clauses
Kawaba is strictly subject-verb-object and uses word order alone to mark the grammatical relations between arguments. The argument before the verb is the subject and the argument after the verb is the direct object.
apunga igin atun
N-animal-near V-consume N-plant
the dog eats the plant
Either of the core arguments can be freely omitted if they do not need to be specified, such as when they have already been established, are clear from context, or are irrelevant.
apunga igin
N-animal-near V-consume
the dog eats
igin
V-consume
there is eating
igin atun
V-consume N-plant
the plant is eaten
the copula
The verb prefix i can be used on its own with no stem as the copula, the equivalent to the English verb "to be". It can be used to predicate nouns, qualifiers, and circumstantials.
apunga i apun
N-animal-near V N-animal
dogs are animals
apunga i emu
N-animal-near V Q-good
dogs are good
apunga i utatun
N-animal-near V C-place-plant
dogs are at the park
negation
Negation is performed using the operator ote. Like all operators, it precedes the contituent the constituent it is negating.
apunga ote igin
N-animal-near OP-not V-consume
the dog does not eat
ote apunga igin
OP-not N-animal-near V-consume
it is not the dog that eats
The root te may also appear as a dependent in a compound to negate a root.
alante
N-health-not
illness
ekite
Q-know-not
unknown
ijite
V-true-not
to lie
questions
Content questions are formed using the root ku ("what") and the interrogative (question) word appears in-situ (in the same position as its answer).
aku
N-what
what
eku
Q-what
which, what kind of
oku
OP-what
how many
The root ku can also be used as a dependent in a compound to productively form new interrogatives.
alaku
N-person-what
who
utaku
C-place-what
where
usoku
C-time-what
when
ubeku
C-cause-what
why
uwuku
C-like-what
how
Polar questions are formed by adding non ote ("or not") to the end of the clause.
apunga igun atun, non ote?
N-animal-near V-fight N-plant, or OP-not?
does the dog eat the plant?