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Re: describing names

From:H. S. Teoh <hsteoh@...>
Date:Sunday, August 4, 2002, 23:45
On Sun, Aug 04, 2002 at 01:44:39PM +0200, Majken M wrote:
[snip]
> 1. Her name is Mary > 2. Her name is beautiful > > The first sentence tells me her name, while the second > only describes it. But the only difference is the last > word. There is no way to be sure that she isn't called > Beautiful, except that is an unusual name. How do > other languages solve this problem?
[snip] This isn't really a problem in Ebisedian. Proper names always bear a proper name prefix, whereas adjectival nouns don't. Furthermore, adjectival nouns often occur with different noun cases. For example: 1) "Her name is Mary." ni jobu' d3 g3mi' `ymarii'. [ni dZo"bu d@\ g@\"mi Hyma"ri:] - (rcp) - (loc) (loc) "[The] to-her name [is] Mary." Here we have a locative-locative construct, which implies equivalence: _g3mi'_, loc. of "name", _`ymarii'_, feminine proper name (the prefix _`y_ is the feminine singular proper name prefix which occurs on all feminine proper names). 2) "Her name is beautiful." ni jobu' d3 g3m0' d3m3'l. - (rcp) - (org) (cvy) "[The] to-her name [is] pretty." Literally, "From the to-her name [there is] prettiness". Here we have a completely different construct: _g3m0'_, originative of _g3mi'_, "name", with _d3m3'l_, conveyant of _dami'l_, "pretty". The originative-conveyant construct indicates an "expressed attribute". You might think of it as, the quality of beauty metaphorically emanating from her name. 3) "Her name is Beautiful." ni jobu' d3 g3mi' `ydami'l. - (rcp) - (loc) (loc) "Her name is Beautiful." Here, we have again a locative-locative construct, which indicates that "Beautiful" is actually her name, not an adjective. Notice that "beautiful" here occurs as _dami'l_ (locative case) and not _d3m3'l_. Furthermore, the presence of the feminine proper noun prefix _`y_ makes it clear that it is a name and not an ordinary adjective. T -- A programmer is a device for turning computer programs into spaghetti. A good programmer is a device for turning spaghetti into computer programs.

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