Queranaran
uwe-ata-marhuryosteyan dro-lostun-mesayanacu
under-LOC-table ABS-that(pos.)-cat
(Under the table (is) this cat.)
The cat is under the table.
versen-dro-lostun-uwe-ata-marhuryosteyan-mesayanacu rhrondrhrondwem
PAST-ABS-that(pos.)-under-LOC-table-cat purr-IMPF
(Yester this under the table cat purring.)
The cat under the table was purring. (Purring is definitely not a momentary action, so the aspect has to be some kind of continual.)
uwe-ata-marhuryosteyan tugano-latatariyes versen-sa-lostun-mesayanacu sacanawis
under-LOC-table that(neg.)-mouse-ACC PAST-ERG-cat find-PERF
(Under the table that mouse yester this cat finds.)
The cat found the mouse under the table. (Here "under the table" and "find" bracket the protagonists; this almost makes the former a kind of presentential marker which indicates that it is the action of the sentence itself that is under the table, rather than the actors specifically.)
tugano-uwe-ata-marhuryosteyan-latatariyes versen-sa-lostun-mesayanacu sacanawis
that(neg.)-under-LOC-table-mouse-ACC PAST-ERG-cat find-PERF
(That under the table mouse yester this cat finds.)
The cat found the mouse under the table. (Here, "under the table" is incorporated within the object phrase, indicating that it is the mouse whose location is under the table.)
A nicety of distinction brought about by laws of separability and incorporability.
Note also that a Daine can distinguish attitude by the laterality of the demonstrative pronoun he chooses to use. Daine share in common with Men & Teyor and even Hotai a disdain for mice. They are, after all pests. Cats everyone likes because, well, they are hunters and will readily control the mouse population if properly treated.
Tugano literally means "that nearby on the right" and has a slightly negative connotation of the crinkle your nose in mild disgust sort; while
lostun literally means "that nearby on the left" and has a slightly more positive connotation about what it modifies.
Queranaran has no specific copular verb (like
to be in English). Several verbs may behave as copulas, but generally speaking, one simply places the predicates together to form a copular sentence. Note also that there is a distinction of ergativity to be made when the subject of an intransitive verb or copula meets certain volitional and motive criteria. The subject in this case is a volitional agent, but the quality of the action is sessile and thus the subject will be in the absolutive case, as would a non-volitional subject. Had the cat been walking, his action would be both volitional and motive and thus he would be in the ergative case.
Queranaran also has two broad declensions of nouns. There is a native type and a Teyoran type which was borrowed into the language along with many Teyoran words ages and ages ago. In the former declension, nouns all have s/pl class markers (that anciently used to be important as supporters of various suffixes that no longer figure into the language) and preposed case markers. The latter declension is declined very much like an Aryan language with a root and several case markers in two numbers, s & pl.
dro-mesayanacu ABS-cat is a native word, while
latatariyes mouse-ACC is a borrowing.
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