Re: [SHOEBOX] answers to David and jeff

> From: dirk elzinga
> >
> > No, the auxiliary actually does not have a root, but consists
> solely of the
> > mood, aspect and tense inflections.
> >
> > for example:
> >
> > The boy is eating the soup.
> >
> > \t ir  adanisse         eliras                 im  mastmear-0
> > \m i   adan =is    -e   el        -ir   -as    in  masad - mear   -0
> > \g the man  =small -[A] assertive -prog -pres  to  food  - liquid -[P]
> > \p DET N    =DIM   -ERG MOOD      -ASP  -TENSE PTP N     - N      -ABS
> > \f the boy              is                     to  soup
> >
> > \t ervathiel
> > \m er-  matho -ie      -l
> > \g do-  eat   -agt/thm -actn
> > \p AGT- V     -VAL     -VC
> > \f eat
> >
> > In the sentence, all of the semantic content is in the lexical verb
> > "ervathiel".  The auxiliary "eliras" is both semantically empty
> and rootless
> > consisting of the mood prefix el-, the aspect suffix -ir, and the tense
> > suffix -as.  Only the aspect affix is optional.  Shoebox forces
> me to define
> > one of these (I chose the mood prefix) as a root.
>
> Do the auxiliary affixes occur on any other forms? If not, I don't see
> why it would be a problem to simply call the mood "prefix" the root of
> auxiliary affixation.
No, not in amman iar which is why calling the mood prefix a root works.  For
amman iar it's not really a problem, but this won't be the case for amman
iar's sister language forendar which uses the mood prefix more freely.

> Here's another question: do these auxiliaries come in a specific place
> in the sentence, say second position? If so, then what you may have is
> a clitic chain rather than the bona fide lexical category of
> Auxiliary. I don't know Shoebox, so I can't tell you how it would
> handle clitics but I assume it would be able to do that since SIL
> deals with many languages with well-established clitic inventories.
Auxiliary placement is more complicated then that.  The position of the
auxiliary verb AUX is semantically determined by the argument structure of
the predicate.  In the absence of a patientive or theme argument, the
auxiliary verb takes sentence final position S V LOC AUX, thus:

The tiger pounced in the forest.
i dais ergabedhel i daurar eleth.

\t i   dais  ergabedhel              i   daurar        eleth
\m i   tais  er-  cabedho -e   -l    i   taur   -ar    el        -eth
\g the tiger do-  jump    -agt -actn the forest -in    assertive -past
\p DET N     AGT- V       -VAL -VC   DET N      -INESS MOOD      -TENSE
\f S=AGT     V                       LOC               AUX

Otherwise, the auxiliary verb immediately precedes the patient/Theme
particle (PTP) which in turn precedes the patientive/theme argument, AUX PTP
S V  thus,

The eagle is dying.
eliras en i thoren ascoirar.

\t eliras                 en  i   thoren ascoirar
\m el        -ir   -as    en  i   thoren as=         coiro -ar
\g assertive -prog -pres  to  the eagle  complement= live  -in
\p MOOD      -ASP  -TENSE PTP DET N      PREF=       V     -INESS
\f AUX                    PTP S=PAT      V

David

David E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
    dbell@graywizard.net
    www.graywizard.net

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