Re: Verb mood and tense

At 12:24 27/01/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Hello, I've just rejoined the list after a year or two away, and have
>lately been working on a conlang called the Ronnes. (or just "ronnes"
>now since they recently dropped articles and capitalization). I've
>just finished revising their grammar and managed to translate a poem
>into it. (http://keolah.tripod.com/ronnes/thorout.html).
>
        Welcome back :) .

>However, as I tried to analyze the moods that verbs had acquired, I
>realized that I didn't know what to call a couple of them. In
>particular, the two subjunctive moods. (They are subjunctive, right?)
>
        Your 'moods' look more like a mix between moods and evidential indicators.
I find that blending nice, I should have thought of it earlier :) .

>-r indicative, the speaker saw this happen
        Looks rather right. If the mood is only used with events the speaker
actually saw, it would be more a 'sight evidential'. For me, indicative is
also the mood for things that are doubtless even if I didn't actually see
them (all of this depends on the speaker of course :) ).

>-s the speaker heard about it and thinks it likely but doesn't know
>for certain. in future tense, the speaker hopes it will occur.
        I don't think it's a subjunctive. I'd rather call it optative (but in some
languages those two moods are rendered the same way :) ), the mood of
desire. It looks also like a "hearsay-evidential" added with trust. I don't
how to call that yet, ask someone who knows Quechua :) .

>-z the speaker heard or read about it in some old story and doesn't
>think it could have really happened. in future tense, the speaker
>hopes it will not happen.
        Negative optative, like I saw it said by someone on the list. Also
"hearsay evidential" with defiance.

>-n negative. the speaker knows it didn't happen. also used for pure
>fiction.
        Strange mood. So in fiction it can be used with an affirmative meaning
(adding just the fact that it's fiction?). How would you negate an action
told in a story which is pure fiction then?

                                                        Christophe Grandsire
                                                |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.

"Reality is just another point of view."

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