Outlander: Difference between revisions

ItΓÇÖs mostly a CTRL+C, CTRL+V of Commonthroat with the following changes:

The lowest form of obligation is ''transactional''. This is the default form you use when youΓÇÖre not sure what else to use.

The next form is the ''amicable''. ItΓÇÖs used between friends. In some more pious corners of Moonlitter, and especially in the indipendent spacer city-state WayfarersΓÇÖ Haven, humans are always addressed with amicable pronouns even in situations where the transactional form would be appropriate. The transactional/amicable distinction is quickly evolving into a species distinction.

ItΓÇÖs very important to note that obligation is seen as a reciprocal relationship. Addressing someone with familial pronouns doesnΓÇÖt jsut mean ΓÇ£I think of you as familyΓÇ¥ but also ΓÇ£I expect you to treat me like familyΓÇ¥. Using more familiar pronouns when a less familiar form is expected is often seen as rude or even vulgar in some contexts, especially when a customer addresses an employee, or when employees of a business address one another. ItΓÇÖs seen as burdening the listener with unwelcome obligations or implying a level of closeness that hasnΓÇÖt yet been earned.

Ooutlander distinguishes possession and attribution. possession is marked with the postposition <code>n</code> /short high weak grunt/, and attribution is marked with the attributive postposition <code>g</code> /short low weak growl/. <code>g</code> covers situations such as composition and association, while <code>n</code> refers specifically to possession. As a rough rule, you use <code>n</code> whenever English would use -ΓÇÖs.

Verbs inflect for the semantic role of the main noun in the clause, called the focus or the subject. This is different from its syntactic role. In the English sentence ''The dog bit the man'', the dog is the syntactic subject and the semantic agent, while the man is the syntactic object and the semantic patient. In English, we flip this relationship by using the passive voice. ''The man was bitten by the dog''. Here, The man is the syntactic subject but the semantic patient. The dog is now an optional oblique argument syntacticlaly, but itΓÇÖs still the semantic agent.

I donΓÇÖt think IΓÇÖve mentioned this before, but hereΓÇÖs how the different verb endings change syntax.

Outlander marks uncertainty, which covers both interrogatives and a mood similar to CommonthroatΓÇÖs nonauthoritative.

Etymologically, this particle may have evolved out of a characteristic stutter when the speaker is unsure of what theyΓÇÖre saying.

The imperative is formed with a special imperative pronoun kr /short high strong growl, chuff/. It is in the 2nd person and does not reflect obligation or number in either the standard Moonlitter or Partisan dialects, but the dialect spoken at PilgrimsΓÇÖ Rest, and subsequently at WayfarersΓÇÖ Haven, has innovated a plural form <code>krql</code>.

Verbs in imperative sentences can be in the past tense. In this case they carry the notion that something should have been done but wasnΓÇÖt.

You can use the verb <code>qlem</code> ''to smell like, to feel an emotion'' in front of a subordinate verb to mean ''to be inclined to''. Unlike CommonthroatΓÇÖs serial verb constructions, the second verb is inflected in the subordinate state.