Nominal symbols and relational symbols
Verbal expressions are typically composed of nominal symbols and relational symbols. A nominal symbol is used for naming what has come to exist in our mind such as a person, an animal, a tool or a technical term. Verbal symbols of the other type are relational because it is their job to get involved with other symbols for building such larger symbols as derived words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. In the following Hoyloy sentence and its English counterpart:
1) [Mike dtaK_\tza=(+),i" tswa_/ i-e_/qau" Julius qya~-(_)/q(/w)e"/q(/w)e-lO-]
every morning lead his dog walk across street
'Mike walks his dog Julius across the street every morning',
for instance, all symbols other than the words 'Mike', 'dog' [qau"], 'Julius', 'street'
[q(/w)e-lO-] and 'morning' [tza=(+),i"] are relational.
It takes some portion of our cognitive experience called grammar to break down a sound track within a period of time for component symbols to be organized into an intended unit of meaning in speech. Connecting one symbol with another therefore is not only sequential in time but also grammatically structural to experienced ears. The tonal bondage as conventionalized in Hoyloy takes action on the occasion, with rare but reasonable exceptions, when a relational symbol connects with another symbol.
What is tonal bondage?
By tonal bondage as conventionalized in Hoyloy we mean the effect of the rolling-off format or a linking tone in displaying the combination of one morpheme or word with another one as its relational target grammatically. Generally speaking only relational symbols can initiate a tonal bondage. But sometimes we also see nominal symbols made relational as demonstrated by the effect of tonal bondage*.
* The sequence of [tza-bO"] 'woman/women' and [hun=(-)] 'cigarette(s)', for example, through inflection of the tone of the last syllable in the first word to its correspondent linking tone, turns into a phrase [tza-bo=(+)/hun=(-)] 'women's cigarette(s)', which can be paraphrased as [tza-bO".e_(-)\hun=(-)] 'cigarettes for women', where the morpheme [e\+] is a modifier marker -- a relational symbol. In another example, the phrase [dta-bpO-/tza-bO"] 'man/men and woman/women' contians no relational symbol but the linking tone between the two words [dta-pbO=(-)] 'man/men' and [tza-bO"] 'woman/women', whereas in the phrase of similar meaning [dta-bpO=(-) ham_\tza-bO"] 'man/men together with woman/women' the relational symbol of [ham\+] 'together with' is made use of.
The rolling-off format is one of the devices for word formation in Hoyloy. The following words are examples to show how it functions in word formation: [qwa~+|laNg'] 'wintertime' (lit.causing people to feel cold), [au-|Rit'] 'day after tomorrow' cf. [au_Rit=(+/-)] for 'someday' and [we-|lyau'lyau'] lit. plenty of words; i,e, '(you are) a chatterbox/(you have) talked too much'.
Besides its function in word formation, the rolling-off format is quite often found in use for the clause-final markedness as described in final particles and enclitic tones.
In our transcription, a construction of the rolling-off format is indicated with a vertical bar separating the leading element -- a heavy syllable in basic tone -- and the following element or elements in enclitic tone.
A linking tone may be either a reversible one or an irreversible one. The basic tone of the last syllable in a word such as [lau=(+)sit=(+/-)] 'honest', for instance, has to be inflected to its correspondent linking tone when this adjective is used for modification of a noun such as in [lau=(+)sit_/laNg+] 'honest man'. (For details on the paradigm of tonal inflection, please refer to the system of nominal tones.) But the basic tone remains intact when this adjective is used as a complement such as in [li" bo_/lau=(+)sit=(+/-)] 'you are not honest'. The linking tone adopted in this way as we can see is reversible. On the other hand, some morphemes, such as the conjunction [ham\+] 'and' in [Mike ham-(_)\ i-e-(_)/qau"] 'Mike and his dog' for example, can never stand by themselves unless they are cited as separate entries with artificial basic tones assigned to them. The linking tone borne by such a morpheme is irrevocable since it never appears in basic tone in real speech. We may call such a morpheme a clitic when this pronunciation feature is concerned.
In our transcription, a linking tone is indicated by a slash, a backslash (for the irreversible only), or a no-space, as exemplified previously. Note that a space placed next to a slash or backslash indicates that the target of the tonal bondage is deferred. In sentence (1), for example, the linking tone borne by the monosyllabic word [tswa-] (to lead) does'nt get it connected syntactically with its target [qau"] (dog) without going through the modifier [i-e+] (his). Though ambiguity seems unlikely if the space is not inserted in this simple example, it is done here to illustrate what a deferred bondage is.
Before finishing our discussion, let us turn our look to the so-called dot joint. Besides the occasion with an interminative verb, a dot is typically used for indication of the joint of a morpheme or word with another one in absence of tonal bondage for building into a constituent as illustrated in the following sentence.
2) [LA dtwa_/dt(/w)e-.dtaNg- e-(_)\sin-bun+ tza-am'.e-(_)\dten_si- u_/hONg"saNg']
big earthquake (m)* news lastnight's TV have broadcast
'news about the big earthquake in LA was broadcast on TV last night'
* modifier marker.
More details may be found on the dot joint as well as other auxilliary transcriptive symbols in the Web page of practical symbols.
-- For audio play of sentences 1) and 2) please click here.
-- Options for pronunciation guidance:syllabic tone patterns | vowels | consonants | practical symbols
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