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2006-May-10, Wednesday 18:06* Since I've been using inversion for all my recent conlangs, I thought I'd avoid it completely in the latest one. I ran into two problems with this.
(1) For "passive" participles, the syntax
Agent Verb Gender
would have to be used (active participle syntax is:
Gender Verb Patient).
(2) With verbs, the construction where Agent was omitted would resemble the short imperative construction (where 2nd person, exclusive, number undefined is implied).
Judicious use of an inversion marker (which I'll probably call a "passive" marker) fixes both:
(1) The new "passive" syntax is:
Gender Passive Verb Agent.
(2) The inversion swaps the agent and patient, and the agent, now in the object position, can be omitted. Omission of the verb's subject can now be disallowed, although a solution is still needed for completely impersonal clauses.
* I saw my psychiatrist today. Next month, I'll have a different doctor.
(1) For "passive" participles, the syntax
Agent Verb Gender
would have to be used (active participle syntax is:
Gender Verb Patient).
(2) With verbs, the construction where Agent was omitted would resemble the short imperative construction (where 2nd person, exclusive, number undefined is implied).
Judicious use of an inversion marker (which I'll probably call a "passive" marker) fixes both:
(1) The new "passive" syntax is:
Gender Passive Verb Agent.
(2) The inversion swaps the agent and patient, and the agent, now in the object position, can be omitted. Omission of the verb's subject can now be disallowed, although a solution is still needed for completely impersonal clauses.
* I saw my psychiatrist today. Next month, I'll have a different doctor.
