HC56: Language as a Window to the Mind

Welcome to the Kampotak Page!

This page will be updated as more information about Kampotak is discovered.
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This page is maintained by Sameer ud Dowla Khan. Last updated 4 March 2006.

Syntax

Kampotak [kãmboda] is a strictly head-initial language. All heads precede their complements.
Here are two image files of a basic tree a for head-initial language like Kampotak. With X' Without X'

After the subject of the sentence, the verb will precede its complement (the direct object), giving us SVO word order.
Here are two image files of a typical SVO sentence in Kampotak. With X' Without X'

Word order can change due to processes such as wh-movement, where wh-words are raised to the specifier of the CP.
Here is an image file of a Kampotak sentence with wh-words before movement.
Here is an image file of the same sentence after the question particle addition and wh-movement have taken place.

The Verb Phrase (VP)

VP --> V'
V' --> V (NP) (PP) (CP)

The VP has only one daughter, the V'.

The V' has two daughers. One is the head V, which is basically the verb (minus the tense morpheme, which is the head of I). The other daughter is the complement of that V, if there is one. This complement can be a direct object (NP), a prepositional phrase (PP), or an embedded sentence (CP). Adjectival predicates (adjectives that in English would require the verb 'to be') act as if they were verbs on their own. See the morphology page for more information,

The Noun Phrase (NP)

NP --> (NP) N'
N' --> N (AP) (PP) (CP)

The NP only has at least one daughter, the N'. If the head noun is possessed by another noun, then the possessor noun branches off as the specifier of the possessed NP.

The N' has at least one daughter, one of which is the head N (the noun, pronoun, or name), while the others are descriptions of that noun. They are all optional. They include any adjectival, prepositional, or sentential complements that describe it.

The Prepositional Phrase (PP)

PP --> P'
P' --> P NP

The PP only has one daughter, the P'.

The P' has two daughters, one of which is the head P (the preposition itself) and the other being the preposition's noun phrase complement.

The Inflectional Phrase (IP)

IP --> NP IP
I' --> I VP

The IP has two daughters: one is the specifier of IP (the NP subject of the sentence), and the other is the I'.

The I' has two daughters: the head I (which hosts only the tense morpheme) and the VP complement (the rest of the verb phrase).

The Complementizer Phrase (CP)

CP --> (wh) C'
C' --> C IP

The CP has two daughters: one is the specifier of CP, which can hold wh-words (which arrive in that location as a result of wh-movement), and the other is the C'.

The C' has two daughters: one is the head C, which can host either:

    The complementizer, which can signify the transition from the main sentence into an embedded sentence (example tree),

    Or the question particle /har/, which can signify any type of question.

        When used on its own, /har/ indicates that the sentence is a yes/no question.

        When used in conjunction with wh-movement, /har/ indicates that the sentence is a wh-question (example tree).

The other daughter of the C' is the IP.