Sunday, December 28, 2014

Revisiting Bryatesle: Past tense verbs and their use

The Bryatesle verb morphology is relatively simple - in part because I made it while studying Russian, a language that overdoes verb morphology, and in part because I wanted to try something quite different from Finnish and Russian in that regard.

Most verbs do not mark tense, but all verbs mark person and aspect. The aspect resides somewhere between being derivative and being inflectional.

However, a handful of verbs do have a past tense form - to say (lirai), to give (likem), to go (kivyi), to have (ibam), to get (davei). Most of them have the full product of {telic, atelic}*{past, present}. Morphological tables can be found at the end of the post.

Since tense is rather marginal in Bryatesle, there is little in ways of 'specific' typological behaviors it showcases when it comes to tense. Its tense system is neither one of past-vs-nonpast or future-vs-nonfuture. I have chosen to call the tenses 'present' vs. 'past' out of convenience - 'present' is as much nonpast as it is future, and past is as much past as it is nonfuture. The system might best be described as one of nonfuture vs. nonpast.

This, however, only applies when these forms are used in isolation. When used in coordination with other verbs as 'tense-carrier', the difference becomes more clearly one of past vs. non-past - though a marked non-past is somewhat more likely to be future than present.

As tense-markers, these basically just coordinate with a verb that is inflected for aspect - both verbs usually are in the same aspect, although some circumstances (that I might describe later when I've designed them) permit for combinations of aspect, however. These do encode additional information about the function of the utterance, so these are not 'just tense markers', they mark a complicated combination of modal information.

Any more complex noun phrases than pronouns that are arguments of only the past-tense marked verb is an indicator that the past tense verb does not primarily work as a tense marker - its normal meaning is then assumed, although its past tense meaning too is invoked - and the past tense meaning of the other verb may still be implicit (although not fully necessarily). Shared arguments go to the left of both verbs. Only pronouns can go between the two verbs.

likem, to give. Also signifies to permit, to allow, to tolerate, to provide, to sustain, to hold up against something, to offer resistance

PRESENT
PAST

ATELICTELIC
ATELICTELIC
I sglïkemlïkan
lïkunlïkut
II sglïkerlïka
lïkuvilïkut
III hlïkerlïkat
lïkulikut
III nlïkerlïkat
lïkulïkut
I pllïkeimlïkam
lïkumlïkvam
II pllïkeinïlikanë
lïkunïlïkvanë
III hlïkeislïkanis
lïkunïlïkunas
III nlïkeis/lïkerlikanis/lïkanïi/
lïkat

lïkunï/likulïkanis/lïkanïi/lïkat

Esdos saube e liku - the bear roared (as an act of resistance)
hedam e lïkun - I kept sleeping (sleep-1sg give-1sg.past) (implicitly despite things that tried waking me up)
astas e likut - you fought (successfully) ('you gave, you fought' c.f. 'gave fight')
kvaster e nëm likut - he spoke nonsense (and I let him do so)
en kvaster e en likut - he spoke nonsense, (and continued to do so)

davei, to get. Also signifies to be released (from some obligation - x did until he no longer was obligated to, for instance), to be found innocent, to cave in, not to withstand something and thus to fall or be subdued by it, to be beset by something, to dislike the circumstance described by the other verb

PRESENT
PAST

ATELICTELIC
ATELICTELIC
I sgdaveidavin

davut
II sgdavardavas

davuvi
III hdavasrdavat

davuvi
III ndavasrdavat

davat
I pldavaimdavam

dauvam
II pldavainïdavanë

dauvanë
III hdavaisdavanis

daunas
III ndavaisdavanis

davanis

emi ramat e tësri davuvi - she sings and you.dat got.3sg - she sang until you got annoyed
en sarbrat e davuvi - he work.3sg and got - he worked until he had fulfilled his obligation
en xnynër e davuvi - he felt a stench (and was revolted)

to say, to promise, to believe, to vouch for, to offer (a price or exchange), to claim ownership or entitlement to, to speak for (object in oblique secondary subject case), to have authority over (object in accusative possessive), to maintain a certain claim holds true

PRESENT
PAST

ATELICTELIC
ATELICTELIC
I sglïrailïran
lïrunlïrut
II sglïrarlïras
lïrurilïrut
III hlïrarlïrat
lïrudë/liruliruvi
III nlïrarlïrat
lïrulïrat
I pllïraimlïram
lïruimlïruvam
II pllïrainïliranë
lïrunïlïruvanë
III hlïraislïranis
lïrunïlïrunas
III nlïrar/lïraislirat/lïranïi
lïru/lïrudëlïrunas

es parsak vanetsat nëm lïrun
he story tell.atelic3sg I say.past.telic
I told you he told a (mean) story!

lïrunï/lïrunas is often used as a past tense tag particle, marking the past-ness of the event referred to, and the general reputation that the event referred to is worth seeing, or that it truly does happen regularly or that the subject is able to perform such a stunt. Thus
es xudipanelë bumal xudsur lïrunï!
he throw-spring.dat water throws they said = the geyser really ejected water (as they are rumoured to).
A neuter noun that is the subject of a transitive verb is put in a construction where the masculine pronoun followed by the neuter noun in dative 'typecasts' the expression - basically, Bryatesle's ergative case looks like that. xudi = throw, panël = source, spring. Xudipanël = geyser.

to have, to understand, to rule, to judge, to consider [something or someone] [something], to know (by inference)

PRESENT
PAST

ATELICTELIC
ATELICTELIC
I sgibamibem
ibunibut
II sgibamibem
iburiibur
III hibaribem
ibudëibuvi
III ntibartibem
ibutibem
I plibaimibem
ibuimibuvam
II plibanïibanë
ibunïibuvanë
III hibaisibanis
ibunïibunas
III ntibartibem
ibuibunas

to go, to continue, to appear to be, to acquire a quality or to increase having that quality, to be made to acquire a quality or increase having that quality, to resolve to do something, to go in order to fetch something (trans), to bring something (trans)
PRESENTPAST
ATELICTELICATELICTELIC
I sgkivyikivan
kunkut
II sgkivarkivas
kivurikivut
III hkivyikivat
kivudëkuvi
III nkivikivatkivudëkuvi
I plkaimkam
kuimkuvam
II plkainïkanë
kunïkunë
III hkaiskanis
kunïkunas
III nkais/kivikaniskunïkunas/kuvi
Exceptionally, this can take an adjective or a noun in the dative case as complement even when being a temporal marker - this then marks the quality which the subject is acquiring due to the other verb.

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