Re: here is some stuff i want all of ya'll to look at even though you have better things to do.

> i have no idea what a interlinear gloss is
Basically, it's when you present the text not only with original and
translation, but with a version that explains word-for-word what each
word and portion of word means.

Since the original text and this analysis are usually written in
alternate lines (rather than one big block of text followed by one big
block of analysis), it's called "interlinear".

For example, to take an example from Spanish:

    Me     gustan           las        naranjas
    me.DAT are=pleasing.3PL the.FEM.PL orange.PL
    I like oranges.

Exactly how the interlinear looks like depends on several things,
including the structure of the language. But this lets you see, for
example, that the word "gustan" is the third person plural ("they"
form) of a verb.

Without an interlinear, people would have to guess at which bit of
meaning is expressed by which word in the original (for example: is
there a separate word to mark past tense, or is it marked on the verb?
do verbs change depending on their subejct? are more than two words
necessary to express what is one word in English? etc.).

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

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