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Glossary

Word Args Description

Ask AP C AP asks question C (from ACT + (s)sk)
But person
DOl beautiful, doll, darling
DokfON window
EoxeE exclamation of dismay etc.
possibly OOxeE or someother initial vowel combination
Esk particle, introduces yes/no question
FOF P C P is father of C
fOR P C C is clear/obvious to P
Gr Prefix VIAtive (statal; inchoative used for dynamic
this allows distinction beteen static and result
GrNn P C P is through C (VIA + inside)
ggj tiny
hmb sapient being
IRS jealous, territorial
KOr is dangerous
pk Prefix has potential to be
pkFOF male
pkMOM female
LKp AP AP plays (ALKp = A P = A plays with P)
MOM P C P is mother of C
Msg A P C A informs P of C
Naz A P A is cruel to P
Nn P C P is inside C
NON A P A takes care of [a child] P
ObL unfortunate
qYS C p C is bothersome (to P)
SER A A sings
spl A P A spills P
sQi this/these; specific, but not definite
TrN P A P has been torn into pieces by A
Wi this/these, here; near speaker
woZ A P A entertains P
Xp * inceptive process phase (= begin to);
This acts like an auxiliary verb, meaning it's part of the verb phrase and the arguments are those of the verb.
Xrt AP C AP houses themselves in C
xTB A P A eats P

'Yemls (*)

Jeff S. Jones

Ring B

Wi gjBut pkFOF: KOr-n

EoxeE!, Esk a: Cr?
sQi But pkMOM DOl: Wxf CXrt-i,
ENONq CFOF-i ggj.
d: LKpf CFOF-i ESER,
EwoZq dd.
CFOF-i: EJ Nazf d ObL DOl EJ ATrNf dd EJ xTBf dd,
EK Cspl: GrNnx DokfON.
ii 2: AtQr?
i: AtQc?
i: YOMsg aa Kd,
EK hmb IRS: YOXp Askq gjqYS,
EK i: YOfORxr aa

This boy is dangerous!

Oh, $$$$! Has something happened?
This beautiful woman came to my house to take care of my child.
To entertain my child, she played with him, singing,
My child was cruel to the poor dear, tearing her to pieces and eating her; what was the spilled went through a window.
What have the 2 of us done?
What am I going to do?
Because it hasn't become clear to me,
I'm not telling it to anybody,
so that jealous thinkers don't start asking anything bothersome.

*** I know this isn't very smooth! It's english! ***

Grammatical Notes

'Yemls has a basically SVO order. The subject, when manifest, is always followed by a colon {:}. The case roles of the subject and object(s) depend on the grammatical voice prefixes where marked, and otherwise, the argument structure of the word. This applies to almost all words. The distinction between singular and plural is usually not marked.

The usual word order in a phrase is:
  Determiner  Quantifier  Noun  Adjectives  RelativeClause.

Numbers are normally written as numerals in 'Yemls.

One thing to note is that there's almost no correspondence between syntactical parts of speech and morphological/semantic word classes (the main exception is that the first word of an adverbial phrase has {E} prefixed to it).
Thus a word glossed as a verb may be used as a noun and vice versa.

	word	used as verb	used as noun	used as adverb
	----	--------------	--------------	--------------
	SER	are singing	those singing	singing
	Nn	are inside	those inside	inside
	But	are persons	persons		being persons

Example Sentences:
    1.	NrM: MOM jOn.		Norma is John's mother.
    2.	d: YONaz-d.		She isn't cruel to him.
    3.	ttQ: CMsgf NrM jOn?	What did John tell Norma?
    4.	d: Msgf dd EK a: SERq.	He told her someone should sing.
    5.	jOn: xTBr.		John has eaten.
    6.	NrM: Nnx CXrt-i.	Norma is going into my house.

Notice that in Example 3, the prefix {C} moves the Complement argument {ttQ} (=what) to the subject position, the reciPient {NrM} to the 1st object position, and the Agent {jOn} to the 2nd object position. Also notice the {C} prefixed to {Xrt}; this makes the word refer to the house, rather than those living there.

Interlinear Tags (Abbreviations)

Word Tag Description

E COV- indicates adverbial phrase
YO NEG- logical negative
A ACT- changes the argument structure so that the A-argument is in the subject position ("active")
C CPL- changes the argument structure so that the C-argument is in the subject position ("complementive")
P PAS- changes the argument structure so that the P-argument is in the subject position ("complementive")
Xp INC- inceptive process phase (= begin to)
pk POT- Potential (see glossary)
gj DIM- diminutive
x -INCH entry-to-state aspect
r -RSLT resultive aspect
n -PRM tenseless aspect
f -PST past tense
c -FUT future tense
q -VOL volitive mood
: -SUB (attached to last word of subject)

All words marked past, future, or volitive in this text are perfective. Those not marked for tense or mood are either present or tenseless, depending on the word, and indicative.

The resultive aspect acts just like a perfect in main clauses. Use in an adverbial clause implies the main situation is a result of the adverbial situation.

The volitive mood acts like a jussive, hortative, or imperative when on the main clause verb . Use on the first word of an adverbial phrase, or on the verb of an adverbial clause, it can indicate purpose.

Note: Sometimes some of the prefixes, such as {C} or {Xp} can act as words by themselves. I've added these to the glossary.

Word Tag Description

(a)a IND indefinite pronoun (= existential quantifier)
(i)i 1PX 1st person exclusive pronoun
(d)d 3PX definite (& specific) pronoun
d DEF definite (& specific) determiner
Kd DFS definite (& specific) pronoun referring to a situation
(W)W LOC locative "preposition"
(t)tQ QUE query pronoun
EJ AND logical AND conjunction, precedes each conjoined clause, including the first
EK ADV conjunction, introduces adverbial clause

If the citation form of a word has a character within parentheses, such as {(d)d}, it means that the character appears in some instances, but not in others, specifically {d} or {dd} for this example.

	d	as subject pronoun (or as determiner)
	-d	as enclitic object pronoun
	dd	as non-enclitic object pronoun

'Yemls Translation With Interlinear

 %%%	is a place holder for words in the glossary.
 _	indicates morpheme boundary

Y: {Wi  gj_But  pk_FOF_:   KOr_n}
I: %%% DIM-%%% POT-%%%-SUB %%%-PRM
==================================
Y: {EoxeE!, Esk   a_:     C_r?}
I:  %%%     %%% IND-SUB CPL-RSLT
Y: {sQi But  pk_MOM DOl_:     W_x_f        C_Xrt_i,}
I:  %%% %%% POT-%%% %%%-SUB LOC-INCH-PST CPL-%%%-1PX
Y: {  E_NON_q     C_FOF_i   ggj.}
I:  COV-%%%-VOL CPL-%%%-1PX %%%
Y: {  d_:     A_LKp_f     C_FOF_i     E_SER,}
I:  3PX-SUB ACT-%%%-PST CPL-%%%-1PX COV-%%%
Y: {  E_woZ_q   dd.}
I:  COV-%%%-VOL 3PX
Y: {  C_FOF_i_:     EJ  Naz_f   d   ObL DOl EJ    A_TrN_f   dd
I:  CPL-%%%-1PX-SUB AND %%%-PST DEF %%% %%% AND ACT-%%%-PST 3PX
Y: { EJ xTB_f   dd,}
I:  AND %%%-PST 3PX
Y: {EK    P_spl_:    Gr_Nn_x     DokfON.}
I:  ADV PAS-%%%-SUB VIA-%%%-INCH %%%
Y: {ii  2_:     A_tQ_r?}
I:  1PX 2-SUB ACT-QUE-RSLT
Y: {  i_:     A_tQ_c?}
I:  1PX-SUB ACT-QUE-FUT
Y: {  i_:    YO_Msg aa  Kd,}
I:  1PX-SUB NEG-%%% IND DFS 
Y: {EK  hmb IRS_:    YO_Xp  Ask_q    gj_qYS,}
I:  ADV %%% %%%-SUB NEG-INC %%%-VOL DIM-%%%
Y: {EK    i_:    YO_fOR_x_r       aa.}
I:  ADV 1PX-SUB NEG-%%%-INCH-RSLT IND