Shshi Interrogatives and Punctuation
Interrogatives
Interrogatives are formed by maintaining the normal word order but inserting certain signals that serve to indicate a question is being spoken. Since Kaitrin Oliva was a native speaker of Spanish, she chose to render these as ¿ _?
Examples
When the subject is a pronoun, the question marks enclose the combined pronoun/verb:
Do you have a name? (literally, You have name?): ¿bei’taio|? ↻ loi’zi| ||
Why don’t you understand me? (literally, You understand not me why?): ¿bei’reisho|? ↻ sho’a| wei| d’il| ||
When the subject is not a pronoun, the question marks enclose only the verb:
Where is the rock? (literally, Rock ¿is? where): ka’zi| ⇆ ¿she|? v’il| ||
What individual said that?: da’gei| kwi’sho’zei|⇆ ¿fa’ganot|? ↻ ku’o’zi| ||
Punctuation
The ends of words are marked with a vertical line and the ends of sentences with a double vertical line. These are conventions supplied by Kaitrin Oliva. We spoke above of the use of question marks.
The imperative form of the verb utilizes the unlinked infinitive form bracketed by ¡ _!
Example
Bring the rock here!: ¡fao|! ↻ ka’zi| i’jo| ||
This punctuation is also used for short commands.
Example
Hush! Do not speak! (literally, not speak!): ¡wei’ga|!
Stop! Halt! Do not move! (literally, not move! from vimo|, to move): ¡wei’vim|!
There is an indicator of emphasis, similar to an exclamation point, represented by >, which is placed at the end of sentences before the ||, although it may be placed at the end of any word in a sentence, following the |.
The < is also used to indicate reflexives when they are used as an emphatic, as in sho|> sho’u’trio| || I myself will go. (Literally, I, I will go.)
> may also stand alone as an exclamation. It can be translated as Ah! or Well!