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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