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Prepositional phrases

From:Aidan Grey <frterminus@...>
Date:Sunday, March 25, 2001, 7:56
  I'm working on Aelya prepositional phrases at the
moment, and I wondered how you folks handle them in
your language? In particular, do you have creative
ways for handling the same sort of situation as my
Aelya examples show?

  To the forest: tauran
                 forest-ALL
  From the forest: tauro
                   forest-ABL
  In the forest: tauras
                 forest-LOC
  Into the forest: min    daure
                   in-ALL forest-OBL
  Out of the forest: my     thaure
                     in-ABL forest-OBL
  Outside the forest: os      taure
                      out-LOC forest-OBL

  Problem here is that it feels like it gets
needlessly complex. Note the need for a different
preposition in saying 'out of' or 'outside'. Through
gets even weirder:

   Through the forest: trea      mei    dauren
                       thru-PERL in-OBL forest-GEN

  I really like having locative nouns ('mi' really
means 'the inside of', for example) but it seems
really  needlessly complex. Does anyone know anything
about natlangs that use locative nouns? Or have ideas
about how to simplify my system?

  Do you use just a simple preposition (or
postposition) with cases marking motion or direction,
like Latin? Or do you use some other system?

  Aelya *could* do things latinately (oo! a new
word!):

  in the forest: mi thauras
  into the forest: mi thauran
  outside the forest: o thauras
  out of the forest: o thauran
  through the forest: tre thauran

  But in this case, what use is ablative? All I need
is just stative or dynamic cases (here with locative
or allative).

  Oh - note that Aelya has a mutation system, hence
the 'daure' and the 'thaure' all over.

  Aidan

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Replies

Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
J Matthew Pearson <pearson@...>
Rik Roots <rikroots@...>