Re: translation exercise

Mark J. Reed wrote:

> MR>         I know who I want to take me home.
>
> RM> It took 24+ hours to coerce this into Kash:
>
> Wow.  That's dedication!
>
> RM> makaya kaçe re mamelo re me yafilan ri punayeni
> RM> I-know person-dat REL I-want THAT me-dat he-take LOC house-dat.-his
>
> Interesting.  I assume "-dat" means "dative", but it seems to be used as
> an accusative?
>
Yes. Most trans. verbs take a human DO in the dative, unless there is
actually a physical (or maybe figurative) change'/affect to the object, then
it's ACC.. Non-human anim. and inanimates always go in the ACC. (and the
inanim. ACC is identical to the NOM.).  So--

Erek yatikas Mina-ye 'Erek saw Mina-dat.'
Erek yasisa Mina-ye 'Erek loves Mina'
Erek yakepak Mina-n 'Erek hit Mina-acc'
(In olden days) Erek yasorom kinji-n 'Erek sold a slave'
"  "  "  Erek yavele minaye kinji-n 'Erek gave Mina a slave'
Erek yatikas lopa-n 'Erek saw a lopa-acc (animal)'
Lopa yakici Erek-en 'A lopa bit Erek-acc
Colloq. the distiction is often ignored, and all such DO's are in the
dative.

But note:
Erek yanunji Minaye "Erek met Mina"  goes to
Amami yarundunji ereke minan
Father-my 3-CAUS-meet erek-dat mina-acc
 'My father introduced Mina to Erek' -- i.e. he said "Erek, this is Mina"
However: amami yarundunji ereke i minaye '...introduced Erek and Mina' i.e.
to a group or 3rd party, more completely: amami yarundunji karune ereken i
minan '...introduced E. and M to the karun(duke)'
Unnecessary paraphrase: amami yarumek re erek yanunji Minaye 'my father
caused that erek-nom. met mina-dat.' (it would more likely mean, he brought
it about in some indirect way-- i.e saw to it that they sat together at a
dinner party)

Erek yatraka laca 'Erek bought a table-acc'
laca yu yavirik 'that table-nom is beautiful'