Re: Using Case to Show Tense

Wow, I like this a lot.  I don't think ANAD at all!  At least, not
where the tense is *deduced* from the case in such a way!

Here's my thoughts on possible streamlinings:

I myself would try to avoid using an overtly-marked case for agents in
one tense and patients in another.  I would never be able to remember
what's what when, and since my hypothetical "speakers" are just
thousands of tiny versions of me, they wouldn't either.  But that's
just me.  Anywho, what I'd do is just to swap the cases assigned to A
and P in the present.

Tense           S     A     P
Past              p      n     p
Present        n      a     p
Future          a      a     n

n would be my unmarked case.  This keeps the deducibility of the tense
system while preserving the A-ness of a's and the P-ness of p's.
(Err... there's gotta be a better way of phrasing that.)

Hmm, what else.  Given the split-ergative system, I'd also lose the
verb-medial order and go with verb-initial or verb-final.  If you're
looking at case-suffixes, I'd say go with verb-final order and let the
speaker order the nominals as they please.  Or... maybe require an
order in which the tense can be deduced from the first word.  In
intransitive sentences, make that the S, and in transitive sentences
require that ... hmm... well, that would take some thought.

My favorite: verb-initial, preverbal prefixes agreeing with all core
constituents.  This way you can deduce the tense from the very first
word of the sentence in all situations.

Say that you have the following personal prefixes:

Case p = 1st: mu-, 2nd: yu-, 3rd hu-
Case n = 1st: ma-, 2nd: ya-, 3rd ha-
Case a = 1st: mi-, 2nd: yi-, 3rd hi-

As soon as the sentence begins, you can deduce the
transitivity/intransitivity of the verb, the participants, *and* the
tense.  Saves a lot of mental overhead in processing the language; you
don't have to wait until the last constituent to deduce the tense.

Any prefixes of the form ?u- and ?a?u- are past.
Any prefixes of the form ?a- and ?i?u- are present.
Any prefixes of the form ?i- and ?i?a- are future.

This is just the way I lean; it probably also has to do with the fact
that I mostly study verb-initial languages.

Great idea; I've had a lot of fun with it already.  Keep us updated.
--
Patrick Littell
PHIL205: MWF 2:00-3:00, M 6:00-9:00
Voice Mail: ext 744
Spring 05 Office Hours: M 3:00-6:00

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