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Topicalization

Medzor has a way to topicalize a part of a sentence by using word order and the topic anaphora. The topicalized segment is put at the start of the sentence without agreement suffixes and its place in the sentence is taken up by the anaphora ô, which takes on all necessary suffixes (if its a subject, the agreement suffix can be ommitted):


For example, here is a normal sentence, where no special emphasis on the topic is put:


Put uzrak ôrnüžö âšezgmü negrne. Our king killed the predator.


This sentence can be transformed in the following ways:


Uzrak ôrnüžö put ô âšezgmü negrne. It was the king (of ours) who killed the predator.

šesk put uzrak ôrnüžö ômü negrne. It was the predator that our king killed.

Ôrne put uzrak ônüžö âšezgmü negrne. It was our king (not yours) who killed the predator.

Negre put uzrak ôrnüžö âšezgmü ône. Our king did kill the predator.


Please note:

  • If the topic has modifiers, it is fronted together with the modifiers.

  • The topic stands even before the verbal particles.

  • If an adjective (or adjectival pronoun) is fronted, it happens without the -ni, -vi suffix, which is instead added to the topic anaphora. That's why in the third sentence, fronted is a personal pronoun and the possessive relation is expressed on the ô.

  • If the verb is fronted, it reinforces the action and reassures that it happened as described.

Anaphora themselves can be topicalized:


Neutral:

Černka ibřa kaže edzvika. Ewmá kamü mogrönö. I had a book which was beautiful. The man stole it.

Topicalized:

Černka ibřa kaže edzvika. Ka ewmá ômü mogrönö. I had a book which was beautiful. That was what the man stole.


This way, whole clauses can be topicalized:


Étu icelow zô put owka ážow. I said I believed you.

Étu icelow ow zô put ôka ážow. I believed you, that was what I said.

Usually, the doppel suffix can be comprised to one only:

Étu icelow zô put ôka ážow.

The -ka suffix (or any other verbal suffixes for that matter) can wonder to form a relative verb. The ô remains in places and fulfilles the role of the topicalization:

Étu icelowka zô put ô ážow.

Compare this to the neutral sentence with relative verb:

Étu icelowka zô put ážow.


Generally, by adding an ô before a verb in a clause after a relative verb, topicalizes the clause with the relative verb:

Éka ulnašade adráne. I did it because I love you. (neutral)

Éka ulnašade ô adráne. Because I love you, that's why I did it.

Relative anaphora

Relative anaphora in Medzor are grammatical words which point to another word, phrase or sentence. They are distinguished from deictic...

Deictic pronouns

Medzor distinguishes between deictic pronouns and relative anaphora. Deictics always refer to some object or a state in the real world...

Numerals

The following table shows the building blocks of Medzorian numerals. A numeral is formed by concatenating the building blocks expressing...

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