Lecture 14: Conjunctions and Interrogatives

[Hooligan]

Hello again students —

We have essentially covered all of the parts of speech in the Talossan language now, with the exception of conjunctions and interjections, which we'll cover in this lecture. We will also spend a little time in the second part of the lecture covering the formation of questions in Talossan. Let's get to it.

PART 1: CONJUNCTIONS AND INTERJECTIONS

Coordinating Conjunctions

Conjunctions are among the most common words in Talossan (or any language), and so you have certainly seen many of them in action already during this course. We will be able to go through them very quickly. The first set are the simplest and most common: the coordinating conjunctions.

The Talossan coordinating conjunctions are:

• es (= and)
• mas (= but)
• eda (= or)
  
• ni (= nor)
• cair (= for, since, because, as in "he will succeed, for he is rich"; notice that this is different from the English word "for" as a preposition, as in "he will ask for food")
  
• ocsà (= also)
• sa (= so, then, thus)

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are those that are used in pairs, as English "neither" is used with "nor". The Talossan correlative conjunctions are:

• come (= as, like). For example, come fred come la giatza (= as cold as ice). Notice that the coordinating conjunction sa (= so) can also be used for either for the first of the pair: sa fred come la giatza, and that the word qe (= than) can be used for the second: sa fred qe la giatza.
  
• es (= both). For example, es del pà es dal apa (= both bread and water). Notice that the numerical adjective embù (= both) is also used: embù dal pà es dal apa.
  
• eda (= either). For example, eda l'iens eda l'altreu (= either the one or the other).
  
• ni (= neither). For example, ni l'iens ni l'altreu (= neither the one nor the other).
  
• non (= not). For example, non l'iens mas l'altreu (= not the one but the other).
  
• siat (= whether). For example, siat l'iens eda l'altreu (= whether the one or the other).

Subordinating Conjunctions

Some common subordinating conjunctions in Talossan are:

• tanmateisch (= all the same)
• come (= as, like); we have seen this word a lot, have we not?
  
• schinò (= or else).
  
• altramint (= or else, otherwise).
  
• ivenðo (= even though)
  
• bilc'häc (= by the way)
  
• masmint (= however)
  
• parqet (= whereby)
  
• petosch (= moreover)
  
• qe (= than); this important word was mentioned above as an option when creating comparisons using coordinating conjunctions, and is also discussed below.

Conjoining Subordinate Clauses

The conjunction qe (= that) is used as in English to connect a subordinate clause to a preceding verb. Although it is often omitted in English, it is improper to omit it in Talossan. For example, o zireva qe os tignovent menxhat (= he said that they had eaten); while English can omit the underlined word "that" in the example, supplying it in Talossan is required.

This conjunction often elides — becoming q' — before vowels. This is seen in the common phrase in Talossan legislation uréu q'estadra sa (= I pray that it would be so).

Conjunctive Use of Adverbs and Prepositions

In English, it is common parlance to use adverbs and prepositions as conjunctions. For example, "I ate while he slept". In Talossan, such constructions are usually formed by adding qe (= that) after a primary adverb. For example, menxheveu quand qe o dormeva (= I ate while [literally "when that"] he slept).

This same conjunction, qe, is also employed after prepositions that are used in a conjunctive sense. For example, non menxharha salva qe o menxhadra pirmalaiset (= I will not eat unless [it is] that he eats first).

...Of course, there is an exception, and it is for the word come. That adverb does not use qe after it when used in a conjunctive sense. For example, la sopran sè voce füt come la voce d'iens àinxhell (= the soprano's voice was like that of an angel).

Some other conjunctive phrases to know are moschut qe (= as soon as), sa schi (= as if), and sa mûchet come (= so [very] much like). For example, a menxharha moschut qe noi (= she will eat as soon as we [eat]), o menxha sa schi lo starvetz (= he eats as if you guys starve him), and o menxha sa mûchet com'iens porc (= he eats much like a pig). Remember that this last construction (sa mûchet come) also has adjectival use: for example, o menxha sa mûchet eziun com'iens aic (= he eats as much food as a horse [eats]).

Interjections

There is not much to say about interjections in Talossan. These, of course, are words of exclamation, used to pronounce strong emotion.

As in English and other languages, many Talossan interjections are onomotopoeia, such as bah, ha, bum (= boom), buhuhù (= boo hoo), oh and oho, and c'huec'h (= shush).

Other interjections are borrowed from other languages oir otherwise have forms seemingly unrelated to Talossan words or phrases that would be used to indicate the same expression. For example, góspoxhi (= good heavens), okinawa (= okay), and cja (= go away!).

While the construction of interjective phrases using other parts of speech is certainly permissible — as for example ¡c'e desgostind! (= that's disgusting!) —, a familiarity with the vocabulary of Talossan interjections is one mark of a learned user of the language: ¡bouä! (= disgusting!).

PART 2: INTERROGATIVES

Constructing questions in Talossan is mostly common sense, and as you will see, if you can ask a question in English, you know exactly how to phrase the same question in Talossan. In fact, you may find yourself reading a rule of grammar here in this part of the lecture and thinking, "I have no idea what that rule means," but then when you see it in action in an example, think, "oh! well, that's just common sense!"

We have talked a little bit, way back in Lecture 5, about the formation of questions in Talossan. As a review, recall that it is common to "invert" the subject and the verb, just as is done in English (recall the contrasting examples "you are sick" and "are you sick?", one a statement and the other a question). Again, this movement of the subject to after the verb is something that is done rather unconsciously in one's native tongue, which means that when beginning to speak in a new language, it is often forgotten.

Interrogative Particles

Talossan also has some interrogative particles that can be used to cast a statement into a question. These include:

• ¿oi? (= yes? right?). For example, menxhevás't el crust, ¿oi? (= you ate the pie, yes?)
  
• ¿non c'e vräts? (= isn't that true?). For example, menxhevás't el crust, ¿non c'e vräts? (= you are the pie, isn't that true?).
  
• ¿n'estás-c'e? (= don't you/we/they?, doesn't he/she/it?). Notice that this phrase preserves a verb conjugation that is now extinct in modern Talossan. The -ás ending should not be taken to mean that the phrase is specific to second-person singular subjects ("you").
• e-ça qe (= is it [the case] that). This rarely seen particle is used at the beginning of a statement to convert it to a question. For example, ¿e-ça qe menxhevás el crust? (= is it that you ate the pie?)

These particles are especially useful to create a question from a statement that employs one of the impersonal verb forms ja (= it is) and j'ont (= there are). For example, ¿e-ça qe j'ont dels plaes? (= is it that there are plans?).

As in English, a sentence phrased as a statement (that is, with the subject preceding the verb) can be used as a question if intonation implies doubt or disbelief. For example, ¡¿tu menxhevás el crust?! (= you ate the pie?!).

Use of Pronouns in Interrogatives

When forming an information question, you should think first of the role that the interrogative pronoun plays in a declarative statement that would answer the question:

• If the pronoun in a question represents the subject of the answer, then the question should be phrased like a declarative statement, with the pronoun coming before the verb. For example, ¿qi säp el respuns? (= who knows the answer?)
• If the pronoun represents the object of the answer, the interrogative pronoun still leads the question, but the subject is placed in inversion (after the verb). For example, ¿qet säps-tu d'acest? (= what do you think about that?).
  
• If the pronoun represents an indirect obect, the preposition that would appropriately go with the object in the answer precedes the interrogative pronoun in the question. For example, ¿qi'st da qi aprendevás't acest? (= who is it from whom you learned that?)

Inversion of subject and verb is similarly used with interrogative adverbs, as in ¿come säps-tu acest? (= how do you know that?). As with yes/no questions, any of rht information questions that requie inversion can be expressed using the particle e-ça-qe, as in com'e-ça qe tu säps acest? (= how is it that you know that?).

As always, I am available to answer questions about this lecture if anyone has any.