Re: going without "without"

Matt Pearson <mpearson@...> wrote:

[snip]=20
> All well and good.  The problem is that I now no longer
> have a good way to express "without" in Tokana.  Once I'd
> eliminated the preposition "kun" =3D "with", I had to get rid
> of the derived form "tukun" =3D "without" as well, for the
> sake of symmetry.  So now I'm stuck as to what to do instead.
You could take a periphrasis and then shorten it. In Drasel=E9q,
I derived the instrumental preposition _th=E4n_ 'with, using' from an=20
old participle _ladhtaen_ 'having, possessing, grasping'. You could
do the same for 'without' with a negative verb form. Or use an adverb
meaning 'so, in that condition', 'being like that', negated:

        stick-INST NEG.so walk.3s she
        'She walks without a stick.'

(that's unmarked Drasel=E9q word order... you change it!)


--Pablo Flores