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causation particles

From:Garrett Jones <alkaline@...>
Date:Wednesday, April 24, 2002, 22:57
i was wondering if a particular feature that i made up for my conlang occurs
in any natural languages. My language is a causation-based language, and
there are be essentially two predicates in any given transitive sentence.
One is for the agent and its action, and the second is for the patient and
its resulting state. A connector word may or may not appear between the two
predicates two show the relation between the two. It may signal direct
causation, indirect causation, reason, or other ways the the first event had
the second event occur. With no particle word, direct manipulation is
implied. For example:

---direct causation ("serial verbs") [no particle]:
le veka   zato i    va
I  talked left CASE he
I talked him into leaving

le djeku tone    i    va
I  shot  learned CASE he
I taught him a lesson by shooting him.

---indirect causation [particle=li]:
le veka   li       zato i    va
I  talked (result) left CASE he
I talked, and as a result he left

le li       piko i    va
I  (result) dead CASE he
I did something to make him die

---attempt [particle=gi]:
le veka   gi      zato  i    va
I  talked attempt leave CASE he
I tried to talk him into leaving
(talking was successful, but leaving wasn't)

le gi      piko i    va
I  attempt dead CASE he
I tried to kill him

an intransitive sentence is basically one predicate. In the english
translations for the double predicates, one has to be subordinate to the
other. In my language, the predicates are kind of coordinating, but not
really because they are more intimately connected. Plus, both predicators
don't have to appear, just one. i am even thinking of allowing none:

le gi      i    va
I  attempt CASE he
I tried to do something to him.
--
Garrett Jones
http://www.alkaline.org