Adjectives, Particles, and This ( etc ), and Conjunctions

dirk elzinga wrote:
>Nik Taylor wrote:
>>Are there any examples of that in natlangs, then?
>Well, probably not exactly what you're looking for, but Shoshoni
>has a highly articulated demonstrative system; here's how it
>works.
>Demonstratives consist of two parts, a proximal prefix and a
>demonstrative stem. Most prefixes come in pairs, one with an
>initial s- and one without. The s- forms are more definite and
>are used for previously mentioned referents. Each pair shows
>relative distance--spatial, temporal as well as psychological.
>Here are the prefixes with the demonstrative stem -tyn (/y/ is a
>high central unrounded vowel):
>
>        si-, i- 'near' (sityn 'this')
>        se-, e- 'not quite so near' (setyn 'this')
>        sa-, a- 'far, but in sight' (satyn 'that')
>        su-, u- 'not in sight, usually far' (sutyn 'that')
>        ma- no distinction (matyn 'this, that')
>
(...)
>
>Dirk
Nice! I suppose that if shoshone was a conlang, it would be said that it
is unnaturalically regular!

Banin is a pain on the demonstratives chapter. It distinguishes proximity,
position in the discourse ("that that you were speaking about", "this that
I am going to talk about now"), visibility, and knowledge ("this that I
know, but you don't"). And them they have a weird set of relative pronouns.
Some examples (I don't believe they have a regular system):

ussu   - the one I've been talking about
fassu  - the one you've been talking about
rassu  - the one he/she/them/somebody has been talking about
utu    - the one I am talking about now
lafatu - the one we are talking about
uru    - the one I am going to talk about next
ugu    - this, the one that is with me
fagu   - that, the one that is with you
sufagu - that, the one that is far from both of us
ragu   - that, the one that's with the person we're talking about
ulu    - this that I can see
uzu    - this that I know
sefazu - this that you DON'T know

Whew! And I fear that they may combine those things, such as "lafatuserazu",
this that we were talking about and that they don't know!

It must be something they eat - or that they smoke.

Luís Henrique



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