Re: Polysynth Question

On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:13:17 -0600, Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
wrote:

>Thanks for the reminder, Jeff.
You're welcome.

>You asked three things, as I recall: 1) more on psych predicates, 2)
>switch reference and transitivity, and 3) third person acting on a
>second person.
>
>1)  Predicates of perception or mental states are formed by suffixing
>the possessive markers to stems; this creates intransitive predicates.
>The possessive affixes are:
>
>-wa 1st person
>-ku 2nd person
>se- 3rd person
>
>The first and second person possessives are suffixes; the third person
>possessive is a prefix. Here are some examples of psych predicates
>using the stem 'pite':
>
>pitte -ka -wa
>see(IMPF) -IMPF -1poss
>'I see him.' (lit: 'he is my seeing')
>
>(This form of the stem is the one used for imperfectives / indefinites.)
>
>pittekaku
>pitte -ka -ku
>see:IMPF -IMPF -2poss
>'You see him.' (lit: 'he is your seeing')
>
>sepitteka
>se- pitte -ka
>3poss- see:IMPF -IMPF
>'He sees him.' (lit: 'he is his seeing.')
>
>pitewa etukkana
>pite -wa e= tukkana
>see -1poss SS= thrush:IMPF
>'I watched a thrush.' (lit: 'a thrush was my seeing')
>
>All of these clauses are intransitive. In principle, it should be
>possible to make any of them transitive by adding the transitive
>prefix n-, but I don't know what it would mean to do this. Other psych
>predicate stems include:
>
>enga 'fear'
>ama 'feel'
>napa 'hear'
>weti 'know'
>sunu 'learn'
>supa 'like, love; please'
>sua 'look'
>nangu 'remember'
>nusi 'smell'
>huyu 'understand'
>
>2) I believe that the switch reference markers can appear with
>transitive predicates. I can't find any examples, which I believe is
>due to how I seem to be constructing sentences in Miapimoquitch. In
>the longest passage I have (the story "Eye Juggler"), each new
>"sentence" begins with a transitive predicate to which are adjoined
>intransitive predicates. The intransitive predicates are introduced by
>the switch reference markers. The next transitive predicate can be
>introduced by an 'and' proclitic, but I don't have any switch
>reference markers in this position. This merits some more thought. So
>for now, I'd have to say that I think that a transitive sentence can
>be introduced by a switch reference markers, but that the corpus is
>not sufficiently developed for me to say this with certainty. (Before
>you ask, I don't have the story in a finished form anymore; I tinkered
>with it a while ago, but I can't remember if I finished revising it,
>and I don't have lots of time for this sort of thing right now. It'll
>have to wait for the end of semester.)
>
>3) As for a third person acting on a second person, this is
>accomplished by replacing the transitivity marker n- with the inverse
>marker l-, as in the following:
>
>pitewa akulkippeka
>pite -wa a= ku= l- kippe -ka
>see -1poss DS= 2>3= INV- poke:IMPF -IMPF
>'I saw him--he was poking you.'
>
>(Here's an example of a transitive sentence cooccuring with a switch
>reference marker.)
>
>In the 'poking' predicate, the person marker ku= involves both a
>second person and a third person when transitive. The person hierarchy
>is 2>1>3(>3'), so this marker normally corrsponds to a second person
>acting on a third person. The inverse marker reverses the person
>hierarchy so that it is now interpreted as a third person acting on a
>second person.
>
>I hope that answered your questions; let me know if it wasn't clear,
>and I can try again.
>
>Dirk
It's very clear except for one thing: what happens when, say, 2nd person is
_seen_ by 1st person. Does "see" take both affixes, the possessive (-wa) and
the regular one (ku-)? I hope my question is clear.

Jeff

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