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Adpositionless conlang?

From:Pablo David Flores <pablo-flores@...>
Date:Friday, March 12, 2004, 16:29
Hi folks,

I emerge from my lurking to ask for comments on a new project
of mine. I'm trying to have a language without adpositions,
where the usual role of adpositions is covered by periphrasis
mostly using verbs. I don't know if this is plausible or even
feasible, though it seems to be working for now.

The idea is that verbs have a subordinate form, or whatever
you want to call it, that allows the speaker to join them
to other verbs, in the process maybe also changing the voice
and the semantics. Not exactly a serial verb construction,
but close. For example (where * indicates this special form):

I heard get* you = "I heard from you"
She needs wood want* building house = "She needs wood to build a house"
He poured wine put* glass = "He poured glass into the glass"

Subordination does not only show the verb is joined to the
previous one, but also implies a kind of voice extension,
as if it were an applicative form.

Some verbs will be subordinated to themselves, and in this case
*-subordination would show the addition of an argument which
corresponds to the "expected" complement of the verb (for example,
"drink drink*" = "drink from", "toss toss*" = "toss at/into",
etc.).

For location and motion I have a special subset of verbs that
can be marked as either static or dynamic ("be above" vs. "go
above/over", etc.). In the dynamic forms there's an additional
mark that means "all the way" or "from beginning to end" ("fly
/hover over" vs. "jump over").

What do you think?


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.angelfire.com/scifi2/nyh/index.html
  "The future is all around us, waiting, in moments
   of transition, to be born in moments of revelation.
   No one knows the shape of that future or where it
   will take us. We know only that it is always born
   in pain."  -- G'Kar quoting G'Quon, in "Babylon 5"

Replies

<jcowan@...>
Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>