Re: USAGE: Miapimoquitch directionals

On Monday, June 16, 2003, at 11:23  AM, JS Bangs wrote:

> Dirk Elzinga sikyal:
>
>> Hey all.
>
> This is good reading, Dirk. I like a good morphologically complex
> system,
> especially one that allows you to generate a large number of lexical
> items
> for a relatively small number of morphemes. I may borrow some of your
> ideas for Hiksilipsi, when I get around to thoroughly working that lang
> out.
Thanks. A lot of what I know about lexical suffixes comes from Salish
and Wakashan. In fact, a lot of current Miapimoquitch morphosyntax has
Salish antecedents. I recommend Salish as a rich source of inspiration
for morphosyntax (and phonology! but Salishan phonology is not for the
faint of heart, and didn't provide any models for Miapimoquitch).

> One question:
>
>> The BASE marked prosodically for phase and number forms the STEM.
>                                    ^^^^^
>
> What is this phase? I use the term in Yivrian, but I suspect that it's
> for
> something entirely different.
Generally speaking, predicates which are bound in phase are definite in
reference, perfective in aspect, and are old information in discourse.
Predicates which are unbound are indefinite, imperfective, and new
information. The problem is that these three properties don't always
co-occur; aspect in particular can be easily decoupled from the others.
Phase has turned out to be a delightfully squishy category that I'm
still trying to think through.

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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