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Lifashian: Difference between revisions
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Even so, there is a prohibition against using inanimate agents for certain verbs that may imply volition: e.g. a sentence such as *lá tom népom ebelem "the vase hit me" is still ungrammatical, and so it has to be reformulated by explicitely marking the non-volitive action implied, i.e. ''so néps asyájat ng mek ebelem'' "the vase fell and I was hit" - note the absolutive meaning of the nominative case of the pronoun ''mek''. | Even so, there is a prohibition against using inanimate agents for certain verbs that may imply volition: e.g. a sentence such as *lá tom népom ebelem "the vase hit me" is still ungrammatical, and so it has to be reformulated by explicitely marking the non-volitive action implied, i.e. ''so néps asyájat ng mek ebelem'' "the vase fell and I was hit" - note the absolutive meaning of the nominative case of the pronoun ''mek''. | ||
===Reflexive and passive=== | |||
Reflexives in Lifashian are formed with the reflexive pronoun ''se'' (accusative), ''sém'' (genitive), ''sew'' (dative). The usage of the three cases follows the general logic: | |||
* ''Se unelmi.'' "I wash myself." | |||
* ''Tás gésam sém unelmi.'' "I wash my hair." (lit. "the hair of mine") | |||
* ''Nyam paltóm kenitáta sew ekírhaha.'' "I bought myself a new coat." | |||
Modern Lifashian does not have a passive voice: passive-like sentences have to be formed through syntactical means. One example of a passive-like construction is the split ergativity mentioned above, where the subject is the experiencer of the action. Other types of passive-like sentences are formed by changing the word order in order to give more prominence to the object. | |||
The most common among these strategies is to use OSV word order instead of the standard SOV: | |||
{{Gloss | |||
| phrase = Nahlá pire syanangirás Hosrawom esera. | |||
| gloss = Nahlá.<small>NOM.SG</small>. in_front_of. friend-<small>ACC.PL</small>. Hosraw-<small>ACC.SG.</small>. introduce.<small>PAST-IND.3SG</small>. | |||
| translation = Nahlá introduced Hosraw to her friends. | |||
}} | |||
{{Gloss | |||
| phrase = Hosrawom Nahlá pire syanangirás esera. | |||
| gloss = Hosraw-<small>ACC.SG.</small>. Nahlá.<small>NOM.SG</small>. in_front_of. friend-<small>ACC.PL</small>. <small>3SG.POSS-MASC/FEM.SG.NOM</small>. introduce.<small>PAST-IND.3SG</small>. | |||
| translation = Hosraw was introduced by Nahlá to her friends. | |||
}} | |||
If the agent is clear, it may simply be omitted: | |||
{{Gloss | |||
| phrase = Tom samtom akána. | |||
| gloss = <small>DEF.MASC.ACC.SG</small>. song-<small>ACC.SG.</small>. play.<small>PAST-IND.3SG</small>. | |||
| translation = The song was played. | |||
}} | |||
If the agent is generic or unimportant, the verb must be in the 3rd person plural: | |||
{{Gloss | |||
| phrase = Tás hérás ise merpehi sahulehóré tamíz puráti. | |||
| gloss = <small>DEF.MASC.ACC.PL</small>. street-<small>ACC.PL</small>. every. morning-<small>GEN.SG</small>. Sunday-<small>GEN.SG</small>. clean-<small>PRES.IND.3PL</small>. | |||
| translation = The streets are cleaned every Sunday morning. | |||
}} | |||
{{Gloss | |||
| phrase = Píttorá syede fardadáti. | |||
| gloss = computer-<small>PL.ACC</small>. here. sell-<small>PRES.IND.3PL</small>. | |||
| translation = Computers are sold here. | |||
}} | |||
Note that, in the second sentence, the reading *"computers sell here", which would theoretically be morphologically possible due to the neuter plural having the same form in the nominative and accusative cases, is prevented by the animacy constraint detailed above in the section about split ergativity. | |||
===Relative clauses=== | ===Relative clauses=== | ||