Re: Non-static verbs?

On 16 Aug, H. S. Teoh wrote:

>I'm just wondering if this occurs in any natlangs or any other conlangs:
>
>In my conlang, verbs are *never* used to describe state but specifically
>only for describing changes in state.
>
>For example, the sentence "I have a car" in the language will be
>translated to a noun-phrase -- there is no equivalent of the verb to-have
>because possession is regarded as static
<snip>

    How would your conlang handle "fleeting possession"
such as possession of the ball in a fiercely fought game
of soccer: "Team X has the ball." (but loses it and regains
it many times within a short span of time).
This doesn't seem very static to me.
    Perhaps this type of "have" could be considered active
and merit a verbally marked word for it, as opposed to
the static "have" in "I have a car".

    In my conlang,  rtemmu, all "content" words signify change of
state. There is no word for "have" as such.
 To say "I have a car", one would say:

    inakehs itihkxere, auag  zuv kfrur`.

or

    inazuv kfrur`, auag itihkxere.

ina = the speaker who is changing at a subjectively normal rate
kehs = "itihk" is changing at an observably normal rate
itihk = 1st person singular process
-xere = possession (is attached to the word for the process which
                possesses; Let's skip over here what exactly it means
                for one process to "possess" another process, but please
                feel free to think about it.)
auag = assertion that what follows should be connected to
              what has come before
zuv = the kfrur` is objectively changing at a rate too slow to notice
kfrur` = car (the first "r" is an alveolar trill, the second "r`" is [R])

The first sentence would come out like "Mine (is) car", while
the second would be "Car (is) mine!" Difference in emphasis.
To signify "fleeting" possession, one would use a rate marker
signifying rapid change:

"inafis duhluhlxere"  (= they have) instead of "inakehs duhluhlxere"
where "fis" would reflect an observably rapid changing.
 ("duhlul"= 3rd pers. plural process)
If you really wanted to be nasty, you could use "fistis", signifying
extremely rapid change, thus hinting at two incredibly inept
teams out there on the field.  :-)



Dan Sulani
--------------------------------------------------------------------
likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.