Why did you give the man money in the city yesterday?

[Imralu]

Just want to have a look at constituent order in sentences with lots of things in them.

VERB
SUBJECT
DIRECT OBJECT
INDIRECT OBJECT
LOCATION
TIME
WH-WORD

English:

Why did you want to give the man money in the city yesterday?

German:

Warum wolltest du dem Mann gestern in der Stadt Geld geben?
why wanted.2s 2s.NOM the.MASC.DAT man yesterday in the.FEM.DAT city money give.INF

German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache - DGS)

GESTERN STADT [DETLOK]A [PRONPERS]2 MANN3 GELDþ 2[GEBCL:þ]3 WÜNSCH WARUM
GESTERN STADT [DETLOK]A [PRONPERS]2 MANN3 GELDþ 2[GEBCL:þ]3 WÜNSCH WARUM
YESTERDAY CITY THEREA YOU MAN3 MONEYþ YOU[GIVECL:þ]HIM WISH WHY

[masako]

Kala:
nye yomaye ta ke tlaka yena yeta ka
Why did you give the man money in the city yesterday?

[Lao Kou]

Géarthnuns

Öçek lé sa jaflensat chö dhaubsök che hereçkedalthsev cha shtülansav chelöi ba gamez höhüraf?
2SG-NOM AUX.PAST INDEF money-ACC DEF man-DAT DEF yesterday-LOC DEF city-LOC why PTCL give want-INTERR
Why did you want to give the man money in the city yesterday?

In theory, that's the pragmatically unmarked version. Still, it feels a little "post-auxiliary heavy" for such a conversationally simple utterance (albeit with lots of bits) -- one of the elements would probably kicked up front just to break it up a little (yesterday? city? -- in English, I find myself put a little intonational umph on "why" and "city" in the "neutral" sentence, so maybe "city" in Géarthnuns without warping the pragmatics too much, though any noun or adverb element is technically available).

[Imralu]

Kala:
nye yomaye ta ke tlaka yena yeta ka
Why did you give the man money in the city yesterday?

Gloss? The Kala dictionary I had bookmarked is gone. Here are my attempts from what I remember.

Code: Select all

nye     yoma-ye  ta ke  tlaka yena  yeta ka
reason  day -PST 2s TOP man   money give Q
reason  day -PST 2s TOP man   city  pay  Q

[masako]

Kala:
nye yomaye ta ke tlaka yena yeta ka
Why did you give the man money in the city yesterday?

Gloss? The Kala dictionary I had bookmarked is gone. Here are my attempts from what I remember.

Code: Select all

nye     yoma-ye  ta ke  tlaka yena  yeta ka
reason  day -PST 2s TOP man   money give Q

Your first gloss is spot on. Here is the most up-to-date dictionary.

[Canis]

Why did you give the man money in the city yesterday?

Шах· љу аљін-ік арт аіда монєѯі sар кє сін цєує?
[ʃɑːʢ li˞ ä.ˈʎ͡ʑin‿ik ärt ʔäĭˈdä mɔˈnɛx͡si sär kɛ h̪͆in ˈt͡sɛ.ŭ.ɛ]
INT 2sg give PST yesterday coin to 3sg.m from city

[cntrational]

Qarian:

An exolang. The actual language is too hard to depict easily here, being entirely visual, but we can understand everything via a gloss.

MOTIVE:{query to listener} CITY:[to be located in] YESTERDAY:[to be located temporally] YOU:[to desire] PERSON:[to be given to] MONEY:[to be a given thing]
Why did you want to give the man money in the city yesterday?

[Lambuzhao]

Sadraas:

Vürünj uantad Ðe dåc gifðen yë Gælttuo yë Uöre ë yë Bye yœstagen ?
why want<PST> 2SG.NOM CNJ give<SBJV> DEF.N.OBJ.SG money PRP DEF-N.OBJ man-OBJ.SG PRP DEF-N.OBJ city ADV

You could also say this sentence with fewer neuters, if you so chose:


Vürünj uantad Ðe dåc gifðen ye Gælt tuo dene Manne ë þë Tåne yœstagen?
INTERR.ADV want<PST> 2SG.NOM CNJ give<SBJV> DEF.N.OBJ.SG money PRP DEF-M.OBJ man-OBJ.SG PRP DEF-F.OBJ city ADV

[Imralu]

Your first gloss is spot on.

Cool. So, that's basically the default word order of the sentence in DGS ... I only included "why" at the end of my DGS translation above but it can go at the beginning, the end or frequently the beginning and the end ... so it's not quite the same as splitting it into "reason ... question" but it's still a surprising match.

You left out "in the city" though. Where does locative information tend to be placed in a sentence?

Here is the most up-to-date dictionary.

nyasaha

[Imralu]

Qarian:

An exolang. The actual language is too hard to depict easily here, being entirely visual, but we can understand everything via a gloss.

MOTIVE:{query to listener} CITY:[to be located in] YESTERDAY:[to be located temporally] YOU:[to desire] PERSON:[to be given to] MONEY:[to be a given thing]
Why did you want to give the man money in the city yesterday?

Cool. What's the mode? A sign language with appendage movements, colour changing like cuttlefish, scribbling in sand ... ?

[masako]

You left out "in the city" though. Where does locative information tend to be placed in a sentence?

Here is the most up-to-date dictionary.

nyasaha

Yeah, I did. It was late...tired and all that. Here is what you deserve:

nye yomaye kamahue ta ke tlaka yena yeta ka
reason day-PST city-LOC 2sg O man money give Q
Why did you give the man money in the city yesterday?

[Imralu]

nye yomaye kamahue ta ke tlaka yena yeta ka
reason day-PST city-LOC 2sg O man money give Q
Why did you give the man money in the city yesterday?

Exactly like DGS! I've just thought of another TC to do.

Here is what you deserve:

Haha, I don't know why, but that sentence seems a step away from "TAKE IT, BITCH!"

[Lao Kou]

I don't know why, but that sentence seems a step away from "TAKE IT, BITCH!"

I've just thought of another TC to do.

♫ ♪An-ti-ci-pa-tion ♪♫

[Iyionaku]

Why did you want to give the man money in the city yesterday?

Yélian

Miyde yiʻivadasei ero pès broya siy parcas pun aoda?

Yélian is normally pro-drop, so the sentence above is the most propable. Also possible:

Miyde sa yiʻivadasei ero pès broya siy parcas pun aoda?
Miyde sa yi-iva-das-ei ero pès broya siy parcas pun aoda
Why (2SG) PST-VOL-give-2SG money towards man before sun in town
Why did you want to give money to the man in the city yesterday?

[Tuslaven Kukristo]

(Teeverb Kuluxem)
Nio shupadiama, pubvansh ubofero tumona alt shuhon infa' pecha' nio shucitania blango?

In the yesterday, you wanted to give money to the man who was in the city why?

[Squall]

dovi kwa kaze tu voloy danaw oyn bufunfa ax ley onmi in ley tsida en koti pref?
because INT reason 2SG want-PST give-INF INDEF money LAT DEF man LOC DEF city TIME day previous?

There are many posible orders, use the order that you wish:
tu voloy danaw oyn bufunfa ax ley onmi in ley tsida en koti pref dovi kwa kaze?

in ley tsida en koti pref dovi kwa kaze tu voloy danaw oyn bufunfa ax ley onmi?

dovi kwa kaze in ley tsida en koti pref tu voloy danaw oyn bufunfa ax ley onmi?

dovi kwa kaze tu voloy danaw ax ley onmi oyn bufunfa en koti pref in ley tsida?

dovi kwa kaze oyn bufunfa ax ley onmi tu voloy danaw in ley tsida en koti pref?

dovi kwa kaze ax ley onmi danaw oyn bufunfa tu voloy in ley tsida en koti pref?

[kanejam]

Savvinic

Pjeiṡan (teun) runattai ajar arrait ṡai nérai ndrai cittai?
['pjɛɪzə̃n tɛ̃ʊ̃n ˈruːnətːəj͜ ˈaːjər ˈarːəɪt zəɪ ˈneːrəɪ ndrəɪ ˈtʃitːəɪ]
Pjeiṡan (teun) runa-tt-ai ajar arrait-∅ ṡai nér-ai ndr=ai citt-ai?
why 2SG.NOM give-PST-2SG yesterday silver-NOM.SG DEF.DAT.SG man-DAT.SG in=DEF.DAT.SG city-DAT.SG

And alternate word order using pronouns:
Pjeiṡan ju ṡṡi rrunattai ajar ndrai cittai?
[ˈpjɛɪzə̃n jʊ zzɪ ˈrːuːnətːəj͜ ˈaːjər ndrəɪ ˈtʃitːəɪ]
Why did you give it to him yesterday in the city?

[Chagen]

Pazmat:

Jma ṣundnāva uzwar qiḥayīm źothrīya ātovyot?
why city-DEF.SG-LOC yesterday man-DEF.SG-DAT money-DEF.PL-ACC give-PERF-2S

źothīrī "money" is a plurale tantum. It has no definite singular and no indefinite at all.

[clawgrip]

Japanese:

昨日なんでお前が街で男の人にお金を上げたんだよ。
Kinō nande omae ga machi de otoko no hito ni okane o ageta n da yo.
yesterday why 2.DEROG town LOC man DAT money ACC give-PST N COP EMPH

The only way I could include a second-person subject was by making it angry and inflammatory.

[clawgrip]

Himmaswa:


Bochaot duool deuuk dbuoon flet ia twarng koh lognom ayt?
yesterday 2 give money arrive man be.at city why Q