The LdP Grammatical Dictionary
Classes of words and particles (wordas e partiklas)
In the LdP language, for more precise description, a special system of grammar terms is introduced. This labelling is used in the present grammatical dictionary.
In the first place, full-meaning words (wordas) and particles (partiklas) are marked out. Full-meaning words convey principal meanings and may be used on their own. Particles serve for uniting words into complete expressions.
Then, all LdP units are classified according to their role within a sentence (so the classification is performed primarily from the syntax point of view) and also, for full-meaning words, according to the accompanying grammatical particles. Thus, among full- meaning words one can distinguish the following basic groups: kwo- wordas, kwel-wordas, zwo-wordas, komo-wordas. Note that the names of the classes are not arbitrary but composed from meaningful words of the language. Let us look into the meaning of the four mentioned terms.
The term "kwo-worda" is derived from the two meaningful words: "kwo", which means "what?", and "worda", which means "word". As follows from the name, kwo-worda is a full-meaning word that you use when you ask "What?". In other words, it is a word that within a sentence has either the role of subject (hu-yuan), object (kwo-yuan) or noun predicate (sta-yuan) ("yuan" means "sentence member"). This class practically fully corresponds to the class of noun of classic grammars. The words of the kwo-worda class may take plural suffix and form words of other classes through adding special affixes.
"Kwel" means "which" in LdP. Correspondingly, kwel-worda is a word that you use when you ask "Which?", i.e., a word that within a sentence has the role of either attribute (kwel-yuan) or adjective predicate. Words of this class may be accompanied by comparative particles (such as "more" or "most"). Basically this class
corresponds to the class of adjective of classic grammars.
"Zwo" means "do" in LdP. So zwo-worda is a word expressing action. The basic syntax role of such words is predicate (zwo-yuan). Words of this class may be accompanied by grammatical particles of time. In general this class coresponds to the class of verbs.
"Komo" means "how", thus komo-worda is a word that you use when you ask "How?", i.e. a word which characterises action. Within a sentence it has the role of adverbial modifier (komo-yuan) and may be accompanied by comparative particles. In general this class coresponds to the class of adverb.
Within the class of kwo-worda, in accordance with the conveyed meaning, one can mark out a small subclass taim-kwo- worda, i.e., words referring to time (for instance, minute, hour, day, year, etc.). Similarly among komo-wordas one can mark out loko- komo-worda (adverbs of place), taim-komo-worda (adverbs of time) and modus-komo-worda (adverbs of manner).
There is also a class of kwanto-worda (from "kwanto" - how much?). It comprises words designating exact number (numerals). Within a sentence, such words may be accompanied by words of kwo-worda class, but not necessarily.
Among full-meaning words one can also distinguish a small class of words named sta-worda. The word "sta" refers to being in a particular state, thus sta-worda is a word designating state. We refer to this class words which are usually called modal verbs in classic grammars (e.g., "can", "must", "may") as well as the verb "be". The feature of this class' words is that they do not convey any completely independent meaning by themselves; in particular, they do not name an action, but they indicate the subject's attitude towards this or that, e.g., towards an action. From the syntax point of view these words are a part of the predicate. It should be noted that the predicate containing them is called "sta-yuan", and it does not necessarily need a subject. In the latter case a phrase has an impersonal tint (like in "one must" or "one can").
There are two word classes that have an intermediate position between full-meaning words and particles. These are the classes inplas-worda and syao-worda.
"Inplas" means "in place of', so inplas-worda is a word that may be used in a sentence in place of some other full-meaning word. Thus, one can distinguish inplas-kwo-worda (words used in place of kwo-wordas, e.g., personal pronouns), inplas-kwel-worda (e.g., possessive pronouns), inplas-komo-worda (e.g., the word "somewhere"), and inplas-kwanto-worda (e.g., the words "much", "several").
The units of the syao-worda class basically correspond to word-formation affixes of classic grammars ("syao" means "small"). They are the units which have their own meaning but cannot be used in a sentence on their own. As a rule, they are written together as one word or with a hyphen joining them to the full-meaning word they relate to.
Among particles, one distinguishes three main classes: konekti-partiklas, unisi-partiklas, and gramatika-partiklas. The first class (konekti-partikla, from "konekti" - "connect") comprises particles which connect separate words to each other (prepositions of classic grammars). The second class (unisi-partikla, from "unisi" - "unite") comprises particles which unite words and clauses (conjunctions of classic grammars). The particles which convey grammatical meanings compose the gramatika-partikla class (the LdP "gramatika" means "grammar").
One should also note the exklami-partikla class ("exklami" is "exclaim"). The units of this class can be generally referred to the group of interjections of classic grammars.
Abbreviations used in the dictionary
exklami exklami-partikla (interjection)
exklami+ used after exklami-partikla
frasa+ used at the end of phrase
+frasa used at the beginning of phrase
gramatika gramatika-partikla (grammatical particle)
gramatika-komo gramatika-partikla (grammatical particle) or
komo-worda (adverb) inplas-komo inplas-komo-worda
inplas-kwanto inplas-kwanto-worda inplas-kwel inplas-kwel-worda inplas-kwo inplas-kwo-worda komo komo-worda (adverb)
+komo used before an adverb
komo+ used after an adverb
komo-gramatika
or gramatika-partikla
komo-worda (adverb) (grammatical particle) konekti konekti-partikla (preposition)
konekti-komo konekti-partikla (preposition) or komo-worda (adverb)
konekti-syao konekti-partikla (preposition) or syao-worda (affix)
kwanto kwanto-worda (numeral)
+kwanto used before a numeral
kwel kwel-worda (adjective, modifyer)
+kwel used before an adjective
kwel+ used after an adjective
kwesti kwesti-worda (question word)
kwo kwo-worda (noun)
kwo+ used after a noun
+kwo used before a noun
loko-komo loko-komo-worda (adverb of place)
modus-komo modus-komo-worda (adverb of manner)
sta sta-worda (words describing state, e.g., modal verbs)
syao syao-worda (affix)
syao-gramatika syao-worda (affix) or gramatika-partikla
(grammatical particle) syao-komo syao-worda (affix) or komo-worda (adverb) taim-komo taim-komo-worda (adverb of time) +taim-komo used before an adverb of time +taim-kwo used before a noun of time unisi unisi-partikla (conjunction)
zwo zwo-worda (verb)
+zwo used before a verb
zwo+ used after a verb a (konekti)(+kwo) 1) to {aim, direction): go a shop - go to the shop, lai a dom - come home, a oli taraf - in all directions; 2) to (<dative case): a yu - to you, a may amiga - to my friend, shwo a swa - say to oneself; me rakonti a yu om to -1 tell you about that.