In a message dated 5/31/2003 5:30:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
stoiberh@INODE.AT writes:
>>"obviative" suffix. You can then have pronouns (or verb endings) that
indicate
>>whether the antecedent (or subject) was proximate or obviative.
>
>Hm... looks like some kind of backwards-counting concept. The
>proximate pronoun would then be used for the last antecedent
>and the obviative for the last but one antecedent?
>
>Or is it a spatial near vs. far distinction?
Neither, as I understand it. One participant (not necessarily the first one
mentioned or the last one, not necessarily one that is spatially near) is
designated proximate (by not being marked with an obviative suffix). It would
usually be the topic/protagonist of this stretch of discourse or something that
is otherwise salient.
Doug