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Re: TRANS: a child's exercise

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Tuesday, September 7, 1999, 2:59
FFlores wrote:
> Nian measmev=E4s askiemth =FCs detel s=E4n=FCat. > 1p-PSS fish-catch.GEN boats.DIM inside one go.1p-PST > 'We went in one of our fishing boats.' >=20 > measmev=E4s =3D meav- 'fish', -es- GEN, mev- 'take, catch', > -as verbal noun, -es GEN (collapsing -as-es > -=E4s).
Question: why is it not "meavesmev=E4s"? Is there a rule that drops the {v} from meav- and the {e} of -es in that form?
> na rros=FCr g=F3kononeq b=FCtth rremanth. > to sea.LOC throw.DUP.3pPST 3p.REL nets.ACC > 'who kept throwing nets into the sea.'
Interesting. So, this "DUP" means "repeated action"?
> This pattern, _i_ + concrete noun + _g=FCften_ 'to do, to make' > is *extremely* common (and useful!), since the Dr=E1selhadh don=
't
> really like to create verb stems from nouns.
Cool. Same with Colloquial Watakass=ED, which has a lot of verbal phrase= s of the type "make" or "give" plus noun. In later times, those verbs evolved into suffixes.
> Tolkien fans: I *swear* _sauron_ 'shadow maker' wasn't > created on purpose!
Hmm, had you read Tolkien before creating that word? Perhaps it was an unconcious derivation? Presumably, based on your interlinear, based on a word for "shadow"?
> tadh na rr=E9mathes renhadh farth=FC=E1q i sauron. > but for nets.GEN men.GRP NEG.exist.3pPST * shadow.AGT > 'but there was no shadow-maker for the men of the nets.'
What's the GRP mean? Is it a collective suffix (as in "group"?)
> _maqas_ means both 'shelter' and 'harbor' in a general sense. > A concrete 'harbor' would be _maq_.
What, then, does -as mean?
> So, what do you think? Did I pass? ;)
Very nice story. I'll try to do a translation of it. --=20 "If all Printers were determin'd not to print any thing till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed" - Benjamin Franklin http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files/ http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ #: 18656696 AIM screen-name: NikTailor