Coordination refers to the linking two or more elements with the same grammatical status, such as two noun phrases, or two independent clauses. While Yeh lacks a distinct class of coordinators, it makes use of several constructions to link various elements. Many of these were once unique to written forms of Yeh, though today, use of these constructions are more or less obligatory in spoken Yeh as well.
Indepdendent clauses may be conjoined by the use of na (then, at that time) and pára (also, in addition). Both words frequently appear as sentence-initial adverbials, and it is from this use that their coordinative role has emerged. They are generally not interchangeable, as nam connects events in sequence, whereas pára links co-occuring events, though some semantic bleaching has been observed in recent history, particularly the use of na as a general conjunctive coordinator.
ékohwi yé=më gamái nam hwë nyën-o oikáte open 3=A door and go in-INAN dwelling "They opened the door and went in the house."
nyën-o yë́raih ótoma ye=më pára áuva no=më ámtra-nem no in-INAN train sleep 3=A also complete 1=A book-POSSD 1 "On the train, they slept and I finished my book."
When clauses conjoined this way have identical subjects, that subject may be omitted in the second clause.
bíhnye yé=më oikáte nam hwë ók-o find 3.AN=A shelter and go towards-INAN "They found a house and went towards it."
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When two or more verbs describe closely related actions, or aspects of a single, complex event, they may be juxtaposed, forming a serial verb construction. More to come...
The Yeh comitative preposition ngai/ngau also functions as a coordinator for linking noun phrases. As with its prepositional use, the form of ngai/ngau used must agree in animacy with the last element being linked.
hwë ók-o íhbitsai no=më ngai tswúmëny=më go to-INAN festival 1=A with-AN friend=A "I went to the festival with a friend." (or "A friend and I went to the festival")
When three or more noun phrases are linked, ngai/ngau can be omitted before all but the last phrase.
hwánge emrúna=më otánga ngóte ngau tsétswë eat bear=A fish insect with-INAN grass "A bear eats fish, insects, and grass."
Conjunctive coordination of prepositional phrases is unmarked, except perhaps with intonation and rhythm. Yeh allows multiple prepositional phrases to be juxtaposed if they modify the same word in a sentence.
ivíseh tór-o báhwo kwo tseng picture attached.to-INAN partition over.INAN desk "the picture hanging on the wall and over the desk"
Coming soon.
Coming soon.