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→Don't blaim the stone
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====Don't blaim the stone==== | ====Don't blaim the stone==== | ||
{{quote | |||
|text='''Men vathim vana'''. | |||
|sign=Anathir t'Armavir | |||
|source=Descriptions of the language, p. 35 | |||
|about= '''Don't blaim 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 blaim 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 [[Attian#Instrumental|instrumental]] case, and mediopassivise the verb. Alternatively the subject is degraded to an oblique, and a new subject is introduced. | 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 [[Attian#Instrumental|instrumental]] case, and mediopassivise the verb. Alternatively the subject is degraded to an oblique, and a new subject is introduced. | ||