Lemizh: Difference between revisions

| p <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[w:Voiceless bilabial plosive|p]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> • b <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[w:Voiced bilabial plosive|b]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> || || t <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[w:Voiceless alveolar plosive|t]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> • d <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[w:Voiced alveolar plosive|d]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> || || k <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[w:Voiceless velar plosive|k]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> • g <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[w:Voiced velar plosive|g]]<nowiki>]</nowiki>

Lemizh words do not inflect for number or gender. If desired, we can express this information by forming compounds. (Note the duplication of the inner case vowel; the first occurrence in each word is called the epenthetic case of the compound. The underlying grammar will be described later.)

Of course, adjectives can be compounded to express number and/or gender in the same way as nouns. Furthermore, we can form compounds expressing various degrees. (The epenthetic consecutive ''-il-'' in these compounds will also be explained later; it is actually the main application of the abstract nouns just mentioned.)

| ''gmrỳ.'' || ''gmril'''zhrỳ'''.'' "lukewarm" || ''gmril'''dmỳ'''.'' "hot" || ''gmril'''ghngỳ'''.'' "absolutely hot" || ''gmril'''tỳzhd'''.'' "warmer, hotter" || ''gmril'''ỳst'''.'' "hottest"

| ''lỳbdh.'' || ''lilbdh'''zhrỳ'''.'' "whitish" || ''lilbdh'''dmỳ'''.'' "very white" || ''lilbdh'''ghngỳ'''.'' "absolutely/completely white" || ''lilbdh'''tỳzhd'''.'' "whiter" || ''lilbdh'''ỳst'''.'' "whitest"

Forming noun phrases does not require any new grammatical rules. Taking the first example sentence from above and changing the inner case of "give" to the nominative yields "one giving something, a giver". The objects are still sender, content and recipient of the ''action'' of giving, as outer cases define relations to the predicate's ''stem'' per Rule Three.

|''[There is] one giving Lucy a bottle, Father Christmas''}}

Adverbially used adjectives are phrased with factive brackets. However, changing the predicate's inner case leaves the object's outer factive intact, losing the bracket.

As [[w:Genitive construction|genitive constructions]] have a wide variety of meanings, there is no single Lemizh equivalent. The typical translation for constructions indicating possession is with the benefactive case, but other cases frequently occur. Everything depends on the object's relation to the predicate's stem per Rule Three.

| ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (The midsummer night is the time of dreaming.)}}

The difference between English gerund clauses and that-clauses roughly translates into a difference between an inner factive (''action'') and an inner affirmative (''fact'').

|''The beaver sees [the action of] '''Father Christmas giving Lucy a bottle'''.'' (The beaver is at the receiving end of the optical stimulus or information, hence the dative. The dependent clause could also be in the accusative to focus on the optical information transmitted to the beaver.)}}

|''The beaver sees [the fact of] '''Father Christmas giving Lucy a bottle'''. The beaver sees '''that''' Father Christmas gives Lucy a bottle.''}}

Relative clauses are structurally identical to (extended) attributive participles as described above; they are brackets: ''a bird which sings to a sad child at night = a bird singing to a sad child at night''. This is also true of clauses with relative adverbs:

|''The children called Lucy a hero.'' (The children gave the name of hero to Lucy.)}}

Here, the lost accusative ending has to be deduced from context.

Compounds expressing degrees of [[#Adjectives and the like|adjectives]] are also formed from brackets. They have an epenthetic consecutive (''-il-''), which stems from the corresponding abstract noun: ''gmrìl dmỳil. ⇔ dmỳ gmrìly.'' "much warmth" ⇒ ''gmrildmìl.'' "heat" (abstract noun formed with inner {{sc|cons}}), ''gmrildmỳ.'' "hot" (adjective with inner {{sc|acc}}). Degrees of comparison are often combined with [[#Predicative|predicatives]] as well as with qualitative or partitive outer cases: