Re: my conlang: anyone interested?

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 14:54:05 +0200, Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...> wrote:

Yitzik &c.
Sorry for jumping in late, I meant to reply to this thread earlier.
This looks like the same idea I used in MNCL, except that I didn't get very
far with it.

> Katav Dan Sulani:
>
> >     Interesting idea; but I'm having a bit of a problem
> > trying to wrap my mind around a verb with
> > obligitory perfect aspect.
>
> Oh no! I didn't mean that the verb should be *obligatory* perfect(ive).
> I mean that its *non-marked/default* form is perfective, or, bettersay,
> stative/resultative. Many adjectives (e.g. colours) would fall into
> this category:
> _batu kalang_ '(the) soil (is/has been) hoed' ::
> _batu soró_ '(the) soil (is) black'.
> To make it durative, add a "progressive" prefix (may differ for various
> verbs, but the main ones are _me-_ and _menga-_):
> _batu mekalang_ '(the) soil is:being-hoed'
>
> > _wachi sipu_ 'water (is) drunk', _tapu chama_ 'bread (is) eaten'.
>
> The same here:
> _wachi mengasipu_ 'water is:being-drunk',
> _tapu mengachama_ 'bread is:being-eaten'
>
> The approach has certain interesting consequences. The major one is
> ergativity!
I used it in order to get ergativity.
For adjective stems (i.e. stative verbs) the basic form is resultive if an
ergative argument (or an instrumental) is present, and plain stative
otherwise. The progressive forms an inchoative, if that's the right term.
Noun stems, however, ended up being tenseless unless marked.

Jeff

> See:
> _nayas wachi sipu_ 'I have drunk water' (< _naya_ 'I')
> _suyas tapu mengachama_ 'you:sn are eating bread' (< _suya_ 'you:sn')
> _yatesa batu mekalang_ 'father is hoeing soil' (< _yaté_ 'father')
>
> >     How, for example, would this lang translate
> > the old soul-music classic: "Hold on! I'm coming!" ?
> > ...IOW, an imperfect action!
>
> Easy!
> _kita_ 'to come' (yesiknowthatsjapanese... VBEG)
> so,
> _naya mekita_ 'I am coming' (ideally: I'm in process of reaching the
> state of having come)
>
> > Dan Sulani
>
> Best regards,
> -- Yitzik