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--- In [log in to unmask], Scotto Hlad <scott.hlad@...> wrote: > > I'd love to see these exercises too! > Great! > Scotto > > -----Original Message----- > From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@...]On > Behalf Of Yahya Abdal-Aziz > Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 3:40 AM > To: CONLANG@... > Subject: Re: Reviving an old tradition > > > Hola todos! > > On Wed, 8 Feb 2006, Arthaey Angosii wrote: > [snip] > BTW, in Aidan's exercise #1.3, I found these > interesting sample sentences on possessive > pronouns: > > . His scratch (the one on him) is worse than his scratch (the one > he caused on someone else unspecified). > . His diagnosis (that he gave) is that she will get better. > . His diagnosis (for the disease he has) has a cure. > > My first reaction to these was to analyse 'his > scratch' in the first sense as 'the scratch to > him' and in the second sense as 'the scratch > from him' - sort of allative/ablative cases > rather than genitive, if I have their names > right. We can see that English can only express > the distinction between these meanings by > circumlocution. What other means do natlangs > use? Or your conlangs? _My_ first reaction to "His scratch (the one on him) is worse than his scratch (the one he caused on someone else unspecified)" was: "_This_ looks like a job for the _Obviative_!" --- My first reaction to "His diagnosis (that he gave) is that she will get better" was: "That's a _prognosis_, not a _diagnosis_". A diagnosis answers "Doctor, what's wrong with me?". A prescription answers "Doctor, what should I do?". A prognosis answers "Doctor, what's going to happen to me?". --- To which the no-thought-invested, unacceptable short answers are: Diagnosis: "You got born. Sorry." Prescription: "Wait awhile and it will fall off by itself." Prognosis: "You're going to die, and so am I, but we may be able to put it off for awhile." --- Tom H.C. in MI.