'Thank you' in a:seka`eni
From: | James W. <emindahken@...> |
Date: | Wednesday, June 7, 2006, 15:11 |
(The macron got mangled las time, so I'm going to just use
ASCII-friendly notation.)
naraki to everyone who responded to my request yesterday!
Even to those who have boring ways to say Thank you :)))
I have decided that in a:seka`eni thanks is expressed by
variaions of "You helped me" for deeds that benefit the
speaker, and "You are kind" for kind words/compliments
(naraki for the idea, Senno!)
There are two versions of "You are kind":
oterufe
oteru-fe
be.kind-2SG.PAT
oterufi:
oteru-fi:
be.kind-2PL.PAT
(oteru is a stative verb, and thus only accepts patientive
forms of the pronoun.)
There are also two polite versions of "You help[ed] me":
narakipo:
na-raki-po:
1SG.PAT-help-2SG.AGT
narakipe
na-raki-pe
1SG.PAT-help-2PL.AGT
These are typically shortened to "naraki" with friends/relatives.
For "Thank you very much" a:seka`eni has "You have helped me a lot"
(very formal):
o‘a: narakipe lau
o‘a: na-raki-pe lau
be.big 1SG.PAT-help-2PL.AGT IMPERF
(Stative verbs can function as adverbs in their uninflected "dictionary"
form.)
I think that about covers it...
--------
James W.
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