Re: "To Be" In Silindion, Observations

--- Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> wrote:

>
> Hey, that's quite a lot of `to be' verbs!
I guess there's really only one verb, the rest are
particles or suffixes.

> 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 would use the descriptive verb  ëa-, in Silindion
     ëasi o i marvi
     ëa-si  o  i   mar-vi
     BE-1s  in the city-LOC.

> 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.
I like the phonological alterations and the fact that
you can add person markers onto the nominal suffix.
Also, how are your present tense verbs conjugated. Is
the "-a-" the only present tense marker? In Silindion,
all vowels can be a present tense marker, depending
(usually) on the vowel of the root.

> 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_.
This would be expressed with the existential verb:
 më nilli  "there is a lord, a lord exists" (L.S)
 vo(r) nilli "ditto" (H.S)

> > 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.
Basically yes.

> >
> >  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.
Except these sentences are exceptional. They are
mostly poetic (like the first sentence), or a
non-standard dialect (like the second). Adjectives are
usually linked to a noun using the descriptive verb,
for which see below.

> > 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.
I rather think that an- corresponds mostly to the
existential verb, meaning "there is, there exists".
Where as, this is more of a "it is" or (in colloquial
speech) "he is" kind of thing.

Like, as in this example:

  Yovar menta?   What's that?
  yova-r menta
  what-COP. that

  Lankeihya.   "It's my horse"
  lanka-i-hya
  horse-ESS.-my

As opposed to:  më lanka
                "there is a horse, a horse exists"

> > 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.
Basically yes, it's the essive case here. When its a
verb I prefer the terminology "predicative" but,
they're both really similar.


> > 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?
As I said, the examples under the copulative are
stylistic and dialectical. Standard Silindion and most
dialects and registers use the descriptive verb with
adjectives.


>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.
In Silindion, adding a personal suffix onto the
copulative "-r" results in a colloquial form meaning
"to have X"

Example:    lankassis "I have a horse"
            (in colloquial Low Silindion)
            lanka-r-sis
            horse-cop.-1s.


> Old Albic uses the same copular verbs in relative
> clauses as in main clauses.
My next job is to describe the full extent of
Silindion's relative madness.


>> 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?
I may have cleared this up above, let me know if you
have further difficulties.

> 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.
I'm glad you liked the emphatic verb. I just kind of
noticed the difference in position yesterday, when I
wrote it. But it's basically been there floating
around in my head like that for a while. I think an
emphatic prefix would be great!


Thanks for the praise, I'm glad you enjoyed. I'll try
to write a little something about relative clauses
next.

Happy new year!

 Elliott.


		
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