Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: antonyms: regretful & tasty

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Saturday, May 17, 2003, 17:26
En réponse à Henrik Theiling :


>Hmm... I think the English one is simply for two things, where French >distinguishes them: a) expressing that something is at a certain place >(namely, 'here' or 'there'), b) presenting thing that to someone. > >For sentences where you use 'voice' or 'voila', you present that thing >you're pointing to to someone, while in 'il y'a', you simply state >that it's there. The relationship to German of 'voici'/'voila' could >be like 'Voici votre voiture.' =~ 'Bitte sehr, Ihr Auto.' And maybe >'There you are, your car.' I think it does not really state that the >car is at a certain place, but more importantly changes the mood of >the sentence from proposition to presentation. In the English >'Here's...', this change is also possible, but implicitly done rather >than explicitly. > >Is that not so?
Yes, but only partly. "Voilà" can also be used to indicate something is finished (it has been borrowed in English with that meaning), and "here it is" feels pretty ackward in this case (because in that case the sense of presentation is gone, but it doesn't have either a strong sense of existence. It's just a sense of accomplishment), although it's only an extension of the sense of "voilà". And this is only one example of the use of "voilà". Now, English does have everything to render the same meanings that French renders with "voici" and "voilà". But I cannot help but feel that in English it's more ackward than in French. Christophe Grandsire. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang.

Replies

Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>