Re: a question of terminology

On Sun, 25 Apr 1999, Matt Pearson wrote:

> Boudewijn Rempt wrote:
>
> I would call these "attitudinal suffixes".  The AFF, DSP, and CRT suffixes
> clearly express the speaker's attitude towards what s/he is saying, or
> towards some person/thing associated with the utterance context.  The IMP
> and OPT could also be regarded as attitudinals in a broad sense, insofar as
> they indicate the speaker's desire that a particular action or situation
> come about.  I'm not so clear on what the FLT suffix is used for, though...
>
> Matt.
>
That's a good suggestion - I may very well go with it. The flattering affix
is used especially in conversation with high officials or in writing about
them. It occurs especially often in verbatim reports of judicial cases.

I've some examples up my sleeve:

  Hamal pulandine, githan.zo  e.do       fentan
  Hamal magistrate listen.FLT POSS.1sMGH story

    Magistrate Hamal, please listen to my story.

  Do    huwan.zo  shauldan.
  1sMGH thank.FLT 2sVHGH.

    I thank you.

  Do    telay  toran.zo ga  do    kisame dilogh.
  1sMGH guilty find.FLT NOM 1sMGH nag    REFL

    That you find me guilty makes me reflect.

In certain literature dealing with the emperor and his court it also occurs
almost every sentence:

  Pal     Murzi sem  lahan'singa shiyir.zo.jur.ini  e.shauldan  cuan.dir,
  emperor Murzi only spring      visit.FLT.PRT1.HAB POSS.3sVHGH concubine.p

  lahan'ging, lahan'laush, lahan'per tau.shiyir.zo.jur.ini, tarna afar.zo.ni.
  summer      autumn       winter    NEG.visit.FLT.PRT1.HAB but   govern.FLT.HAB.

    Emperor Murzi only visited his concubines in spring, in summer, autumn and
    winter [he] wouldn't visit [them] but govern.

Finally, some books offering advice to children on how to behave to their
parents and grandparents advice to use the affective suffix for parents
and the flattering suffix for grandparents:

  Aday-yaday e.do,      yim githan.ju  tan e.do,      lahanbi dan   tan keda.da
  boy-girl   POSS.1sMGH now listen.CRT GEN POSS.1sMGH when    2pMGH GEN ancestor.p

  e.dan      denr   ga  mo,    wendan.ju. 'zo' dentan.ju, maraun tau.dentan.ju.
  POSS.2pMGH speach NOM moment polite.IMP -zo  say.IMP    other  NEG.say.IMP.

    My children, now you will listen to me, when you speak with you ancestors,
    be polite. Say 'zo', don't say it otherwise.

Of the affective suffix I've also got rather a nice example, from a little
booklet with advice on young girls who wish to have a career at court (or
at courting), the 'Garalwushir':

  Yudar.iy   e.ni,      yim githan.men.de  tan ni.
  friend.DIM poss.2sAFP now listen.AFF.PTR GEN 1sAFP     (AFP: affective pronoun)

    My little friend, now listen to me. (The use of the relative preterite
    isn't clear in this sentence.)

Perhaps 'flattering' isn't a good label for  <-zo> - honorific might be better.
It's just that when publishing the first version of the grammar I didn't have
a better term, and it has stuck until now.

Boudewijn Rempt  | www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt