Prepositions
Chavakani has only two true prepositions: the genitive
ya and the locative
ki.
Ya is used in various ways, some of which parallel English usage and some of which do not:
- To indicate literal possession: vé yá kónu "the chief's cattle"
- To indicate other associations X ya Y where X is a feature of, product of, addition to, or subset of Y: mínjé ya fuka "the priest's proclamation", kovó ya ngapa "the runt among the dogs/of the litter", michû ya Ndriká "Ndrika's friend"
- As an ablative/"from": Swinâ yá Yéng'u "Swina from (the town of) Yeng'u"
- To convert other parts of speech, especially verbs, to adjectives: vé ya chukú "the laughing cow"
- To subordinate clauses: indrí ya puché tra njîsú "the girl who kicked the hornets' nest"
Note that
ya "anticipates" a following high or falling tone by changing its tone to high.
Despite the wide range of applications of
ya, there are times when good, natural-sounding Chavakani does not use it.
Ya is not normally used in nominal phrases where the first and second elements have a "natural" connection. These connections include:
- A part-whole relationship, especially with body parts: ngu Mátao "Matao's leg"
- A familial relation: chóchá Mátao "Matao's father"
- Residence: kro Mátao "Matao's home"
- An essential, enduring trait: ríng'ó Mátao "Matao's name"
- Semi-lexicalized phrases, or expressions denoting a type of something: mbwiki panju "panju radish" (panju is a traditional type of vegetable broth that is the base of many recipes)
- Expressions denoting a particular type of spatial relation, about which we'll hear more in a moment: 'omí mu "back of the head"
You may note that this somewhat resembles "inalienable" possession as defined in some languages. I'm still working out the details, though, and as yet I'm not sure I want to just call it an alienability distinction.
Subordinate clauses that modify nouns do not use relative pronouns. After
ya, they take the form of a sentence about their head, minus the argument corresponding to their head. In the following examples, the word in brackets is not actually said, but is there to mark the omitted subject/object/other argument.
indrí ya {o} puché tra njîsú
girl GEN {he/she} kick nest hornet
"the girl who kicked the hornets' nest"
kro ya Túvi sâ {kwetu}
house GEN Tuvi build {it/that}
"the house that Tuvi built"
Ki is a general-purpose locative preposition, corresponding to the majority of uses of "at, in, on" in English. Generally, where English uses a simple locative expression, Chavakani uses an expression with
ki followed by the location:
rwa kí hói "fruit in a basket",
vuká ki kro "people at home",
'au kí fúi "man on a horse",
rwa kí ndê "fruit in a tree". (Like
ya,
ki changes its tone to high when the next syllable is high or falling.) The use of a simple
X ki Y phrase denotes the "default" spatial relation X would have to Y, thus "in a tree", "in a basket", "on a horse", etc. It can also be used if it's already clear from context what the spatial relation would be. (Additionally, when used with people,
ki carries the sense of "at X's place":
ki Ndriká "at Ndrika's place/house". This might sound odd to English speakers, but French speakers will recall their own use of
chez.) If one wishes to be more specific, or to refer to a less default spatial relation, one uses a spatial word, generally a noun, in between
ki and Y:
ndúrí ki saye me "the hawk above you",
kevuru ki 'omí mu Swinâ "the lump on the back of Swina's head",
chitáyá ki mboru kro Túvi "the cave under Tuvi's house". Locative words are not a closed class, but here are some of the more common ones:
saye "(space) above"
choko "top; upper surface"
mboru "(space) below"
ifé "bottom; lower surface"
yâvo "(space in) front"
njû "front surface" (historically related to
njú "nose")
férú "(space in) back; behind"
'omí "back surface"
ndoi "right side (either vicinity or surface)"
fái "left side (either vicinity or surface)"
po "inside"
trî "outer surface"
yeu "(space) around; outside"
Ki can also be used with expressions of time; I don't have examples of these yet because I haven't decided on some aspects of how they work, especially the cognitive metaphors connecting them to the spatial expressions.
So you're probably wondering: What about all the other semantic areas in which adpositions are commonly used? While
ki and
ya are the only words fit all the characteristics of "preposition", other words can be employed to convey these meanings. As we've seen, words that are grammatically nouns can be used after
ki to denote specific locations. Similarly, other nouns and verbs can be used after
ki and
ya for other purposes:
eng'é ya chifú fúi "a book about horses", with
chifú meaning "describe" in other contexts;
fori yá 'úi Ndriká "a message for Ndrika", with
'úi meaning "intend (for)" in other contexts;
yông'u ya swo ípre "game with dice", with
swo meaning "use" in other contexts;
ngêta ya somi 'au "matters concerning men", with
somi meaning "hearth" in other contexts.
In addition, many of the situations that require a preposition in English and its kin simply don't in Chavakani. For instance, all verbs denoting motion toward a destination have the destination as a direct object and do not use a preposition:
chú Ndândá "walk to Ndanda",
fûa sótro "ride to market". Use of
ki before the destination implies that you're already there:
chú kí Ndândá means "walk
in Ndanda". Many other types of verb whose main type of non-subject argument requires a preposition in English use no preposition in Chavakani:
tru mbwímbô "think about mung beans", with
tru meaning "think (about)". (Many of these verbs do have approximate synoyms that don't need a preposition, even in English, such as "consider" for "think (about)" or "inhabit" for "live (in)".) Chavakani also uses serial verb constructions in some situations where English uses a preposition. More on serial verbs later.
Next: I haven't decided yet! Possibly more about elements of noun phrases!