Basic Grammar

In Kaupelanese there is no definite article. The same word can be noun, adjective, adverb or verb depending on the position of the word in the phrase or, in certain cases, of the affixes added to it. The order of the words in the phrase is normally subject-verb-object.

Nouns

Nouns do not change with respect to gender and, normally to number. The so-called class words are frequently employed before the word to restrict its meaning. Examples:

wau nu "coconut" (literally, "coconut fruit") is formed with the class word wau ("fruit")

manu kibuma "cockatoo" (or, "crowned bird") uses the class word manu ("bird")

majang wana "tiger female" uses majang ("tiger") as class word

The plural of nouns can be obtained by the use of class words with collective meaning (haima "people" or kum "group", for instance), by the use of the archaic suffix –ra (tau "person", taura "persons") or by duplicating the noun (iha "fish", iha-iha "school of fishes").

Adjectives

Adjectives and other words used as qualifier always follow the qualified noun. The augmentative form is made with mais "more" preceding the adjective. The superlative is created with sahera "the most". Analytical constructions are used to express the mood of the adjective. Examples:

kar lama "old car"

uma watu "stone house"

basa fèranse "French language"

in mais nguwa ji u "he is stronger than me"

rata adau kelau sahera hi dara "that is the highest mountain in the world"

waili ina nidan kinu "drinkable water"

Adverbs

The most part of the adverbs is adjectives that become adverbs due to its location in the phrase. Adverbs are usually placed after the verb. For example:

hami ti uhain kelaim wiya "we do not eat good food" (wiya is adjective)

hami ti uhain wiya "we do not eat well" (wiya is adverb)

Numerals

Cardinal and ordinal numerals are normally placed after the noun. Cardinals can be placed before the nouns (typically for units like kg, km, etc.) using the suffix –hi or –i (after consonants) Some examples of numeral are given below:

Pronouns

Personal pronouns can be used either as subjective or objective pronouns. The only exception is the first person singular that has a different form for each case. The personal pronouns are also used as possessive. There are two pronouns for "we", hami, excluding the person(s) addressed, and wiri, including them. The personal pronouns are:

Reflexive Pronoun

The reflexive pronoun ana can be used with transitive verbs to indicate reflexive actions, with personal pronouns to indicate "myself, himself, ourselves, etc." or as possessive pronouns to indicate that the subject (3^rd person) is the possessor. Some examples:

au wami umedèsin ana "I medicated myself"

era dahuk imahakani hau ana ang? "have they identified yourself?"

Lowok iwasa in dinahun ai u "Lowok told me his (another person’s) secret"

Lowok iwasa ana dinahun ai u "Lowok told me his (own) secret"

Affixes

Wai- – Prefix used to transform intransitive verbs, adjectives, nouns and adverbs into "causative verbs". This prefix can also be added to some transitive verbs. Examples:

song "to enter" – waisong "to make enter, to place"

yunti "big" – wayunti "to make bigger, to enlarge"

waha "to suffer" (transitive) – waiwaha "to make suffer, to punish, to submit"

Ya- – Prefix used to transform cardinal into ordinal numerals and is also used to form adjectives.

telu "three" – yatelu "third"

sihai "end" – yasihai "last"

anti "to wait" – yahanti "pregnant"

Ki- – Prefix used to obtain the passive form of transitive verbs or to transform verbs into adjectives. The prefix wai- of causative verbs is omitted when the prefix ki- is applied unless the original verbs are transitive.

ingiya "to inhale" – kingiya "inhaled"

wayari "to drain" – kiyari "drained"

waiwasa "to talk" (from wasa "to say") – kiwaiwasa "talked" (and kiwasa "said")

A- – Prefix employed to give nouns or verbs the meaning of "agent". The prefix tau- (for person) or class words, like dèwais "device", can be used instead.

ayak "to open" – ahayak or dèwais ayak "opener"

kisa "spear, weapon" – akisa or taukisa "soldier"

wasi "iron" – awasi or tawasi "smith, blacksmith"

JI- – Prefix employed to transform nouns into adjectives with the meaning of "like, similar to".

maja "lie" – jimaja "incredible ("looks like a lie")

mas "gold" – jimas "golden"

ira "red" – jihira "reddish"

-E – Suffix used to transform verbs in nouns with the meaning of "state or condition". It transforms transitive or causative verbs into nouns indicating "action".

airi "to isolate" – ariye "isolation"

duhu "to stop" – duhute "stop"

banik "to order" – banihe "order"

wong "to connect" – wonge "connection"

waikalu "to simulate" – waikaluwe "simulation"

-Laim – Suffix used to create abstract nouns from adjectives, nouns and verbs in the passive form.

ura "young" – uralaim "youth"

tali "rope" – talaim "net"

madan "long" – madandaim "length"

Some ancient affixes – inactive in the modern language – like the prefix u- (from old Kaupelanese wok "to go") that gives the idea of movement and the infix -in- to make passive forms, can have their meaning depicted from some examples:

usahi "to attack" (from the ancient woksaqe "go over")

uja "to fail" (from wokjaat "wrong")

dinahu "secret" (from daqut "to hide")

inuri "native" (from uri "to be born")

rinim "proof, evident" (from rym "to taste, to test")

Possessive Case

Different of many other Austronesian languages, in Kaupelanese the possessive is formed following the rule "possessor-possession", the so-called inverted order. The possessor can be a noun or a possessive pronoun. The suffix -n is added to the possession unless it does not end with a vowel. In that case, the suffix is merely omitted. To be emphatic, the word ni is added after the possession. The direct order "possession-possessor" can be obtained using the word umana ("belonging to") between them. See the following examples:

au aman "my father"

Ismail kar (kar+n) or Ismail kar ni "Ismail’s car"

manik Kira uman yunti "prince Kira’s big house"

in ninan telwijun or in ninan telwijun ni "his/her mother’s television set"

telwijun umana in ninan "television of (belonging to) his/her mother"

Verb Conjugation

A peculiar feature of Kaupelanese is the verb conjugation using pronominal prefixes. The prefix u- or w- (before vowel) is used for the first person singular and exclusive plural; ho- or h- (before vowel) for the second person; i- or y- (before vowel) for the third; and ta- or t- (before vowel) for the first person inclusive plural. The passive voice is made with prefix ki- and the imperative with suffix -m (second person only). As an example, see the conjugation of verb huwai "to make":

au uhuwai "I make"

hau hohuwai "you make"

in ihuwai "he/she/it makes"

hami uhuwai "we (excl.) make"

wiri tahuwai "we (incl.) make"

haura hohuwai "you make"

era ihuwai "they make"

huwaim "make it"

humai huwaim "don’t make it"

The verb to be does not exist in Kaupelanese. So, for example:

adi kani "this (is) personal"

au hi in uman waba "I (have been) in her home yesterday"

Auxiliary particles are used to indicate verbal tense, mood and aspect. The order tense – mood – (conjugated) verb – aspect must be observed. The following particles are used for tense: kena for the future, dahuk ("already") for the past perfect and wami ("then") for the imperfect. These particles are used for mood: kidai for conditional, kina for permissive, amu for desiderative, nidan for potential, ngira for doubtful and bumuk for "necessity" mood. For aspect, the particles are: duhu for continuous action, sahi for increasing action, ayau for ceasing or evanescent action and leyai for repetitive action ("again"). Some examples:

kina hosong "please come in"

kina usong ang? "may we come in?"

hami kumu usong "we must come in"

in nidan itetem adi "he can work on this"

Akeri dahuk bumuk yukain ai Santui "Akeri has needed to go to Santoi"

era wami amu ita duhu adi "they would like to observe (keep looking at) this"

dam lau telu adau yamu paila "those three little boy want money"

pèlen ngira imitu ngi kuhul aur hitu "the plane should arrive at seven o’clock"

Passive Voice

The pronominal prefixes are added to the verb in the personal passive voice and the prefix ki- is used for the impersonal passive voice. The passive agent is preceded by ulai ("by").

hau hopana sauli ai u (active voice) "you gave me the drawing"

sauli hopana ai u (personal passive voice) "the drawing was given to me by you"

sauli kipana ulai hau ai u (impersonal passive voice) "the drawing was given to me by you"

Interrogative Phrases

In interrogative phrases where the interrogative pronouns, awa "what", i "who", ngiwa "when", wira "how much", sui "where", nguya "how" and du awa "why" are not used, the particle ang is used instead at the end of the phrase. The order subject-verb-object does not change. Examples:

hau hiyadau waba ang? "have you been there yesterday?"

wira indi hohuni? "how many dogs do you have?

Negative Phrases

There are several words that can be used to make negative phrases, for example:

waba in ti iwalani "yesterday he did not come home"

in nga nidan idular "he can not play anymore"

au mene aba tong sahui walu "I am not yet eighteen years old"

sèngurita makilu hiyadau "the girl have never been there"

hau bani hita ang? "did not you see anything?"

mayo wami hi uma "nobody was home"

humai puhum "do not smoke"

Time

Some ways of expressing time:

jahuk kena imitu ngi saudi rungi "the vehicle will arrive at midnight"

era kumu ihuwai adau ngirama wa rungi "they have to do that in half a day"

kuhul hihai ai ima hari "it’s a quarter to five p.m."

hau hiyadi ngisak aur telu hihai "be here after three quarter of hour"

hau hiyadi ngi kuhul telu na rungi huran "be here at a half past three a.m."

hul tahuni minut hayahul na sekon imahul "we still have 40 minutes and 50 seconds"

Origin

The words denoting nation, language and nationality come frequently from foreign languages and in the most part are derived from nouns (France, Italy, America, Europe). Some of them, however, are derived from adjectives (Greek, English). Usually they are all preceded by class words, as follow:

basa gèrik, fèranse, jermani, indya "Greek, French, German, India language"

haima arabi, sina, amerka, rusya "Arabic, Chinese, American, Russian people"

tau indonesya, sèpen, jèpan, yurope "Indonesian, Spanish, Japanese, European person"

tana norwai, suwiden, sèwis, austèralya "Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia"

Specific Vocabulary

Another peculiar feature of Kaupelanese is the rich vocabulary to describe, for example, the weather, the color of skin or the rain. So, the weather can be described as langi yaing "blue sky", langi ngali "sky with white clouds", langi kiyalu "foggy weather", langi kipu "grey sky", langi ngaidau "sky with dark clouds". The color of skin can vary from danga mai "(European) white skin", danga hauli "(Malay) tanned skin", danga bibi "(Bandanese) light brown skin", danga mal "brown skin", danga dana "(aborigine) dark brown skin" and danga sau "(Papuan) dark skin". For the types of rain, aji mung "moisture", aji wagin "drizzle", aji aji "rain shower" and belala "thunderstorm" can be used.