Re: Re : Re: A question about connecting sentences
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <grandsir@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Wednesday, September 29, 1999, 7:10 |
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From Http://Members.Aol.Com/Lassailly/Tunuframe.Html wrote:
>
> Dans un courrier dati du 28/09/99 17:22:36 , Pablo aicrit :
>
> > Matt Pearson <jmpearson@...> wrote:
> >
> > > Tokana forms embedded clauses by adding a suffix to the verb called the
> > > "dependent" suffix (Dep). Compare:
> > >
> > > eta-kia mok-e
> > > go-2p home-Dat
> > > "you go home"
> > >
> > > eta-n-kia mok-e
> > > go-Dep-2p home-Dat
> > > "that you go home"
> >
> > That's absolutely great! Really simple, yet I hadn't seen that
> > or thought about it, ever... Though it reminds me of Japanese
> > use of _koto_ (I'm not sure about this; can anybody explain?)
> >
>
> Matt uses a nice different word order :
> verb-substantivizer-arguments
>
> could anyone (Christophe ?) compare it to basque subclause ?
>
I'll try :) . As Basque is consistently enough SOV, the order (if I
take Mathias's terminology) is: arguments-verb-substantivizer. The main
suffix used by Basque subclauses is '-n' (put on the conjugated verb of
course). It is used for relative subclauses (with a gap corresponding to
the antecedent) and completive subclauses (so the subclauses in "the man
that goes home" and "I say that he goes home" are morphologically
identical). there are some other suffixes like that, and even a _prefix_
('ba-', IIRC) to make conditionnal subclauses.
For an "as for my conlang", I can tell you about Moten and
Chasma"o"cho.
Moten functions much like Basque. It is also SOV with verbs that
conjugate mainly periphrastically, and uses some suffixes and prefixes
on the verb to make it a subclause. The main suffix is '-s' which works
much like the Basque '-n' and makes also completive and relative
subclauses:
koga linedan ipe|laj ito: I see the bird
mean-me bird-Acc.Def see-Inf be-Pres
koga ipe|laj itos linean: the bird that I see
mean-me see-Inf be-Pres-Rel bird-Nom.Def
koga linedan ipe|laj itos ga isej ito:
mean-me bird-Acc.Def see-Inf be-Pres-Rel me-Nom say-Inf be-Pres
I say that I see the bird
In Chasma"o"cho, there are multiple ways to muke subclauses, but here
again relative subclauses and completive subclauses work the same way.
Here, it is not not the verb of the subclause that is marked, but the
verb of the principal clause (for completives) or the noun completed
(for relatives). They are both put in construct state when completed by
a subclause. And in the relative subclause, the pro-stem 'int' is used
as a resumptive to represent the antecedent (it's due to the fact that
this language being (VO)S or VSO with a possibility of topicalisation in
front of the verb, in relatives the antecedent seems to be in
topicalised place of the relative and can thus be represented by the
pro-stem). Both completive and relative subclauses are then closed by
the particle 'ae' (which is replaced by the 'chiu' of negation if the
subclause is negative). For example:
taral cluumintac ae /taR'al klum@nt'akaj/
taral 0-cluum-int-ac ae
sugar (construct state) 3si-eat (normal stem)-resumpt-1s particle
But as for "want", I'll use a modal verb I think, so the construction
will be something like: want (construct stem) eat (stem I think), with
the subject between them if other then a subject suffix and the stem
'eat' left alone.
--
Christophe Grandsire
Philips Research Laboratories -- Building WB 145
Prof. Holstlaan 4
5656 AA Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Phone: +31-40-27-45006
E-mail: grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com