Re: Sidaan Verbal System

Hi!

"David J. Peterson" <dedalvs@...> writes:
> It's been awhile since I actually posted any actual data on anything,
> so I thought I'd post on this verbal system I've been toying with.
And it took a while to read your post -- I was busy cooking the whole
week and particularly Thu-Sat (=yesterday). :-)

>...
>...{a lot of interesting stuff}...
>...
> Okay, now for the verbs.  I've always found the idea of dependent
> marking rather fascinating.  So instead of marking case, Sidaan
> arguments agree with the other present arguments.  Each non-direct
> object is marked with /-s/ if a direct object is present, and each
> non-indirect object is marked with /-t/ if an indirect object is
> present.  Here are some examples:
>
> (1)
> (a) tox cLeho.
> /I cry-PERF./
> "I cried."
>
> (b) lEmba cLeho.
> /girl cry-PERF./
> "The girl cried."
>
> (c) toxs maza loN\quno.
> /I-DO apple eat-PERF./
> "I ate the apple."
You have a very interesting system here.

However, I had always understood 'dependent marking' differently,
namely that the dependents (here: arguments) are marked for agreement
instead of the head (here: verb).  So case would be dependent marking
while a verb marking for transitivity would be head marking.

You system definitely is dependent marking in this sense, and seems to
use a 'reverse' agreement system similar to Classical Nahuatl (which
is head-marking).  There was a thread on this list:

http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0503D&L=CONLANG&D=0&I=-3&P=2220

>...
> (11) give (eat girl apple) chills me existed
>
> So, assuming I could actually construct a sentence like that in
> Sidaan, is that processable (or -ible)?
Sure, I don't see why not.

>...
> Oh, and one more question: In pro-drop languages with an overt
> passive marker, can you drop the subject of a passive verb?
What exactly is allowed depends on the given language, of course, but
principally, yes, you can.

> I always assumed the answer was "yes", but then you could have a
> verb with no overt arguments (assuming the demoted object could also
> be dropped).
Hmm, I see no problem.  In Mandarin and Japanese (both pro-drop
langs), you often have sentences consisting of only the verb.  I'm not
able of giving passive sentences, however, but maybe someone else can
give examples.

> Oh, and if you read this far, thanks for reading.  :)
And thanks for sharing!  I always love to read stuff like this. :-)

**Henrik

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