Re: Another new project and trigger languages

CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
>I guess both msut be possible, but for the trigger languages I know (only
>Tagalog actually), the information is encoded on the verb using affixes
>(prefixes, suffixes or infixes, all three are used ;))) ).
From what i see, a lot of verbal roots in Tagalog also appear to be nouns
as well, and nouns can become verbs simply altering them using the trigger
affixes. So we get:

akala - assume
mag-akala - to assume
nag-akala - was (being) assumed - completed aspect
nag-aakala - is (being) assumed - incompleted aspect
mag-aakala - will (be) - contemplated aspect

I used forms of be in parentheses to emphasize that the aspects are not
tenses, but rather temporal periods that the verb exists. Usually they are
translated as if they are tenses.

Also note that the verbal root in general stays the same, but the affixes
change. Also in Tagalog orthography a hyphen is used to separate the affix
from the root to preserve the root in the word (it represents a glottal
stop)