Verse:Mwail/Old Gloob: Difference between revisions
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====Proximate/obviative affixes==== | ====Proximate/obviative affixes==== | ||
The 3rd person, or proximate, object marks foreground or central 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 or peripheral 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 3rd person, or proximate, object marks foreground or central 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 or peripheral 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. | ||
:'''''Hezūŋasré Kolnosimáttmē ie Ŋirchâ ne jégléch ħēdāthénne, mežî ramlēsré né žlómalkámth kanílsnuku skőtálg zîm ŋídâ nai nassams{{blue|ŧû}}.''''' | |||
:''The North Wind and the Sun disputed as to which was the most powerful and agreed that he should be declared the victor who could first strip a way-faring man of his clothes.'' | |||
Because the traveler (''skőtálg'') is an obviate referent, his clothes are referred to as ''nassams{{blue|ŧû}}'', with the fourth person possessor, not nassams{{blue|û}}, which would refer to "the North Wind's clothes". | |||
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. | ||