> long form short form
>
> my (inanimate) -(u)darc /(@)d@Rk/
> -(a)c /(@)k/
> my (animate) -(u)tarc /(@)t@Rk/
This morphology looks decidedly Arabic. Here is the Maltese version:
ktiebi - my book
ktiebek - thy book
ktiebhu - his/its book
ktiebha - her/its book
ktiebna - our book
ktiebkom - your book
ktiebhom - their book
Of course, it gets complicated when you start talking about *books*. The
root becomes kutub iirc.
> this/that (inanimate) -(o)cei /(@)k@j/
> -(r)i /(R)@/
> this/that (animate) -(o)ceiri /(@)k@jR@/
The Arabic comparision breaks down here. Maltese has:
dik il-ktieb
this the-book - this book
dak il-ktieb
that the-book - that book
> resumptive (inanimate) -(e)pas /(@)p@s/
> -(e)p /(@)p/
> resumptive (animate) -(e)pasfu /(@)p@sP@/
You lost me here. What means "resumptive"? I *think* it is like my Demuan
bi/ber (glossed as "said ..."), but I'm not sure. Maybe I just never met teh
formal name for the term before.
> The
> demonstrative (this/that) has only one level of distance (like "ce" in
> French). Like in French, adverbs or particles can be used to specify.
> The demonstrative has only a spatial/temporal meaning, the resumptive is
> used to refer to the last idea discussed. This suffix can also be used
> with the construct state (even in short form, that's an exception) to
> show a thing possessed by the last thing discussed, whatever it is
> (animate or inanimate).
> smar: book -> smaredarc /smaR'ed@Rk/: my book (formal)
> smarc /sm'aRk/: my book (informal)
> esmarc /Esm'ark/: my books (informal)
>
> pecar: dog -> apecarzleva /apk'aRzl@v@/: her dogs (formal)
> opecarh /opk'aRtS/: his/her dogs (informal)
> pecarpasfu /pek'aRp@sP@/: this dog (which we've just
talked > about)
I just realised taht except for the formal verb endings for
historic/prophetic tenses, I have nothing to indicate formality levels. And
those endings are really used to mark distance in time rather than
formality, its just that you dont tend to talk about events of ancient
history/far flunf future except in a formal context.
---
Fabian
If a flying horse ye see, mock ye not if it stays up not.