Re: Imperatives in Nrit

Shreyas Sampat wrote:

>Okay.  In Nrit there are two ways to form infinitves - via nominalization,
>and by way of a subjunctive construction.
>
>The nominalization can simply nominalize the verb, or it, too, can be a
>subjunctive that suggests that there be an agent or object of an action.
>
>Example:
>
>from the verb <nio> we get
>
>ni:azha = the seeing
>nio:r kasta: = seen-thing let-it-be
>niu:~ln kasttsu~n seers you-should-be
>
>With subjunctives, we can say <sitti~n eskane niokS@tsu~n>, "y'all should
>look at that".
>
>I'm wondering if this is too clunky.  Only the first form, with the -zha
>and i-mutation, is at all compact.

I like all of them.  Ascending degrees of politeness?

nio:r kasta: is a little reminiscent of the Malay/Indonesian negative
passive imperative:  jangan di/makan, lit. do-not be-eaten i.e. '(it is) not
to be eaten!', or simply, "don't eat that!"-- perhaps a way of softening a
prohibition, by focusing on the object rather than the subject "you".  (I'm
not sure whether it works for a positive command-- i.e. makanlah 'eat [it]!'
but ???? dimakanlah ?'let it be eaten'???)