Test Sentences, 44

Continuing with Gary’s list:

66. The squirrel’s nest was hidden by drooping boughs.

OK. No squirrels. We’ll use kyɨlan, which is a largish sort of insect that build nests, sometimes even in trees.

If I were to say that the kyɨlan‘s nest is hidden, I’d use a verb of stance. The addition of the by phrase makes the drooping boughs a cause. So I could say that the boughs “sent” the nest to hiding. Or I could stick with the verb of stance and say that the nest sat in hiding in the boughs. I think that “by” means I should use the equivalent of “sent”, which would involve tɨŋi.

The next question is whether to mark the source (the boughs) with tto. I state in my published grammar that the causative tto attaches itself only to motile sources. The branches aren’t actually motile, but leaving them sessile turns them into a point of origin or a purpose. So I think I will have to allow tto to attach to any source and turn it from a purpose to a cause.

66. nɨdi nubitto kyɨlan ha lomu tɨŋi lammo dɛstɛ.

In Kēlen:

66. ñi jalōmme jē jacīla jalāma tō janīri janūwi;

Questions?