Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Agents, Patients, and more


I was thinking this morning about the noun view in English, and what it means in a sentence such as:

My hotel room has a great view.

In this sentence, view is describing what is seen, or what is viewed. English is also capable of using nouns derived from verbs to indicate the agent, most often by the use of -er, or even the object of the action, sometimes with -ee, though this is a bit rare. For example, a payee receives funds from the payer. This -ee suffix is used fairly productively in colloquial speech, at least in certain parts of the US, even when the resulting word is never used in print or on official documentation. Theoretically, at least, one could take any verb and attach -ee to make a noun denoting the object of the action. In such a case, the verb that we take would be the takee.

Considering this made me think about conlanging, and how it might be used to explore such an issue, which is precisely what this blog is supposed to be about. Let's begin with a further explanation of the English case, particularly the agentive -er suffix.

This suffix is in fact, a little ambiguous at times, because viewer could technically mean the person or other being doing the viewing, but it usually refers to an instrument of some kind used to view specific things, like a kaleidoscope viewer, or software for viewing pictures, etc. Why the ambiguity? The short answer is to shrug our shoulders and chock it up to the fact that, sorry, it's just English, which is a very typical explanation I give to my ESOL students.

This is where conlangs could come in. Let's imagine a conlang that derives nouns from verbs corresponding to several semantic roles. This language will have a marker for agent, patient, theme, and instrument, which correspond roughly to the syntactic roles of subject, direct object, indirect object, and well, instrument, respectively. Each of these will be indicated by a different suffix (I suppose if we really wanted to be cool, we could use prefixes, infixes, or some sort of root mutation instead, but we'll keep it simple for now).

Let's use the following suffixes:

agentive: -(e)r
patient: -i
theme: -(e)n
instrument: -u

For the fun of it, and to make look a little less like English, let's make verbs by spelling them backwards from English, with simplified sounds and letters. In other words, we'll reverse the spelling of English verbs and turn complicated sounds like th, sh, ch, q, and x into simply t, s, s, k, and k, respectively. We'll also ignore any silent letters like k in kn, w in wr, and the silent e on the end of so many verbs. So let's take about 10 common English verbs and apply these transformations:

1. be - ib
2. see - is
3. go - og
4. write - tair
5. think - nit
6. do - ud
7. sleep - pils
8. love - vol
9. want - naw
10. have - vah

So, attaching the suffixes we would have the following words:

1. iber be-er, being, person
ibi what is, being, existence
iben something to or for which things exist
ibu something by or with which things exist

2. iser seer, someone who sees
isi something that is seen, a view, or perhaps a picture
isen something to or for which one sees
isu something by or with which one sees, viewer, spectacles, a telescope, etc.

3. oger someone or something that goes, goer, perhaps car or other vehicle
(ogi) not used, as go is an intransitive verb
ogen a person, thing, or place to or for which something goes
ogu something by or with which one goes, a vehicle, car, etc.

4. tairer someone who writes, writer, author
tairi something that is written, literature, a poem, or written story
tairen someone or something to or for which one writes, addressee of a letter, theme or purpose of a work
tairu something by or with which one writes, pencil, pen, or other writing instrument

5. niter someone who thinks, thinker, intellectual, scholar, philosopher
niti something that is thought, a thought, idea, belief, or philosophy
niten something or someone to or for which one thinks, the cause or theme of thought, the object of thought (perhaps especially a loved one)
nitu something by or with which one thinks, the mind

6. uder someone who does or acts, actor, agent
udi something that is done, action, act
uden something to or for which one acts, goal, purpose
udu something by or with which one acts, will

7. pilser someone who sleeps, sleeper
(pilsi) not used, sleep is intransitive
pilsen something to or for which one sleeps, rest, recuperation
pilsu something by or with which one sleeps, bed

8. voler lover
voli beloved
volen something to or for which one loves
volu something by or with which one loves

9. nawer/nawr someone or something who wants
nawi someone or something wanted
nawen/nawn something to or for which one wants, an intended recipient of a gift
nawu something by or with which one wants, desire

10. vaher someone who has, possessor
vahi something that is had or possessed
vahen something to or for which one has
vahu something by or with which one has

A system like this has two possible uses or results. In the first place, it could simply be used as a productive means of vocabulary building, such that isu, for example, would be used for optacle devices like spectacles or telescopes. On the other hand, this system could result in little need for the bulky relative clauses that English has to employ, unwieldy phrases like that by which (something) is seen, he who sees, that which I saw, and so forth. These could be reduced to one simple word each in such a language: isu, iser, isen.

Of course, there is no reason why both uses could not co-exist, but there could be ambiguity that results. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it could be fruitful in producing puns and jokes, or clever poetic turns of phrase, but we might want some way of clarifying the meaning where necessary. Similarly, if we only had one of the two possible applications of this system, we would require other means to get the meanings that aren't covered. If we chose the first application of vocabulary building, we would probably have to have relative pronouns or particles to indicate the meanings covered by the second application. If we chose the second option of relativizing, we might have to have still more derivational suffixes to create words meaning lover and beloved, love, etc.

This is perhaps what interests me most of all about conlanging: devising various systems of grammar and testing their possible applications, and experimenting with the results of such systems, like lack of relativizers in the case of the example language here, or lack of adverbs in adjectives in my main conlang Paiodd. I find this stuff absolutely fascinating!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

La mer est tout! Trilingual translation


Jules Verne, Vingt Milles Lieues sous les Mers
Traductions par Jeremy Graves

- Vous aimez la mer, capitaine.

- Oui! je l'aime! La mer est tout! Elle couvre les sept dixièmes du globe terrestre. Son souffle est pur et sain. C'est l'immense désert où l'homme n'est jamais seul, car il sent frémir la vie a ses côtés. La mer n'est que la véhicule d'une surnaturelle et prodigieuse existence; elle n'est que mouvement et amour; c'est l'infini vivant, comme l'a dit un de vos poètes. Et en effet, monsieur le professeur, la nature s'y manifeste par ses trois règnes, minéral, végétal, animal. Ce dernier y est largement représenté par les quatres groupes des zoophytes, par trois classes des articulés, par cinq classes des mollusques, par trois classes des vertébrés, les mammifères, les reptiles et ces innombrables légions de poissons, ordre infini d'animaux qui compte plus de treize mille espèces, dont un dixième seulement appartient a l'eau douce. La mer est la vaste réservoir de la nature. C'est par la mer que le globe a pour ainsi dire commencé, et qui sait s'il ne finira pas par elle! Là est la suprème tranquillité. La mer n'appartient pas aux despotes. À sa surface, ils peuvent encore exercer des droits iniques, s'y battre, s'y dévorer, y transporter toutes les horreurs terrestres. Mais à trente pieds au-dessous de son niveau, leur pouvoir cesse, leur influence s'éteint, leur puissance disparaît! Ah! monsieur, vivez, vivez au sein des mers! Là seulement est l'indépendence! Là je ne reconnais pas de maîtres! Je suis libre! »

Translation

- You love the sea, captain.

- Yes! I love her! The sea is everything! She covers seven-tenths of the globe. Her breath is pure and healthy. It is the immense desert where man is never alone, for it feels as if he trembles with life on her coasts. The sea is but the vehicle of a supernatural, prodigious existence; she is but motion and love; infinity alive, as one of your poets put it. And besides, my dear professor, nature manifests itself within her through the three kingdoms, mineral, vegetable, animal. This last is largely represented by the four groups of zoophytes, by three classes of articulates, by five classes of mollusks, by three classes of vertebrates, mammals, reptiles, and those innumerable legions of fish, infinite order of animals that comes to more than thirty thousand species, of which only a tenth pertain to known waters. The sea is the vast reservoir of nature. It is from the sea that the world is said to have begun, and who knows if it will not end with her! There, there is supreme tranquility. The sea does not belong to despots. On her surface, they still exercise their iniquitous rights, fighting each other, devouring each other, and carrying on all the horrors of the earth! But just thirty feet below their level, their power ends, their influence is extinguished, their might disappears! Oh, sir, live, live at the breasts of the sea! Only there is independence! There I recognize no master! I am free! »

Español

- Usted ama el mar, capitán.

- ¡Sí! La amo! El mar es todo! Cubre siete décimos del globo terrestrial. Su soplo es puro y sano. Es el desierto inmenso dónde el hombre no es nunca solo, ya que se sienta estremecer con la vida a sus costas. el mar no es nada sino vehículo de una existencia sobrenatural y prodigiosa; no es nada sino movimiento y amor; es la infinidad vivienda, cómo dijo uno de sus poetas. Además, señor profesor, la naturaleza se manifiesta allá por sus tres reinos, mineral, vegetal, animal. Este último está representado, en gran parte, por los cuatro grupos de zoófitos, por tres clases de articulados, por cinco clases de moluscos, por tres clases de vertebrados, los mamíferos, los reptiles, y los ordenes innumerables de peces, orden infinado de animales que ceunta más de treinta mil especies, de los cuales solamente un décimo pertenece a los aguas dulces. El mar es la reserva vasta de la naturaleza. Desde el mar el globo se dice comenzar, ¡y quien sabe si no acabará por él tambien! Allá es la tranquilidad suprema. El mar no pertenece a los déspotas. A su superficie, todavía ejercen sus derechas inicuas, pelearse, devorarse, y transportar todo horror terestrial! Pero treinta pies debajo de su nivel, su poder cesa, su influencia apaga, su fuerza desaparece! Ay! Señor! Vive, vive a los senos del mar! La independencia se encuentra solamente allá! Allá no conozco ningún maestro! Soy libre!