun instead refers to the head noun.

mi sagvema įo kuoka angat nin ai ỏdknot tenttsa na

‘the man’s other strange desire to help’

mi sagvema įo kủt deįįa kuįįot tsukṇegi nỉ

‘the man’s two sharp knives here’

but

mi kuoka sagvema angat nin ai ỏdknot tenttsa na

‘the man’s other strange desire to help’

dependent pronoun phrase

Dependent pronouns collectively refers to indefinite (indef) and determiner pronouns (det), as they cannot appear without an independent pronoun following the head noun. Dependent pronoun phrases precede the head noun, which must then be followed by an independent pronoun, a third-person pronoun in that agrees in animacy and number with the head noun. Multiple dependent pronouns can occur, but only one independent pronoun follows the head noun. The usual order of dependent pronouns is demonstrative ⟫ indefinite. If two or more indefinite pronouns or determiners co-occur, their order may vary depending on which is more emphasised, which will then be closer to the head noun.

[det ⟫ indef] ⟫ (na) ⟫ (adjp) ⟫ n ⟫ pron

postposition phrase

Postpositions (postp), as the name implies, follow the noun and are an exception to the general head directionality trend of the noun phrase, along with independent pronouns of dependent pronouns. Most commonly postpositions appear both following the head noun and any independent pronouns required by dependent determiners:

(det ⟫ indef) ⟫ (na) ⟫ (adjp) ⟫ n ⟫ (pron) ⟫ postp

§12.3.2 The Adjective Phrase

The adjective phrase (adjp) has as its head an adjective, and has head-final directionality. Only attributive adjectives are considered as part of the adjective phrase, as attributive adjectives in Pine function as verbs, with the exception of resultative adjective predicates, which themselves behave like adverbs. The dependents of the adjective phrase are the adverb phrase, adjective adjunct phrase and the dependent pronoun phrase.

More than one adjective can be found describing the same head. The order of adjectives can be described as abstract qualities first (age and appearance) and less abstract qualities second (category and material). Participle-like verb (called here predicate) forms always come directly before the head noun.

age ⟫ appearance [evaluative ⟫ size ⟫ colour ⟪⟫ shape] ⟫ category ⟫ material ⟫ predicate ⟫ noun

§12.3.2.1 Adverb Phrase

Adjectives can be found with adverbs or an adverb phrase (advp) which directly precedes the head of the adjective phrase. Some adverbs only appear when with adjectives that have a degree of comparison, for example ihhủt ‘much (+comp)’. The adverb phrase can contain more than one adverb, in which case it is an adverbial phrase. The internal ordering of the adverbial phrase is generally evaluative ⟫ temporal ⟫ locative ⟫ manner ⟫ degree, although it is possible to find one of the adverbs after the head should there be many in a row, especially locative adverbs.

advp ⟫ adj

§12.3.2.2 Adjective Adjunct Phrase

The adjective adjunct phrase (aa) can contain a noun or a noun phrase, tġeůts keukvut ỉ ƛalla ‘three day long’, a conjunction, innit ƛalla ‘tall nontheless’ or gami va ƛallogut ‘taller than me’, an infinitive clause, siƛukƛat nummin nannet edda pukkut ƛalla ‘still too tall to fit’ or siƛukƛimi edda pukkut ƛalla. More than one adjective adjunct can occur, in which case they have the following order: infinitive ⟫ conjunction ⟫ noun. With noun phrases used in comparatives, the noun usually appears in the comitative, for example tġeůts keukvut ỉ ƛalla ‘three day long’ but tġeůts keukvuin ỉ ƛallogut ‘three days longer’.

aa ⟫ advp ⟫ adj

§12.3.2.3 Dependent Pronoun Phrase

As with nouns, adjective phrases can be found with dependent pronouns as dependents, in which case they behave identically, and adjectives fulfil the syntactic role of a noun, and are declined as such without a head noun.

[det ⟫ indef] ⟫ (aa) ⟫ (advp) ⟫ adj ⟫ pron

§12.3.3 The Adverb Phrase

The adverb phrase (advp) has as its head an adverb, but in certain cases a noun can serve as the head, in which case the phrase is an adverbial phrase, for example when using the special adverbial accusative form of lakka ‘way’ adverbially, aįi laggi ‘in a clear way, clearly’. Adverb phrases can only appear with adverb adjunct dependents.

§12.3.3.1 Adverb Adjunct Phrase

The adverb adjunct phrase (aadvp) can contain another adverb which describes the head adverb. The internal ordering of adverb adjuncts is evaluative ⟫ temporal ⟫ locative ⟫ manner ⟫ degree.

aadvp ⟫ adv

§12.3.4 The Independent Verb Phrase

The independent verb phrase (vp) has as its head a verb and may contain various arguments, namely complement phrases and adjunct phrases. The independent verb phrase is found in autonomous clauses and certain hyponomous clauses, such as coordinate hyponomous clauses. Unlike most other types of phrases, the independent verb phrase has head-first directionality in most cases, although adverb adjuncts may precede it. The constituents of the independent verb phrase are adjuncts, complements and the auxiliary verb phrase.

§12.3.4.1 Verb Adjunct Phrase

The verb adjunct phrase (av) most commonly has an adverb or adverbial of place, time or manner, subject or object adjuncts, usually in the essive or in the form of a hyponomous object adjunct phrase. Verb adjuncts may appear directly before or after the verb. Of adjuncts that are found preceding the verb, temporal adjunctive adverbs, essive subject adjuncts, hyponomous object adjuncts and dependent syllogous adjuncts are the most common, while locative adjunctive adverbs and adjunctive adverbs of manner and adverbials follow it, with locative adjunctive adverbs generally preceding adjunctive adverbs of manner. The same is true of place and manner adverbs – they may migrate before the verb if adverbials are found after the verb. Verb adjuncts are more commonly found after the verb, but both positions are accepted for adverbs. Object essive adjuncts can be found both before or after the verb, such that speiknets pỉƛƛảts boagve and pỉƛƛảts speiknets boagve ‘they painted the house red’ are both common, where pỉƛƛảts is an object adjunct. The internal order of the verb adjunct phrase is usually:

[temp.adv / subj/obj.adjunct] ⟫ v ⟫ adverbial ⟫ [temp.adv ⟫ loc.adv ⟫ manner.adv] ⟫ infinitive ⟫

adverb, essive, subject and object adjuncts

av ⟫ v

essive object adjuncts, adjunctive adverbs and adverbials

v ⟫ av

gikekvot siskibidnin ilgat nįottset nats

‘I arrived yesterday, having travelled for a long time’

gikekvot siskibidnin giḷḷit deįįet lullat nats

‘I arrived here early yesterday when you had left’

aleybmi sỉkaġan laggi lỏset ỉlisat au nuna

‘s/he starting speaking slowly like his/her father after having met him’

In dependent clauses, the entire adjunct phrase precedes the verb:

[temp.adv / subj/obj.adjunct] ⟫ adverbial ⟫ [temp.adv ⟫ loc.adv ⟫ manner.adv] ⟫ infinitive ⟫ v

...įu gikekvot skikkot siskibidnin

'...when I suddenly arrived yesterday'

§12.3.4.2 Verb Complement Phrase

The verb complement phrase (cp) houses the grammatically required objects of polyvalent verbs, or the predicate or subject complement of monovalent verbs, and typically comes following the verb and the adjunct phrase. Subject complement phrases however may precede the verb and any preverbal adjunct phrase. The complement phrase also hyponomous object complements.

monovalent verbs

predicate and oblique complements

(av) ⟫ v ⟫ (av) ⟫ cp

subject complement

cp ⟫ (av) ⟫ v ⟫ (av)

transitive verbs

Transitive verbs have a nominal object as the head of their complement phrase. When the complement phrase of a transitive verb appears directly before a nominal subject phrase, the nominal subject phrase usually appears with a definite determiner, unless the complement phrase contains a dependent pronoun. Predicative object complements are usually adjectives in the essive or a hyponomous verbal phrase. Adjective predicative object complements are most commonly followed by an independent pronoun should the object not be a noun, but if the pronoun is absent, which may happen, then the object complement usually precedes the verb.

object complement

(av) ⟫ (cp) ⟫ v ⟫ (av) ⟫ cp

skikkot gehįiḷvet negat ṇủmava kaunkkia hįỉḷo

‘I suddenly remembered the story having seen my mother’

As with the adjunct phrase, the complement phrase also precedes the verb in dependent clauses:

(av) ⟫ (cp) ⟫ v

...įu įaktṡon tṇegiddat mi sakvin įo

'...when the man sees the woman'

§12.3.4.3 Auxiliary Phrase

The auxiliary phrase (auxp) has as its head the negative auxiliary verb for independent verb phrases. The negative auxiliary verb requires the head verb to be in a connegative form, which is -(v)at for monovalent autonomous verbs, -(v)it for monovalent hyponomous verbs and -(v)ut/-(v)yt for polyvalent verbs. It is common for the negative auxiliary verb to be in either the normal position or final position, but the initial position of the connegated verb is the standard. Generally, the connegative form preceding the auxiliary (v ⟫ auxp) is more emphatic than the ‘normal’ order (conjugated verb appearing clause initially, auxp ⟫ v).

(cp) ⟫ (av) ⟫ v ⟫ (av) ⟫ (cp) ⟫ auxp

(cp) ⟫ (av) ⟫ auxp ⟫ (av) ⟫ (cp) ⟫ v

gikekvot nủkin ilgat nįottset kaunkka nats bidnit

‘I did not arrive yesterday, having travelled for a long time’

skikkot nukket negat ṇủmava kaunkka hįỉḷo hįiḷḷyt

‘I suddenly did not remember the story having seen my mother’

§12.4 The Dependent Verb Phrase

The dependent verb phrase is a construction found in non-restrictive and restrictive relative clauses, indirect interrogatives and in verbal complements. In other words, verb phrases that are subordinate to a predicate head or a main verb fall under the category of dependent verb phrases (depvp). Dependent verb phrases do not have the typical autonomous VOS word order, but rather OVS, and they are left-branching, or head-final.

(av) ⟫ (cp) ⟫ v

In other words, the dependent verb phrase is mirrored when compared to the independent verb phrase – constituent precedes the head. In relative clauses where the subject of the verb is not relativised, the subject phrase appears at the start of the verbal phrase, often separated by the focus particle įo, or alternatively clipped to the end of the clause by topic markers.

nả kuokullit mi [ṇitaveva įo] daįįet osseldattagin sakvin įo

'the man my daughter married is a foreigner'

nả kuokullit mi sakvin įo, namet osseldattagin, [a ṇitaveva-t da]

nả kuokullit mi sakvin įo, namet [ṇitaveva įo] osseldattagin įo

'the man, whom my daughter married, is a foreigner'

§12.5 Relative Clauses

Relative clauses in Pine can be remarkably complex when compared to English. Pine differentiates two major types of relative clauses; restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses. These two types of relative clauses differ greatly from each other. Restrictive relative clauses are those which give essential or defining information about its head, for example ‘the knife that I sharpened’, where the knife is defined by the fact that I sharpened it. In English, restrictive relative clauses are commonly introduced by that. Non-restrictive relative clauses on the other hand introduce non-defining, non-essential information or additional information about its head, for example ‘the knife, which I sharpened, is on the table’, where ‘which I sharpened’ doesn’t identify the knife specifically.

Morphosyntactically, restrictive relative clauses are closer to normal, independent clauses in Pine. The word order and the verb order differ, and they are most commonly introduced by a determiner such as mi, although they can and often do stand without any determiner.

kuįįogami mi tsukṇi na, nama ṇummava įo algủts malkkutṇut a

kujju-gami mi cukN-i na, nama n-ummafa ju- malguuc- malkkut-n-ut a/

[ˈkʊjːɔgɑːmɪ mɪ ˈt͡sʊkːŋ̊ɪ nɑː ˈnɑːmɑ ˈn̥ʊmːɑːwɑ jɔ ˈalːguːt͡s mˈalːkʊtːn̥ʊh ɑː]

Ø-kuįįog-ami mi tsukṇi-Ø na nam-a ṇ-umma-Ø-va įo alg-ủts Ø-im-alk-ϕun-tṇut a

3i.ag-be.sharp-3i.prs det knife-act pron.3i which-acc poss.1-mother-act-poss.loc foc gift-ess

3a.ag.pst-kin-give-2˚.hyp.pst-1.io pron.3i

‘the knife, which my mother gifted me, is sharp’

The restrictive relative clause is contained within the determiner phrase (mi…na) and its found in the hyponomous (gekuįįuttisin ‘I sharpened it’). In the non-restrictive relative clause, the entire relative clause is separated from the main clause with a comma, and is introduced by the relative pronoun phrase nami…įo/na ‘which’. The word order in non-restrictive relative clause is SOV rather than the VOS normally seen elsewhere in Pine.

§12.5.1 The Relative Verb Phrase: Restrictive Relative Clauses

Relative clauses contain restrictive relative clauses and are nearly universally introduced by a dependent pronoun. The head of a restrictive relative clause is either a noun or a pronoun. Noun-headed relative clauses are said to be bound, while pronoun-headed relative clauses are said to be free, where the noun phrase is empty. Bound relative clauses introduced by dependent pronouns are concluded by an independent pronoun that agrees in animacy and number with the head noun but which is not declined for case, while free relative clauses have declinable independent pronouns.

The verb phrase of relative clauses differs from the verb phrase of independent clauses in that the verb must be in the hyponomous order and must come directly before the head of the relative clause, which means that all post-verb dependents must be shifted to a position before the head of the restrictive relative clause. Moreover, should there be a nominal subject to the verb phrase which is not the head of the restrictive relative clause, it is introduced before the verb phrase and followed by the focus particle įo~įe. The verb phrase is always in the hyponomous.

bound

[[det ⟫ indef] ⟫ (na) ⟫ (adjp) ⟫ (vp) ⟫ n ⟫ (pron)] ⟫ (postp)

mi ỉski įo gikekvot neggiddat boagvimut oaįut ṇikkava va ihhủt iṡegyt sagvemot įo

free

[[det ⟫ indef] ⟫ (na) ⟫ (adjp) ⟫ (vp) ⟫ Ø ⟫ pron] ⟫ (postp)

Restrictive relative clauses define the referent in the same way that attributive adjectives describe their noun. The difference between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses is that non-restrictive relative clauses add information about the referent, while restrictive relative clauses describe it in such a way that removing it may completely change the meaning of the phrase:

non-restrictive

restrictive

Although the presence of the determiner mi is most often understood to cause the argument to be determined (‘the’), it can also correspond to undetermined nouns in English. Likewise, its absence can be read as an undetermined argument, or an oblique or unagentive partitive.

Indefinite pronouns generally lack a determiner and are fully declined, but attributive determiners of indefinite pronouns do not appear with determiners are all, but they are found with independent pronouns like the determiner.

attributive

independent

There are seven different types of restrictive Relative Clauses, depending on the role of the head within the relative clause. In subject restrictive relative clauses, the head is the subject. In direct object restrictive relative clauses, the head is the direct object, and so on.

subject restrictive relative clauses

direct object restrictive relative clauses

genitive object restrictive relative clauses

indirect ditransitive restrictive relative clauses

direct ditransitive restrictive relative clauses

indirect interrogative restrictive relative clauses

mit- restrictive relative clauses

Relative clauses, restrictive and non-restrictive, can be mutually recursive, meaning a relative clause can itself contain another relative clause. Because infinite recursivity would mean an infinite number of determiners at the beginning of the primary restrictive relative clause, only a single determiner phrase, usually mi, is used to introduce the primary restrictive relative clause and all subsequent secondary relative clauses – embedded relative clauses lack mi and an independent pronoun. Restrictive relative clauses can also have embedded inside of them a non-restrictive relative clause.

(never *telkukvi Niṡkuƛingit [mi [mi ỉllyt nuttsut mỉnttot įo] gimalkkisinnit ảltten a])

Some speakers may seek to avoid such recursive restrictive relative clauses by making the secondary relative clause non-restrictive:

It is not uncommon that the determiner mi is repeated in such cases, both before the argument of the non-restrictive clause (mi mỉnttot, numa…) and the restrictive clause (mi gimalkinat…), especially in more colloquial speech, but this may be regarded as improper or incorrect by some:

§12.5.1.1 Subject Restrictive Relative Clauses

Subject restrictive relative clauses whose head noun is the subject the clause into which the relative clause is embedded. Pine uses such relative clauses extensively, and they fulfill the role of attributive participal constructions in English (a running man, the falling rain, a broken branch). Pine lacks true participals, and instead favours the use of the restrictive relative clauses. For syllogous restrictive clauses that have a participial-like meaning, the third person animate, inanimate and obviate lack pronominal prefixes. Combining these two phrases below yields a subject restrictive relative clauses:

Attributive past participles can be found in the past, though the singular often has a shirt form in -in instead of -imi with inanimate nouns – attributive form generally lack the third-person inanimate final -mi. The difference between the past and the perfect in both subject and object relative clauses is mostly that the perfect form emphasises that the action was (already) completed, often in reference to some previously established time.

Below are more examples of subject restrictive relative clauses:

§12.5.1.2 Object Restrictive Relative Clauses

Subject and object restrictive relative clauses are very similar in function and form, with the exception of case marking on the object, which must be in the sematic form. The head of the relative clause is the object of the main clause. When a restrictive relative clause as a whole functions as the object of a verb, it commonly has a fourth-person referent in the verb, despite the fact that the head of the relative clause is a third-person inanimate pronoun. The most common construction where a determiner phrase is treated as a fourth-person object are indirect interrogatives.

One difference is that in such cases where the object referent would appear in the final position of the phrase as an object in the main clause (that is to say, the referent is the object in both clauses), where a local subject is encoded into the main clause verb, the local subject is generally repeated at the end of the phrase, which is not necessary without a relative clause. This is done because Pine disfavours clause final objects followed by the independent pronouns įo, (n)a and (n)ỉ with a local subject and instead requires a subject pronoun. Non-local subjects are not allowed directly following the relative clause independent pronoun, as that would result in the illegal sequence of two consecutive third-person independent pronouns (*įo įo/na/nỉ, *(n)a įo/na/nỉ or *(g)ỉ įo/na/nỉ). This is termed clause final independent pronoun avoidance. To avoid this, įo can be inserted between the independent pronoun of the relative clause and the subject pronoun, or the subject pronoun can be dropped.

but

or

§12.5.1.3 Genitive Restrictive Relative Clauses

Restrictive relative clauses that refer to the genitive of an argument in the main clause are called genitive restrictive relative clauses. The possessor is an argument in the main clause, and the possessed argument is the head of the relative clause. The possessed argument is shown with possessive affixation and the possessor is also often included. The same can also be expressed without the possessor independent pronoun by using the genitive form of the mit- restrictive relative pronoun, migit/mỉdit.

na į-agettsiḷủlin ke mi daġa sṇaukvan įo hakvemi sagvinnut įo?

na j_agi-c-ciLuulin ki- migit t-ag-a st-n-aukfan ju- hakfi-mi sagfinnut ju-?

[nɑ jɑːgɛt͡sːɪˈɬuːlɪn kɛ mɪ ˈdɑːɣɑ ˈstn̥ɑu̯ʰkʷan jɔ ˈhaʰkᶣɛːmɪ ˈsakᶣːɪnːʊt jɔː]

na į–a-get-ts-i-ḷủl-in ke mi daġa s-ṇaukv-a-n įo h-sakk-vemi sagv-innut įo

also: ‘did you go speak with the man whose dog is missing?’

§12.5.1.4 Ditransitive Indirect & Direct Restrictive Relative Clauses

Restrictive relative clauses whose main clause argument is the indirect object of a ditransitive verb in the relative clause are indicated by having the ditransitive indirect verb in the hyponomous without further changes. This is because the pronominal indirect object of a ditransitive verb is anti-ergative, meaning it is treated in the same way as the direct object of a transitive verb, and as such these constructions are fully analogous to direct object restrictive relative clauses. When a direct object is relativised, the ditransitive verb is not usually hemiditransitive as the direct object is not seen as being part of the relative clause itself. Likewise, if the indirect object is relativised, the verb will lack any ditransitive markers. The same is not true of the indirect object being the head of a restrictive relative clause, in which case ditransitive paragogic finals do appear. In other words, if the indirect object is found in the illative as a relative pronoun or a noun inside the relative phrase, kinetic preverbs and ditransitive paragogic finals are not found, but if the relative phrase does not contain an independent pronoun or noun in the illative, the verb must be ditransitive. The direct object alone does not affect ditransitive markers in such cases, only the indirect object.

indirect object

direct object

Restrictive relative clauses may be introduced by the determiner mi, but the reference to the indirect object may also be encoded into a mit- restrictive relative pronoun in the illative, for example miįįedit.

indirect object relative clause

direct object relative clause

§12.5.1.5 mit- Restrictive Relative Clauses

Restrictive relative clauses which require an oblique case or the essive, such as the genitive, elative or the comitative cases, are expressed by using so-called mit- restrictive relative clauses. Such clauses have an antecedent, which is referred to using relative forms of the third or fourth-person independent pronouns, which are modified versions of the non-local independent pronouns, where m(i)-Ø-(i)t has been prefixed, deleting any -a- found int the pronoun. The animacy of the referent is conserved, and obviation is possible. The fourth-person serves as an indeterminate relative pronoun. Note that words which normally precede the non-relative pronouns generally appear directly after the mit- relative pronouns, for example mittsun mikkudit ‘together it her/him/it’ becomes mikkudit mittsun ‘together with whom/which’ (or mimittsun(n)it) – the mit- relative pronoun is found clause initially.

Restrictive relative clauses that use mit- pronouns do not start with a determiner, as it is already implied in the mit- pronouns, as the prefix m(i)- is transparently derived from the determiner.

In some cases, mit- pronouns have alternative or shorter forms, such as mits for migits or meigit instead of meįįat. Generally, shorter forms are typically found in colloquial contexts. The fourth-person genitive forms are equally common and not associated with any register. The third-person inanimate has alternative forms that distinguish it from the third-person animate, but these forms are either formal or used to clarify that the referent is inanimate. If it is clear from context, the forms identical to the third-person animate pronouns are often preferred.

§12.5.1.5.1 mit- Genitive Restrictive Relative Clauses

Genitive restrictive relative clauses using mi require the possessed relativised noun to be marked with possessive affixes preceded by the referent’s genitive pronoun, but using mit- pronouns this is not necessary:

Using a determiner genitive restrictive relative clause results in a double genitive marking, and such relative clauses cannot relativise words which cannot be possessed, namely (possessive) pronouns, and must therefore use mit- pronouns. Such clauses are not possible or awkward in English (‘whose "it" it is’) if translated literally, but Pine allows them with the mit- genitive restrictive relative clauses. They relativise belonging or possession, such that ‘whose it it is’ can be better translated as ‘which belongs to’. If the referent is singular, the relative pronoun is mi(gi)t regardless of animacy, and if it is plural, mỉdit is used instead. In such phrases, migit really means ‘which is his/hers’ and mỉdit ‘which is theirs’ . The use of the obviate or fourth person is rare.

(lit. this is the house that is his/hers)

If the mit- genitive clause is a free relative clause, such that it has no nominal head, the head pronoun is in the fourth person.

free relative

(object is relative clause, mi…..įei ‘the things which’)

bound relative

(object is mi…tsảlit ỉ ‘the things which’)

In other words, the genitive restrictive relative clause relativises an attributive genitive construction (‘X’s Y’ relativised to ‘whose Y’), while the mit- genitive restrictive hyponomous relative clause relativises an predicative genitive construction (‘is X’s’ to ‘which is X’s’). The former is vastly more common, while the latter has a much more restricted use, essentially only used to relativised copular phrases of possession. Genitive non-restrictive constructions are also made with a similar mit- relative pronoun, but non-restrictive constructions use a dependent copula verb and these should not be confused with restrictive relative clauses:

restrictive predicative genitive relative clause

migit/mugut nin X

‘X, which is Y’s’

mỉdit Y nẻs X

‘X, which are Y’s’

§12.5.1.5.2 mit- Postpositional Restrictive Relative Clauses

As the genitive is the most common case that postposition govern, restrictive relative clauses whose head is also the head of a postpositional (genitive) phrase appear with the genitive relative pronouns. In more formal languages, postpositions may be found with so-called restrictive relative affixes, which are simply m(i)-Ø-(i)t.

In the east, such forms are still common, but in western dialects, they are not heard outside of formal registers. The independent pronoun head of the restrictive relative clause may be an adverb such as įu ‘when’, for example tsibeyƛvannat mekkodit ṇikemmydůn tsiṡỉvvin įu ‘you told me (about the time) after you lived with us’.

temporal

causal

circumstantial, goal

goal, result, manner

concessive

other postpositions

§12.5.1.5.3 mit- Locative, Comitative & Essive Restrictive Relative Clauses

Restrictive relative clauses can be found in the three locative cases – the inessive, the illative or the elative, as well as the comitative and essive cases. These clauses have an antecedent which is relativised as a location or a comitative or essive argument in the relative clause. The fourth-person locative relative pronouns (meįįat ‘somewhere that/where’, meįįedit ‘to somewhere that/to where’, meįįỉnit ‘from somewhere that/to where’) can be used without an antecedent in a free relative clause, for example mi meįįat nįukku ṇuokku na nin a sisikṇat gaskanna ‘I want to live somewhere where there is a lot of trees’ (lit. I want to live somewhere that has a lot of trees in/there’). In more formal language, these constructions are replaced with non-restrictive phrases, often with a pre-relative antecedent locative (here oįįa): (oįįa) sisikṇat gaskanna, namiat nįukku ṇuokku na naġan nin (lit. I want to live there, where there are a lot of trees’).

inessive

(also tsaƛƛaƛƛat oįįa, numiat uġun nįukku soaƛƛi nukken)

illative

elative

comitative

essive

§12.5.1.5.4 mit- Temporal & Adverbial Relative Clauses

Restrictive relative clauses can have as a head a temporal argument, in which case the relative pronoun found is miįįut ‘at a time that, when’. The antecedent can be missing entirely, or it can often be the obviated temporal oįįu or more commonly simply įu (or įo), such that many such temporal relative clauses are composed of miįįut….(oį)įu, but ni~nįi or even na are also possible. Because temporal arguments can be found before the verb in Pine, a restrictive relative clause whose head is a temporal argument can also be found before the verb of the main clause. This can also be expressed with a non-restrictive phrase (oįįu…naįįu… ‘when’)

or

Much more commonly however, temporal arguments are not relativised but instead a conjunctive temporal clause is used:

The same is true of restrictive hyponomous relative clause whose head is an adverb – they can be expressed by the relative adverb milladit~misedit ‘in a way that’ , often without any antecedent, or the obviated antecedent ollat or oset or even na, such that they are composed of milladit~misedit….(ollat~oset~ḥa), but it is equally common to express this with a conjunctive clause or with a non-restrictive relative clause (ollat…nallat…).

or

or

§12.5.2 Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses

Non-restrictive relative clauses are clauses that introduce additional information about a relativised antecedent. Unlike normal hyponomous clauses, non-restrictive relative clauses have a SOVA word order, where A indicates the antecedent independent pronoun. Clauses with this reverse order when compared to autonomous clauses are called reverse verb phrases. As such, non-restrictive relative clauses are similar to restrictive relative clauses of the form mi...įo/na/nỉ but instead are introduced by a relative pronoun and have the form nami...įo/na/nỉ/go.