Re: A little entertainment

On Sun, 19 Mar 2000, Padraic Brown wrote:

> On Sun, 19 Mar 2000, Sally Caves wrote:
> >Or 5.  Change the syntax of the subclause.  In Teonaht
> >it mirrors that of the main clause:
> >
>
> >        Or, even, in some forms of T:
> >        Il lorfa-vim rinil beto revpomennyve elry ke.
> >        The she-wolf with-eating-of-the-boy I saw.
> >        WHEW!
>
> Eka-he welham-cam paratahatomtel wehhetim.
> I-and  wolf-the   boy-eating-LOC saw

Both of you, does that mean "I saw the she-wolf that had eaten the
boy" or "I saw the she-wolf eating the boy"?

  vethea     chalun     lea hanea     cronesat
  wolf-acc-s see-PST-1s REL boy-acc-s eat-PRF-PRS-3s

  "I saw the wolf that had eaten the boy"

implying that the boy had been devoured before I saw the wolf, or

  vethea     chalun     lea hanea     cronat
  wolf-acc-s see-PST-1s REL boy-acc-s eat-PRS-3s

  "I saw the wolf that ate the boy"

implying that the meal was in progress when I saw it.


On a side note, Valdyan nests relative clauses only when they apply
to the subject, not when they apply to the object:

  veth       lea hanea     cronesat       dosta     mustynat
  wolf-nom-s REL boy-acc-s eat-PRF-PRS-3s dog-acc-s fight-PNC-PRS-3s

  "The wolf that has eaten the boy fights the dog"

but this

  veth       dosta     mustynat         lea hanea     cronesat
  wolf-nom-s dog-acc-s fight-PNC-PRS-3s REL boy-acc-s eat-PRF-PRS-3s

can only mean

  "The wolf fights the dog that has eaten the boy"

and this is ungrammatical:

* veth       dosta     lea hanea     cronesat       mustynat
  wolf-nom-s dog-acc-s REL boy-acc-s eat-PRF-PRS-3s fight-PNC-PRS-3s


If the antecedent is the object of the relative clause, it's resumed
by the object pronoun _le_:

  veth       lea dost      le  mustynat     hanea     cronesat
  wolf-nom-s REL dog-nom-s RES fight-PRS-3s boy-acc-s eat-PRF-PRS-3s

  "The wolf that the dog fights has eaten a/the boy"

even when it's also the object of the main clause:

  vethea     chalan     lea dost      le  mustynat
  wolf-acc-s see-PRS-1s REL dog-nom-s RES fight-PRS-3s

  "I see the wolf that the dog fights"

   Irina

--
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