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Lemizh: Difference between revisions
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Rules, copyedit, etc.
Anypodetos (talk | contribs) (→Noun phrases: Attributive pronoun; formatting) |
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| 8 || ü || benefactive ({{sc|ben}}):<br>''beneficiary'' || final ({{sc|fin}}):<br>''purpose, aim'' || aggressive ({{sc|agg}}):<br>''time towards which, temporal aim'' || allative ({{sc|all}}):<br>''place/region towards which, spatial aim'' | | 8 || ü || benefactive ({{sc|ben}}):<br>''beneficiary'' || final ({{sc|fin}}):<br>''purpose, aim'' || aggressive ({{sc|agg}}):<br>''time towards which, temporal aim'' || allative ({{sc|all}}):<br>''place/region towards which, spatial aim'' | ||
|} | |} | ||
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) | 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 qualitative case formed by adding ''m'', with the descriptor ''the basis of comparison for the source (sink, place, etc.)'' | |||
===The flow of the plot=== | ===The flow of the plot=== | ||
Every action denoted by a | Every action denoted by a stem is considered a flow of information that comes from a source (sender), transports a content, and reaches a sink (a recipient). The terms "sender" and "recipient" may be more familiar, but "source" and "sink" are more accurate in not necessarily meaning living beings. | ||
Consequently, a Lemizh action looks somewhat like this: '''nominative <span style="background: #ffc000; padding-bottom: 3px"> accusative</span>[[File:DreieckYellowMIDDLE.png|26px|link=]] dative''' | Consequently, a Lemizh action looks somewhat like this: '''nominative <span style="background: #ffc000; padding-bottom: 3px"> accusative</span>[[File:DreieckYellowMIDDLE.png|26px|link=]] dative''' | ||
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===Verbs=== | ===Verbs=== | ||
Most verbs correspond to Lemizh words with an inner factive. However, as Lemizh | Most verbs correspond to Lemizh words with an inner factive. However, as Lemizh stems always denote an action, the notable exception are stative verbs such as: | ||
* ''zdìls.'' "to sit", literally "the consequence of sitting down (''zdàs.'')" | * ''zdìls.'' "to sit", literally "the consequence of sitting down (''zdàs.'')" | ||
* ''gwìlt.'' "to know", literally "the consequence of learning (''gwàt.'')" | * ''gwìlt.'' "to know", literally "the consequence of learning (''gwàt.'')" | ||
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<nowiki>*</nowiki> The agent is the initiator of the action (more informally, the one who ''does'' the action). | <nowiki>*</nowiki> The agent is the initiator of the action (more informally, the one who ''does'' the action). | ||
=== | ===The Rules=== | ||
[[File:Lemizh parse tree.png|thumb|upright=1.5|A schematic sentence with the words represented by their level numbers]] | [[File:Lemizh parse tree.png|thumb|upright=1.5|A schematic sentence with the words represented by their level numbers]] | ||
The word levels determine the structure of a sentence. | The word levels determine the structure of a sentence. | ||
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'''Rule Three. The outer case of the first word of an object defines its relation to its predicate's stem via its descriptor; the outer case of a level 1 word is zero.''' | '''Rule Three. The outer case of the first word of an object defines its relation to its predicate's stem via its descriptor; the outer case of a level 1 word is zero.''' | ||
This is what we would expect: the nominative object | This is what we would expect from a language that inflects for case: the nominative object defines the source (sender) of the action named by the stem of its predicate, the accusative object its content, the temporal object its time, etc. | ||
'''Examples''' | '''Examples''' | ||
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|''Father Christmas gives Lucy a bottle.''}} | |''Father Christmas gives Lucy a bottle.''}} | ||
The | The stems of the three objects are nominal verbs ("to make a bottle" etc.), hence the inner accusatives. The outer cases indicate the sender, content and recipient of the act of giving, respectively. The agent is specified independently of the plot arrow; note the difference: | ||
{{Interlinear|indent=3|display-messages=no|ablist=FACT:factive case; 1:first level; 2:second level; 2A:second level, agentive | {{Interlinear|indent=3|display-messages=no|ablist=FACT:factive case; 1:first level; 2:second level; 2A:second level, agentive | ||
|dá lusyì dwywỳ föpysrỳfe. | |dá lusyì dwywỳ föpysrỳfe. | ||
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'''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. This rule ensures that all the objects refer to the same action of giving. | ''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 connected (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. | |||
'''Rule Five. A case characterises the action it refers to completely with regard to its case descriptor.''' | '''Rule Five. A case characterises the action it refers to completely with regard to its case descriptor.''' | ||
For example, the nominative object "Father Christmas" has to name the complete sender of the above instance of giving. This excludes from this instance all giving not done by Father Christmas. So each object places a restriction on the action of giving the main predicate refers to. Thus, the subset of giving meant by this instance of ''dà.'' – what the sentence is ultimately talking about – is defined more and more precisely with each additional object. (The same is true not only of the main predicate but of all words in a sentence.) | |||
'''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.) | |||
'''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.''' | ||
… | … | ||
<!-- Rule Five applied to inner case: THIS instance of giving exists --> | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
! !! as an object !! as a complete sentence | |||
|- | |||
| ''dà.'' || to give; giving || An action of giving exists = Someone gives something. | |||
|- | |||
| ''zdìls.'' || the consequence of sitting down = to sit; sitting || The consequence of sitting down exists = Someone sits. | |||
|- | |||
| ''dwìlw.'' || the consequence of making a bottle || The consequence of making a bottle exists = A bottle exists; there is a bottle. | |||
|- | |||
| ''sklè.'' || one building a bridge || One building a bridge exists = There is someone building a bridge. | |||
|} | |||
===Noun phrases=== | ===Noun phrases=== | ||
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Regarding the verb "see", note that the beaver is in the dative, being at the receiving end of the optical stimulus or information. Marking the beaver as agent would translate as "The beaver looks at the one …". | Regarding the verb "see", note that the beaver is in the dative, being at the receiving end of the optical stimulus or information. Marking the beaver as agent would translate as "The beaver looks at the one …". | ||
Rules Four and Five guarantee that the giver is identical to Father Christmas: both are the sender of the same instance of the | Rules Four and Five guarantee that the giver is identical to Father Christmas: both are the sender of the same instance of the stem ''d–'' "give" (the giver via its inner nominative, Father Christmas via its outer nominative), and both are the ''complete'' sender of this action. This type of construction, where an object's outer case matches its predicate's inner case, is called a '''bracket'''. Brackets are very widely used: | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
|- | |- | ||
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| n−5 || ghà. || … || xà. || … | | n−5 || ghà. || … || xà. || … | ||
|} | |} | ||
<!-- see Rule Four: He is speaking to himself vs. The one being spoken to is speaking. --> | |||
==Derivational morphology== | ==Derivational morphology== | ||