Re: How to do "But/However"

>I thought of using "and" as usual with the second clause (the Z) marked
>with the counterfactual, but :) that seems wrong somehow. So I ask:
>
>1. How do your conlangs handle but/however?
>2. How do natlangs handle but/however differently from IE?
>
>
>
I can give at least one alternative way of handling but from some Papuan
languages, but you might find it difficult to employ unless you have a
verb chaining system in your conlang. Basically, in these languages each
verb is marked for its relationship to the next verb in the chain:
whether the verbs share a subject, whether there is temporal overlap or
succession, and so on. Well, in some verb chaining Papuan languages
there's an affix on some verbs that does a similar job to "but" in English:

ko-nejapowo'nIngk-ahonIngk-i nakwo jomo mujo'njo
ANTI-always gives us-SEQ-3SG(DS) we ask not speak to him
"He always gives us but we don't pray to him"

Syoho yakumpohn'nyo ko-imalog-o-so hamnoyoho engo muyofoho
work strong ANTI-do-they-and money much not give
"They worked hard but not much money was given to them"

The ko- on the first verb marks that there's some form of frustration or
expectancy reversal between that verb and the following verb. The
interesting thing here I guess is that ko- is marked by a prefix on the
verb before where the "but" would be in English...
The source of these examples was "Language Typology and Syntactic
Description" by Shopen (I've been borrowing reading material from the
Uni library recently). I have to say though, some of the Basque examples
in that book are so very very wrong that I can't vouch for the complete
accuracy of these examples.

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