Re: New lang (got bored)
| From: | Keolah Kedaire <keolah@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, February 15, 2000, 5:28 |
|---|
On Mon, 14 Feb 2000, Roger Mills wrote:
> In a message dated 2/14/2000 2:03:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> keolah@APN.DHS.ORG writes:
>
> << Here's one sentence, written three ways..
> (1) azaru ka nu zari na mibi - "Sing a song did the gnome"
> (2) azari vu zaru ka na mibi - "The song is sung by the gnome"
> (3) amibi va zaru ka nu zari - "The gnome sings a song"
>
> zar - root for 'sing'
> mib - root for 'gnome'
> ka - present tense
> na - this noun is performing the action
> nu - the action is performed upon this noun
> va - the noun performs this action
> vu - this action is performed upon the noun >>
>
> Very interesting. It seems to be a variant of a "trigger system" that others
> have been discussing (I tend to call this "focus system" but the terms seem
> equivalent). So would it be correct that (1) is the neutral, unmarked word
> order? (2) shows focus on "song" object focus, or passive in English terms?,
> and (3) shows agent/actor focus?
Hmm, not sure what you mean about (1), but yeah, something like that.
(I've been calling this a "focus system" myself, funny you should mention
that.)
It seems to me that putting the focus on different things allows
different things to be done. For instance, if the verb is the focus, there
can be a string of nouns ten miles long listing what is doing it and what
it is being done to, in whatever order you want if you put the nu's and
na's on the appropriate nouns.
eg. azaru ka na mibi na titani - "Sing did the gnome and the child"
Now, if a noun is the focus, it can have a string of verbs after it
listing any actions it is performing and being performed on it, and the
associated nouns. The order is not important unless there are multiple
verbs, when you need to be careful to put the nouns after the actions that
they are doing or being done to them. Even then it could get confusing...
eg. amibi ka va zaru vu saku - "The gnome sings and gets shot" ;)
note: gnomes in this setting can't carry a tune in a bucket, so to speak.
-- Keolah the Seeker --