Re: "Abilitative" aspect?

Ian Maxwell sikyal:

> Specicifically, I'm conceiving of an aspect that marks having the
> ability to do something. So, it would turn "to run" into "to be able to
> run". There could also be a seperate aspect for being allowed to do
> something, so that it would become "to be allowed to run". And, while
> we're at it, there could be one for willingness ("to be willing to run").
>
> Does anyone know of an existing language (conlangs included) that marks
> any of these? If not, I nominate the terms abilitative, permissive,
> and... um, I don't know. Any suggestions for the third?
Yivrian has these and a few others. The one you talk about is called the
abilitive (not abilitATive, since that sounds like too much). I also have
"to want to", called the volitive, and "to have to" called the debitive.
So, yeah, this is a pretty well-established area of conlangery.


Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/

Jesus asked them, "Who do you say that I am?"

And they answered, "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground
of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our
interpersonal relationship."

And Jesus said, "What?"

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