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

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.  :-)

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