Re: Complement clauses
From: | Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...> |
Date: | Thursday, June 19, 2003, 10:46 |
Staving Daniel Andreasson:
>Amanda wrote to me privately and pointed out that this post
>might have been filtered out because of the OT in the subject line. (She
>might also just have tried to be nice
>to me since there were no replies. :D )
>
>Anyway, I'm still interested in how y'all form complement
>clauses in your conlangs, so I'll repost this question.
>All intricacies are more than welcome!
>
>Here's how it's being done in Piata.
>
>"Lekituu eiloo luachishi ite."
>
>le -kitu -u e- ilo -o luachi -shi ite
>1>3-think-PAST COMPL-be:dead-PAST thread/yarn-PEJ DEM.SG.INANIM.
>'I thought that this darned thread was dead.'
>
>Word order changes from SVO to VSO in the complement clause. The
>{e-} prefix introduces the clause.
>
Khangaþyagon uses a topic-comment structure for this type of clause. Here's
an example
tamiting yi mallsheurroshtkur, wiþingar yir zaldep mza.
Gloss
tamit- i- nt yi mall-sheurr- osht-ku- r
"believe unfoundedly or insincerely".3p.pt 3p holy.seclude.pp. topic.pl
wiþ- i- ng-ar yi-r zaldep mza
have.3p.pt.pl 3p.pl treasure great
Translation in native idiom
He believed [unfoundedly] about the monks, they had great treasure.
Smooth translation
He believed [unfoundedly] that the monks had great treasure.
Pete
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