Re: Evidentiality in gjâ-zym-byn

On 15 Aug 2005 17:56:42 +0200, Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote:

> Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...> writes:
> > > ... Maybe by good examples you can convince me that
> > > generic evidence markers are better than grammaticalised ones.
> >
> > Absolutely better, maybe not; ...
>
> Oh, yes, sorry, I shouldn't use a word like 'better' when talking
> about conlangs.  Didn't notice.  Sorry.  We're not on auxlang...
...But if I ever were to lose my mind and design an auxlang,
it would probably have an evidentiality system like this
if it had any evidentiality system at all.

> > ... but I think the method I'm experimenting with now is better to
> > retro-fit into an already well-developed language like gzb.  If I
> > were starting from scratch I would probably do it differently.
> >
> > pirahanq-lam  i-m        henx gun-nxix'biq miq-i
> > Pirahã-NAME.L in-part.of not  word-number  TOP-at
> >
> > sqe   siqnx-flu-kox-poxm.
> > maybe information-flow-PLACE-EVD
> >
> > Pirahã supposedly has no words for numbers (I read it on the Internet).
>
> Ok, neat-o indeed! :-)
Actually, on further thought I'm not quite satisfied with
that sentence.  It seems like it should mean
"(I read on the Internet that) maybe Pirahã has no words
for numbers".  If I put the particle {sqe} "maybe"
after the evidentiality marker instead of before,
it could mean "(I heard/read somewhere, maybe on the
Internet, that) Pirahã has no words for numbers".

Maybe I need multiple evidentiality-deriving
suffixes, where the suffix indicates the confidence
level and the radical to which it's suffixed
indicates the source of information.  That way
the "supposedly, purportedly" nuance would
be marked by the evidentiality suffix.

> Does gzb have mood/modality markers?  They could work similarly, like
> 'command-MOOD' for imperative or 'ask-MOOD' for interogative.  Chinese
> 'qing3 wen4' (lit. 'please ask', meaning 'excuse me, please, this is a
> question,...') seems a bit like this and in Tyl Sjok, modality is
> marked this way, too, only without a special MOOD marker.
That sounds cool.  gzb has a few mood particles, yes,
but they're not derived: {mwe} imperative, {zxoq}
negative imperative, {zoqn} factual-interrogative,
{srem} consent-interrogative.

Ceqli has a system similar to what you mention
from Chinese, at least for imperatives; it has a variety
of auxiliary verbs that can be used for different degrees
and modes of imperative.

I will think about adding a suffix to derive
additional mood adverbs.  I'm not sure what
I would use it for yet, though; the particles
I mentioned above (except maybe {srem})
are too well established to replace now.

--
Jim Henry
...Mind the gmail Reply-to: field
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/conlang.htm