Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Verb mood and tense

From:Keolah Kedaire <keolah@...>
Date:Thursday, January 27, 2000, 20:24
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).

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?)

-r indicative, the speaker saw this happen
-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.
-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.
-n negative. the speaker knows it didn't happen. also used for pure
fiction.
-l interrogative.
-t imperative.

eg.
veyrme vatynarsey'va'moz
"the dragon breathed [what dragons usuaully breathe] at them [some
person(s) previously mentioned]"

veyrme <-- veyr ("fire") + me (actor suffix) lit. "flamer"
vatynar <-- va ("from") + ty ("wind") + nar ("life)
-s- subject is the first noun in the sentence
-ey past tense
v- object is the habitual object (what dragons usually breathe,
since "everyone knows" dragons breathe fire, it isn't stated
explicitly)
-a single action
m- previously mentioned, in the indirect object position
-o- the action is being directed at the indirect object
-z the speaker doesn't believe it really happened

Okay, this was already longer than I'd intended, please correct me
if any of this doesn't make sense, I'm still not sure I have all
the terminology right.

-- Keolah the Seeker --
http://keolah.tripod.com/ronnes/rindex.html