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Re: Serial verbs in trigger systems

From:FFlores <fflores@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 16, 1999, 15:28
Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...> wrote:
> Pablo Flores wrote: > > -----<snip>----- > >My question is: does this seem farfetched? (It does, > >a bit, to me). Is this used in natlangs? Any other > >ideas? Suggestions are welcome. > > You probably think its farfetched because you're not used to dealing > with trigger systems, but it looks like a fairly logical extension > of a trigger system to me. Though I fail to see any serial verbs in > the construction you have made.
Yes, my idea changed in mid-way. What I wanted to do was something like "I cut wood use axe", with the series cut-use, but then I saw this would be differently handled in a trigger language.
> > Tagalog might have a similar construction. If I were to say "I cut > wood with an axe" in Tagalog, I'd normally say something like: > > Gumamit ako ng palakol sa pagputol ng kahoy. > AGT.use TRG.I GEN axe OBL for-cutting GEN wood > lit.: "I am the user of an axe for the cutting of wood." > > or > > Palakol ang ginamit ko sa pagputol ng kahoy. > axe TRG PAT.use GEN.I OBL for-cutting GEN wood > lit.: "My instrument for the cutting of wood is an axe."
What is _pagputol_ "for cutting"? Is it an inflected form of a predicate "cut"? I'm guessing _p-agp-utol_ with an infix -agp- (judging by _pumutol_ below). [snip]
> > But in your construction, you're trigger is the cutter of wood as > the user of an axe. Thus you're construction is not much different > from the Tagalog construction below: > > Ako ang pumutol ng kahoy na gumamit ng palakol > I TRG AGT.cut GEN wood [ AGT.use GEN axe ] > lit.: "The cutter of wood who is the user of an axe is me." >
Almost my way. What is _na_, a subordinate clause marker? This is more of a serial verb construction than my INSTR.do because the trigger remains the same. I guess I didn't see the other possible ways because I'm not familiar with the system and I tend to put things into the very rigid limited frames I have. I'm gonna change that. Thanks a lot for the examples! --Pablo Flores * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Stewart's Law of Retroaction: It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.