Chlouvānem: Difference between revisions

Line 394:

===Verb phrase===

====Use of tenses====

=====Past vs. Perfect=====

Past and perfect are the two Chlouvānem (morphological) tenses that are used to refer to past actions. Their meanings may be summarized this way:

* The '''past tense''' always refers to the ''past'', but it isn’t always ''perfective'';

* The '''perfect “tense”''' is always ''perfective'', but it isn’t always ''past'' - and when it does, it has an ''impact on the present''.

These theoretical meanings may be translated into practice as this: the '''past''' is most commonly used to express something that happened in the past and does not influence the present, or it is not meaningful to the time of the action.

: ''tammikeika flære lį yųlauça.''

: train_station.DIR.SG. yesterday. 1SG.ERG. eat-IND.PAST.1S.EXTERIOR-AGENT.

: Yesterday I ate at the station.

: ''palias jāyim juniritь.''

: face.DIR.SG. girl.DIR.SG. paint-IND.PAST.3S.INTERIOR.

: The girl painted her [own] face.

In an appropriate context, however, the same verb form can carry an imperfective meaning:

: ''tammikeika flære lį yųlauça væse, nanā tammi taflunitь.''

: train_station.DIR.SG. yesterday. 1SG.ERG. eat-IND.PAST.1S.EXTERIOR-AGENT. while. , that.DIR.PARROT. train.DIR.SG. arrive-IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR

: Yesterday I ate at the station.

: ''jāyim mæn palias juniritь, mbu nenichladirāsi meinei muṣkemālchitь.''

: girl.DIR.SG. TOPIC. face.DIR.SG. paint-IND.PAST.3S.INTERIOR. , but. hurry-SUBJ.IMPF.3S.INTERIOR. mother-ERG.SG. ask-INF-run.MULTID-IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR.

: The girl was painting her [own] face, but her mother kept asking her to hurry.

Generally this imperfective meaning is assumed by other words in the sentence, usually ''væse'' (while), but commonly also ''mbu'' (but) with a related sentence understood to be imperfective. Out of context, imperfective past is usually expressed with an analytic construction:

: ''tammikeika flære lį yųlasusąça mos.''

: train_station.DIR.SG. yesterday. 1SG.ERG. eat-PART.PRES.EXTERIOR-PARROT.DIR-AGENT. be.IND.PAST.1S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR.

: Yesterday I was eating at the station.

The main use of the '''perfect''' is expressing something that happened in the past but is still impacting the present; this is a difference very similar to the one between simple past and present perfect in English, and as such the perfect is usually translated that way. Compare, for example:

: ''palias jāyim juniritь'' - “the girl painted her [own] face”. Past tense here expresses a generic action: the girl may have painted her face ten years or five minutes ago, but that is irrelevant to the situation. In this particular sentence, the girl’s face may be understood to have now been cleaned, or that she may have cleaned and painted her face again many times - but, actually, whether she did or didn’t is now irrelevant. The actual time when she did it only becomes relevant if it is expressed (e.g. ''palias jāyim flære juniritь'' “the girl painted her [own] face yesterday”) and then it is understood that her face isn’t painted anymore.

: ''palias jāyim ujunirā'' - “the girl has painted her [own] face”. Perfect “tense” here focusses not on the action, but on its result. The girl finished painting her face, and it may be seen that her face is still painted - when she did is still irrelevant, but it happened sufficiently close in time that the result of that action may still be seen.

The Chlouvānem perfect, however, has a broader use than the English one, compare:

: ''flære dašoritь'' - “yesterday it rained”. Past tense, implied meaning is that there’s nothing that may indicate that yesterday it rained, or it doesn’t influence the speaker in any way.

: ''flære adašora'' - *yesterday it has rained. Perfect tense; while wrong in English, this construction is possible - and, in fact, is frequently heard - though it often only makes sense in a broader context. For example, in a sentence like “yesterday it rained and the path collapsed, so we [two] can’t walk there”, English uses both times a simple past, while Chlouvānem uses the perfect, as the path is still not walkable due to the rain: ''flære menni adašora līlta viṣeheṣṭva no, āñjulā gu pepeithnādām ša''.

Note that the “impact on the present” meaning and the use of evidentials are independent from each other. Using a first inferential, for example, does not change the implications given by the use of perfect or past, though the actual interpretation is often heavily dependent from context:

: ''palias jāyim juniritti'' - “apparently, the girl painted her [own] face”. Past tense: it can be assumed that the girl painted her own face sometime in the past; e.g. the girl is now painting her face, and given the way she does it, it’s reasonable to believe it’s not her first time.

: ''palias jāyim ujuniritena'' - “apparently, the girl has painted her [own] face”. Perfect “tense”: it can be assumed that the girl now has a painted face, but the speaker has not seen her; e.g. in her room there are face painting colours open or that look like they’ve been recently used.

Second inferential changes the speaker’s deduction, but not the implications given by tenses:

: ''palias jāyim junirittimū'' - “apparently, the girl painted her [own] face, but probably didn’t”. Past tense: as before, but while she, or something she did, had made the speaker believe she had already painted her face at least once in the past, the way she’s doing it makes think that she probably never did.

: ''palias jāyim ujuniritenamū'' - “apparently, the girl has painted her [own] face, but probably didn’t”. Perfect “tense”: as before; highly dependent on context. For example, there are face painting colours out of place, but it’s unlikely she did paint her face - e.g. it may not be a logical time to do it, or too little colour seems to have been used.

====Positional verbs====

Positional verbs are among the most complex features of Chlouvānem grammar. In order to build verbs such as "to stay", "to be seated", and "to lie", Chlouvānem uses a base which is then prefixed with a locative particle, building verbs meaning "to stay on", "to stay under", "to stay in", and so on. There are 26 prefixes for each of the three verbs:

@@ Line 394: / Line 394: @@
 ===Verb phrase===
+====Use of tenses====
+=====Past vs. Perfect=====
+Past and perfect are the two Chlouvānem (morphological) tenses that are used to refer to past actions. Their meanings may be summarized this way:
+* The '''past tense''' always refers to the ''past'', but it isn’t always ''perfective'';
+* The '''perfect “tense”''' is always ''perfective'', but it isn’t always ''past'' - and when it does, it has an ''impact on the present''.
+These theoretical meanings may be translated into practice as this: the '''past''' is most commonly used to express something that happened in the past and does not influence the present, or it is not meaningful to the time of the action.
+: ''tammikeika flære lį yųlauça.''
+: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. yesterday. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>IND.PAST.1S.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>.
+: Yesterday I ate at the station.
+: ''palias jāyim juniritь.''
+: face.<small>DIR.SG</small>. girl.<small>DIR.SG</small>. paint-<small>IND.PAST.3S.INTERIOR</small>.
+: The girl painted her [own] face.
+In an appropriate context, however, the same verb form can carry an imperfective meaning:
+: ''tammikeika flære lį yųlauça væse, nanā tammi taflunitь.''
+: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. yesterday. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>IND.PAST.1S.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. while. , that.<small>DIR.PARROT</small>. train.<small>DIR.SG</small>. arrive-<small>IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>
+: Yesterday I ate at the station.
+: ''jāyim mæn palias juniritь, mbu nenichladirāsi meinei muṣkemālchitь.''
+: girl.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. face.<small>DIR.SG</small>. paint-<small>IND.PAST.3S.INTERIOR</small>. , but. hurry-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.INTERIOR</small>. mother-<small>ERG.SG</small>. ask-<small>INF</small>-run.<small>MULTID-IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.
+: The girl was painting her [own] face, but her mother kept asking her to hurry.
+Generally this imperfective meaning is assumed by other words in the sentence, usually ''væse'' (while), but commonly also ''mbu'' (but) with a related sentence understood to be imperfective. Out of context, imperfective past is usually expressed with an analytic construction:
+: ''tammikeika flære lį yųlasusąça mos.''
+: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. yesterday. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>PART.PRES.EXTERIOR-PARROT.DIR-AGENT</small>. be.<small>IND.PAST.1S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.
+: Yesterday I was eating at the station.
+The main use of the '''perfect''' is expressing something that happened in the past but is still impacting the present; this is a difference very similar to the one between simple past and present perfect in English, and as such the perfect is usually translated that way. Compare, for example:
+: ''palias jāyim juniritь'' - “the girl painted her [own] face”. Past tense here expresses a generic action: the girl may have painted her face ten years or five minutes ago, but that is irrelevant to the situation. In this particular sentence, the girl’s face may be understood to have now been cleaned, or that she may have cleaned and painted her face again many times - but, actually, whether she did or didn’t is now irrelevant. The actual time when she did it only becomes relevant if it is expressed (e.g. ''palias jāyim flære juniritь'' “the girl painted her [own] face yesterday”) and then it is understood that her face isn’t painted anymore.
+: ''palias jāyim ujunirā'' - “the girl has painted her [own] face”. Perfect “tense” here focusses not on the action, but on its result. The girl finished painting her face, and it may be seen that her face is still painted - when she did is still irrelevant, but it happened sufficiently close in time that the result of that action may still be seen.
+The Chlouvānem perfect, however, has a broader use than the English one, compare:
+: ''flære dašoritь'' - “yesterday it rained”. Past tense, implied meaning is that there’s nothing that may indicate that yesterday it rained, or it doesn’t influence the speaker in any way.
+: ''flære adašora'' - *yesterday it has rained. Perfect tense; while wrong in English, this construction is possible - and, in fact, is frequently heard - though it often only makes sense in a broader context. For example, in a sentence like “yesterday it rained and the path collapsed, so we [two] can’t walk there”, English uses both times a simple past, while Chlouvānem uses the perfect, as the path is still not walkable due to the rain: ''flære menni adašora līlta viṣeheṣṭva no, āñjulā gu pepeithnādām ša''.
+Note that the “impact on the present” meaning and the use of evidentials are independent from each other. Using a first inferential, for example, does not change the implications given by the use of perfect or past, though the actual interpretation is often heavily dependent from context:
+: ''palias jāyim juniritti'' - “apparently, the girl painted her [own] face”. Past tense: it can be assumed that the girl painted her own face sometime in the past; e.g. the girl is now painting her face, and given the way she does it, it’s reasonable to believe it’s not her first time.
+: ''palias jāyim ujuniritena'' - “apparently, the girl has painted her [own] face”. Perfect “tense”: it can be assumed that the girl now has a painted face, but the speaker has not seen her; e.g. in her room there are face painting colours open or that look like they’ve been recently used.
+Second inferential changes the speaker’s deduction, but not the implications given by tenses:
+: ''palias jāyim junirittimū'' - “apparently, the girl painted her [own] face, but probably didn’t”. Past tense: as before, but while she, or something she did, had made the speaker believe she had already painted her face at least once in the past, the way she’s doing it makes think that she probably never did.
+: ''palias jāyim ujuniritenamū'' - “apparently, the girl has painted her [own] face, but probably didn’t”. Perfect “tense”: as before; highly dependent on context. For example, there are face painting colours out of place, but it’s unlikely she did paint her face - e.g. it may not be a logical time to do it, or too little colour seems to have been used.
 ====Positional verbs====
 Positional verbs are among the most complex features of Chlouvānem grammar. In order to build verbs such as "to stay", "to be seated", and "to lie", Chlouvānem uses a base which is then prefixed with a locative particle, building verbs meaning "to stay on", "to stay under", "to stay in", and so on. There are 26 prefixes for each of the three verbs: