Re: Trigger language question concerning the use of "to be"

>Okay, I've been developing a language that uses a trigger system and
>have decided that there will be no "to be." State verbs,
>particularly, replace its role. Eg, He is good would be translated as
>He goods. However, I have come across the problem when addressing
>infinitives. How, exactly, would a sentence such as "To defend is to
>attack" for example be handled in this case? Both words are
>infinitives, leaving no place for a verb to exist. Is there a
>grammatical way around this problem? This is my first true conlang
>and this seems to be a big problem. Any help would be much
>appreciated.
>
>
It seems to me that there are different meanings involved here. One, the
one involving stative verbs, is about the properties things possess, eg
the man is good. The other is about equivalence and identity, eg to
defend is to attack. I believe that some languages treat these two
differently.... You could require a verb for identity type clauses "That
man is the teacher" etc, and still have your stative verbs for
expressive properties.

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