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Tigol/Proto-Tigol: Difference between revisions
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====Proximate/ | ====Proximate/obviative affixes==== | ||
The 3rd person, or proximate, marks topical or foreground referents, while the 4th person, or obviative, refers to background referents. | The 3rd person, or proximate, object marks topical or foreground referents, usually the first one or the most animate/possessing one mentioned soon after it. while the 4th person, or obviative, object refers to background referents. The third person and the fourth person combine as 3+4=3, and when parts of a proximate plural is taken out, the first noun phrase to be taken out is the new 3rd person. | ||
The span governed by a discourse topic varies widely among writers; while earlier writers maintained a strict distinction between proximate and obviative reference in narrating events, later writers preferred a much shorter span, often only a single sentence, thereby reducing the scope of the obviative system to that of a topic-focus system. | The span governed by a discourse topic varies widely among writers; while earlier writers maintained a strict distinction between proximate and obviative reference in narrating events, later writers preferred a much shorter span, often only a single sentence, thereby reducing the scope of the obviative system to that of a topic-focus system. | ||
====Relative clauses==== | ====Relative clauses==== | ||
Any pronoun which corefers with the head of the relative clause is in the inverse person (or first/second person if referring to first/second person). | Any pronoun which corefers with the head of the relative clause is in the inverse person (or first/second person if referring to first/second person). | ||