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Re: "Abilitative" aspect?

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Thursday, October 24, 2002, 21:07
Ian Maxwell wrote:
> Does anyone know of an existing language (conlangs included) that marks > any of these?
I would also consider these modes. Uatakassi marks these with what I call auxiliaries, suffixed to the verb, altho, unlike in English, they cannot occur without a verb. So, you can't say "I can't", but rather "I can't [verb]". The known auxiliaries: -pas "able to" -fas "unable to" -daku/-sku "enjoy" (-sku used after vowels) -kais "fear, be afraid to" -pis "know how to" -filpis "not know how to" -vukati "cause" (note: Vukati as an independant verb means "to put") -liba "must" -fliba "must not" -nini "need to" -ni "want to" -fini/-fni "want not to" (-fni after vowels) In addition, there is a group that I call "semi-auxilaries", which are verbs that may be used as free verbs or may be suffixed as auxilaries: Vazia "act out of rage; ____ out of rage/angrily" Lifai "begin; begin to _____" Zlutaflan "decide; decide to_____" Tli "hope; hope to _____" Livadi "stop; stop _____ing" Latas "try; try to _____" Thus, with a verb like _mitas_ "run", you get the following forms (-uki is the 1st perosn nonpunctual ending): Mitaspasuki - "I can run" Mitasfasuki - "I can't run" Mitazdakuuki - "I enjoy running" (note the regressive assimilation, /sd/ -> /zd/) Mitaskaisuki - "I am afraid to run" Mitaspisuki - "I know how to run" Mitasfilpisuki - "I don't know how to run" Mitazvukatiuki - "I cause [someone] to run" Mitaslibauki - "I must run" Mitasflibauki - "I must not run" Mitasniniuki - "I need to run" Mitasniuki - "I want to run" Mitasfiniuki - "I want to not run" Mitazvaziauki - "I run out of rage, I run angrily" Mitaslifaiki - "I begin to run" (regular change, ai + u -> ai; likewise, au + i -> au) Mitazzlutaflanuki - "I decide to run" Mitast'iliuki - "I hope to run" (tli -> t'ili [tsili] or [tili] as a result of epenthesis, [tlj] -> [tilj], and in some dialects, [ti] -> [tsi]) Mitaslivadiuki - "I stop running" Mitaslatasuki - "I try to run" -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42