Re: Diving In...

En réponse à Doug Barr <dbarr@...>:

>
> Again from Inuktitut, takujaa means "He/she sees him/her," but you can’t
> really tell what part of –jaa refers to the subject and what refers to
> the object — it’s one morpheme. Or in verbs, (inungmik) takujunga "I see
> (a person)" as an independent statement of fact, but (inungmik) takugama
> "because I see (a person)" or "I see (a person), so..." where again
> –junga is first person singular intransitive indicative and –gama is
> first person singular intransitive "becausative" (reason-giving) and
> it’s again all one morpheme.
>
That's sooo nice! Why cannot I think of such cool features!!! :(((

>
> The Inuktitut verbal system is insane, you have nine endings for the
> intransitive (three persons, three numbers) with a couple of extra
> separate question forms (the equivalent to the 3rd singular intransitive
> indicative –juq/tuq that occurs in statements is –pa/va in questions),
> plus separate transitive endings encoding subject and object (three
> persons, three numbers, except that the subject and object can’t be the
> same), plus the whole thing all over again with the "becausative"
> endings mentioned, plus again something vaguely resembling a
> subjunctive, and two sets of participles depending on whether the
> subject of the two phrases is the same or different.
>
And I thought Euskara's verbal system was complicated... How can people store
such complex things in their minds I'll never understand... The human mind is
really a wonder...

> Pisuktlunga nanurmik takulauqtunga. "I-walking, a-polar-bear I-saw."
> (Same subject)
>
> Pisuktillunga nanuk tikilauqtuq. "I-walking, a-polar-bear arrived."
> (Different subjects).
>
There is a mark of subject in the participles too? Wow!

> Add to that ergative structure, a bunch of different cases, a huge
> series of demonstrative pronouns ("this here," "that near by," that over
> there," "that out of sight," and others) and the whole polysynthetic
> thing... Eek!
>
:))) Well, I can understand that where they live, the Inuit don't have much
landscape features to explain geographical situations. So they have to resort
to a complex system of demonstrative pronouns. As for the rest...

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.

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