Editing Kot Wawa (section)

== Rule #17 – Connectives ==

sentence Cn; sentence Cn sentence

You can describe or connect entire sentences with ''connectives''.

Connectives are a form of content word. They have a mid tone and no verb-voicing on the first sound. Connectives have the same meanings as their verb forms except they apply those meanings to sentences instead of nouns.


{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | òs.
| | “I want it to do it.”, “Can you please make it do it?”
|| < tok ''o.'' imperative construction. polite by default.
|-
|  | dàs.
|  | “It’s the only one.”, “It’s here despite it.”
|  | < tok ''taso''.
|-
|  | à.
|  | “It’s amazing.”, “It’s special.”, “I just want to mention it.”
|  | < tok ''a''. general emotion marker, can be tagged onto words to highlight them or colour them through the way you say it.
|-
|  | là-ní.
|  | “In the context of it, this is here.”, “In the context of it, this is true.”
|  | The concept of context here is very broad, and roughly equivalent to the effect that a sentence has on the one that follows it.
|-
|  | lòn-ní.
|  | “It’s here.”, “It’s now.”, “It’s at this thing.”
|  | 
|-
|  | nɔ̀.
|  | “It’s that thing.”, “That is happening.”
|  | < vi ''nó ''“that”, apparently descended from the same word pair as ''ni''.
|-
|  | sína os bàna-télo dàu-mí.
|  | “Can you please give me some water?”
|  | 
|-
|  | os bàna gàm.
|  | “Can you please bring it?”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li jò e kíl dàs.
|  | “I only have fruit.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dàu dàs.
|  | “I’m just going.”, “All I’m doing is going/walking/moving.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dàu dàs sówel.
|  | “I’m going despite the beast.”
|  | 
|-
|  | dùsnom.
|  | “It’s scared (of it).”
|  | < ◁''mònsut''
|-
|  | mí li dùsnom.
|  | “I’m scared.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dàu dàs-án dùsnom.
|  | “I’m going despite my fear.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dùsnom zàt-án dàu.
|  | “I’m scared but I’m going.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dùsnom sat mí li dàu.
|  | “I’m scared but I’m going.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dàu. mí li bìli bòn.
|  | “I’m going. I feel good.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dàu là-án bìli bòn.
|  | “I’m going and in that, I feel good.”
|  | 
|-
|  | mí li dàu la mí li bìli bòn.
|  | “If I go I feel good.”, “If I go, I’ll be happy.”
|  | 
|-
|  | ní li bòn à.
|  | “This is great.”
|  | 
|-
|  | ní li bòn a!
|  | “This is great!”
|  | 
|-
|  | mà.
|  | “It’s a place.”, “There’s land.”, “It’s the land of it.”
|  | < tok ''ma''
|-
|  | má nì li nòl-án wàt-wás.
|  | “This place has birds going.”, “This place has birds going to it.”, “There are birds flying here.”
|  | 
|-
|  | má nì nol wás li dàu.
|  | “This place has birds going.”, “There are birds flying here.”
|  | 
|-
|  | ján o!
|  | “Hey you, person there!”
|  | < tok ''o''. Used to let someone know you’re talking to them.
|}


=== About “la” ===

When a connective joins two sentences together, the first sentence is not necessarily asserted as true. With the connective “la”, this can be used to couch a second sentence within a context set by the first without having to claim that that first sentence is true. This can be used to create “if-then” statements.


{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | zèu.
| | “It’s above it.”, “It’s high up.”, “It’s divine.”
|| 
|-
|  | séu li bàna-télo la mí li wèn lòn-ní.
|  | “If the above gives water, I’ll stay here.”, “If it rains then I’ll stay here.”
|  | 
|-
|  | kóm li bòn la sówel li mòk.
|  | “If the food is good, the beast will eat.”
|  | 
|}


“la” is the general purpose connective for combining two sentences. Sometimes, it’s possible to use a more specific one.


{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | án bàl li bàna-án zòn.
| | “Work brings knowledge.”
|| 
|-
|  | bàl la zòn.
|  | “If one works, one will know.”
|  | 
|-
|  | bàl pana zòn.
|  | “If one works, this will give knowledge.”, “Work brings knowledge.”
|  | 
|-
|  | zùn.
|  | “It shines.”, “It’s the sun.”
|  | < tok ''suno'', ult. < en ''sun''
|-
|  | séu li zùn lòn-má.
|  | “On the land, the sky is bright.”, “On the land, it’s sunny.”
|  | 
|-
|  | má la séu li zùn.
|  | “On the land, it’s sunny.”
|  | 
|-
|  | má nol séu li zùn.
|  | “On the land, it’s sunny.”
|  | 
|}


Any verb can be turned into a connective and used as one. However, most of Kot Wawa’s features for refining meaning are based around verbs, so if you have trouble being clear using a connective, you might want to use it as a verb instead.

=== Hypotheticals with “an” ===

If you want to be clear that you’re stating a sentence as a hypothetical, you can prefix it with the connective “an”.


{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | an mí li dàu.
| | “Suppose I went.”
|| 
|-
|  | an mí li dàu la mí li bìli bòn.
|  | “If I went, I’d feel good.”
|  | 
|}


=== The boundary between question-option words and connectives ===

Question-option words and connectives have the same form as each other, so telling which form a word is being used as depends on how it’s being used.

If it follows a negative version of itself or the word “unu”, it’s a question-option. Otherwise, it is to be seen as a connective.

If happen to find a case where it would make more sense to deviate from this rule, you can try it, but you must make sure you are clear enough for what needs to be said.