Halkomelem Language - Syntax

Syntax

In Musqueam, a sentence minimally consists of a predicate. Predicate heads can be bare roots (e.g. cákʼʷ "far"), derived forms (e.g. spéʔeθ "black bar"), inflected forms (e.g. cʼéwət "help him/her/them"), and forms including both derivational and inflectional affixes (e.g. kʷə́xnəct "name-base-transitive," as in "name a price"). Predicate heads can also be words that are definable morphologically. This includes verbs (e.g. ném "go"), adjectives (e.g. θí "big"), nouns (e.g. swə́yʼqeʔ "man"), members of the closed sets of personal words (see the following section), and interrogative words (e.g. stém "what").

A verbal predicate may be expanded with the addition of one or two auxiliary verbs before the head and/or one or more adverbs preceding or following the head.

• ʔi(AUX) cən cʼécʼəw-ət. "I am helping him."
  • Two pairs of verbs function as auxiliaries, setting the predicate within a spatial context. The choice between the locative pair, /ʔi/ "be here" and /niʔ/ "be there," depends on the location of the speaker relative to whatever the predicate refers to. The directional auxiliaries, /ʔəmí/ "come" and /ném/ "go," identify motions toward or away from the speaker.
• ƛʼ(ADV) cən nəwɬ x̌té. "I did it again."

Verb heads are also found with verb complements and compound verbs.

• θə́t("try") ɬákʷ. "He tried to fly."

Like verbal predicates, adjectival and nominal predicates can be expanded with other elements. Nominal predicate heads can appear alone, followed by particles and adverbs.

• swə́yʼqeʔ cən. "I am a man."
• swə́yʼqeʔ čxʷ ƛʼe. "You're a man too."

Syntactically, adjectival and nominal predicate heads appear with auxiliaries less often than verbs. Adjectives and nouns can appear together in nominal predicates expanded with adjectives. A nominal predicate head can be preceded by a modifying adjective or numeral.

• ʔə́yʼ("good") čxʷ("you") swə́yʼqeʔ("man"). "You're a good man."

Adjectives usually appear as predicate heads accompanied by particles only, but they can be preceded by auxiliaries and adverbs acting as intensifiers.

• kʼʷámʼkʼʷəmʼ cən. "I'm strong."
• ni(AUX) ʔukʼʷámʼkʼʷəmʼ. "He is strong all right."
• x̌ə́ɬ(ADV) qʼáqʼəyʼ. "He was very sick."