Carlos Thompson wrote:
>
>It seams we have to define our set of cases/PoS marks. I sugest we should
>"translate" with our case system some work or some sentences, representative
>enough to decide which cases are necesary and which are superflous. Any
>sugestions?
>
With cases as I posted:
ATTributive
ABSolutive (undergoer)
PATient
PREDicate
AGent
I don't think this can be reduced any further.
>1) My neighbourg has a big dog.
att-I abs-neighbour att-big pat-dog pred-have
pat-dog doesn't seem right...
>2) The dog is red.
abs-dog pred-red
Maybe "abs-dog att-red" would do (if by itself).
>3) Last night it bit me hard.
att-last night in ag-it pat-I att-hard pred-bite-past
>4) Fortunately, the dog has no rabish and the injure was not deep.
("rabies", isn't it?)
att-fortune thing? abs-dog pred-(have_)rabies-neg
[and] abs-injure pred-deep-neg-past
"Fortunately" could be translated "fortunate thing" (theme).
Or maybe pred-luck-progr "(Someone) being lucky".
>5) The dog is sleeping now.
abs-dog att-time-this pred-sleep-progressive
with "time-this" meaning a time pronoun + a deixis marker "-this"
>6) I have a little cat
abs-I att-little pat-cat pred-have
Again, I don't like patient here.
>7) My cat is friend of my neighbour's dog.
att-I abs-cat att-I att-neighbour abs-dog pred-friend
More like "my cat and my neighbour's dog are friends".
Maybe a adposition could be inserted after abs-dog, like
in English: "my cat is a friend TO my neighbour's dog".
>8) My cat is sleeping on my lap.
att-I abs-cat att-I lap on pred-sleep-progr
>9) I have two children.
abs-I att-two pat-children pred-have
>10) A boy and a girl.
?
>11) I've sleep my doghter early tonight.
Is it "I've put my daughter to sleep early tonight"?
caus-I att-I abs-daughter att-early att-night-this pred-sleep
But this is idiomatic, so I doubt we should have a literal translation.
>12) My son is working on the computer.
att-I ag-son computer on pred-work-progr
>13) My son is conlanging with my friends from the list.
[att-I abs-son] [att-I [list from] abs-friends]
pred-together-susp, ag-they pred-conlang-progr.
(I love these suspensive forms!)
"My son [and] my list-from friends
being together, they are conlang-doing"
(ag-they could be abs-they if you consider that
conlanging is a state more than an action. I guess ag-they
implies that they are actually CONstructing a LANGuage, not
just being CONLANGers. ;)
--Pablo Flores