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motion verbs in Tokana

From:Matt Pearson <jmpearson@...>
Date:Wednesday, February 23, 2000, 18:58
Recently I did a revamping of motion verbs in Tokana, and I
thought I'd share what I came up with.  Originally motion verbs
were of two types, which I might call "trajectory verbs" and
"manner verbs".  Trajectory verbs specify the direction/goal/
source/etc. of a moving entity, while manner verbs focus on
the means of locomotion which the entity is moving:

Trajectory verbs:

  eta     "go to(wards)"
  hepa    "go along (the edge of)"
  ampiota         "go around, surround"
  kloha   "go through"
  hyla    "pass, go past, go beyond"
  lhyua   "enter, go into (an enclosed space)"
  typa    "go into (a body of water), submerge o.s. in"
  sufa    "exit, go out of (an enclosed space)"
  fuia    "emerge from (a body of water)"
  nema    "go around in all directions, wander"
  kahpa   "go down (to), ascend"
  yisa    "go up (to), descend"

Manner verbs:

  eta     "walk"
  penta   "run"
  sihana          "swim"
  uasta   "fly"
  kaklala         "crawl (on legs), scuttle/scurry/scamper"
  piysa   "slither"
  ianta   "jump"

I've now added a third category of motion verbs which
conflate both manner and trajectory.  These verbs are
formed by prefixing one of the trajectory verbs with a
"manner prefix", where the manner prefixes are
derived in quasi-regular fashion from the manner verbs:

  pa-     "by running"
  si(h)-          "by swimming"
  ua(s)-          "by flying"
  kakla-          "by scurrying"        etc.

Some examples:

  pahepa          "run along the edge of"
  pahyla          "run past"
  pakloha         "run through"
  palhyua         "run into"

  silhyua         "swim into"
  sihsufa         "swim out of"
  sihnema         "swim around aimlessly"

  uaskloha        "fly through"
  uastypa         "fly down and land (in a body of water)"
  uaskahpa        "fly down (to)"
  uasyisa         "fly up (to)"

Other more esoteric verbs are also possible, such as
"kaklafuia" = "come scuttling out of (a body of water)"
or "iannema" = "jump around in all directions".  Considering
that Tokana has a rather rich system of trajectory verbs,
the possibilities are enormous.  E.g., from the verb "sisihta",
meaning "go down to the nearest river", we can form
"pasisihta" = "run down to the nearest river", and from
"ahuafa" = "go in the direction of the setting sun", we can
form "sihahuafa" = "swim in the direction of the setting
sun".

What do people think?  Has anyone else played around with
motion verbs in interesting ways?

Matt.