Imperative mood in ergative languages
| From: | Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 10:51 |
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Hello,
having started P47 project, I met a problem. The lang is intended to have
three basic types of a simple sentence: absolute (for intransitive verbs),
ergative (for transitive verbs) and dative (for perceptive verbs). In
indicative mood it goes smooth. How then it works in imperative? If
indicative "The hunter killed a wolf" and "The boy hears his father's voice"
may be glossed as "wolf is.killed hunter-ERG" and "father-GEN voice is.heard
boy-DAT", will imperative "Kill the wolf!", "Hear my voice!" be rendered as
"wolf let.it.be.killed you-ERG", "my voice let.be.heard you-DAT"? IIRC in
Georgian imperative in fact coincides with aorist, so "Give me some wine!"
is the same as "You have.given me (some) wine!" Any confirmation? Any
alternatives?
-- Yitzik
from frosty Ukraine with love
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