Re: USAGE: Miapimoquitch directionals

On Monday, June 16, 2003, at 12:00  PM, Tim May wrote:

> Dirk Elzinga wrote at 2003-06-16 09:55:26 (-0600)
>
> Very interesting material.
Thanks.

> [...]
>>
>> There are three directional suffixes (so far, though I don't think
>> it's
>> likely to change):
>>
>> -si  'towards'
>> -hu  'away from'
>> -wea 'general motion; within, about'
>>
> [...]
>
> What's the point of reference of these directionals?
The point of reference is contextually determined in the discourse.
Typically it will be the speaker, so that _taka-si_ will refer to
motion towards the speaker and _taka-hu_ will refer to motion away from
the speaker. However, in narratives this will change since the narrator
isn't always involved in the events being described. Right now I have
the impression that it isn't really much different than English. For
example, how do you know when to use 'come' and 'go' when telling a
story? I assume the same mechanisms will govern the choice of
directionals in Miapimoquitch. It's a question that I haven't thought a
lot about yet, but I knew that I didn't want a system with absolute
directionals (i.e., orienting events or entities along compass points
exclusively).

Dirk
--
Dirk Elzinga
Dirk_Elzinga@byu.edu

"I believe that phonology is superior to music. It is more variable and
its pecuniary possibilities are far greater." - Erik Satie

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