Kēlen conjunctions are often coordinating conjunctions, though semi-coordinating and non-coordinating conjunctions are also possible. In coordinating conjunctions, a conjunction occurs before each item being conjoined.
Coordinating Conjunctions
| ē | P | ē | Q | 'P and Q' | ē | P | ī | Q | 'P and (also) Q' |
| ē | P | aþ | Q | 'P and then Q' | ē | P | āe | Q | 'P or Q' |
| ē | P | hi | Q | 'P if Q' | ē | P | ew | Q | 'P (but) not Q' |
| āe | P | āe | Q | 'either P or Q' (exclusive or) | ew | P | ew | Q | 'neither P nor Q' |
| hi | P | hi | Q | 'if P then Q' | il | P | il | Q | 'when P then Q' |
These work like so.
AND:
serle ē jatakīwi ē jānnūīki cī; SE+2sg.SRC;1sg.BEN CONJ N.pl(paper) CONJ N.pl(pens) CI "Bring me paper and pens."
serle ē jatakīwi ī jānnūīki cī; SE+2sg.SRC;1sg.BEN CONJ N.pl(paper) CONJ N.pl(pens) CI "Bring me paper and (also) pens."
serle ē jatakīwi aþ jānnūīki aþ anxēīki cī; SE+2sg.SRC;1sg.BEN CONJ N.pl(paper) CONJ N.pl(pens) CONJ N.co(ink) CI "Bring me paper and (then) pens and (then) ink."
serle ē jatakīwi aþ jānnūīki ē anxēīki cī; SE+2sg.SRC;1sg.BEN CONJ N.pl(paper) CONJ N.pl(pens) CONJ N.co(ink) CI "Bring me paper and (then) pens and ink."
ē ... ē is used when the items conjoined are syntactically equivalent. A more classic example of the difference between ē ... ē and ē ... ī follows:
ē anxēti ē antōsi CONJ N.co(iron) CONJ N.co(lead) "iron and lead"
ē anxēti ī antōsi CONJ N.co(iron) CONJ N.co(lead) "iron and (also) lead"
ē anxēti ē antōsi ankehāri CONJ N.co(iron) CONJ N.co(lead) N.co(molten) "molten (iron and lead)"
ē anxēti ī antōsi ankehāri CONJ N.co(iron) CONJ N.co(lead) N.co(molten) "iron and molten lead"
OR:
rēha ñi sāim rā ē jatāsa āe jakērroþa āe jamāra; FUT NI PN(3pc) PREP CONJ N.sg(market) CONJ N.sg(temple) CONJ N.sg(home) "They will go to the market or the temple or home."
rēha ñi sāim rā āe jatāsa āe jakērroþa; FUT NI PN(3pc) PREP CONJ N.sg(market) CONJ N.sg(temple) "They will go to either the market or the temple."
rēha ñi sāim rā ew jatāsa ew jakērroþa; FUT NI PN(3pc) PREP CONJ N.sg(market) CONJ N.sg(temple) "They will go to neither the market nor the temple."
NOT:
rēha ñi sāim rā ē jatāsa ew jakērroþa; FUT NI PN(3pc) PREP CONJ N.sg(market) CONJ N.sg(temple) "They will go to the market and not the temple."
IF:
ē hēja sere jacēla hi sere jakīñen cī; CONJ OPT SE+2sg.BEN N.sg(bowl) CONJ SE+2sg.BEN N.sg(want-to) CI "You should get the bowl if you want to."
hi pa jacēla anūña hi hēja sere cī; CONJ PA N.sg(bowl) N.st(blue) CONJ OPT SE+2sg.BEN CI "If the bowl is blue, CONJ(then) you should get it."
Sometimes, a lead ī will substitute for a lead ē, without any real change in meaning. In informal speech, the lead ē might be omitted altogether. In formal speech and in writing, the lead ē is always expressed.
WHEN:
il ñi liēn rātāsa il ñi rākēra; CONJ NI PN(1sg) LOC(to+market) CONJ NI LOC(to+temple) "When I go to the market then I go to the temple." or "When I go to the market, I go to the temple." or "I go to the market when I go to the temple."
il is often used as part of a semi-coordinating conjunction.
Semi-Coordinating Conjunctions
Semi-coordinating conjunctions are those where one of the conjunctions echoes but does not repeat the other. Examples are below.
Semi-Coordinating il Conjunctions
There are a multitude of il conjunctions, primarily due to the allowed pattern of:
- il NP (il) Clause (il Clause)
So any NP that expresses time can be used with an il conjunction, generally with a corresponding lone il heading the other clause. The il plus NP construction only needs a following il when the NP is more than one word long or when discarding it might cause confusion.
il ñi liēn rākēra il jaxāela; CONJ NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+temple) CONJ N.sg(night) "I go to the temple at night."
il jaxāela ñi liēn rākēra; CONJ N.sg(night) NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+temple) "I go to the temple at night."
il jaxāela il ñi liēn rākēra; CONJ N.sg(night) CONJ NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+temple) "I go to the temple at night."
Some set phrases:
| il aþ | "and then" |
| il anniþen | "before" |
| il antielen | "after" |
| il jaliþa | "today" |
| il talōnte | "yesterday" |
| il lānnal | "tomorrow" |
and some set one-word substitutions for il:
| ilnahan | "sometime" |
| ilnaren | "always" |
| ilnāja | "many times", "most of the time" |
| ilniþa | "once" |
| ilwae | "never" |
| illorren | "finally, at last" |
| illaniþ | "at first" |
| iēlte | "long ago" |
| āl | "now" |
| anniþen | "soon" |
| ilaþ | "and then" |
il jaliþa ñi liēn rātāsa; CONJ MOD(today) NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+market) "Today, I am going to the market."
il talōnte ñi liēn rātāsa; CONJ MOD(yesterday) NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+market) "Yesterday, I went to the market."
il lānnal ñi liēn rātāsa; CONJ MOD(tomorrow) NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+market) "Tomorrow, I am going to the market."
il lānnal wījte il ñi liēn rātāsa; CONJ MOD(tomorrow) MOD(three) CONJ NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+market) "Three days from now, I will to the market."
il lānnal ilnahan ñi liēn rātāsa; CONJ MOD(tomorrow) MOD(sometime) NI PN(1sg) N.loc(to+market) "Sometime tomorrow, I will to the market."
il jalōna tē il ñi sāen marāona sū jasāma; CONJ N.sg(day) MOD(six) CONJ NI PN(3sg) N.an.sg(wandering) PREP N.sg(desert) "For six days, he wandered in the desert."
il talōnte tē il ñi sāen marāona sū jasāma; CONJ MOD(yesterday) MOD(six) CONJ NI PN(3sg) N.an.sg(wandering) PREP N.sg(desert) "Six days ago, he was wandering in the desert."
Semi-Coordinating tō Conjunctions
There are two semi-coordinating tō conjuntions:
- tō ... tō jāo 'Because of x, so y'
- tō ... tō tūaþ 'x in order that y'
These are considered to be formal and somewhat old-fashioned, and most often tō conjuntions are used as non-coordinating conjunctions.
tō tema jajīlŋūn tō jāo tema anhāŋŋañi; CONJ SE.past+3sg.BEN N.sg(hunger) CONJ SE.past+3sg.BEN N.co(soup) "(Because) he was hungry, so he had soup."
tō ñaxxa anrēxi rā anhāŋŋañi mē tō tūaþ ñaxxa jahūña jatāelle; CONJ NI+3pl.A N.co(piss) PREP N.co(soup) MOD(in) CONJ NI+3pl.A N.sg(taste) N.sg(new) "They piss into the soup in order that they make a new taste."
Non-Coordinating Conjunctions
Non-Coordinating tō Conjunctions
There are four non-coordinating tō conjunctions:
- tō 'x because y'
- tō jāo 'x because of this y' or 'x so y'
- tō tūaþ 'x in order that y'
- tōnaren 'x, however y' or 'x, but y'
tema anhāŋŋañi tō tema jajīlŋūn; SE.past+3sg.BEN N.co(soup) CONJ SE.past+3sg.BEN N.sg(hunger) "He had soup because he was hungry."
tema jajīlŋūn tō jāo tema anhāŋŋañi; SE.past+3sg.BEN N.sg(hunger) CONJ SE.past+3sg.BEN N.co(soup) "He was hungry, so he had soup."
ñaxxa anrēxi rā anhāŋŋañi mē tō tūaþ ñaxxa jahūña jatāelle; NI+3pl.A N.co(piss) PREP N.co(soup) MOD(in) CONJ NI+3pl.A N.sg(taste) N.sg(new) "They piss into the soup in order that they make a new taste."
ñe Conjunctions
There are four ñe conjunctions, generally used for comparison.
- ñe is used for equivalent items
- nā ñe is used to express more of something than another
- pē ñe is used to express less of something than another
- jē sōta ñe is used to express substitution, i.e. "in place of", "instead of"
Superlatives can be expressed by comparing something with a set or with the pronouns janaren "everything" or manaren "everyone".
la sahēññe jāste ñe anīstīli; LA N.3p(hair) N.sg(dark) CONJ N.co(night sky) "His hair was as dark as night."
te jalū jalō nā ñe malō; LA.past N.sg(light) N.sg(bright) CONJ N.an.sg(sun) "The light was brighter than the sun."
la anūña jarāka jaxōλa nā ñe anēkke; LA N.st(blue) N.sg(color) N.sg(beautiful) CONJ N.st(brown) "Blue is a prettier color than brown."
la anēkke jarāka jaxōλa pē ñe anūña; LA N.st(brown) N.sg(color) N.sg(beautiful) CONJ N.st(blue) "Brown is a less pretty color than blue."
la antīel jarāka jaxōλa nā ñe janaren; LA N.st(purple) N.sg(color) N.sg(beautiful) CONJ PN(all) "Purple is the prettiest color of all."
te sarōña pa ansōnen nā ñe sasōna; LA.past N.3p(eyes) PA N.st(wisdom) CONJ N.3p(mind) "His eyes had more wisdom than his mind."
tema jamīra mo samālle ñe hīja ñi sāen matāra anniþen; SE.past+3sg.BEN N.sg(fear) BEN N.3p(heart) CONJ POSS NI PN(3sg) N.an(fallen) MOD(soon) "He felt fear as if he soon might fall."
Other Non-Coordinating Conjunctions
- ewaþ 'x yet y'
- il aþ 'x yet y'
temme jatasēña ke macēna ewaþ ñi sāen rā anhāri; SE.past+3sg.SRC;3sg.BEN N.sg(warning) SRC N.an(woman) CONJ NI PN(3sg) PREP N.co(water) "The woman signed him warning, yet he went to the water."
il aþ ñi marāona nīkamma jalūra jacālle rājanō; CONJ NI N.an(wanderer) PREP.3p N.sg(cloak) N.sg(warm) N.loc(along) "Then along came a wanderer with a warm cloak."
Last modified: June 07, 2019