Re: Question about transitivity/intransitivity

How does OurTongue work with the following:

The teacher teaches the language to the kids.
The kids were taught (the language).
The language was taught (to the kids)
(try also with "show", etc.)

Farmer plants the field with trees.
The trees are planted (in the field).
The field are planted (with trees)
(try also with "cover", etc.)

The writer writes a poem on a piece of paper / to his wife.
The poem is written (up).
The piece of paper is written (on).
The wife is written a letter (to).

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Rob Haden <magwich78@...> wrote:

Hmm.  This discussion has prompted me to work out the forms for OurTongue,
i.e. how to achieve the most effect with the smallest amount of grammar.  I
think I've worked out a "solution," which I will show below with lots
of "dummy" words (many of which are from English lol).

Basically, OurTongue will have a formant -u (from earlier *-wa) that is
appended to an active transitive verb stem to form a medio-passive
(intransitive).  I use "medio-passive" because equivalent forms in English
can be either middles or passives.  This is similar to what occurs in
Finnish (and, presumably, other Uralic languages):

Isan meltan.  "I melt the ice."
Meltan.  "I melt (something)."
Isa meltui.  "The ice melted."

Kavekupan barkin.  "I broke the coffee cup."
Barkin.  "I broke (something)."
Kavekupa barkui.  "The coffee cup broke."

These are analyzed in English as middle forms.  But:

Apolan etain.  "I ate the apple."
Etain.  "I ate (something)."
Apola etui.  "The apple was eaten."

Sapidan kilain.  "I killed the spider."
Kilain.  "I killed (something)."
Sapida kilui.  "The spider was killed."

In OurTongue, the above are middles, but they must be expressed in English
as passives (since "The apple ate" and "The spider killed" convey active
meanings).

What do y'all think?

- Rob