Re: Phenomena

From: "Barry Garcia"


> I dont know a better term for this, but how do you all say things like
> "it's raining" or "it's dripping" without an actual specified agent to do
> that action?
Géarthnuns uses your basic, Mom's apple pie impersonal construction.

Seth la fun.
it-nom present rain.

Seth la gnön. It's snowing.
Seth la vazh. It's windy.
Seth la mözh. It's sunny.
Seth la sönewalhan. It's cloudy.
Seth la amníevalen. It's foggy.
Seth la ésüköth. It's hailing.
etc.

"Seth" is the pronoun for nouns in the seventh declension, considered in
olden times to be the omnal gender. Weather expressions are the only place
where impersonal constructions are permitted. In fact, Géarthnuns speakers
do not consider these impersonal constructions. As words like "gdonöths"
(weather), "Avíaths" (God), and "auths" (cosmos, universe) belong to the
seventh declension, a Géartnuns speaker would say that the "seth" of the
above sentences has one of these words as its implied antecedent.

Kou