Re: Lahabic Syntax

From the Gevey point of view...

> > What's a predicate adjective? :-P
>
> An adjective that occurs in a post-verbal or predicative position. 'The
> wizard is gray' as opposed to within a NP or attributive position. 'The gray
> wizard'
>
This caused me huge problems a few years ago - I came up with a
grammar rule saying "all adjectives must be attached to a noun or
pronoun", then realised I couldn't say simple things like "the cat is
black". In the end I solved the problem by inventing something I
called a "universal pronoun" which was untranslatable, but pretended
to be a pronoun...

the cat is black -> luetse e zhi-sale
   luetse - cat [subject]
   e - equates to, is [verb]
   zhi - universal pronoun [direct object]
   sale - black [adjective]

Universal pronouns also helped me solve the problem of forming
comparative and superlative adjectives, and more recently helped to
rescue me from the mess I had got into over relative pronouns...

> > > various genitive/possessive constructions, subordinate clause
> > > including subject and object complements as well as relative clauses,
> >
> > Hmm. What's the difference between a subordinate clause and a relative
> > clause?
>
> A relative clause is a type of subordinate clause.  The latter being a
> catch-all for any dependent clause embedded in a matrix clause.
>
It was only after reading Rick Morneau's web essay on syntax that the
differences and purposes of various clauses became clear to me - the
essay can be found at http://www.srv.net/~ram/syntax.html

Rik

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