terminological contest

[michel.launey at ird.fr]

Répondre  À : michel.launey at ird.fr

   Dear Funknetters,
I'm looking for an adequate English term for a grammatical  
tense-aspect-mood form which appears in Classical Nahuatl. My grammar,  
written in French, is now being translated by Chris Mackay, from the  
University of Alberta. He's doing great work, but we both come across  
a snag here, and I thought maybe some of you know in some language a  
form which has more or less similar properties and which has a more or  
less common or consensual name.
The form is a verbal suffix -ni, which has the following semantic values:
-1. "Used to", "be liable or likely to", "have a tendency to", "like  
to", "be prone to"...
Ex. die > mortal; sleep > fond of sleeping, big sleeper; eat > big  
eater; sin > sinner; know > wise etc.
-2. (subcase of 1, in the passive): passive property or propensity
Ex be eaten > edible; be heard > audible, etc.
-3. present or past irrealis (in the if-clause), counterfactual  
hypothesis or wish
Ex. If he were present (I would tell him); if I hadn't done that (I  
wouldn't be in such a trouble nowadays); If only he were there! I wish  
I'd never said that! etc.
 
Since no grammar of Nahuatl (and there are some very good ones since  
the Conquest!) gives an encompassing name, I finally called it (in  
French) éventuel, which unfortunately is a (well known) false friend  
of English eventual. Fr. éventuel refers to something which may or may  
not happen according to circumstances, and is adequate to the  
iterative/potential uses as well as the hypothetical/optative ones. It  
has been used by some linguists (among them Lazard) for other languages.
I suppose this cluster of semantic values (which is easy to explain)  
is present elsewhere, but I can't remember seeing an encompassing  
English term for that. The suggestions so far are:
- potential (which I used in a recent article in English), but  
English-speaking colleagues seem to have mixed feelings about it
- habitual, but this doesn't account for the hypothetical values (3),  
and is even bad in some cases of (1) (e.g. mortal)
- normative, which is Chris Mackay's ultimate suggestion, but I would  
like to have other native English speakers' advice.
 
So I thereby launch a terminological contest: find an adequate term.
Accompanying arguments and references are particularly welcome.
I'll be the only member of the jury, this admittedly dictatorial  
position being tempered by consulting some English-speaking  
non-funknetters I know.
The winner will be the first person whose suggestion is accepted by  
the jury, and the prize will be a dedicated copy of the book when it  
comes out (this should be in the second half of 2010)
 
Thanks in advance for any help.
Michel Launey


----- Fin du message transféré -----

-------------- next part --------------
  Dear Funknetters,
I?m looking for an adequate English term for a grammatical tense-mood form which appears in Classical Nahuatl. My grammar, written in French, is now being translated by Chris Mackay, from the University of Alberta. He?s doing great work, but we both come across a snag here, and I thought maybe some of you know in some language a form which has more or less similar properties and which has a more or less common or consensual name.
The form is a verbal suffix ?ni, which has the following semantic values:
-1. ?Used to?, ?be liable or likely to?, ?have a tendency to?, ?like to?, ?be prone to?
Ex. die > mortal; sleep > fond of sleeping, big sleeper; eat > big eater; sin > sinner; know > wise etc.
-2. (in the passive): passive property or propensity (subcase of 1)
Ex be eaten > edible; be heard > audible, etc.
-3. present or past irrealis (in the if-clause), counterfactual hypothesis or wish
Ex. If he were present (I would tell him); if I hadn?t done that (I wouldn?t be in such a trouble nowadays); If only he were there! I wish I?d never said that! etc.
 
Since no grammar of Nahuatl (and there are some very good ones since the Conquest!) gives an encompassing name, I finally called it (in French) éventuel, which unfortunately is a (well known) false friend of English eventual. Fr. éventuel refers to something which may or may not happen according to circumstances, and is adequate to the iterative/potential uses as well as the hypothetical ones. It has been used by some linguists (among them Lazard) for other languages.
I suppose this cluster of semantic values (which is easy to explain) is present elsewhere, but I can?t remember seeing an encompassing English term for that. The suggestions so far are:
- potential (which I used in a recent article in English), but English-speaking colleagues seem to have mixed feelings about it
- habitual, but this doesn?t account for the hypothetical values (3), and is even bad in some cases of (1) (e.g. mortal)
- normative, which is Chris Mackay?s ultimate suggestion, but I would like to have other native English speakers? advice.
 
So I thereby launch a terminological contest: find an adequate term. 
Accompanying arguments and references are particularly welcome. 
I?ll be the only member of the jury, this dictatorial position being tempered by consulting some English-speaking non-funknetters I know. 
The winner will be the first person whose suggestion is accepted by the jury, and the prize will be a dedicated copy of the book when it comes out (this should be in the second half of 2010)
 
Thanks in advance for any help.
Michel Launey