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Alsoran Common grammar thoughts
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inspired by Gramuary '16 and '19
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 21 Nov 2019, 02:05.

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Politeness and respect
Alsoran Common has no built-in formality system. Formality of language is achieved by speaking/writing with technically "correct" grammar, instead of slurring words together, leaving out circumfixes where they can be inferred and making your sentence a long compound verb instead of a real sentence with an object and/or subject (which are all things native speakers do when speaking informally).

Example: Yes, I like to dance.
Informal: Nn, taanc·ə lev oo. - AFFAffirmative (polarity)
positive, opposite of NEG
dance like be_1S
Formal: Aan, a-oo-a lev e-taanc·ə-e. - AFFAffirmative (polarity)
positive, opposite of NEG
NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
-NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
like ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
-dancing-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient


There are titles used when speaking to strangers or people you respect, similar to English Ms/Mr/Mx, the most common of which is ngand, which can be used for anyone. Some of the other common ones are xhef (used for people who use o·hə pronouns), mic (used for people who use o·hi), and just (used for people who use o·he).

In general politeness is not a huge deal in most Alsora Sector speaking stations. This can cause a culture shock for those visiting/migrating from the Nyru Coalition's star systems.

Relative and complement clauses
Alsoran Common has a circumposition, u, whose purpose is to denote relative clauses. As u occurs both at the beginning and end of the clause, the relative clause can be placed before or after the noun (or verb with an implied object!) it modifies. Relative clauses are either gapped (more likely with shorter ones) or a normal personal pronoun refers to the head.

Example of gapping:
ENG: Always do what you are afraid to do.
XAS: Koo loo, u maa hai raa·lə u. - always do_that RELRelative 2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed
fear RELRelative ("always do-that [is you-feared]")

Often, and especially when speaking informally, a relative clause is not used where an English speaker would use one. Instead, a compound nonce word is coined to do the job of the clause.

Example:
ENG: The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.
XAS: Ce·ll oc·ry ll əv dhəf·ək flai·on mekkh ll. - idea change ALLAllative (case)
'to, onto'
a art-make-machine ALLAllative (case)
'to, onto'


Complement clauses are generally treated as the object of a circumposition, either the direct-object circumposition e or any other one as applicable. It's totally ok to have an entire sentence with its own internal circumpositions be the argument of a circumposition - as long as the one on the outside is not reused within the inner sentence.

Quotations
Adjoined or complement clauses.

Example of adjoined quote:
ENG: Ey said, "I painted the house."
XAS: A-hos-a luu taas, "A-oo-a ens kot e-chos-e." - NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
-NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
this say | NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
-NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
then paint ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient
-house-ACCAccusative (case)
TRANS direct object; patient


Syntactic Pivots
Most dialects can't do pivots but a few use the passiviser hai as a switch-reference.
This is nominative-accusative I Think.

ENG: I paint the house and [I] leave.
XAS: A-oo-a kot e-chos-e ə da·gghi.

ENG: I paint the house and [it] catches fire.
XAS: A-oo-a kot e-chos-e ə hai daab.

ENG: I paint the house and [it] collapses on [me].
XAS: A-oo-a kot ə hai mjad e-chos-e.

ENG: I paint and burn the house.
XAS: A-oo-a kot ə daab e-chos-e.

ENG: The house is painted and I set [it] on fire.
XAS: E-chos-e kot ə daab a-oo-a.


Tense/Aspect
XAS has no grammatical tense or aspect. Instead, adverbs can be used to specify when something happens. These could be specific time adverbs like "tomorrow" or "last year" but they could also be more general. Here are some general ones with their literal meanings and what English tense/aspect formulation they would translate to.

ens - "then", "at that time" - general past, "_____ed"
sidh - "until now" - past up to now, past progressive, "has been _____ing"
das - "just", "just now" - recent past, present perfect, "has _____ed"
han - "right now", "currently" - present progressive, "is ______ing"
pfel - "from now on" - now and the future, "is, and will be, ______ing"
ain - "later" - general future, "will ______"

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