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Re: Attributive Nominal Forms and Syntax in a lang experiment

From:Elliott Lash <erelion12@...>
Date:Sunday, November 23, 2003, 8:57
--- JR <fuscian@...> wrote:
> on 11/20/03 4:45 PM, Elliott Lash at > erelion12@YAHOO.COM wrote: > > > --- JR <fuscian@...> wrote: > >> on 11/19/03 11:39 AM, Elliott Lash at > >> erelion12@YAHOO.COM wrote: > > > > *snip* > > > >>> Take this case: > >>> nga lo kwa tshiji be hao > >>> I not see person start talk > >>> > >>> I don't see the person who is starting to talk. > >>> I didn't see the person who was starting to > talk. > >>> > >>> etc. > >>> > >>> tshiji person-pre:attrb. > >>> tshije person > >> > >> Okay. On a different note, how do you tell what > the > >> head noun's role in the > >> relative clause is? How do you know that "bunlu > zoy" > >> doesn't mean "soup that > >> heats (something)"? > > > > > > Interesting question...I'm not sure if I really > need > > to. I think plenty of languages leave this > unmarked. > > > > Welsh for example: > > > > Dyma'r dyn ffoniodd Fred > > "this is the man who Fred phoned" > > or > > "this is the man who phoned Fred" > > > > since alot is left up to the context already > (i.e., > > tenses), then this seems like one option. > > > > If less ambiguity is needed, I guess a resumptive > > pronoun can be used: > > > > myezai 'bear' > > myeze 'bear-attr' > > kun 'eat' > > ta 'him,he' > > > > shi ni myeze ta kun (ta) > > exist this-attr bear-attr he eat (he) > > > > only means: > > 'this is the bear that he ate' > > > > shi ni myeze kun ta > > > > means both: > > 'this is the bear that he ate' > > 'this is the bear that ate him' > > How come the first sentence has only one > interpretation and the second has > two? Since the language seems to be SVO, I'd expect > the first to mean "this > is the bear he ate" only, and the second "this is > the bear that ate him" > only (like in English). >
Good catch, that was me messing up. I dont have any idea what I was talking about there. The first would have the change of subject meaning, the second would be no change. Elliott __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/