Universals and domains
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Universals, domains, and generics
When English would say every cat rather than everything but the cat, write ua and put the kind as a shared adjective after the join (zual gogozel). Any nouns listed before that join are leftovers excluded from that kind. The same ua join covers both every K and everything but X.
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
standalone zual | empty invert-add | everything / everyone |
zual + SHARED /ɡ/ | closed every-kind | every K (zual gogozel = every cat) |
zuam + SHARED /ɡ/ | open every-kind | every K, as far as I know; English often says K in general |
zuan + SHARED /ɡ/ | the kind itself | the K as a species |
single-item zual X (no SHARED) | leftover only | everything but X |
zual gogozel.[z-everything | g-cat]
"every cat."
The kind word after ua / uo takes no -x: every cat already covers every member.
With a plain verb, every cat acts one by one: zual gogozel vehohel. is each cat sits. For all of them acting together, put collective -x on the verb (vehohelx).
Every cat covers the cats the situation is about. An extra-noun hook after the kind is a clause extra, as after any noun: it places the act, and it does not change which cats count.
zual gogozel el bohehal vehohel.[z-everything | g-cat] | [at | b-house] | v-sit
"Every cat sits at the house."
No cat is the same shape with u: zul plus the kind.
zul gogozel vehohel.[z-no | g-cat] | v-sit
"No cat sits."
The same shape with no verb says there is none of that kind (there is no …), like a lone noun saying a thing exists. Keep the order: zodozel zul. puts the dog before the join and means not a dog.
zul godozel.[z-no | g-dog]
"There is no dog."
Not every (zual … zul)
To deny every cat as a whole (not every cat, not all cats), close the zual fence with zul. The ua fence is the one item before the u join, so the join denies that item, as zul denies any single item. The claim is that the cats do not all sleep: some cat may still sleep.
zual gogozel zul vezuvel.[[z-everything | g-cat] | z-not] | v-sleep
"Not every cat sleeps."
Where the denial goes changes the claim:
| Ageben | What it says | English |
|---|---|---|
zul gogozel vezuvel. | none of the cats sleeps | No cat sleeps. |
zual gogozel vezuvel vul. | each cat, one by one, does not sleep | Every cat stays awake (= no cat sleeps) |
zual gogozel zul vezuvel. | the cats do not all sleep | Not every cat sleeps. |
zogozel vezuvel vul. | a cat does not sleep | Some cat doesn't sleep. |
The last two come to the same thing: if not every cat sleeps, some cat stays awake. Not every denies the general claim, and the last row names one case of the denial.
With zual / zuam, a further /ɡ/ after the kind is a property of every member: every K is ADJ. The listener can already pick out every fire, so the clause does not say there is ….
zual gavulul gohamul.[z-everything | g-fire] | g-hot
"Every fire is hot."
Open zuam makes the same claim but leaves the list of exceptions open, the way -m leaves any list open: every cat, as far as I know. You do not say whether you know of exceptions; you only do not rule them out. English says this as the everyday general claim (cats are sleepy, cats in general). A resumed noun, by contrast, is one cat already in the conversation.
zuam gogozel guzemel.[z-everything.open | g-cat] | g-sleepy
"Cats are sleepy."
zogozel vowurol. zogozer guzemel.z-cat | v-walk . z-←cat | g-sleepy
"A cat walks. The cat is sleepy."
In the sentence after a blarl on a general claim, a resume of the kind means the same member, one at a time: zual gogozel vezuvel thohem blarl zogozer guzemel. is every cat sleeps if it is sleepy, each cat with its own sleepiness.
With zul the two readings say the same thing: zul godozel gubulel. is both no dog is black and there is no black dog.
When a joined subject shares one thing marked SAME with no /b/, the members are compared with each other: they all have the same one.
zazozon zalazun zal danal gorel varuyol.[z-Azozon | z-Alazun | z-and] | [d-book | g-SAME] | v-write
"Azozon and Alazun write the same book."
For English whoever / whatever, use a bare role compound, which names anyone who does it: whoever walks is everyone who walks. Use the agent compound (a) for whoever, and the undergoer compound (u) for whatever.
zual gwuzowurol vozuyel.[z-everything | g-episode-agent-walk] | v-sing
"Whoever walks sings."
Use closed zual plus kind when the claim allows no exceptions, and open zuam plus kind when you leave the exceptions open. Free-choice any cat will do uses zer.
For always, use: bare habitual hual (restrictors).
Plural -x (plurality) is different: it names an anchor plus nearby associates, not every K.
The kind itself (zuan)
English the dodo is extinct and someone invented the megaphone are not about any one dodo or megaphone, or about every one. They are about the kind: the one thing that lasts while its members come and go. Write zuan and put the kind as a shared adjective after it (zuan gedozel). The -n names the kind the way it names a person: one individual, not a set of members.
zuan gedozel gedozem.[z-the-kind | g-dodo] | g-obsolescence
"The dodo is extinct."
zar duan gamowol vebuyom.z-something | [d-the-kind | g-megaphone] | v-innovation
"Someone invented the megaphone."
The kind is one individual, so its verb and adjectives stay singular, and the kind word takes no -x. The kind is a known thing, so a further /ɡ/ is a property claim, not there is ….
To choose, ask whether one member could have the property. If none could, the claim is about the kind: no single wolf is rare, extinct, or invented. Wolves are sleepy is about the members, since one wolf can be sleepy, so it takes zual or zuam.
zuan guwozul guyazum.[z-the-kind | g-wolf] | g-rarity
"The wolf is rare."
| Ageben | Covers | English |
|---|---|---|
zual gogozel | each cat in this situation, no exceptions | every cat |
zuam gogozel | the members, as a rule | cats in general |
zuan gogozel | the kind itself, one individual | the cat (as a species) |
zual gogozel + /v/…-x | all the members in one shared act | all the cats together |
zual gogozel zul | the members, denied as a whole | not every cat |
A cause or condition on a zuan clause is about the kind, not each member: why the kind is the way it is.
People in general (eyen)
English one, generic you, and people make a claim about people as a rule. Ageben has a pronoun for this as well as the every-kind joins. The generic pronoun eyen works like a one-word version of the open every-kind zuam geyel: a default that allows exceptions, not a claim about everyone.
| Form | Picks | English |
|---|---|---|
awan | the person actually listening | you |
umen | one unidentified individual who exists | someone |
eyen | nobody in particular; true of people as a rule, with exceptions | one, generic you |
zuam geyel | people in general, as far as I know | people in general |
zual geyel | every person, no exceptions | everyone |
zuan geyel | humankind as a kind | people (the species) |
For everyone, no exceptions, use zual geyel. As a topic, xeyen (now, about people in general) makes the topic pronoun mean one.
Every and none, by set
Everyone hates me and nobody ever listens hide how far they reach. To name the set a claim covers, put a SHARED word after the join that bounds it. Everyone we know is the undergoer role compound of know with pair scope: gwedanam blayan is known to the two of us.
zual gwedanam blayan vezuvel.[z-everything | [g-pair-patient-knowledge | bl-interlocutors]] | v-sleep
"Everyone we know sleeps."
The join does the rest, as on any SHARED word:
| Ageben | Covers | English |
|---|---|---|
zual geyel | the people in this situation | everyone (here) |
zual gwedanam blayan | the people we both know | everyone we know |
zuam gwedanam blayan | the people we both know, exceptions left open | everyone we know, as far as I know |
zal gwedanam blayan | none of the people we both know | nobody we know |
zarx gwedanam blayan | some of the people we both know | some people we know |
zual gwedanam blayan zul | the people we both know, denied as a whole | not everyone we know |
zual gwedanam bluwen | the people I know | everyone I know |
With blayan, the other party is the two of you together: people both of you know. The listener can name someone in that set, which an unbounded everyone never allows.
Practice
Short drills for Intermediate. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a catalog counter
New words:
| English | Ageben | Cue |
|---|---|---|
| small | amezem | 🐁 from mouse |
Review:
| English | Ageben |
|---|---|
| Azozon | azozon |
| veil | ovobul |
| dress | edobal |
| ring | orebel |
| wine | owudal |
| beer | urudal |
| see | vayebel |
English → Ageben
1. everything but wine and beer
Show answer
zowudal zurudal zual.
[z-wine | z-beer | z-everything-but]
2. Azozon sees every dress.
Show answer
zazozon vayebel dual gedobal.
z-Azozon | v-see | [d-everything | g-dress]
3. There is such a thing as the veil.
Show answer
zuan govobul.
[z-the-kind | g-veil]
Ageben → English
1. zuam gorebel gamezem.
Show answer
[z-everything.open | g-ring] | g-small
Rings are small. (as a rule)
2. zul gedobal gamezem.
Show answer
[z-no | g-dress] | g-small
No dress is small.
3. zual govobul zul.
Show answer
[[z-everything | g-veil] | z-not]
not every veil
Pick one
1. every ring zual gorebel. or zorebel zual.
Show answer
zual gorebel.
[z-everything | g-ring]
The kind goes after zual as a SHARED /ɡ/; a noun before the join is the leftover, everything but the ring.
Fix it
1. There is such a thing as the dress. zedobal zuan.
Show answer
zuan gedobal.
[z-the-kind | g-dress]
Kind-reference zuan takes the kind as SHARED /ɡ/ after the join.