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Re: Vjatjackwa (the result of all those sound changes!)

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Saturday, December 13, 2003, 4:54
Amanda Babcock wrote:
> Proto-W Witicku Vjatjackwa > egg 'tamako* 'tamag 'tOmOg > eggs** 'hetama'ko 'hetam'ko i'tOmku > > * Points for recognizing this.
Japanese _tamago_!
> . inanimate objects routinely incorporated into verbs
All objects, or only "simple" objects? For example, how would you deal with "I bought the book that a friend of mine told me about the other day when we were goofing off when we should've been studying"? :-) Perhaps "I book-bought the one that ..."?
> . subjects not part of the sentence, must have been introduced > in previous dialog or via topic marker and only appear on the > verb as pronouns > . verb agreement affixes use an animacy/proximacy hierarchy, > an inverse marker, and the fact that all verbs are either > transitive or intransitive (never ditransitive), with > transitives being constructed from intransitives via applicatives
So, how do the equivalents of English ditransitives work? For example, how would you translate "I gave John the book"? Simple prepositions, or something more complex?
> So there you go! Ok, that wasn't as clearly laid out as I'd have liked, > but at least it's written down now. Now I just need to settle on actual > morphemes and start building words... I've been through three other verb > paradigms (not so animacy-driven) that I didn't like. It's time to just > grab some syllables and run with them.
Interesting ideas! Sorry I don't have more to say. :-) -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

Replies

Amanda Babcock <ababcock@...>
Isidora Zamora <isidora@...>