Conjunctions

Ouxu has six conjunction particles. The conjunctions can be used in two ways, to link separate sentences and to join related sentences into one so that information does not have to be repeated.

Table 4.11. The Conjunctions

aandall are true
xaorat least one is true
huoone-ofexactly one is true
piaiffall are true or all are false
puhaifthe first implies the second
aeuirrelevantthe second whether or not the first

Linking Sentences

When linking two sentences, a conjunction appears at the start of the second sentence.

Example 4.36. Two Linked Sentences

Atae ofae pa tutxiun. Xa ofta pa ihonofkap Waziristan-un.
You+experiencer I+experiencer belief spouse+change-to. Or I+agent belief defence+I+move Waziristan+change-to.
I'll marry you, or I'll flee to Waziristan (or both).

Two of the conjunctions, puha and aeu, are binary. It doesn't make sense to use a binary conjunction several times in a row; it should only link two sentences, not three or more.

The other conjunctions can apply to any number of sentences in a row, and the conjunction's meaning applies to all of them as a group.

Example 4.37. List of Conjuncts

Atae ofae pa tutxiun. Huo ofta atxu pa gefaxe. Huo pa ufakuha.
You+experiencer I+experiencer belief spouse+change-to. One-of I+agent you+part belief problem+whole. One-of belief compromise+action.
Either I'll marry you, or I find you troublesome, or we can reach a compromise.

A is logically redundant as a sentence link, of course. Simply saying one sentence and then the next means that both are true. But you can use it anyway for emphasis.

Joining Related Sentences

Two or more sentences which share words can be joined into one sentence using a repeated conjunction. In the usual case, the shared words are at the end of the resulting single sentence, though it's sometimes possible to share words at the beginning instead or as well.

Example 4.38. Joined Sentences

Pa ofae apeleha hoet. Pa atae apelepoha hoet.
Belief I+experiencer respect+action it+cause. Belief you+experiencer respect+opposite+action it+cause.
I admire it. You despise it.
Pa ofae apeleha a atae apelepoha a hoet.
Belief I+experiencer respect+action and you+experiencer respect+opposite+action and it+cause.
I admire and you despise it.

Use of the divider becomes more complicated in a joined sentence. The divider can appear in one of three places, the shared head of the sentence, in the branches of the sentence, or in the shared tail.

If the divider is in the branches, that is, among the words that differ between the joined sentences, then each branch must have its own divider. You can always recognize this case, because the sentence contains more than one divider. The sentence ends up with as many divider words as there are branches.

If there is only one divider in the sentence, then it is either in the head or in the tail. If it is in the head, it must appear at the end of the head, as the last word shared. In the examples above, the divider is the first word, so it is the only word of the head. If the divider is in the tail, it may appear anywhere. The rules for transforming the joined sentence back into the original sentences should be obvious: Each original sentence consists of the head, followed by one of the branches, followed by the tail.

Example 4.39. The Divider in Joined Sentences

Ofta pa athigae huo athugae huo tutxiun.
I+agent belief you+this+experiencer one-of you+that+experiencer one-of spouse+change-to.
I'll marry either you or you.
(Appropriate if you're picking two people out of a crowd.)
Athigae gi huo athugae gu huo ofta tutxiun.
You+this+experiencer joy one-of you+that+experiencer sorrow one-of I+agent spouse+change-to.
I'll marry either you, gladly, or you, sadly.
Athigae huo athugae huo ofta pa tutxiun.
You+this+experiencer one-of you+that+experiencer one-of I+agent belief spouse+change-to.
I'll marry either you or you.
(Appropriate if the two candidates are already known.)

The binary conjunctions puha and aeu can be used only twice in a sentence. The other conjunctions can be repeated any number of times, to join many sentences into one.

Example 4.40. More Joined Sentences

Ofta litgaha pa sufhoae pia paletae pia anxoae pia.
I+agent bite+action belief bear+experiencer iff bat+experiencer iff bug+experiencer iff.
I'll bite all of the bear, the bat, and the bug, or none of them.