Cases in Banin

Eruanno none complained that his first conlang had no cases. This reminds
me of the question of case-marking in Banin. I would think at first that
it has a complicated case system, which is different according to the tense
of the verb. Banin gramaticians, however, don't seem to have ever conceived
the idea of a case system. They think Banin nouns flect in tense, and that
the "subject" (this is not a concept of theirs, too) of the verb must be
past if the verb is past - the other verb arguments do not "agree" with
the verb. Take the following:

Ada[PRESENT tense] to fell[past on PRESENT tense]=
ADA to fell[past on PRESENT tense]=
ADA LUAZASSU. (Or, since word order is free,)
LUAZASSU ADA.

This means, literally, that "Ada threw herself down", since, if Ada is the
"subject", it can only be the agent or the instrument of the action, never
the patient.

Compare with:

Ada[past tense] to fell[past on PRESENT tense]=
ADAS (note the flexion) to fell[past on PRESENT tense]=
ADAS LUAZASSU. (Or, since word order is free,)
LUAZASSU ADAS.

This means Ada fell, so, being the patient of the action, it is not the
"subject" and does not "agree" with the verb.

Or, a bit more complicated,

Ada[future tense] to fell[past on PRESENT tense] the one of which I was
just speaking to you + dog[PRESENT tense]=
ADAR to fell[past on PRESENT tense] the one of which I was just speaking
to you + dog[PRESENT]=
ADAR LUAZASSU the one of which I was just speaking to you + dog[PRESENT
tense]=
ADAR LUAZASSU the one of which I was just speaking to you CORAI=
ADAR LUAZASSU USSU CORAI

Means "if the dog had caused Ada to fall". Ada going to the future tense
(Adar) makes the sentence "subjunctive".

Ada ussu corais luazassu. = Ada threw the dog down.
Adas ussu corai luasten. = Ada had thrown the dog down.
Ada ussu corais luasten. = The dog had thrown Ada down.

(Assuming "the" to translate the more complex idea expressed by "ussu")

Does this make any sense?

Luís Henrique



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