Re: Genitives NPs as Relative Clauses
From: | Muke Tever <alrivera@...> |
Date: | Thursday, November 15, 2001, 14:15 |
From: "Keith Gaughan" <kmgaughan@...>
>In my (English) idiolect, it's not uncommon for me to use genitive
>constructions
>in the place of relative clauses. Example:
>
> My idiolect: ...of my seeing...
>
>Ok, here's my question. I've been thinking of adapting this idiom for use in
>Erëtas but I have doubts as to its scalability. Are there any other languages
>that use similar constructions. Just for reference's sake, here's how I intend
>on representing direct and indirect relative clauses:
>
> Direct relative clause (`that I see'):
> ...of my seeing...
>
> Indirect relative clauses (`that sees me'):
> ...with my seeing...
>
>Thoughts? Could it work well?
Well, such a thing is possible in Hadwan:
nirai sci waidjócos
/ni"rAI "stsI wAIdzu:"tsos/
nir.ai sci waidj.ó .c .os
man.INTR be-3SG see .TR-1SG.GER.GEN
"It is the man of my seeing" / "It is the man that I see"
I wouldn't be surprised to see it..
As for the other...
*nír sci waidjaicidj honj
"it is the man with my seeing" / "it is the man that sees me"
That doesn't sound right. You might actually say:
nirai sci waidjitcos mí
/ni"rAI "stsI wAIdzIt"tsos "mi:/
nir.ai sci waidj.ic .c .os mí
man.INTR be-3SG see .TR-3SG.GER.GEN me.ACC
"it is the man of his seeing me" / "it is the man that sees me"
But I'm a little rusty on the grammar to be sure.
*Muke!
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