[YG Conlang Archives] > [Latejami group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]

Case tags and adverbs



This is probably going to be a fairly long email.


I'm really confused about how case tags and adverbs function, I seem to be missing something fundamental about how they bind to other words. I've read the relevant sections of the manual multiple times and I'm still not grasping how it functions. The section on verb derivations by comparison was wonderfully clear. I come from an English/Afrikaans background so that may be the reason for the confusion.


Anyway, starting with adverbs if you have a P-s verb and an AP-s adverb, how does this work? For example something along the lines of "Patient is free", how would an AP-s adverb interface with that? I think the part that I'm missing how the adverb links with the verb and the argument. If I understand correctly a P-s verb and a P-s adverb would follow the form verb > adverb > patient. However how would an AP-s or F-s, or for that matter an A-s connect with a P-s verb and it's core argument? Also, given the same basic idea, what would be different between the word order: verb adverb core vs. verb core adverb? Or would that simply promote or demote the adverb (or core?) without affecting what it links to? This completely leaves the "0X" series of derivations a mystery still, though I suspect the previous would explain how this part works fairly well, I'll look into that part once I understand the rest.


This brings me to case tags, as far as I understand a case tag precedes the oblique argument and links that to the verb. So it does _not_ modify the core arguments at all right? So with a P-s case tag and an A/P/F-s verb the following would be correct: verb agent patient focus case-tag secondary-patient? Would that be in any way correct?


The verbal derivations are really simple, inverse is simply X/Y > Y/X, middle is simply X/Y > Y [-X], etc. It's really really simple. However adverbs and case tags at present seem peculiarly complex which is really weird since everything else follows the principle of simple components which are simply connected which allows one to create really complex systems in aggregate.