Test Sentences, 33

A quarter of the way through and continuing with Gary’s list:

  1. Is your sister coming for you?

As I mentioned before “come” is usually handled by the verb ono, which requires a location of some sort in the source slot. In this sentence, since “the sister” is the one moving, she is also the subject. And where is she moving? That is open to interpretation. We could say that the sister is moving to “you” or, she could be moving to a nebulous “here” with “you” as the purpose. In sodna-lɛni, the first interpretation would be the most basic, though it is neutral about whatever might happen next. The second interpretation would imply that then you and she would go on to do something else, which I think is closer to what the English sentence implies.

So, “you” as a purposive source, “here” as a locative source (ono‘s arrow of direction is reversed, so that the “destination” is actually in the source slot), and the sister as the subject.

55. susi ŋideya tiɬa ono dɛmɛ?

susi
here
ŋideya
2.SSsg
tiɬa
sister.MTsg
ono
ono.IMP
dɛmɛ
DUB

In Kēlen:

55. ñi matiē rā þō rā riēn kēñ;

ñi
NI
matiē
sister
to
þō
here
to
riēn
you
kēñ
Q

Questions?