The following cmavo are discussed in this section:
ke |
KE |
start grouping |
ke'e |
KEhE |
end grouping |
There is, in fact, a fifth grouping of “pretty little girls' school” that cannot be expressed with the resources explained so far. To handle it, we must introduce the grouping parentheses cmavo, ke and ke'e (belonging to selma'o KE and KEhE respectively). Any portion of a selbri sandwiched between these two cmavo is taken to be a single tanru component, independently of what is adjacent to it. Thus, Example 5.26 can be rewritten in any of the following ways:
Even more versions could be created simply by placing any number of ke cmavo at the beginning of the selbri, and a like number of ke'e cmavo at its end. Obviously, all of these are a waste of breath once the left-grouping rule has been grasped. However, the following is equivalent to Example 5.28 and may be easier to understand:
ta | melbi | ke | cmalu | nixli | ke'e | ckule | |||||
That | is-a-( | pretty | type-of | ( | little | type-of | girl | ) | ) | type-of | school. |
Likewise, a ke and ke'e version of Example 5.27 would be:
The final ke'e is given in square brackets here to indicate that it can be elided. It is always possible to elide ke'e at the end of the selbri, making Example 5.35 as terse as Example 5.27.
Now how about that fifth grouping? It is
ta | melbi | ke | cmalu | nixli | ckule | [ke'e] | |||||
That | is-a-pretty | type-of | ( | ( | little | type-of | girl | ) | type-of | school | ). |
That is a beautiful school for small girls. |
Example 5.36 is distinctly different in meaning from any of Example 5.26 through Example 5.29. Note that within the ke … ke'e parentheses, the left-grouping rule is applied to cmalu nixli ckule.
It is perfectly all right to mix bo and ke … ke'e in a single selbri. For instance, Example 5.29, which in pure ke … ke'e form is
ta | melbi | ke | cmalu | |
That | is-a-pretty | type-of | ( | little |
ke | nixli | ckule | [ke'e] | [ke'e] | ||
type-of | ( | girl | type-of | school | ) | ). |
can equivalently be expressed as:
ta | melbi | ke | cmalu | nixli | bo | ckule | [ke'e] | ||
That | is-a-pretty | type-of | ( | little | type-of-( | girl | type-of | school | )). |
and in many other different forms as well.