Re : transitivity

Dans un courrier dat=E9 du 26/05/99 12:16:36  , Daniel a =E9crit :

> Hello all.
>
Hello, man.
 =20
>  I've been thinking about making a lang which distinguishes
>  between zero-transitive, intransitive, transitive and=20
>  ditransitive (is that the English term?) verbs in that
>  the conjugation would be different in each form.
>  (And possibly also distinguish between verbs that
>  don't have an agent, eg. "I sleep" and verbs that do.)
> =20
>  0. (It) rains   [no S or O]
>  1. I sleep    [only S]
>  2. I eat (food)    [S and O]
>  3. I give (it to you)    [1 S and 2 Os]
> =20
>  A second thought:
> =20
>  Perhaps this is just some kind of object agreement on
>  the verb:
>  "-y" =3D hey, there are no objects!
>  "-e" =3D listen up, there's an object as well.
>  "-u" =3D look out, two objects coming your way!
>  "-i" =3D what? Not even a subject?
> =20
>  Then I might expand this into:
>  "-er" =3D there's an object and it's 1p. (I.e. probably me)
>  "-et" =3D one object and it's 2p.
>  "-ek" =3D one object, 3p.
>  etc.
>  =3D> Na mrinek nando.=20
>  1p.sg. eat.1obj.3p food.
>  =20
>  This might be really fun!
> =20
>  Do you have any comments?
>
Only very trivial things :=20
processive =3D the man eats the soup
transformative =3D the man makes potatoes into a soup
applicative =3D the house shelters the children
etc. etc.=20

You could check all possible "transitive" and "ditransitive" maps. They are=20
quite a few, but as Matt said a few days ago : with three dozens of=20
"preverbs" (or cases) you round up the bunch of them.=20

OFF TOPIC ("me too" lines) :
I don't use "transitive" nor "ditransitive" verbs or cases anymore. I have=20
three dozen specific preverb-cases (they could be semantically "refined" int=
o=20
thousands). As Sally said, they could be English verbs like "to get", "to=20
put", "to do", etc. :

I speak =3D I (kana) perform (ota/eta) a speech (tunu).
tunu ota kana / kana ete tunu.

this is said =3D this is topic of a speech.
tunu ome toke / toke eme tunu.
=20
you are spoken to =3D you (are expected to) perceive the speech.
tunu ooki kamu / kamu eeki tunu.

I tell this to you =3D speech is performed by me (and) regards this (and) is=20
(expected to be) perceived by you.
tunu ota kana ome toke ooki kamu / kana eta tunu ome toke ooki kamu.

"to be expected to" is a handy way of making an intransitive subject into a=20
(di)transitive object.

>  Daniel Andreasson
> =20
Mathias