Translations of conventional grammatical structures

The rules for manipulating the stack comprise almost all of Daemonica’s grammar. Most other expressions that require special grammatical forms in other languages are accomplished lexically in Daemonica.

Suffixes

Quantification; proper nouns; honorifics

Daemonica words are unmarked as to number: plain tatorhu can mean either “bear” or “bears.” When the number is salient and cannot be inferred from context, suffixes may be used.

Suffixes are also used to mark proper nouns. If the word tatorhu appears twice in an utterance, each instance may refer to different bears; to refer twice to the same bear, it must be put on the stack and then copied. But every occurrence of tatorhu-žū may be presumed to refer to the same person, whose name is Bear.


tatorhu-žu	no bears
tatorhu-puy	a little bit of a bear
tatorhu-du	part of a bear
tatorhu-vu	one bear
tatorhu-bu	two bears
tatorhu-žū	Bear
tatorhu-žūžū	Mr./Ms./Mx. Bear (honorific)
tatorhu-žūðržū	Dr./Rev./Prof. Bear
tatorhu-tu	a few bears
tatorhu-ku	bears
tatorhu-kuku	a bear and their family
tatorhu-kugŋku	a sleuth of bears
tatorhu-þtu	all bears; every bear

Suffixes may be applied to words of every valence, and the suffixes for quantification are no exception.

Tatorhu þduy-du þi-vu fābur-vu.

bear black-part D2\1.EXCL-SG chase-DU

A partially black bear chased me, twice.

Deixis, demonstratives, and determinacy

The suffixes -pū, -bur, -fuy can be used as demonstratives.

Tatorhu-pū þi fābur.

bear-PROX D2\1.EXCL chase

This bear chased me.

Tatorhu-bur þi fābur.

bear-MED D2\1.EXCL chase

That bear chased me.

Tatorhu-vuy þi fābur.

bear-DIST D2\1.EXCL chase

Yonder bear chased me. (or: A certain bear chased me.)

As an alternative to stack manipulation, -pū can refer to a predicate in the stack, and -bur can refer to a predicate that has been consumed and popped off the stack. These are the closest things Daemonica has to determiners. They are used this way only in casual speech, or when the alternative would be extremely awkward.

Tatorhu þi fābur taterhi-bir dðiy bm.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase D2\bear-MED D2\young AND

A bear chased me; the bear was young.

Aspect/location markers

Daemonica words are not inflected for tense, but there are suffixes to mark aspect.


fābur-žur	is about to chase
fābur-kū	start chasing
fābur-pur	is chasing (imperfect)
fābur-bū	finish chasing
fābur-vū	chased (perfective)
fābur-pfur	after chasing
fābur-kuy	always chases

These aspect suffixes can also mark parts of an object or locations relative to it.


tatorhu-žur	the back of a bear
tatorhu-kū	the bottom of a bear
tatorhu-pur	inside a bear
tatorhu-bū	the top of a bear
tatorhu-vū	near a bear
tatorhu-pfur	the front of a bear
tatorhu-kuy	all bears, always

Note that depending on context, the suffix in tatorhu-pfur can be interpreted in its spatial sense, “the front of a bear,” or its temporal sense, “an ex-bear.”

Miscellaneous suffixes

The -tþur suffix is used for the irrealis mood, which can also be used for a polite command.

Tatorhu-tþur þi fābur.

bear-IRR D2\1.EXCL chase

Something which might be a bear is chasing me.

Su taterhi fābur-tþur.

2 D2\bear chase-IRR

You could chase the bear.

Other suffixes indicate the shape of an object, the evidentiality of a predicate, and whether a word should be taken to refer to something organic or to an artifact.

Tatorhu þi fābur-gū.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase-toroidal

A bear chased me around and around in a circle.

Tatorhu si fābur-dū.

bear D2\2 chase-witness

I personally saw a bear chase you.

Tatorhu þi fābur-džū.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase-artifact

A bear chased me in a car.

Rearranging argument structures

Nominalization (creating nullary words) and case-marking

We have already seen the sba- prefix, which creates the infinitive, abstract, or gerund form of a word.

Sba-vābur.

NMLZ-chase

There was a chase.

Given a predicate on the stack, case markers can adjoin arguments with various semantic roles.

Sba-vābur þi pur taterhi fū sā-škaverhir fur škaverhir kū

NMLZ-chase D2\1.EXCL ABS D2\bear ERG D2\raise.LOC-wood LOC wood OBL

I was chased by a bear with a stick through the forest.

Multiple arguments with the same case can be “stacked” onto a predicate; the semantics of these additional arguments depends on the predicates and the context.

Tatorhu-pū dayvuy.

bear-PROX good

This is a good bear.

Tatorhu-pū dayvuy þi pur.

bear-PROX good D2\1.EXCL ABS

This bear is good to me.

Tatorhu þi fābur si fū.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase D2\2 ERG

You made a bear chase me.

Tatorhu þi fābur sā-škaverhir fū.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase D2\raise.LOC-wood ERG

A bear chased me out of the forest.

We see above, in the transformation of škavorhur, “wood,” to sā-škavorhur, “forest,” how the sā- prefix creates a nullary word from the locative argument of its base word. The da and ša prefixes do the same for the absolutive and ergative arguments, respectively.

Da-vabūr.

raise.ABS-chase

Someone was chased.

Ša-vabūr.

raise.ERG-chase

Someone chased.

Creating unary words

The ba- and fa- prefixes create unary words whose argument is the ergative or absolutive argument, respectively, of their base word.

Tatorhu ba-vabūr.

bear UNERG-chase

A bear chased.

Þu fa-vabūr.

1.EXCL UNACC-chase

I was chased.

The effect of the bva- prefix depends on the valence of its base.

Tatorhu bva-vabūr.

bear REFL-chase

A bear chased itself.

Tatorhu-pū bva-dayvuy.

bear-PROX REFL-good.

This bear seems good.

Su bva-tatorhu.

2 REFL-bear.

You are a bear.

Two other prefixes worth noting are: tþay-, which derives a word referring to a color, shape, sound, or some other sensory characteristic; and gģa-, which derives a word referring to damage or illness.

Dažŋģu-vuy tþay-zbū.

fish-DIST like-running.water

Yonder fish are blue.

Dažŋģu-pū gģa-džu.

fish-PROX illness-heat

This fish is burned.

Creating binary words

The gā- prefix creates a binary word from another word.

Tatorhu-pū þi gā-dayvuy.

bear-PROX D2\1.EXCL TR-good

This bear is good to me.

The bar-, bā-, and pfā- prefixes create binary words involving belief, desire, and causation.

Þu taterhi-pī bar-dayvuy.

1.EXCL D2\bear-PROX belief-good

I think this is a good bear.

Þu taterhi-pī bā-dayvuy.

1.EXCL D2\bear-PROX desire-good

I want this to be a good bear.

Su taterhi þe fābir pfā-škavorhur.

2 D2\bear D3\1.EXCL D2\chase cause-wood

You used a stick to make a bear chase me.

Miscellaneous particles

Stack operations

Various particles, some of which we have seen already, manipulate the stack.


tn	copy top item
sm	copy 2nd-from-top item
þn	copy 3rd-from-top item
fu	swap top two items
psu	move 3rd item to top
kŋ	drop top item

Negation; questions; absolutes

Tatorhu þi fābur bu.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase NEG

A bear did not chase me.

Tatorhu bu þi fābur.

bear NEG D2\1.EXCL chase

Something other than a bear chased me.

Tatorhu si fābur guy?

bear D2\2 chase Q

Did a bear chase you?

Tatorhu guy si fābur?

bear Q D2\2 chase

Did a bear chase you?

Tatorhu šku fābur pu?

bear D2\what chase WH.Q

Who did the bear chase?

Þtu þi fābur.

everything D2\1.EXCL chase

Everyone chased me.

Šu þi fābur.

nothing D2\1.EXCL chase

Nobody chased me.

Pronouns and possessives

Tatorhu tī fābur.

bear D2\1.INCL chase

A bear chased us (you and me).

Su taterhi fm.

2 D2\bear has.a

You have a bear.

Sa-tatorhu þi fābur.

2SG.POSS-bear D2\1.EXCL chase

Your bear chased me.

Þa-tatorhu si fābur.

1SG.POSS-bear D2\2 chase

My bear chased you.

Tā-tatorhu ba-vābur.

1PL.POSS-bear UNERG-chase

Our bear chased.

Note that Daemonica has no third-person pronouns: the stack, and, in a pinch, demonstratives, serve the same purpose.

Tense

Tense is generally inferred from context and, if context is insufficient, from mood and aspect. There are words that can attach tense information to a predicate, but they are usually ambiguous as to whether they refer to a time or a place.

Tatorhu þi fābur tur.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase here.now

A bear chased me here, or a bear is chasing me right now.

The metaphorical arrow of time, in Daemonica, corresponds to the acceleration of the frame of reference: “the future” is “down.”

Tatorhu þi fābur tir arbu.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase D2\here.now before

A bear previously chased me, or
A bear chased me somewhere above here.

Tatorhu þi fābur tir arždorpfu.

bear D2\1.EXCL chase D2\here.now upstream

A bear chased me somewhere upstream from here, or
A bear chasing me might be the cause of our current situation.

Non-specific placeholder words

Sometimes, one is more interested in communicating the meaning of an affix than in anything the affix might be attached to. For that purpose, these base words can be helpful:

Tþū-pū þi fābur.

arbitrary.0-PROX D2\1.EXCL chase

This chased me.

Tþū-kugŋku þi fābur.

arbitrary.0-collective D2\1.EXCL chase

A herd of things chased me.

Tatorhu tšuy-bur þi fābur.

bear arbitrary.1-MED D2\1.EXCL chase

That kind of bear chased me.

Tatorhu þi gžū-vuy.

bear D2\1.EXCL arbitrary.2-DIST

A bear did yonder thing to me.

Tþū tšuy tþī gžū.

arbitrary.0 arbitrary.1 D2\arbitrary.0 arbitrary.2

Some kind of thing did something to someone.

Tþū tšuy tþī gžū is a Daemonica catchphrase which might be translated, more idiomatically, as “Stuff’s going on.” It may be said in a casual, anticipatory, or dejected tone of voice, depending on the nature of that “stuff.”