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> > > I see the triad "X says Y to Z" as most conveniently decomposed into
> > > dyads strictly among X, Y, and Z, namely "X expresses Y" and "X
> > > addresses Z". Here's the basic idea:
> > >
> > > {say}: X says/expresses proposition/narrative Y
> > > {tell}: X tells/addresses/communicates to audience Z
> > >
> > > John {tell} Alice.
> > > John tells Alice.
> > >
> > > John {say} he is going to the store.
> > > John says that he is going to the store.
> > >
> > > John {tell} Alice {say} he is going to the store.
> > > John tells Alice that he is going to the store.
> > >
> > > John {say} the story {tell} Alice.
> > > John tells the story to Alice.
> > >
> > > Alice {inverse-tell} John.
> > > Alice is told by John.
> > >
> > > Alice {inverse-tell} John {say} the story.
> > > Alice is told by John the story.
> > >
> > > Alice {past} {inverse-tell} {say} the story.
> > > Alice was told the story.
> >
> > Interesting. I've never looked into a system like this before. what would
> > you say its main virtues are?
I used practically the same in my conlang sketches, mainly because I wanted most words to be morphologically determined by binary structures:
-i: "subject"
-a: "verb"
-u: "object"
E.g., kuomi: eater / kuoma: to eat / kuomu: food.
-- --
In relations like "John goes from Bologna to Paris.", I would have "John ({comes-from} Bologna) ({goes-to} Paris).", but I would have to define more vocabulary:
E.g., if "fiena = comes-from" and "fiata = goes-to", then
fieni: coming person / fiati: going person
fienu: place of origin / fiatu: place of destiny
The only difference of my original system was that I imagined that in a relation like
"John {gives} gift {gives-to} Mary.",
the -i "case" of {gives-to} would refer to "John with a gift", not only to the gift. It could be like this:
kinfa: {gives}, give sth.
kinfi: person who gives sth.
kinfu: gift
tuota: {gives-to}, {addresses}
tuoti: person with a gift, "gift sent by a person"
tuotu: gift receiver
I have tested other verbs and I'm impressed by how sophisticated ideas can be expressed by synthetic vocabulary.
-- --
I would use a particle to make passive voice, but the {inverse-tell} of this post now gives me the idea of changing the system to:
-i: "subject"
-e: "active verb"
-o: "passive verb"
-u: "object"
-a: reserved to another function