Language complexity: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:15, 30 July 2014

Revision as of 08:26, 2 October 2014

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With [[deixis]], Tolomako has three degrees (here/this, there/that, yonder/yon), whereas Sakao has seven.

Tolomako has a [[preposition]] to distinguish the [[object (grammar)|object]] of a verb from an instrument; indeed, a single preposition, ''ne,'' is used for all relationships of space and time. Sakao, on the other hand, treats both as objects of the verb, with a transitive suffix ''{{IPA|-ɨn}}'' that shows the verb has two objects, but letting context disambiguate which is which:

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Here ''{{IPA|aða}}'' "the bow" is the instrumental of ''{{IPA|sɔn}}'' "to shoot", and ''{{IPA|ɛðɛ}}'' "the sea" is the direct object of ''{{IPA|hoβ}}'' "to follow", which sincebecause they are combined into a single verb, are marked as [[ditransitive]] with the suffix ''{{IPA|-ɨn}}.'' Because ''{{IPA|sɔn}}'' "to shoot" has the [[noun incorporation|incorporated]] object ''{{IPA|nɛs}}'' "fish", the first consonant [[gemination|geminates]] for ''{{IPA|ssɔn}}''; ''{{IPA|ssɔn-nɛs}},'' being part of one word, then reduces to ''{{IPA|ssɔnɛs}}.'' And indeed, the previous example of killing a pig could be put more succinctly, but grammatically more complexly, in Sakao by incorporating the object 'pig' into the verb:

{| class="wikitable IPA"