Tyl-Sjok distinguishes three persons: the speaker, the listener and others. There is no distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person as in many languages. (Note that Tyl-Sjok also does not distinguish the number with pronouns as it is never distinguished).
There are two determiners one of which is the only demonstrative in Tyl-Sjok meaning either `this' or `that'.
| DET | this, that |
| WHICH | which |
| so | such |
To be more precise with DET, you can use genitive constructions on it to clarify the meaning if necessary, e.g. `that book' may be something like `you DET book' or `he DET book' or `far DET book'. And `this book' may be `I DET book' or `near DET book'.
If you think that only one demonstrative is imprecise, please note that modern German has almost the same level of imprecise demonstratives. In earlier times, `dies' was `this' and `jenes' was `that'. Nowadays, the normal definite article may be used for both (it is stressed more with this usage). Today, `jenes' is old-fashioned and `dies' is used less frequently than `das hier'. If you ask `This or that?' in German, it is usually rendered as `Das oder das?' with the finger clarifying the meaning. (Of course, this paragraph is also valid for the two other genders in German).
The complex distinction some languages have by proximity to the speaker, listener, by visibility, discourse, etc., is not (yet) available in Tyl-Sjok.
FIXME: Can Tyl-Sjok form complex demonstratives by genitive construction, which is judged to have the needed expressiveness??.
The words `when', `where', `who', `how' are rendered with WHICH. Accordingly, `then', `there', `here', `this/that person', `this/that way' are rendered with the help of DET.
| hurt | you | happen-at | WHICH | ? | |||||||||||||||
| hurt | you | happen-at | WHICH? | ||||||||||||||||
| When did you hurt yourself? | |||||||||||||||||||
| hurt | you | be-at | WHICH | ? | |||||||||||||||
| hurt | you | be-at | WHICH? | ||||||||||||||||
| When did you hurt yourself? | |||||||||||||||||||
| WHICH | SKIP | hurt | you? | ||||||||||||||||
| Who hurt you? | |||||||||||||||||||
| you | hurt | use | WHICH | SKIP | |||||||||||||||
| you | hurt | use | WHICH | ||||||||||||||||
| How did you hurt yourself? | |||||||||||||||||||
See Chapter 12.1.2 for comments on these sentences, which are often seen differently in colloquial language.
DET can be used together with a subsequent phrase (adjectival usage), or it can be used alone (pronomial usage).
`In such a way' may be translated using use so. It either modifies the verb directly or the whole phrase.
| birth | please | use | so, | you, | happen-until | I. | |||||||||||||
| birth | please | you, | use | so, | happen-until | I. | |||||||||||||
| Your life as it has been is over. | |||||||||||||||||||
| `The manner that your birth used to please you has existed until now.' | |||||||||||||||||||
| now; at this time | (I, you, he, near, far) DET time |
| then; at that time | (I, you, he, near, far) DET time |
| here | (I, you, he, near, far) DET place |
| there | (I, you, he, near, far) DET place |
All qualifiers can modify countable as well as uncountable objects. There is only one form. Tyl-Sjok has the following qualifiers.
| all, each, both, any | all |
| some | some, NEG all |
The qualifier `no' is rendered using the negative particle NEG.
Other qualifiers may be composed as follows:
| few, little | small some |
| a lot, many, much | big some |
| almost all | near all |
| ... | |
For co-ordination, there is only one conjunctive particle: the sequence particle SEQ, which, if not used with any additional words, may be translated as `and', `or', `but', `though', etc. depending on the context.
The word `to add' is often used without SEQ (especially in numbers), and may seem to be a conjunction, but it is not.
SEQ's usage is purely syntactical: it is to link two constituents together that do not control each other. This section and Section 8.3 show examples.
Some conjunctions known from English are translated as follows:
| A, | SEQ | add | B | ||||||||||||||||
| A and B | |||||||||||||||||||
| A, | SEQ | not | alternative, | B | |||||||||||||||
| A and surely B | |||||||||||||||||||
| A, | SEQ | (EMPH) | truth | B | |||||||||||||||
| A but B | |||||||||||||||||||
| A, | SEQ | alternative, | B | ||||||||||||||||
| A or B (underspecified: inclusive or exclusive) | |||||||||||||||||||
| alternative | A, | SEQ | alternative, | B | |||||||||||||||
| A or B (inclusive) | |||||||||||||||||||
| A, | SEQ | not | add, | B | |||||||||||||||
| A or B (exclusive) | |||||||||||||||||||
Further note that the sequence particle may be dropped. If no additional modifier is given, this is likely only to happen for top-level phrase composition. Often, when a modifier is given and when the sequence is clear, it also happens in embedded structures (e.g. typically if the constituents are modified with a YN particle):
| A | add | B | |||||||||||||||||
| A and B | |||||||||||||||||||
| 70 | add | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| 75 | |||||||||||||||||||
Also, phrases that could be linked with cause alone often use SEQ kel instead for stylistic reasons.
Sub-ordination is done by verbs and direct embedding in Tyl-Sjok. E.g., with the verb cause.
| Rain | cause | I | NEG | come. | |||||||||||||||
| Because it rained, I did not come | |||||||||||||||||||
| `The rain causes/caused my non-coming.' | |||||||||||||||||||
| you | arrive | happens-when | I | fetch. | |||||||||||||||
| When you arive, I'll fetch you. | |||||||||||||||||||
| `My fetching you happens when (you) arrive.' | |||||||||||||||||||
| Note that `happen-when is a verb in Tyl-Sjok. | |||||||||||||||||||
| destroy | world | NEG | cause | surprise | I | ||||||||||||||
| If the world goes down, I will not be surprised. | |||||||||||||||||||
| `The world being destroyed does not cause me to be surprised.' | |||||||||||||||||||
FIXME: Translate: `but'. It could is actually be the same as `and'..
There are no prepositions. Verbs are used instead.
To show how this works, here are some example applications.
Use the Location, Sub-Position and Re-Postion Verbs. See Sections 5.5, 5.7 and 5.8.
Use the Time, Sub-Position and Re-Postion Verbs. See Sections 5.6, 5.7 and 5.8.
For `with, using, with the help of' use the verb `to use':
| I | eat | pizza | use | hand | |||||||||||||||
| I eat pizza with my hands. | |||||||||||||||||||
| I | want | eat | use | chop-sticks | |||||||||||||||
| I want to eat with chop-sticks. | |||||||||||||||||||
FIXME: check tone of `yong' and `kuaizi'.
uses SVC.
FIXME: Translate: `I would not be surprised about the world going down.': X surprises Y..
FIXME: Translate: `Concerning/About today's lesson I have questions.'.
FIXME: Translate: `Of all fish, I like salmon most.'.
FIXME: Translate: `After dinner I will read a book.'.
FIXME: Translate: `Learning by doing.' (to use?).