Jya and English/Contrastive Grammar
Resources for contrastive grammar between Situ and English.
Contents
1. Articles
Jya marks definiteness/contrast with the <mod> clitic on nouns, which corresponds to the English definite article "the". Jya also has an indefinite marker -gi (<idf>) which corresponds to English "a/an". Nouns with no marking correspond to bare nouns in English.
2. Directional markers
Jya verbs carry directional markers such as <vdn> (downward) and <sup> (upstream). English verbs have no such markers and they should be dropped in translation.
3. Adjective-noun order
In Jya, adjectives follow the noun they modify (N-Adj order). In English, adjectives precede the noun (Adj-N order). For example, Jya "mbndəd magənndɽa" (demon terrible) corresponds to English "terrible demon".
4. Verb-final word order
Jya is verb-final (SOV). English is SVO. The verb needs to be moved before the object in translation.
5. Possessive pronouns
In Jya, personal pronouns are genitive-marked before possessed nouns, whereas in English, possessive determiners (such as "his," "her," and "its") are used before the noun. Since Jya does not distinguish between masculine and feminine the way English does, the output of the latter may require some contextual inference to determine what the actual gender may be.
Jya → English
jya-eng tests
1. Articles
(jya) mbnded<n><mod> → (eng) the demon<n> (jya) mbndəddə → (eng) the demon
(jya) rjarbo<n><mod> → (eng) the king<n> (jya) rjarbodə → (eng) the king
(jya) rjarbo<n><idf> → (eng) a king<n> (jya) rjarbogi → (eng) a king
2. Directional markers
(jya) ŋos<v><perf><vdn> → (eng) be<vaux><perf> (jya) naŋos → (eng) was
(jya) nergo<v><perf><sup> → (eng) put<v><perf> (jya) gənergo → (eng) put
3. Adjective-noun order
(jya) mbnded<n> magendra<adj> → (eng) terrible<adj> demon<n> (jya) mbndəd magənndɽa → (eng) terrible demon
(jya) rjarbo<n> magendra<adj> → (eng) terrible<adj> king<n> (jya) rjarbo magənndɽa → (eng) terrible king
4. Verb-final word order
(jya) rmu<n> nndza<v> → (eng) eat<v> person<n> (jya) rmu gənndza → (eng) eat person
(jya) rjarbo<n> ŋos<v> → (eng) be<vaux> king<n> (jya) rjarbo naŋos → (eng) was king
5. Possessive pronouns
(jya) wujo<prn><pers><p3><sg><gen>+anndriʼ<n><mod> → (eng) prpers<det><pos><p3><m><sg> friend<n><sg> (jya) wanndɽiʼdə → (eng) his friend
(jya) wujo<prn><pers><p3><sg><gen>+arjaʼb<n><mod> → (eng) prpers<det><pos><p3><m><sg> wife<n><sg> (jya) warjaʼbdə → (eng) his wife
