Re: "To Be" In Silindion, Observations

Hallo, and a happy new year!

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:13:34 -0800,
Elliott Lash <erelion12@...> wrote:

> Silindion's verb "to be" has been discussed on this
> list before (a long time ago). But I wanted to provide
> a fress update.
>
> There are (6) different verbs with "beish" qualities.
>
> 1) copulative
> 2) essive/predicative
> 3) descriptive
> 4) relative
> 5) existential
> 6) emphatic
Hey, that's quite a lot of `to be' verbs!

Old Albic has three verbs that can be translated as `to be'.

One of them, _has-_, is an independent stative verb (i.e., it takes
objective agreement markers and a subject in the objective case)
which is used mainly in sentences like "I am in the city":

(1) Haraha amas cararas.
    has-a-ha      am-as     caras-as
    be-PRES-1SG:P the:I-LOC city-LOC
    `I am in the city.'

This verb can be translated into Spanish as _estar_ in most cases.

The second `to be' verb is actually a suffix _-@s-_ which derives
a stative verb meaning `to be (an) X' from a noun or adjective:

(2) Nderaraha.
    nder-@s-a-ha
    man-be-PRES-1SG:P
    `I am a man.'

(3) Crarará am chvanam.
    cras-@s-a-a       a-m       chvana-m
    red-be-PRES-3SG:P the:C-OBJ dog-OBJ
    `The dog is red.'

As can be seen in example (2), the suffix is attached to the short
objective stem of the noun if the noun is animate.

Finally, there is an existential verb _an-_, meaning `to exist'.

(4) Aná om herom.
    an-a-a           o-m       her-o-m
    exist-PRES-3SG:P the:M-OBJ lord-M-OBJ
    `The lord exists.'

In contrast to _has-_, it corresponds to Spanish _ser_.

I do not exclude the possibility of `discovering' even more
`to be' verbs...

>
> 1) The copulative is used most often to join two nouns
> (or a pronoun with a noun).
>
>  Example: Sinunar narianya niva
>           "Swans are beautiful birds"
>           sinu-na-r  narian-ya niva
>           swan-collective-COP. bird-pl. beautiful
>
> The form of the copulative verb in the present is
> "-r" attached to a Noun. If it is attached to a
> consonant stem noun, the form is "-ar".
This roughly corresponds to Old Albic -@s-, it seems.

> The copulative is further used in some dialects to
> join nouns and adjectives. The adjective in this
> construction usually precedes the noun. Sometimes the
> noun takes the copulative "-r" sometimes the
> adjective. This depends mostly on the dialect and
> style.
>
>  Example:  máldëar i voronya.
>            "Happy are the victors"
>            maldea-r i voron-ya
>            happy-COP. the victor-pl.
>
>            piva i ramar
>            "The bag is red"
>            piva i rama-r
>            red the bag-COP.
This too is expressed by -@s- in Old Albic.

> 2) The essive is used when the predicate noun is the
> only element present. That is, when the sentence is of
> the form "It = Y" or (colloquially) "He = Y"
>
>   example: id voronye enkëari ihwilda!
>          "Behold, the victors of the war are coming!"
>        id     voron-ya-i      enke-ari i-fil-da
>        behold victor-pl.-ess. war-gen. conj.-come-ger.
> (literally: "Behold, it is the victors of the war
> coming")
>
> The form of the essive is "-i" attached to a noun.
This is a case for the verb an- in Old Albic, I think, but I am
not sure.  Can also be has-, depending on the permanence of the
situation.

> The essive is also used as the predicate argument of
> verbs meaning "to become":
>
>    example: Yassasi liu nisteinatya
>             "I have become your king"
>             yass-a-si liu nista-i-natya
>             become-pres.-1s PERF king-ess.-your
Here, it seems, the "essive verb" is more or less used like a case.
In Old Albic, the allative case is used.

> The essive is also used to mean "as", or "while
> being":
>           helëondeilya, laissa niskilesis
>           "Being your servant, you should command me"
>           heleondo-i-lya    laissa nisk-i-le-sis
>           servant-ess.-your should command-subj.-2s-me
>
> 3) The descriptive verb is the most common way of
> linking a noun and an adjective. It has the form "ëa-"
> in the present, and "ië-" in the past. It takes
> regular personal suffixes:
>  ëasi  ëana           iesi   iena
>  ëalë  ëanta          ielë   ienta
>  ëan   ëanto/ëantë    ië     iento/ientë
>
>  examples:  ëanto máldëa i voronya
>             be-3p happy  the victor-pl.
>             "Happy are the victors"
>
>             ëan   i   rama piva
>             be-3s the bag red
>            "The bag is red"
>
> (These are stylistic and dialectic variations of the
> sentences given above)
I see the same examples as for the copulative -r.  What exactly
is the difference in meaning?

> Also, whenever a personal pronoun is connected with a
> noun, the copulative or essive is dispensed with, and
> the descriptive used instead, since this is an actual
> verb and can indicate person. Furthermore, being an
> actual verb it is the only way of indicating tense,
> hence its use as a copula in the past tenses.
I see.  The Old Albic suffix -@s- turns the noun or adjective it is
attached to into a full-fledged stative verb with past tense and
everything.

> 4) The relative is the verb used in relative clauses.
> All of the above become the relative verb in relative
> clauses. The form of the relative is: <të> "who/which
> is" and <tië> "who/which was"
>
>  example: vosi tiliello sinún të narian nivasso
>      "I can see a swan which is a most beautifl bird"
>
> vo-si   til-iello sinu-n   të      narian niva-sso
> can-1s. see-inf. swan-acc. be.rel. bird
> beautiful-sprl.
Old Albic uses the same copular verbs in relative clauses as in
main clauses.

> 5) The existential verb is used as in English, to mean
> "there is/are/were/was" It's form is: <më> "there is"
> and <mië> "there was". In High Silindion another verb
> is used, of the form: <vo(r)> "there is" and <vusi>
> "there was"
What is the semantic difference between this and the essive verb?

> 6) The emphatic verb replaces the descriptive,
> copulative and predicative when emphasising one fact
> over another. It's form is always <ë> despite person
> or tense.
>
> Example:
>
> Listilë ta sinunar narianya niva, në sitma,
> listisi ta ë kainentë narianyaksi nivasso.
>
> "You think that swans are beautiful birds, but as for
> me, I think that _cardinals_ are the most beautiful
> among birds.
>
> list-i-lë      ta   sinu-na-r      narian-ya niva
> think-prs.-2s. that swan-coll.cop. bird-pl.  beautiful
>
> në  si-tma  list-i-si      ta    ë  kainenta-i
> and me-rel. think-prs.-2s. that  BE cardinal-pl.
>
> narian-ya-ksi   niva-sso
> bird-pl.-among  beautiful-sprl.
>
> Aslo, it's used when emphasising a single thing (the
> non-contrastive use)
>
> example: Si, i nista ë!
>          "_I_ am the king"
>          si, i nista ë
>          I  the king BE
>
> (notice is variable position, before or after the
> subject. Usually, when used contrastively, it's placed
> pre-subject, and non-contrastively after the
> predicate. However, in both cased it emphasizes the
> subject)
This is an interesting stylistic differentiation; so far, I have
nothing like that in Old Albic, but an emphatic verb prefix would
be nice.  Emphatic reduplication, perhaps?  I have to think about it.

Overall, it is once again nicely done and a true gem of classic-style
naturalist conlanging.  I really enjoyed reading your post, once again.

Greetings,

Jörg.

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