Saalangal stuff

Since Kristian clarified trigger systems for me more, i now understand
better how they work in Saalangal :). (Thanks again, Kristian).

In this email, i'm going to touch on the system a bit, and explain the
difference in uses between the agent and patient triggers (I've been
talking about this with Christophe offlist).

In Saalangal, it is considered impolite to focus on the actions of
another. Hence, when talking about what someone else did, the patient
trigger is used. However, if the other person is a subordinate, or just
someone you dont care much about :), the agent trigger is used when
talking about what they've done.

The agent trigger is used when talking about what you've done, unless
you're discussing what you've done to a superior (i liken the rules to
knowing when exactly to use it like the use of the subjunctive and
imperfect im Spanish (for me at least :)).

There is also a "respect" particle (tayan) that is always placed at the
end of the sentence.

Pronouns come in two forms, trigger, and non trigger forms. The non
trigger forms are different from the trigger forms, and are probably
suppletive forms. There's a theory also that Saalangal originally did not
have a trigger system, but it was "adopted" through contact with peoples
(perhaps colonization also) whose languages did have trigger systems.
However, there is no convincing evidence that this theory is true.



(so um...hopefully all of this is convincing ;)).

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