Re: Phenomena

Irina Rempt euecuet:
> On Thu, 2 Mar 2000, Barry Garcia wrote:
>
> > 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?
>
> Valdyan has an impersonal construction just for that sort of thing:
>
> lea daysenat      "it's raining"
> Imp rain-3s-PRS
>
> The pronoun used (designated by "Imp") is nominally the third person
> singular common-gender pronoun ("he/she", "singular they"), that's
> also used for people whose gender is unknown or unimportant: "when
> the doctor comes, tell him/her..."
Aredos uses the mediopassive, which also acts as an impersonal form:
plúator:  rain-3sing-pres-med.
There is no impersonal pronoun as such, in the doctor situation, "he" would
be used, as caelator (this is an agential formation on the ppt of caelare,
to heal), doctor, is masculine. If gender is unknown, it is usual to use the
neuter.