Advanced Topics
Postpositions
Neelan uses postpositions that follow nouns, connected by a colon (:):
út*
to
uw*
of / about / from
ód*
on
únd*
under
hek
in
hem
with
Dylol bey-Utim:ut*
"I am going to the house."
Volkol yuqp-Pent:ev*
"You are walking through the tree."
Special cases: Postpositions become prepositions with pronouns and proper nouns:
uw* John
by John
od* bey
on me
Negation
Two main forms of negation:
- xawm - negates entire sentences
- xa- - prefix to negate individual words
Xawm dylol bey
"I am not going."
Bacp xntoq xawatsomco
"He is not-big (small)."
Emphasis with tra-
Use the prefix tra- to emphasize any word:
Mífél trayuqp-lxnt
"YOU did it."
Mífél traJohn-lxnt
"It was JOHN who did it."
The Affix Hierarchy
Four levels of magnitude/importance:
ín
smallest level
tten
small level
ón
medium level
ún
largest level
Inpéd → Ttenpéd → Onpéd → Unpéd
small community → village → town → city
Conjunctions
Key conjunctions for complex sentences:
yomh
and
cen
or
blé
if
ttig
but
súsádám
before
súsídám
after
súsẽlm
while
Xawm jak' bey, dylil bey-sudam
"I don't know when I will go."
Articles
Neelan article system:
- No definite article - "the" is not expressed
- can - indefinite article "a/an" (used only when necessary)
Vyl bey-Eyks
"I have a/the cat."
Vyl bey-can Eyks
"I have a cat." (indefinite emphasized)