Re: Grammar of "something to do."

--- In conlang@y..., William Annis wrote:
> > How in the world do you analyze phrases like "something to do," "a
> > place to live," "someone to love?"
Hmmm...  in German, "jemand zum Gernhaben" doesn't seem to be a mangled
subordinate clause; rather, the verb is nouned and bound with a
preposition.  Literally, it means "somebody for the liking".

In Obrenje, one would conveniently abuse the simple future active
participle: <ulim> "to be loved".  If used as a head noun, it would
have to be translated as "one to be loved", "somebody to be loved".

Simple participles often have a more enduring meaning than the
fleeting temporariness of continuous participles.  In fact, the simple
participles are usually translated quite differently from the
continuous ones.  When used as a head noun, the simple present active
participle is translated with an actor noun.  Compare <setamma>
"guarding" with <setam> "watcher, guard".

Continuous present active participle: <setamma>
<warve setamma> = "guarding dog" (a dog which happens to be guarding
something right now).

Simple present active participle: <setam>
<warve setam> = "watchdog" (a dog whose ongoing mission it is to guard,
though he might be sleeping just now).
<setam warve> = "watcher of dogs".


-- Christian Thalmann