Re: Animacy in active languages (was Re: Non-static verbs?)

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:
> It would make things much easier if there were widely accepted terms.
I think "nominative" and "absolutive" are fairly widely accepted.  Those
are the terms I used when I was experimenting with an active system in
W's clitics.

> One conlanger even used it for a velar nasal.
I've seen that in several conlangs, and I *think* there are natlang
precedents.  Lower-case q does bear a vague resemblance to the eng (if
you squint and use your imagination ...)

> These languages evolved at times
> when the concept of "life" was defined in a more intuitive way than what
> modern science tells us what it is.
Which is why plants are rarely in "animate" categories.

> Actually, I have allowed myself some freedom in Nur-ellen.  Celestial
> bodies, for example, are animate
Same here, they're in gender 6, which I call "pseudo-animate", that is,
non-animal animate.  In an earlier stage, what is now a
sentient/nonsentient distinction in the verbal inflection was an
animate/inanimate distinction, so G1-6 took one agreement, and G7 took
another.  Even now, there's still a trace of that animate/inanimate
distinction - inanimate nouns *rarely* precede animate nouns, even if
the inanimate is the subject - "The stone squashed John" would be
"squashed John-abs stone-erg".  But, I'm uncomfortable with G7 nouns
taking ergative, they might take instrumental.

> the
> nouns _byrokrat_ "bureaucrat" and _natsi_ "Nazi" are both inanimate,
> because bureaucrats and Nazis tend to behave like automata and demons,
> respectively.
Fascinating!  W doesn't have anything like that.  Sentient beings are in
genders 1-3 (1 = feminine, 2 = masculine, 3 = epicene), but "sentient"
is defined as "speaking", so an infant is lanabási, with la-, the gender
4 (domestic animal) prefix.

--
"Their bodies did not age, but they became afeared of everything and
anything.  For partaking in any activity at all could threaten their
precious and ageless bodies! ... Their victory over death was a hollow
one."
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor