Rasha "Adjectives"
▲
1▲ 1 ▼ 0
An explanation on how Rasha's stative verbs work
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 25 Mar 2019, 08:45.
[comments] raxadjectives
?FYI...
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
[top]Introduction
Rasha lacks a true distinction between verbs and adjectives, and therefore does not use a copula to link nouns and adjectives. Instead, Rasha has a group of "stative verbs" which carry meanings along the lines of "to be X," where X represents a more traditional adjective.
[top]Predicate adjectives
Stative verbs conjugate identically to other verbs, for person, number, and tense. Used normally, they can be used as an equivalent to predicate adjectives in other languages.
Here are some examples using tädi "small" (person marking underlined):
- tädit - I am small
- tädiş - you are small
- si tädil - the child is small
- si tädinimil - the child was small (tense marking underlined here instead of person marking)
[top]Attributive adjectives
But even with all of that, how do we deal with attributive adjectives (e.g. "the small child")? Well, Rasha has an impersonal form of the verb used in relative clauses, which is essentially the verb stem, or a verb conjugated for tense, without any personal endings. Relative clauses are placed before the nouns they modify, with the impersonal verb typically coming right at the end of the relative clause. Stative verbs work in exactly the same way.
- si tädil - the child is small (personal ending underlined)
- tädi si - the small child
- tädi si tähal urem - the small child is riding a horse
- tädinim si - the child who was small (tense marking underlined)
[top]Untranslatable?
There are a number of stative verbs in Rasha that, if you look simply at their English translation, would appear to be unable to be used as a verb. One interesting example of such a word is mişdarğan "imperial" - how does one be imperial? The impersonal form of the word can be found in relative clause constructions, such as in Mişdarğan Duti, a Rasha translation of
Komania's official name (the "Imperial State"). At this point, semantic differences rather than grammatical differences come into play. As it turns out, mişdarğan can be used as a more emphatic version of "regal" to describe things fit for an emperor, as opposed to just a king. How about mofadar "national" then? Well, mofadar can refer to anything that is characteristic of a nation, so to describe anything as "national" would retain that association. Even then, however, there are limited contexts in which the word can be used like a normal stative verb in this sense. You could theoretically say that "an adventurous spirit is national [characteristic of the nation]", and perhaps even describe things like architectural movements in the same way, but what do you mean when you refer to your car as "national"? It just doesn't make sense.Comments
