Re: "To be" or not "to be"? (was Re: TRANS: something slightly more deep)

On 7 Feb, Paul Bennett wrote:

>I can understand the lack of 'attributive' or 'essive' "to be" in terms of
>a zero-copula language (and variations thereof), but I'd have thought that
>any language needs a simple non-phrasal way of indicating whether something
>exists or not
    My conlang, rtemmu, does not have a "to be" copula.
To say that A "is" B, one first describes A and then asserts
that one's focus should be expanded to aslo include B.
    In the rtemmu worldview, one focuses on the ongoing flux that
is the universe and then considers the change, in one's thoughts and
observations. Existence is a given. One may stop focussing: sort
of opting out of the game for a while; but the assumption is that one
can always resume. What to do with non-existence in a rtemmu
framework has bothered me from day one, and I haven't gotten
any closer to a solution since then.
    In my first posting to this list, back in Jan 1999, I was already
wondering about the concept of "nothing". To quote my post:

<snip introduction to rtemmu>

   What, however, does one do with "nothing"?
In rtemmu there are separate words for zero and nothing:

puhg = zero ("uh" = open mid back unrounded vowel or
schwa, depending on the stress)
g~amshye = nothing ("sh" = voiceless postalveolar
fricative)

Saying "ikehszuv puhg" could be understood when making a measurement
that at this time is zero, but can change. But what does "ikehszuv
g~amshye" mean?
Maybe that there is an observed lack of existence that doesn't seem to
change, but given time, something might? Sort of a pregnant pause?
   But if something unique and irreplaceable were to be destroyed, one
could describe the destruction as a change, but how could one describe
the lack, since the phenomenon will never exist again, and thus the
lack is _unchanging_!

Essentially, I ignored the philosophy and muscled in a word
meaning  "none",  g~am  (g~=[N] ). Existence, or "shye" is less
of a problem, since that is simply what one observes or thinks about.
But what  indeed would "g~amshye" mean in a rtemmu framework?
I still don't really know.
    (BTW, I love the new archives! <really _big_ smile>  I was able to find
my old posting from a year ago in a few seconds.
va'i belo`gygiha! (= What a joy to use! ) A pity it wasn't in place
long ago!)

Dan Sulani


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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.