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Re: Devoid

From:Herman Miller <hmiller@...>
Date:Sunday, June 18, 2006, 3:20
caeruleancentaur wrote:
> I happened upon the word "devoid" today. It seems to be an > interesting adjective. While synonyms are "empty, vacant, etc." it > must be used with "of" and cannot be used attributively or > predicatively. > > *The devoid (of) can is on the table. > *The can is devoid (of).
I haven't thought of a word for "devoid" in Minza, but it would be a "transitive adjective". Minza has a class of adjectives that take an object in the genitive case, but unlike "devoid", this object can be omitted (like the object of a transitive verb). The Minza word for "full" is such an adjective: łepa kumbi "a full box"; łepa kumbi topilit "a box full of pencils". Probably something like "absolutely lacking" is what I'd use for "devoid". Lacking is a participle (nežyli), which also acts as a "transitive adjective". "Absolutely" is represented by the prefix "kai-". Teka batsomu juk kainežyli. "The devoid can is on the table."
> It can be used appositively (if I understand that correctly). > > He is a man devoid of charm.
Adjectives follow nouns in Minza, so this distinction doesn't apply.