Does this make sense?

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HaXXi
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Does this make sense?

Post by HaXXi »

My most developed conlang is called ŋ́oti, and there is one feature I want to discuss.
The grammar itself is pretty straightforward, (SVO word order, agglutinative, strictly head-final, etc.) but the thing I wanna talk about is passive side.
In every sentence, "-ra" marks the thing doing, and "-re" marks the thing being done, (I dont use the terms subject/object for later reasons) as in:
Jära pöt̨a t̨räjare - I eat chicken.
The subject is always the word before the verb, and object always comes after. (this applies, of course, only to nouns marked with -ra or -re)
So, to form passive side, you swap the markings.
Järe pöt̨a t̨räjara - I am being eaten by a chicken
The first word (Järe) is theoretically subject, but the suffix indicates it as the one being eaten. So, by analogy, the verb turns passive.
Does this make sense, and if so, how do i gloss it?
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Creyeditor
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Re: Does this make sense?

Post by Creyeditor »

Can you just say that -ra and -re are case markers (e.g. nominative and accusative) and the noun phrase before the verb is the topic? The noun phrase after the verb would be the focus. I think this would match your sentences with your translations. Non-overt categories (as your topic position) can be marked with square brackets in the Leipzig Glossing Rules.

Jä-re pöt̨a t̨räja-ra
I-ACC[TOP] eat chicken-NOM[FOC]
'I am being eaten by the chicken.'
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HaXXi
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Re: Does this make sense?

Post by HaXXi »

Yeah, thanks, thats what i was trying to picture
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