Ergative marking with Subjunctive Clauses

Started by Taronyu, December 30, 2009, 12:41:40 AM

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Taronyu

For help on Ergative/accusative/nominative cases, look at this worksheet.

I know that sounds confusing, the title. But I think it's worth noting. So, we have this sentence:

Oe-l         ral si    plltxe                                    ikran-ti.
I - ERG    meaning (n.) + si  (= mean v.)          ikran - ACC
I mean to say Ikran.

Here, "mean" is a transitive verb, so the nouns are inflected. But look at the following sentence:

Oe-l ral si plltxe ikran nìwin l<iv>u.

I ERG mean to say the Ikran is SUBJ. fast.

Notice how nothing here takes the accusative case ending. This is because "ikran nìwin lu" takes the function, in the sentence, of the accusitive noun phrase. So, the -l is still necessary, because "ral si", as a verb, is still transitive.

Note that, if a different verb from lu is used in the second clause, the words it modifies inflect for tense. Thus:

Oe-l ral si plltxe ikran-ìl ay-riti-ti t<iv>aron.
I ERG mean to say the Ikran ERG hunts SUBJ. stingbats ACC.

Make sense? :)

Robert Nantangä Tirea

#1
Bravo ma Hunter, sìltsanit soli.  :D

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Beduino

Just remembering that <iv> was not confirmed yet. It seems to be subjunctive, but only Frommer knows for sure :)
tsun ngal tslam fì'uti srak?