Metin/Grammar

Abbreviations used in this guide
NP: noun phrase

VP: verb phrase

1: 1st person singular

2: 2nd person informal

2H: 2nd person honorific

0- 0 person

3O: 3rd person obviative

3P: 3rd person proximative

1E: first person exclusive

1I: first person inculsive

P: posessor

S: Subject

Do: direct object

Io: indirect object

As: absolutive

Uas: unabsolutive (typically not marked in morpheme glosses)

Al: ablative

Lo: locative

Da: dative

irr: irrealis

rea: realis (unmarked by default on verbs)

C: Continuous (always marked by both verb stem and prefixes but only the prefix marking is shown in glosses)

M: Momentous  (always marked by both verb stem and prefixes but only the prefix marking is shown in glosses)

Po: Potential

Vo: Volitional

St: Stative

Tr: Transitive

Itr: Intransitive

Dtr: Ditransitive

R: relative (ta means nearby-1R, as in relative to the first person, te means nearby-2R, as in relative to the second person

xor: exclusive or

ior: inclusive or

Inq: Inquisitive

Neg: Negative

Prn: Pronominal

Cop-Copula

The noun phrase
All noun phrase heads must either be case-marked or in the absolutive. Unmarked nouns cannot head a phrase.

Examples of absolutive and unabsolutive noun forms
Nouns can form the unabsolutive in several ways. Some completely lose their absolutive prefix, some keep a reduced form of this prefix, and a small class of nouns, like yúus, loses their pitch accent in the unabsolutive. The vowels shown in parentheses are reduced vowels which tend to dissapear when the preceding word ends with a vowel or nasal and the following consonant in the root of the noun is dissimilar from the first consonant of the unabsolutive word's prefix.

tsime-s(į)me: person

įhhuska-huska: shirt

m(į)héá-héá: bridge

chacxó-sh(ą)cxó: beverage

hulaj-laj: shoulders

útchaw-t(į)chaw: train

yúus-yuus: eye

sxutl'an-sx(į)tl'an: city

Compound noun phrase
An unabsolutive noun phrase can be appended to an existing noun phrase with the suffixes -mi (and), -lúz (exclusive or or), and -dį (inclusive or). This method can only be used when the conjoined unabsolutive phrases lack adjectives and or other descriptors. These are the very last suffixes that can occur on a noun, after posessive suffixes.

oawa tsiwio sįnmomi.

people AB-mother-1P father-1P-and

Here are my mother and father.

chaqéz shącxódį?

As-food Uas-drink-ior

(Do you want) some food and/or something to drink?

lac'uincaayns k'úa sxuimixtl'an sxkíélúz.

drive-1I.Po-fly today DA-mixt'an kíé-xor

We can fly to Mixtl'an or Kíé today (but not both).

Two absolutive noun phrases can be joined by the conjunctives  já  (and),  lújá  (exclusive or), and  dujá  (inclusive or). This method is used when multiple noun phrases have adjectives or other descriptors.

hétunɮ mciar lúí já  įhzáu chuot eetlág.

3.M-Tr-place  AB-plate blue and AB-cup green LO-table

He's placing blue plates and green cups on the table.

yint'oąítuyns tewįtie sxuiręę́je tsuooduia dujá sxuiręę́je tsuoowio

3ODo-2S-place.irrealis this-by.you-few LO-bedroom-P AL-Duia ior LO-bedroom-P AL-mother-1P

You can put those in Duia's room or mom's room.

When the same noun heads multiple NPs linked by ja, lújá, or dujá, the noun does not need to be repeated in every já phrase. Thus, the above sentence can be shortened to  

yint'oąítuyns tewįtie sxuiręę́je tsuooduia dujá  tsuoowio

You can put those in Duia's room or mom's (room).

Copular sentences
(bhaa) As-NP As-NP

(bhaa) tsime z̨a tsimetin

As-person that-1R As-Metin

That person is Metin.

bhaa is added to emphaisze that the first NP is the second noun phrase in exclusion to several other alternatives; eg; That person is Metin, (not Ishnna or some other ethnicity). bhaa is usually used to correct people, and can sound somewhat rude.  

d̨haa transforms a statement into a question. It is placed before the NP in question, which is moved to the front of the sentence''. d̨haa questions are often responded to with bhaa answers with identical word orders''

d̨haa tsime z̨a tsimetin?

Inq As-person that-1R As-metin

''Is that person Metin? ''(One of the people the asker is referring to is Metin but the asker is uncertain which)

d̨haa tsimetin tsime z̨a

Inq As-Metin As-person that-1R

''Is that person Metin? ''(The person being referred to is of ambiguous ethnicity)

Negative copular sentences
Míinmi negates a copular sentence.

Míinmi tsime z̨a tsimetin

Neg As-person that-1R As-Metin

That person isn't metin

Mínbha and mínd̨ha are the negatives of bhaa and d̨haa respectively

mínbha tsimetin tsime z̨a

Neg As-Metin As-person that-1R

''That person isn't Metin. (corrective tone)''

mínd̨ha tsimetin tsime z̨a?

Neg-Inq As-Metin As-person that

Isn't that person Metin?

Evidentials in Copular Sentences
The full from of the evidential (ienmi, uonmo, etc...) is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

uǫtlo tsitxen tsijueng

hearsay As-Txen As-scientist

Txen is a scientist (so-I-hear).

The long form of the evidential prefix (ien-, uon- etc.) may also be prefixed to bha.

uǫlbha tsitxen tsijueng

hearsay-Corrective As-Txen As-scientist

''I hear Txen is a scientist. (not whatever you thought he was)''

Simple locative sentences
preposition--Lo NP--As locative object NP

oon tsuarme z̨a sxudhááy ghe

above Lo-person that As-staircase that.Inv-2R

''The staircase is above that guy. (the staircase can't be seen from where the adressee is)''

prepositional Prn--As locative object NP

sxutxienme sxuoomíxtl'an  muyo

As-forum-P Al-Míxtl'an under.you

Under you is the forum of Mixtlan.

When the prepositional NP is first, the location of the object. It is the word order exculsively used when answering "where" questions. When the locative object NP is first, the identity of the noun is emphasized. This word order is typically used to point out interesting or important objects

Ellipted locative sentences
The object of a locative sentence may be ellipted.

oozó

behind.you

It's behind you.

ɮí oowji

inside Al-water

It's in the water.

Locative sentences with multiple prepositional NP's
The prepositional NP's are listed in sequence from general to specific.

bhuay yerrao  bhiminz  sxuarmunz pli sxuaɬtoó  isin qoo

inside Lo-town near Lo-Munz's.place through Lo-garden As-path white

The white path is in the city, going through the garden near Munz's place.

Adjectives
Adjectives go after the noun they describe exclusively

mta mkxįyaon ǫ́hwaaf

As-thing-this-1R As-towel fluffy

Here's a fluffy towel.

The adjectives percieved as the most "essential" go closest to the noun, in approximately this order. The word for and, "xi", comes after the "true" essential adjectives, before numbers and demonstratives

class/substance>shape>surface features> color> beauty >age> size >xi> number > demonstrative>posessor

'''inmáabhai tsuiya įhhuskaye gít'iyaon ty'uy xi tsįtxen janzja. '''

Seen-again-Itr-0-C-wear  this.person ABS-shirt-his wrinkle-2D red and Txen that-1R.

''I see her wearing Txen's same wrinkled red shirt again. .'' xi can be repeated after each adjective in a sequence to the effect of "both...and"

bhaa bhábhanw xi góos xi!

Cop shiny and smooth and

It's both shiny and smooth!

Adjectives can be preceded by the long forms of evidential prefixes.

tsime ta áazsuh.

As-person at.hand-1R seems-friend

She seems friendly

hecxǫ ooji oozáu ienfánma.

0-Tr-C-drink As.water Al-cup looks-shiny

He's drinking water from a shiny-looking cup.

Adjectives that take arguments
Adjectives that take arguments are used in constructions like "A city rich in culture" or "A dress vibrant in color". All argument taking adjectives are prefixed with uu- and demand an oblique noun phrase follow immediately after. This construction is very productive and used far more extensively than its English counterpart

sxugį́taang uumíír unwji

As-land St-abundant  Al-water

a land with abundant water

sxutl'an uumíír uęęme tsoiu

As-city abundant Pl-Al-people rare

A city full of uncommon people

tsitxá uujáie chontsíx

As-man beautiful Al-hair

A man with beautiful hair

Descriptive verbs
Continuative verbs can behave just like adjectives in certain cases. The verb must have no non-pronoun arguments or any adverbial phrases associated with it. The verb will have the 0 subject prefix, with the dummy h/hį prefix which precedes continuative verbs with 0 subject and no disjunct prefixes ommitted.

Examples with intransitive verbs
hįtl'úę́g tsimnah tas oadáánmiye

0-dine ABS-father be.happy family-0PPOS-with

The happy father has lunch with his family

wungaa ɮí sxuitl'an tiin z̨a

we-stick.out in OBL-city crowded this

We stand out in this crowded city.

Transitive verbs in these constructions take indefinite objects, giving a different meaning than their intransitive counterpart

tas: happy | etas: "makes something happy", joy-bringing

tsime tas: A happy person | tsime etas: A person who brings joy to those around them

tsime tsííl: Lost person | tsime etsííl: Forgetful person

ooji móíg: Swirling water | tsibhii emóíg: A woman twiddling with something

When the NP is the subject of both independent and dependent VPs
Independent-verb subject-noun-phrase dependent-verb-phrase dependent-verb remainder-of-independent-verb-phrase

The verb in a relative clause must agree with all of its direct and indirect objects, stated explicitly with a noun phrase or not.

txaapxen tsiyáang tsijué liipxú 

0-C-Itr-enter As-youth As-Jué 3Do-see

The youth who sees Jué is coming in

Expressing temporal relationships between verbs
The prefix dí is used to identify the verbal action which came before. The exact meaning of dí varies based on the aspect of both the previus and following actions. dí implies that the previous action caused the next action. tl'ú does not make this implication.

dí affixed to a momentous verb
lidíépxú tsitiys tsid̨úken hįtsun

dí-3os-sees As-student As-teacher 0-nervous

The student sees his teacher and is nervous