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Re: Different types of roots; temporary/permanent stative verbs?

From:Rik Roots <rikroots@...>
Date:Friday, May 4, 2001, 18:51
Hi, Eric

> Also, I was wondering how different natlangs handle the distinction in > stative verbs or adjectives between conditions that are permanent and those > that are temporary? I know of <ser> and <estar> in Spanish, but what other > ways of dealing with them are there? (Conlang examples would be welcome > too.) >
I've always liked this separation - in my view, English uses "to be" for too many different jobs!
> I'm also wondering about different ways of actually *defining* the > difference -- how fleeting does something have to be to be "temporary," and > how long-lived to be "permanent"? Of course, there can be some flexibility > and irregularity -- in Spanish you say <estar muerto> as if the dead are > only temporarily dead :) >
In Gevey I (currently) have a number of verbs which do the work of assigning attributes to objects. Examples: tuusrhe e zhi-sale, the dog is black (has black fur) tuusrhe seke zhi-sale, the dog is black (covered in soot, perhaps) tuusrhe beke zhi-sale, the dog remains black where *e* (to be) assigns an essential, unchanging attribute to an object, *seke* (to be, become) assigns a developed attribute to the object, and *beke* (to be, remain) assigns a temporary attribute to the object I like the system, but I think it can be improved.
> -- > Eric Christopherson / *Aiworegs Ghristobhorosyo >
Rik -- http://homepages.enterprise.net/rikroots/gevey/index.html The Gevey Language Resource.