Re: semantic roles

Nik Taylor wrote:
> Also, those aren't the only case-roles in existence, a number of verbs
> have idiomatic assignments.  For instance, lasta' (to prophecy) uses
> circumlocative for what is being prophesied
Oops!  I knew I should've checked my dictionary.  That *is* a unique
verb, BUT the cases aren't as I put them, they are: prophet is in
instrumental, and the prophecy is absolutive.  The idea behind it is
that the deity is the agent (unstated ergative), giving a prophecy
(absolutive) to the people (dative) thru the prophet (instrumental),
thus:

He prophesied the destruction of the city
Flast=E1l n=EDsfunali pinyazl=E1 wakinakat=E1f
F-last=E1-l         n-=EDsfuna-li  pi-nyazl=E1          wa-kinakat=E1-f
Past-prophesy-3IS G2-pron-INST G7-destruction-abs G6-city-gen

Stating the deity
Flast=E1l tidik=E1ul n=EDsfunali pinyazl=E1 wakinakat=E1f
F-last=E1-l         ti-dik=E1u-l   n-=EDsfuna-li  pi-nyazl=E1
Past-prophesy-3IS G1-deity-ERG G2-3pron-INST G7-destruction-abs
wa-kinakat=E1-f
G6-city-gen
Which is fairly difficult to translate into English, something like "He
prophesied for the goddess the destruction of the city", or "The goddess
spoke thru the prophet about the destruction of the city"

Incidentally, because the prophet is placed in instrumental, (s)he can
be incorporated in the verb, with the gender lost, thus:
Fisfunalast=E1l tidik=E1ul pinyazl=E1 wakinakat=E1f
F-isfuna-last=E1-l        ti-dik=E1u-l   pi-nyazl=E1      wa-kinakat=E1-f
Past-3pron-prophesy-3IS G1-deity-ERG G7-destruction G6-city-gen

This is actually the more common way to say it, simple instrumentals are
usually incorporated.
--=20
Yaw=EDntasva natab=ED, plan saf=ED nlak=FAsi
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