Re: Using 'to be' and cases

Hi all,

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005, Henrik Theiling wrote:
> Hi!
>
> zzz <kyrawertho@...> writes:
> > Ah, now I understand what your predicative case is. If I'd use -n for this
> > case, "tse hugzedru agus keizns jma" would either be
> >
> > tse hugzedru agus jman keizns
> > or
> > tse hugzedrun agus jma keizns
>
> Well, in case 'hugzedru' means 'dream' and 'jma' means 'thought', I'd
> rather say that with a predicative case, it would be either:
>
>    tse hugzedru agus jman keizns.
>   'Her dream was a thought.'
> vs.
>    tse jma agus hugzedrun keizns.
>   'Her thought was a dream.'
>
> So something similar maybe.
>
> > It seems to me keizos (to be) can be then be left out also (exept in
> > this case because -ns is past).
>
> Of course! :-)  That's what Fukhian regularly does. :-)
And this is also what many natlangs do, for example, in Malay
you would normally say:
   Impiannya sebuah fikiran.
   'Her dream: a thought.'

and
   Fikirannya sebuah impian.
   'Her thought: a dream.'

Although you COULD say
   Impiannya adalah sebuah fikiran.
   'Her dream was a thought.'
and
   Fikirannya adalah sebuah impian.
   'Her thought was a dream.'
-
you'd be more likely to say instead

   Impiannyalah sebuah fikiran.
   'Her DREAM: a thought.'
and
   Fikirannyalah sebuah impian.
   'Her THOUGHT: a dream.'

---

   Fikirannya adalah sebuah impian.
can be analysed as follows -

  fikir  + -an                                + -nya
  think + abstract noun suffix + 3S possessive suffix

  ada + -lah
  be   +  emphatic suffix

  se- + buah
  one + general numeral coefficient ('fruit')

  impi + -an
  dream + abstract noun suffix

All other Austronesian languages that I'm aware of,
eg Cham, Iban, Murut, Kadazan, follow a similar
pattern, rarely expressing the notion of equivalence
by a transitive verb "to be" (something).  Rather, they
tend to use just the emphatic particle (eg Malay - lah,
Kadazan -no) to emphasise equality.

Regards,
Yahya


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