Biak and English/Contrastive grammar
From LING073
Contents
Grammatical Differences
article comes after the noun
- (bhw) ras anya → (eng) the day
- (bhw) ras<n> i<prn><pers><p3><sg><spc> → (eng) the<det><def><sp> day<n><sg>
- (bhw) rum nane → (eng) these houses
- (bhw) rum<n> na<prn><pers><p3><pl><inan><spc>+ne<det><dem> → (eng) the<det><def><sp> houses<n><pl>
verb tenses
indicating demonstrative from ending
- (bhw) mnu ine → (eng) this village
- (bhw) mnu<n> i<prn><pers><p3><sg><spc>+ne<det><dem> → (eng) this<det><dem><sg> village<n><sg>
- (bhw) rusa anine → (eng) this deer
- (bhw) rusa<n> i<prn><pers><p3><sg><spc>+ne<det><dem> → (eng) this<det><dem><sg> deer<n><sg>
locative
plural
- (bhw) rum nane → (eng) these houses
- (bhw) rum<n> na<prn><pers><p3><pl><inan><spc>+ne<det><dem> → (eng) this<det><dem><pl> houses<n><pl>
- (bhw) ina anskoine → (eng) these three girls
- (bhw) ina<n> anskoi<prn><pers><p3><pc><spc><giv>+ne<det><dem> → (eng) this<det><dem><pl> three<num><pl> girl<n><pl>
subject is implicit
- (bhw) imnai kwar → (eng) it stopped already
- (bhw) mnai<v><iv><p3><sg> kwar<adv> → (eng) it/prpers<prn><subj><p3><nt><sg> stopped<vblex><past> already<adv>