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Eq úmo jí róı súq
/
Us is me and you
Conversation
Mío runs a little personality quiz by Gámeı.
Mío: He cho súq báq ẹkoı rí báq ẹchaocaq?
Gámeı: Eju, he koı jí jâı fâna ké guaırıaq jıbo.
Mío: He naola súq bîe rí shîu é nuo súq?
Gámeı: He noa báq ë nuo jí jôıcıa, ꝡá hoqshıu naola jí.
Mío: Rú, ma he pua huosı súq báq jaza ra ragıaq?
Gámeı: Nho, de púı gıaqshı jaza, rú he bẹımaı jí báq laq bẹgıta.
Mío: Obe! Sıu jí róı súq chéq ꝡeı.
Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| chaocaq | ▯ drives vehicle ▯ |
| fana | ▯ leads/is towards ▯ |
| naola | ▯ takes a shower/bath |
| joıcıa | ▯ happens without ꝡá |
| pua | ▯ enjoys lá |
| huogaı | ▯ hears ▯ |
| huosı | ▯ listens to ▯ |
| jaza | ▯ is jazz |
| ragıaq | ▯ is rock music |
| gıaqshı | ▯ is a piece of music |
| laq | ▯ is a sound |
Conjunctions
These are the basic conjunction words in Toaq:
| rú | X and Y |
| kéo | X, but also/and yet, Y |
| rá | X or Y or both |
| ró | X or Y (but not both) |
| rí | X or Y? (or both? or neither?) |
They can be used to join two nouns:
jí rá súq
me and/or you
Two relative clauses:
ꝡë fıeq súq hóa, rú, ꝡë cho jí hóa
which I like and which you invented
Two adverbs:
nhâme kéo mêo
smilingly, but sadly
Two prepositions:
râo ró bîe
on or after …
Two preposition phrases:
nêo ké toqfua rá nîe ké tıaı
on the table or in the box
Two clauses:
sea súq kéo guaı câı jí
you rest but I work hard
In the falling tone, conjunctions can join two verbs.
leo kaqgaı ra huogaı íme shúao
we try to see or hear the birds
Conjunctions under the hood
Conjunctions are actually much like quantifiers.
The phrase X rú Y is essentially tú mem {X, Y}. It quantifies over all members of a domain consisting of X and Y. In this analogy, rá is like sá and rí is like hí.
This analogy is perfect for understanding the scope behavior of quantifiers:
↓
∄p: p knows∀x ∈ {you, her}: x is a Toaqist.
Nobody knows that you and her are Toaqists.
Changing the order of rú and sá changes the meaning of the following sentence pair.
Cho súq rú jí sá gıaq.
You like some music, and I like some music.Sá gıaq nä, cho súq rú jí hóa.
There is some music that you and I both like.
It gets a bit stranger when X and Y themselves contain quantifiers.
Dua sá deo rú sía koaq ní.
Some children and no grown-ups know this.
We can think of this sentence as quantifying over a domain of two scope operators.
∀Q ∈ {∃deo, ∄koaq}: Qx: x knows this.
Continuations (advanced)
The continuation hypothesis
We’ve seen that quantified expressions like sá poq can show up in the same places as non-quantified expressions like nhána, but their semantic effect is very different. It seems like sá poq “locally” does the same thing (refer to some variable) but it has an effect at the top of the clause (introducing a quantifier).
In this chapter, once again, jí ró súq shows up in the same places as jí, and locally refers to a variable, but introduces an “or” at the clause-level. How can we make sense of this?
We follow Chris Barker’s continuation hypothesis in saying that these phrases have denotations that manipulate their own continuations. What does this mean?
A continuation is a concept from computer science. When evaluating a subexpression in some larger context, the “rest of the expression” is that expression’s continuation.
The subexpression 4 × 5 has the continuation 2 × 3 + ⬚ in this example:
2 × 3 + 4 × 5
Continuations in Toaq
In the case of Toaq, the context is a clause. If nouns normally have type e and propositions normally have type t, then we say sá poq denotes a function from (e → t) to t. For example, we say that in Chuq sá poq máq, the continuation of sá poq is the function
Chuq ⬚ máq
κ : e → t
κ = λp. chuq(p, máq)
and the meaning of sá poq is a function that manipulates this continuation:
sá poq
s : (e → t) → t
s = λκ. ∃p: poq(p) and κ(p)
so that the whole clause means
Chuq sá poq máq
s(κ) : t
s(κ) = ∃p: poq(p) and chuq(p, máq)
This is a powerful abstraction. It lets us treat jí ró súq just the same way:
jí ró súq : (e → t) → t
= λκ. κ(jí) or κ(súq)
The idea of giving noun phrases type (e → t) → t is already found in early takes on natural language semantics, such as Montague grammar. For more on continuations, you can consult the book Continuations and Natural Language by Barker and Shan.
Nouns together with róı
There is a special conjunction, róı, that can only be used between nouns. It makes a new noun that consists of those nouns considered together as a plurality.
Hıe súq rú jí sá toqfua.
You (carry a table) and I carry a table.Hıe súq róı jí sá toqfua.
You and I carry a table (together).
This distinction is not so natural to make, coming from English. When you use rú, you are claiming that something is true of one subject and of another. When you use róı, you are claiming something about a plural subject. Thus:
Shı súq rú jí.
You and I are (both) one.
Gu súq róı jí.
You-and-I are two.
Advanced conjunctions with nạ
The prefix nạ lets us turn any verb that relates two events or clauses into a conjunction.
bıe
▯ takes place after ▯Hıaı jí nạ́bıe kuq súq sá luaı.
I laugh after you say something funny.
Basically, X nạ́verb Y means: X and Y both happen, and the events/facts are related by verb.
By extension, such a conjunction can be applied to any part of speech. The formula is: P(X nạ́verb Y) means P(X) nạ́verb P(Y).
Shuaq jí nạ́ca súq báq hıaıse.
[I ca you] produce laughter.
I produce laughter causing you to produce laughter.
Forethought conjunctions
Ordinarily, rú and friends join the smallest constructs on both sides of the conjunction. This isn’t always what we want: we may wish for ké kato po jí rú ké kune to mean [ké kato po jí] rú [ké kune], but it really means ké kato po [jí] rú [ké kune].
To remedy this, conjunctions have a forethought form, which lets us specify exactly the size of the constituent on the left. This involves a special combination of a glottal tone determiner and a hiatus tone conjunction:
| Plain form | Forethought form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| X rú Y | tü X rû Y | both X and Y |
| X kéo Y | tü X kêo Y | not only X but Y |
| X rá Y | sä X râ Y | either X or Y (or both) |
| X ró Y | shï X rô Y | either X or Y (but not both) |
| X rí Y | hï X rî Y | which of X and Y? |
| X róı Y | tüq X rôı Y | both X and Y (together) |
Chıaı tü, ꝡé luı tao súq hóa, rû, ꝡé luı tao nháo hóa.
Both what you have done and what she has done is wrong.