Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: "Abilitative" aspect?

From:Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>
Date:Thursday, October 24, 2002, 17:24
Mau writes:

>Ian Maxwell írta: > > > 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? >> >Well I think Hungarian has something like the first and the second >one. The affix -hat/-het is used to express ability. >For example: tesz "(he/she/it) does" vs. tehet "(he/she/it) is able >to do" or "can do" or "(he/she/it) is allowed to do"
Well, since Hungarian and Japanese are related...:) Japanese marks ability within the verb: nomu "drink" --> nomeru "be able to drink" hanasu "speak" --> hanaseru "be able to speak" iku "go" --> ikeru "be able to go" etc. Not willingness, but volition is also marked as a suffix to the verbal stem, but the new form is technically considered an adjective: nomitai "want to drink" hanasitai "want to speak" ikitai "want to go" etc. Causatives, passives, and causitive passives also are treated with this kind of affixation. (Cf. Hungarian -gat/-get). Obmylang: Géarthnuns does not do this. The auxiliary is marked for "voice": active - unmarked passive - ending in "t" dative passive - ending in "k" (eg: "I was given the book.") causative - ending in "n" causative passive - ending in "b" reflexive - ending in "s" impersonal - ending in "v" (eg: "They say..."; "On dit...."; "Man sagt..." Ability, permission, and volition are expressed by separate verbs. Kou