Re: Tokana: active? (was Re: Active case-marking natlangs)

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:

> J Matthew Pearson <pearson@...> writes:
>
> > Nominative subjects (volitional agents):
> >
> >   Na      Tsion    hostane
> >   the-Nom John-Nom danced
> >   "John danced"
> >
> >   Na      Tsion    tsitspit    kopo
> >   the-Nom John-Nom smashed-the pot-Abs
> >   "John smashed the pot"
>
> Nur-ellen uses the agentive here, which corresponds to the Tokana
> nominative:
>
> Jan      limpent.
> John-AGT dance-PAST
>
> Jan      dringent   i   drom.
> John-AGT smash-PAST the pot-OBJ
>
> Only animate agents can be volitional, hence only animate nouns have an
> agentive case.  Is this the same in Tokana (it seems so; how can
> inanimate objects have volition)?
Yes, only animate nouns can have nominative case.  Of course, in *animate* I am
including inanimate objects, forces, and spirits, when these are personified in myths
and stories.  Hence, in "The sun melted the ice", the noun phrase meaning "the sun"
would normally appear in instrumental case, with the determiner used specifically for
inanimates.  However, if the sentence were used in a myth in which purposefulness is
attributed to the sun, it would appear in the nominative case, with an animate
determiner.


> >       To express "John was killed", simply omit all mention
> > of the agent.  There are actually two possible constructions here:  If the focus
> > is on the event ("John got killed"), the regular past tense form of the verb is
> > used; if the focus is on the resultant state ("John has been killed, John is
> > dead"), the present tense stative form is used:
> >
> >    Ne      Tsion    kaihe
> >    the-Abs John-Abs kill-Pst
> >    "John was killed"
>
> Nur-ellen:
>
> Jan`n    dagnent.
> John-OBJ kill-PAST
>
> >    Ne      Tsion    kaieha
> >    the-Abs John-Abs kill-Stat
> >    "John is (in a state of having been) killed"
>
> Jan`n    dag`n.
> John-OBJ kill-PRES
If "Jan'n dag'n" means "John is killed/dead", how do you express "John is being killed
(right now)"?

Matt.