Conjunctions HOME   DICTIONARY

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 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:

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 Conjunctions

There are two semi-coordinating conjuntions:

These are considered to be formal and somewhat old-fashioned, and most often 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 Conjunctions

There are four non-coordinating conjunctions:

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.

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

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