Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: EXERCISE: Meanings of to be

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Wednesday, July 3, 2002, 3:07
Jake X wrote:


>1. forming predicate nominative: He IS happy
In Kash, adjectives are verbs: ya/minda 3s/happy; yaminda/sa he was happy-- fully comparable to ya/yama he runs, ya/yama/sa he ran
> >2. equivalence: Today is Wednesday.
You could use _ale_ 'to be' here-- letraru yale kayiñ 'today 3s-be Kayiñ', but much more likely as a topic-comment, letrayu, kayiñ. The copula usually occurs when stating/denying a profession-- yale kandumbra 'he is a doctor'; ta male kañulin 'I am not a carpenter'; ta male kañulin, iya omo yale 'I'm not a carpenter, but _he_ is.' (lit.... he but he-is) One place where Engl. can use "be" but Kash requires "become": he wants to be a doctor-- yamelo yukar kandumbra 3s-want become doctor Other cases where Engl. uses "be", Kash does not: what time is it? how old are you? etc.: fiyan aroni? 'how-much hour-its' fiyan pehandi 'how much/many year- your'. When is the lecture? rikanju acivar yu? when lecture that? Colloquial, 'where are you going/heading/off to? riyene hat? to-where? you
> >3. existance: To be, or not to be.
Probably: ale, iti tak ale. mapila, aloni male 'I think, therefore I am'...... Though I suspect _yukale_ (begin/become-be= 'exist') would be preferred.
> >4. English use, for creating verb forms: He is walking.
No. The simple tense can be so interpreted. But to really emphasize something ongoing, or to be perfectly clear, the aux. _senda_ is used: minahan anju yarata 'we ate when he arrived' or 'we were eating when he arrived' senda minahan anju yarata only 'we were (engaged in) eating when he arrived.' Probably with a stative/adj., senda would mean "acting/looking..."-- senda yaminda 'he's looking/acting happy' As in Engl., there are probably verbs that simply can't take the progressive, like 'to know' ??he is knowing (something)' = ??senda yakaya.
> >5. Numerical equivalence: One plus one is two.
Correctly, use invariant _yale_ 'there is/are': nim i sila yale fanu 'five and three is/are eight'. Possible yukar 'become' or mepu 'make', without number agreement. Possible and very likely: topic/comment nim i sila, fanu. (We are just beginning to figure out mathematical terms).