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Re: EXERCISE: Meanings of to be

From:Christopher B Wright <faceloran@...>
Date:Wednesday, July 3, 2002, 2:42
Jake X sekalge:
>1. forming predicate nominative: He IS happy >2. equivalence: Today is Wednesday. >3. existance: To be, or not to be. >4. English use, for creating verb forms: He is walking. >5. Numerical equivalence: One plus one is two. >Do you differenciate?
Yes. (Sturnan) The first two use esei, "to be". The third uses aresei "to exist", which is a modern version of the old intransitive form of esei. For the fourth, I have a continuative particle er. For the fifth, I'd use the inchoative copula pedasei ("to become")*. This use of the verb is, I think, both accurate and innovative (or at least, I haven't heard of it being done, though that may mean that a thousand languages do it). Christian, you seem to be oddly similar to me. At least, Obrenje does many things as Sturnan does. Why is that? Perhaps I should kill you in the interests of being original. :)) *winces at Jake's "Obranje"* *I had a really wonderful and neat idea one day. I'd have the inchoative in Sturnan, but it wouldn't be a normal aspect. Instead, it would be a verb. I realized later that it was a feature of my L1, English. Argh. Laimes, Wright. ----- I don't speak. I operate a machine called language. It creaks and groans, but it is indeed mine. Nai vekwen. Thiruven taktes omelge kerov. Vot batanan ak ankolan, bid asag ren ike. -Bijaz, in "Dune Messiah" by Frank Herbert.