Re: Lahabic Syntax

> From: H. S. Teoh
>
> On Mon, Oct 02, 2000 at 03:45:54PM -0400, The Gray Wizard wrote:
> [snip]
> > What is "usual" is a difficult concept when it comes to
> adjectives.  Many
> > languages have no distinct category of adjectives at all, but
> express the
> > properties of a noun using either nouns or verbs.  Many of
> these, however,
> > do make this distinction in that they tend to use verbs when used
> > predicatively and nouns when used attributively.
>
> I see. Well, the thing about my conlang is that noun modifiers are
> actually inside a relative clause -- you can't have a standalone modifier
> in the main clause. So in the sentence "the red horse runs through the
> countryside", the phrase "the red horse" is rendered as "the horse which
> is red":
>         ryy's        n3       k3'   d0    m3ng3' loo'ri.
>         run          <subord> red   <aux> horse  countryside
>         (incid,perf) (cvy)    (cvy) (org) (cvy)  (loc)
>         "The horse which is red runs through the countryside", or,
>         "The horse which shows forth red runs through the countryside"
>         (if you translate the relative clause literally).
I would consider this an attributive usage.  Although periphrastic, it maps
well with attributive adjectives in other languages and would probably be
translated as such in free translation.  How would you answer the question,
"What color is the horse?"?

David