Re: Languages without verbs

On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 11:09 AM, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
> --- On Fri, 11/14/08, David McCann <david@...> wrote:
>
> ...
>>
>> Some Papuan languages are like that. Kalam is said to have
>> less than 100
>> verbs, and only a couple of dozen are in general use:
>
> Ogden's Basic English has 6 verbs and 15 "operators":
>
> verbs : be   become   cause   make   do   have
>
>
> operators:
>
>      be , have , come - go , put - take , give - get ,
>      make , keep , let , do , say , see , send ,
>      cause and because are occasionally used as operators;
>      seem was later added.
>
> --gary
>
Kelen has 4 relationals, which could be reinterpreted as verbs.

LA would be the equivalent of be, have
NI - do, make, become, cause, come, go
SE - experience, see, say, hear, feel, give, get, take, send, receive
PA - have

basically, LA takes one argument/object
NI expects 2, and SE expects 3.
PA also expects 2.

-S
--
Sylvia Sotomayor
terjemar@gmail.com
www.terjemar.net