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Re: Some or any

From:Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>
Date:Wednesday, May 29, 2002, 22:17
On Sun, 26 May 2002 23:10:45 -0400 Stephen DeGrace
<stevedegrace@...> writes:
> That's really interesting. Do you ever find yourself > needing to make the distinction we feel the need to in > English in Rokbeigalmki between, say "something" and > "anything"? If you ever do run into a "problem", what > is that conlang's solution?
> Stephen
- I can't really think of a situation where i'd run into that... maybe you or someone else could come up with examples of contrastive something/anything, but i can't think of any at the moment. The problem i *do* have to deal with in Rokbeigalmki is distinguishing between the negative versions of 'some' and 'all' words: iltao = always tatao = sometimes/anytime natao = never niltao = never |iltao| and |niltao| are opposites, and |tatao| and |natao| are opposites. I generally think of the |nil-| forms as stronger than the |na-| forms, and as negating the whole, while the |na-| forms negate individual instances within the whole. Hmm... aha! in equative copula sentences, |na-| forms have to be used with the present-immediate tense, while |nil-| forms can be used with the present-routine tense or tenselessly: |natao sudtelos-ad azá| = "i am never scared", there is no instance in time that you could point to and say that at that moment i'm being afraid. |niltao sudtelos-ad az| = "i am never scared", when you look at all of Time as a whole, throughout all of it i am not scared. I hope that sort of makes sense. -Stephen (Steg) "an aroma for home-a, and a reek for the street..." ~ earth, by david brin

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Maarten van Beek <dungeonmaster@...>