Re: Serial verbs in trigger systems

Pablo Flores wrote:

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>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.

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."

In the first option, the trigger is the first-person as the user of
an axe. In the second option, the trigger is the patient of what the
first person is using - that is, the axe.

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."

It all depends on what you want as the trigger.

-kristian- 8-)