Case and relations in Majiusgaru
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 11:50 am
The latest Conlangery podcast had me finally wanting to write out how different relations are marked in Majiusgaru. Its been sitting in my head for sometime but I never put it down.
Experiencers, themes, and patients are treated as Patients. This means they are marked with the absolutive (by position, the S in VS and the P in VPA) and on the verb with a suffix. Experiencers take precidence over themes, such that if both occur the experiencer is marked on the verb and takes the left most position.
sleep-3S eel The eel slept
hit-3S eel The eel was hit
1S-hit-3S eel ERG 1S I hit the eel
see-1S 1S eel I saw an eel.
HAB-COP 1S green I am green (I habitually experience greenness)
Agents, causes, forces are treated as Agents. They are marked with an ergative preposition and position (A in VPA) and on ditransitive verbs with prefixes. The antipassive voice lets them be treated as Patients (see above). Also some verbs are unergative. There is no passive construction so there is a lexical distinction, e.g. travel vs be transported. A participant can only be an agent if it as volition. If a cause is such that it takes away volition then it is the agent and non-volitional participant is demoted to instrument.
3S-bite-1S 1S ERG eel The eel bit me
3S-wet-1S rain The rain wetted me
ANTP-bite-3S eel The eel bit
leave-1S I left
3S-eat-3PL eel-PL ERG hunger INST 1S Hunger made me eat the eels (lit. Hunger ate the eels by means of me)
Directions/goals, recipients, purposes, and beneficiaries are marked by the benefactive preposition and oblique position (X in VSX and VPAX). Often the difference between a purpose and a cause is its effect on volition. If an agent choose to do an action then the reason is a purpose. If an agent is forced to do the action then the reason is a cause. The position hierarchy is Direction/Goal > Recipient > Beneficiary > Purpose.
go-1S BEN summit I went to the summit
1S-give-3S apple BEN 2S I gave an apple to you
1S-eat-3PL eel-PL BEN hunger I ate the eels because of hunger
1S-catch-3PL eel-PL BEN 3S I caught the eels for him
1S-give-3PL eel-PL BEN Sara BEN Tomi BEN 3S-hunger Tomi I gave eels to Sara for Tommy for his hunger.
Instruments, durations, and origins are marked with the instrumental preposition and oblique position (X in VSX and VPAX). A would-be agent demoted due to a cause taking its volition is considered an instrument. Instruments generally precede origins, except when highlighting origin. Generally instrumental obliques are mentioned after benefactive obliques.
1S-hit-3S eel INST club I hit the eel with a club
sleep-1S INST 3 hour-PL I slept for 3 hours
come-1PL INST Tegucigalpa We came from Tegucigalpa
come-3PL INST boat-PL INST Spain They came by boats from Spain
come-3PL INST Spain INST boat-PL It was from Spain they came from in their boats
Spatial and temporal locations are marked with the locative preposition and oblique position (X in VSX and VPAX). Generally spatial location takes precedence over temporal location. Time can also be handled with certain temporal adverbs.
sleep-1S LOC boat I slept in the boat
1S-eat-3S eel LOC sunset I ate an eel at sunset
1S-eat-3S eel LOC boat LOC sunset I ate an eel in the boat at sunset
Comments, questions, terminology corrections, etc are appreciated.
Experiencers, themes, and patients are treated as Patients. This means they are marked with the absolutive (by position, the S in VS and the P in VPA) and on the verb with a suffix. Experiencers take precidence over themes, such that if both occur the experiencer is marked on the verb and takes the left most position.
sleep-3S eel The eel slept
hit-3S eel The eel was hit
1S-hit-3S eel ERG 1S I hit the eel
see-1S 1S eel I saw an eel.
HAB-COP 1S green I am green (I habitually experience greenness)
Agents, causes, forces are treated as Agents. They are marked with an ergative preposition and position (A in VPA) and on ditransitive verbs with prefixes. The antipassive voice lets them be treated as Patients (see above). Also some verbs are unergative. There is no passive construction so there is a lexical distinction, e.g. travel vs be transported. A participant can only be an agent if it as volition. If a cause is such that it takes away volition then it is the agent and non-volitional participant is demoted to instrument.
3S-bite-1S 1S ERG eel The eel bit me
3S-wet-1S rain The rain wetted me
ANTP-bite-3S eel The eel bit
leave-1S I left
3S-eat-3PL eel-PL ERG hunger INST 1S Hunger made me eat the eels (lit. Hunger ate the eels by means of me)
Directions/goals, recipients, purposes, and beneficiaries are marked by the benefactive preposition and oblique position (X in VSX and VPAX). Often the difference between a purpose and a cause is its effect on volition. If an agent choose to do an action then the reason is a purpose. If an agent is forced to do the action then the reason is a cause. The position hierarchy is Direction/Goal > Recipient > Beneficiary > Purpose.
go-1S BEN summit I went to the summit
1S-give-3S apple BEN 2S I gave an apple to you
1S-eat-3PL eel-PL BEN hunger I ate the eels because of hunger
1S-catch-3PL eel-PL BEN 3S I caught the eels for him
1S-give-3PL eel-PL BEN Sara BEN Tomi BEN 3S-hunger Tomi I gave eels to Sara for Tommy for his hunger.
Instruments, durations, and origins are marked with the instrumental preposition and oblique position (X in VSX and VPAX). A would-be agent demoted due to a cause taking its volition is considered an instrument. Instruments generally precede origins, except when highlighting origin. Generally instrumental obliques are mentioned after benefactive obliques.
1S-hit-3S eel INST club I hit the eel with a club
sleep-1S INST 3 hour-PL I slept for 3 hours
come-1PL INST Tegucigalpa We came from Tegucigalpa
come-3PL INST boat-PL INST Spain They came by boats from Spain
come-3PL INST Spain INST boat-PL It was from Spain they came from in their boats
Spatial and temporal locations are marked with the locative preposition and oblique position (X in VSX and VPAX). Generally spatial location takes precedence over temporal location. Time can also be handled with certain temporal adverbs.
sleep-1S LOC boat I slept in the boat
1S-eat-3S eel LOC sunset I ate an eel at sunset
1S-eat-3S eel LOC boat LOC sunset I ate an eel in the boat at sunset
Comments, questions, terminology corrections, etc are appreciated.