Hallo conlangers!

On 18.03.2016 22:53, William Wright wrote:

> Sorry to perpetuate the natlang discussion, but would it not be more
> accurate to analyze "ser" v. "estar" in terms of essence v. state? I mean,
> you use "ser" for time (e.g. "son las dos"-->"it's two o'clock"), and that
> changes constantly. You also use it for profession (e.g. "soy
> contador"-->"I'm an accountant"), even though that could very quickly
> change. How would those still be considered permanent? What makes location
> (for which you generally use "estar") less permanent than physical
> characteristics (for which you generally use "ser")?
>
> On the other hand (at least as far as I've been able to work it out, not
> being a native Spanish speaker), essence v. state makes a whole lot more
> sense.

I think you are right; to get back to conlangs, Old Albic has a similar 
pair of verbs - similar enough that I use the labels SER and ESTAR in 
interlinear glosses. In Old Albic, _sa_ is used for essence and _tha_ 
for state:

Sa Mørdindom ndarom.
SER-3SG:P Mørdindo-OBJ man-OBJ
'Mørdindo is a man.'

Tha Mørdindom cathal masal.
ESTAR-3SG:P Mørdindo-OBJ house-LOC 1SG-GEN-LOC
'Mørdindo is in my house.'

What's more, these verbs have given rise to two philosophical terms: 
_asa_ (from the aorist of _sa_; in Old Albic, the aorist is used for 
gnomic statements) and _tha_. The _asa_ of an entity is the sum of those 
properties that make out its essence and idenity, while the _tha_ is the 
sum of the accidental features that may change without affecting its 
essence or identity.

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