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

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

Vo

Still on vacation down in Taos, but I've been thinking about 'vo.'

1 go zu spun kom jol.  I use spoon, eat soup.  Probably means that I 
eat the soup with a spoon.

2 go kom jol zu spun.  I eat soup, use spoon.  Probably means that I 
use a spoon to eat soup.

Now, they both mean about the same thing.  But if we want to insure 
the meaning of 1 we can use "vo", which turns a verb phrase into a 
modifier of the other.

go vo zu spun kom jol. or
go kom jol vo zu spun. and a couple of other possibilities that just 
struck me that will probably turn out to be more common, though they 
call for a little more attention to word order:

go zu spun de kom jol.  Making "zu spun" a direct modifier, or
go spunzu de kom jol.  Making a sort of instrumental case out of the 
spun phrase.

And, we can move it around with "hu".

go kom hu zu spun behu jol.  Which we probably wouldn't use, because 
of the awkwardness.

And, for the number two version, we do the obvious changes.

go vo kom jol zu spun.
go zu spun vo kom jol.
go kom jol de zu spun.
go jolkom de zu spun.

So we may end up using "vo" phrases when the modifier is way out of 
place.

Vo zu spun go pa kom to jol.