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Ris: Difference between revisions
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| colspan="7"|''My dog barks at you''. | | colspan="7"|''My dog barks at you''. | ||
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===Animacy=== | |||
[[Image:Animacy-At.png|right|thumb|A table of the different Attian stages of animacy and salency.]] | |||
Just as the Ris language makes a difference regarding gender, a fairly strong distinction in '''{{lg|Animacy|animacy}}''' is made, mainly for semantical and grammatical reasons, since there is no morphological distinction. | |||
The Ris rules of animacy dictates that no inanimate objects may stand in the [[Ris#Core cases|agentative]] case. Inanimate nouns are perceived as incapable of actually performing deliberate actions. Inanimates that are the subjects of an action are therefore most often marked with the [[Ris#Instrumental|instrumental]] case. This construction forces the speaker to directly name an animate agent, use a passive construction, or to use an indefinite pronoun. Inanimate, or less animate nouns also have a lesser probability to be compatible with verbs connected with higher degrees of animacy, like the words for "''to talk''", "''to think''" and "''control''". | |||
There are several different degrees of animacy, which at times also intertwine with salency. The grading goes from ''Very high'' to ''Very low'' and spans 7 degrees. The top and most animate nouns are humans, and especially men and leaders. Women normally rank as at least as animate as men, but they can in certain circumstances be degraded to indicate inferiority. The least animate substantives are minerals, abstraction and in part; plants. | |||
====Don't blame the stone==== | |||
{{quote | |||
|text='''Men vathim vana'''. | |||
|sign=Anathir t'Armavir | |||
|source=Descriptions of the language, p. 35 | |||
|about= '''Don't blame the stone''' is a well known Attian saying, invented by the Attian grammarian Athanir t'Armavir. It's idiomatic meaning is that one should not blame the tool when it is not the master of its own actions. It also carries grammatical significance, since the Attian language does not allow inanimate nouns to be the agent of a verb. An equivalent phrase in English would be: ''It isn't the gun that kills, but the one who pulled the trigger''. | |||
}} | |||
Below is an example of someone hit with stones. Here, the subject impossibly could be marked with the agentive, taking their inanimacy in regard. Instead, you may put the subject in the [[Ris#Instrumental|instrumental]] case, and mediopassivise the verb. Alternatively the subject is degraded to an oblique, and a new subject is introduced. | |||
{| cellpadding="4" style="line-height: 1em;" | |||
|+ | |||
<!-- Sentence --> | |||
| colspan="4"|'''''{{red|vanev}}'' ittimann''' | |||
! | |||
| colspan="4"|'''vanun tutinn''' | |||
! | |||
| colspan="5"|'''yatva vanum titann''' | |||
|- | |||
<!-- Pronunciation--> | |||
| colspan="4"|/ˈwanɛw itˈtiŋanː/ | |||
! | |||
| colspan="4"|/ˈwanun ˈtutinː/ | |||
! | |||
| colspan="5"|/ˈjatwa ˈwanuŋ ˈtitanː/ | |||
|- | |||
<!-- Morphemes--> | |||
|<small>vana</small> | |||
|<small>-ev</small> | |||
|<small>ittim</small> | |||
|<small>-ann</small> | |||
! | |||
|<small>vana</small> | |||
|<small>-un</small> | |||
|<small>tuti</small> | |||
|<small>-nn</small> | |||
! | |||
|<small>yat</small> | |||
|<small>-va</small> | |||
|<small>vana</small> | |||
|<small>-um</small> | |||
|<small>tita</small> | |||
|<small>-nn</small> | |||
|- | |||
<!-- Gloss--> | |||
|stone/{{sc|n.pl.}} | |||
| -{{sc|n.pl.agt}} | |||
|hit/{{sc|ind.dyn.n.pl}} | |||
| -{{sc|-m.pat.1.sg}} | |||
! | |||
|stone/{{sc|n.pl}} | |||
| -{{sc|n.pl.ins}} | |||
|hit/{{sc|med.dyn-stat.m.sg}} | |||
| -{{sc|-m.pat.1.sg}} | |||
! | |||
|someone/{{sc|m.sg}} | |||
| -{{sc|m.agt}} | |||
|stone/{{sc|n.pl}} | |||
| -{{sc|n.pl.ins}} | |||
|hit/{{sc|ind.dyn.m.sg}} | |||
| -{{sc|-m.pat.1.sg}} | |||
|- | |||
<!-- Translations --> | |||
| colspan="4"|''*Stones hit me'' | |||
! | |||
| colspan="4"|''I am hit with stones'' | |||
! | |||
| colspan="5"|''Some guy hits me with stones'' | |||
|} | |||
Both verbs and nouns have different inherent animacy. Both the type of noun and verb are thus essential to interpret whether it can be the in the agentative case. Some verbs are more inherently animate than others in the Ris language, determining whether inanimate subjects may perform them; the word "''to speak''", ''thana'', is used unexclusively for humans. Less animate subjects cannot perform this verb and are therefore coupled with another, more appropriate, one. Please note that only because inanimate nouns are less likely to perform more animate actions, more animate nouns may act out inanimate verbs. | |||
Below is table with example nouns and verbs with their respective animacy. Please note that the first two degrees most often intertwine. It is common for slightly sexistic or separatistic speakers to use work-arounds when speaking about women or children: Instead of saying that ''they are capable'', they would say ''they can do (it)''. In other terms; stative or generic verbs describing characteristics are less likely to be used with women. They have to satisfy with the appropriate dynamic verb. | |||
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center" | |||
|+ | |||
<!-- Sentence --> | |||
! colspan="7" |Degrees of Animacy | |||
|- | |||
<!-- Degrees--> | |||
!Very High | |||
!High | |||
!Medium high | |||
!Medium | |||
!Medium low | |||
!Low | |||
!Very low | |||
|- | |||
<!-- Example nouns--> | |||
|''man'' | |||
|''women, children'' | |||
|''infants, pets'' | |||
|''animals, weather'' | |||
|''plants'' | |||
|''minerals'' | |||
|''abstractions'' | |||
|- | |||
<!-- Example verbs--> | |||
|colspan="2"|''to talk'' | |||
|''to communicate'' | |||
|''to bark, to be noisy'' | |||
|''to be green'' | |||
|''to be heavy'' | |||
|''to be complicated'' | |||
|- | |||
|} | |} | ||