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Lemizh: Difference between revisions
Partitive/qualitative examples; inversion, omitting objects; exactly one sender, ...
Anypodetos (talk | contribs) (Standard dialect; compounds; license) |
Anypodetos (talk | contribs) (Partitive/qualitative examples; inversion, omitting objects; exactly one sender, ...) |
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Each primary case has two corresponding secondary cases: | Each primary case has two corresponding secondary cases: | ||
* a partitive case formed by adding ''ng'' (such as ''-ing-'' for the partitive dative or ''-erng-'' for the partitive elative) with the descriptor ''the set from which the source (sink, place, etc.) is thought to be taken'' | * a partitive case formed by adding ''ng'' (such as ''-ing-'' for the partitive dative or ''-erng-'' for the partitive elative) with the descriptor ''the set from which the source (sink, place, etc.) is thought to be taken'': ''wèngx.'' is "the set from which the speaker is thought to be taken", i.e. "the speaker, among others". | ||
* a qualitative case formed by adding ''m'', with the descriptor ''the basis of comparison for the source (sink, place, etc.)'' | * a qualitative case formed by adding ''m'', with the descriptor ''the basis of comparison for the source (sink, place, etc.)'': ''wèmx.'' informally translates as "someone like a speaker". | ||
===The flow of the plot=== | ===The flow of the plot=== | ||
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|give-FACT-1 Lucy-ACC-DAT-2 bottle-ACC-ACC-2 {Father Christmas}-ACC-NOM-2. | |give-FACT-1 Lucy-ACC-DAT-2 bottle-ACC-ACC-2 {Father Christmas}-ACC-NOM-2. | ||
|''Lucy gets a bottle from Father Christmas. Lucy is given a bottle by Father Christmas.''}} | |''Lucy gets a bottle from Father Christmas. Lucy is given a bottle by Father Christmas.''}} | ||
Rule Three defines outer case in a way that mirrors the definition of inner case. This allows for an operation called '''inversion''': | |||
{{Interlinear|indent=3|display-messages=no|ablist=FACT:factive case; 1:first level; 2:second level; 2A:second level, agentive | |||
|làzhw wèxi. ⇔ wáx lìzhwe. | |||
|help-FACT-1 speak-'''NOM'''-'''DAT'''-2. ⇔ speak-FACT-1 help-'''DAT'''-'''NOM'''-2A. | |||
|''[Someone] helps the speaker. ⇔ The one being helped speaks.''}} | |||
Both sentences claim that the sender of speaking is the recipient of helping. The equation is ''wèx.'' = ''lìzhw.'', the speaker = the one being helped. | |||
This example also illustrates that any object in a Lemizh sentence can be omitted (here the nominative "someone") as none of the Rules prescribes which objects have to be included. In fact, anything not helpful for understanding a sentence should be left out. | |||
'''Rule Four. An instance of a word stem designates a specific action.''' | '''Rule Four. An instance of a word stem designates a specific action.''' | ||
''dà'' in the above sentence does not just mean "to give", it refers to one specific action of giving. Such an action may involve several givers (as in "They give something") and need not even be temporally or spatially | ''dà'' in the above sentence does not just mean "to give", it refers to one specific action of giving. Such an action may involve several givers (as in "They give something") and need not even be temporally or spatially contiguous (as in "They are giving something every Christmas"). In other words, each spoken or written instance of the stem ''d–'' refers to a certain subset of all the giving there is. | ||
This rule ensures that all the objects refer to the same action of giving as the predicate itself. | This rule ensures that all the objects refer to the same action of giving as the predicate itself. | ||
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'''Rule Six. A missing object is equivalent to the absence of information about its descriptor.''' | '''Rule Six. A missing object is equivalent to the absence of information about its descriptor.''' | ||
Above sentences do not have, for example, locative objects, so Rule Five cannot place a restriction on the place of giving. Because of Rule Six, this does not mean there are no restrictions on the location, but only that this kind of information has not been included in the sentence (for example, because the speaker does not know about it, considers it irrelevent, or assumes the listener already knows or – perhaps most importantly – can infer it.) | Above sentences do not have, for example, locative objects, so Rule Five cannot place a restriction on the place of giving. Because of Rule Six, this does not mean there are no restrictions on the location, but only that this kind of information has not been included in the sentence (for example, because the speaker does not know about it, considers it irrelevent, or assumes the listener already knows or – perhaps most importantly – can infer it). | ||
Rules Five and Six imply that every instance of a word has exactly one action (which, however, need not be contiguous), one sender (which can consist of several people), and so on: Five excludes additional senders if one nominative object is already present, and Six gives meaning to missing objects, establishing them as an integral part of Lemizh sentence grammar. | |||
'''Rule Seven. Given an object and its predicate, the predicate is considered more real and the object more hypothetical.''' | '''Rule Seven. Given an object and its predicate, the predicate is considered more real and the object more hypothetical.''' | ||