Re: "About to" aspect

On Wed, 11 Nov 1998, Raymond A. Brown wrote:

> The aspect is also called 'inchoative' - and not only by lojbanists.  The
> two terms 'inchoative' & 'inceptive' seem to be about equal in choice of
> term for this aspect among linguists.
As I understand them, inchoative and inceptive are not quite the same.
Inchoative denotes a change of state ("becoming") whereas inceptive
denotes the commencement of an activity ("beginning").

Incidentally, both inchoative and inceptive are marked by the suffix
"-oin" in Tokana.  An inchoative form is produced by adding "-oin"
to a verb denoting a state, while an inceptive form is producing
by adding it to a verb denoting an activity or accomplishment:

        liuna           "be old"
        liunoina        "become old"

        uhna            "sing"
        uhnoina         "begin to sing"

When attached to a verb denoting a punctual activity (like "arrive"),
"-oin" has the flavour of "about to" in English:

        itskana         "arrive"
        itskanoina      "begin to arrive, be about to arrive"
        itskanoine      "began to arrive, was about to arrive"

Matt.