Re: Translation pattern of `to have'?

On Thu, Feb 22, 2001 at 01:00:25AM +0100, Henrik Theiling wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I'd like to know what ways exist of rendering the verb `to have' in
> other languages (both natural and constructed).
[snip]
> I'm not too familiar with non-IE languages, just looked at the grammar
> of a few others, so maybe someone could tell me more.  What did you
> invent for your conlangs?  Why did you?  What natlangs do it what way?
[snip]

My conlang actually has a few ways of doing this. Currently, they are all
based on stative sentences, which involve only nouns. Which construction
is used depends on the desired nuance in meaning.

1) Regular possessive:
   jwl3'r pii'z3du.             [dZu"lV"*. pi:zV"du] (Kirsch)
   house  man
   (cvy)  (rcp)                 (cvy=conveyant case, rcp=receptive case)
   "[The] house [is] [to] [the] man" -- i.e., "the house is unto the man",
   or, the house belongs to the man; the man has the house.

   The idea behind this construction is that the thing owned is "towards",
   or "facing" its owner. This is the usual construction for material
   ownership.

2) Partitive possessive:
   3jhil33' juli'r.             [@ZilV": dZuli*.]
   rooms    house
   (cvy)    (loc)               (loc=locative case)
   "There are [many] rooms in the house" or "The house has many rooms."

   This construction shows that something is a smaller part of a larger
   thing; in this case, the rooms are a part of the larger house, which
   contains them. You would *not* use this construction to indicate
   material ownership -- this is meant for sentences like "the car has
   four wheels" -- i.e., one object is part of another.

3) Parental(?) possessive:
   biz3t30' m3l3da3'.           [biz@tV"A m@l@daV"]
   woman    child
   (org)    (fem,cvy)           (org=originative case)
   "The woman has a daughter", or, depending on context, "the girl is
   [born] of the woman".

   This construction is idiosyncratic in showing parent/offspring
   relationships, although in some contexts, you could understand the
   above sentence as "the child is [sent from] the woman" -- not
   necessarily implying a parental relationship. However, when free of
   context, native speakers would automatically assume you are making a
   statement about parental relationship.


T

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