Unit 12. Time and space

Temporal and spatial cases

Have another look at the last two columns of the table of case descriptors.

As we have seen in unit 3, the spatial cases numbered 1 to 4 (expressing place, starting point, extent, end point) are action-centred: if I speak to you in a spaceship-loc, the whole action (which starts from me and reaches you) is in the spaceship. To express that only I am in the spaceship, we need a spatial attribute, which is treated further down in this unit. Cases 5 to 8 (expressing scene, place away from which, crossing point, aim) are agent-centred. This is obvious with the allative case, which expresses a spatial aim, but is also true of the others: the ablative names the place the agent is fleeing or the, well, spatial reason for now being here, in much the same sense as the allative names the spatial purpose of his journey. The scenic names the scene or ‘stage’ the agent has chosen for the action. The prolative names the place the agent intentionally comes across, as in ‘jump through a hoop’ or ‘cross the street’. — The temporal cases work analogously.

The action-centred cases have to be used with care – if we say we are going to Mars-ill, this would mean we’d end up on the whole planet. Working alternatives, and their limitations, are:

• Agent-centred cases and plot cases. We can aim at the whole of Mars-all, but this implies intention and does not necessarily mean reaching it. We can make Mars-dat the recipient of our journey, which implies reaching it but can only be done if the spatial meaning is already expressed in the predicate, as with a verb of movement. (See the non-receiving and self-transporting plot usages in unit 3.) Likewise, the elative can often be replaced with the ablative or nominative for expressing the starting point of the journey; and the locative with the scenic.
• ‘inside’ constructions. They are the go-to solution for sentences for which the above doesn’t work if they can be phrased with ‘inside’ in English. They are described below.
• Fragmenting partitives. These have a less ‘time/location oriented’ feeling to them than the above, but are an alternative if ‘inside’ constructions cannot be used – e.g. to include the periphery or surface, as in the Mars example. The use of the compounded phrasing is limited because it loses the object’s inner case.

No such measures are necessary for points within continuous things, thanks to Rule Six of sentence grammar. (See the genitives ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘men of Lemaria’ in unit 5.)

The names for the case pairs elative/illative and ingressive/egressive are somewhat inconsistent, but the first two are established names (in Finno-Ugric grammar), and the others are termed rather obviously; in other words: I couldn’t think of a more logical terminology. Native Lemizh grammar has more symmetric names for these cases.

Temporal and spatial verbs

Temporal and spatial verbs are adjective-like words denoting actions like ‘to make points / an area in a region X; to turn into points / an area in a region X’.

The first three spatial verbs, the axis verbs, correspond to the positive sides of the three axes of a Cartesian coordinate system that has its origin at, and is oriented along, a reference object, which can be a living being, a thing, a movement or other action – whatever has an orientation in space. The first axis (front) points in the direction of the ‘face’ or interacting side of the reference object. For oriented actions, this axis is parallel to the spatial arrow. The second axis (up) points upwards, in the direction of the sky, if the reference object is in its ordinary position. The third axis (right) forms a right-handed coordinate system with the first and second. Some reference objects only define the first axis (an arrow, for example), others only the second (a free-standing tree). Obviously, the third axis is only defined if the first two are.

The reference object is the nominative object of the spatial verb. (See the kinship verbs in unit 5 for context.) The coordinate system is aligned with it: if I lie down on my back, my front-axis points towards the sky, and my up-axis is level with the ground. The ‘right’ side of a wardrobe is what we would call its left because its interacting side faces you if you are standing in front of it; so the axes are arranged as if a human were facing you. The reference object restricts the set of possible coordinate systems, but not necessarily to a single one: a winding river has many possibilities for the coordinate system’s origin and associated orientation. Most of the time, the resulting subset is still useful: the meaning of an object being on the river’s right side is clear.

As there is only one axis in time, we only need the first axis (the front-axis) to convey temporal information. This axis has its origin at a reference object that is often, but not necessarily, an action. (It could also be a soap bubble or even a human.) It points in the direction of the temporal arrow, towards the future.

The three remaining verbs are ‘far’, ‘outside’ and ‘between’. These serve as both temporal and spatial verbs.

Here is an overview of the temporal and spatial verbs with an inner accusative and the relevant outer cases, including compounds with the weighting numeral crÌ. ‘a bit’ and the opposition negator kÌ., which weaken or negate the front-ness, up-ness, etc., respectively (abstract nouns, hence with an epenthetic consecutive). The meanings with other outer cases are easily derived from the temporal and locative rows; for example, the elative (starting point) object — Ìfer. … up-acc-ela². means ‘from above, down’; the illative (end point) object — ilfkÌir. … up-cons-opposition-acc-ill². also means ‘down’, but in the sense of ‘to a place below’.

* prÌ. ‘front’ in the durative and fÌw. ‘far’ in the durative and extensive cases are similar in meaning to weighting numerals; the difference is that the former have a broader, less specific, meaning.

These rather psychedelic diagrams illustrate the concepts of up-ness (a), far-ness (b), outside-ness (c), and between-ness (d). The reference objects are the black dots and circle; green areas are considered to be up, far, outside and between, respectively; magenta areas are the opposites; and the darkness of the colours represents the weight or intensity. Front-ness and right-ness are symmetric to diagram (a), only with the arrow pointing in other directions.

(a) shows that the notion of ‘up’ is a combination of vertical distance and angle: ilfjnÌ. up-cons-1/1-acc¹. is high up, exactly above; lesser weights are shifted sideways and/or lower down. ilfnÌ. up-cons-not-acc¹. is on one level with the reference object. The difference between (b) and (c) is that the outside begins at the surface of the reference object. Thus, we can describe a large area as extending far away, but not as extending to its outside. Between-ness (d) is far-ness from parts of a reference object (which typically consists of several things, or a concave thing) in the direction of other parts.

The time spans and areas denoted by temporal and spatial verbs are continuous things in the above sense, so we don’t need a fragmenting partitive to describe something that occupies only part of the space in front.

As an aside: these verbs can also be used with causal cases, the front-axis then being aligned with the causal arrow: — prÌal. … front-acc-aff². ‘causally downstream’, — fÌwal. … far-acc-aff². ‘with a distant causal connection’, etc.

Durative and extensive

The durative’s and extensive’s case descriptors, ‘duration’ and ‘extent’, respectively, should be understood literally: these cases cannot denote specific points or regions in time or space. Thus, ‘extending to the outside’ is not translated as **— gmÌyr. … outside-acc-ext². but as — gmÌnar. … outside-partacc-loc². ‘outside, among other places’. The same goes for ‘extending to the front of the ship’.

One consequence is that it is hardly ever necessary to name the reference object of a durative or extensive construction, it usually being identical to the described thing. But even — prÌyr Ìkhe. … front-acc-ext² ship-acc-nom³. means ‘extending parallel to the ship’s first axis’ (and not ‘extending to the front of the ship’).

Pronouns

The meaning of pronouns distinguishing distance, as ‘this [here]’ vs. ‘that [there]’, can be conveyed with spatial verbs such as filwcrÌ. far-cons-1/4-acc¹. ‘something near’ and fÌw. far-acc¹. ‘something far’ (or with other weighting numerals), as well as the more specific Ìf. up-acc¹. ‘something up [there]’, filwcrÌ vìe. far-cons-1/4-acc¹ PI_n−2-dat-nom². ‘something near you’ (with reference object), etc.

Adverbials and adjectivals

Adverbials

Adverbials (adverbs and adverbial phrases) containing temporal or spatial information about actions are simply translated as objects in temporal or spatial cases, which often but not always contain a temporal or spatial verb.

Adjectivals and ‘inside’ constructions

Adjectivals (adjectives and adjectival phrases) describing properties and states are similar to predicate adjectives (‘She is beautiful’): they need topicalisation of the consecutive case; they are constructed with the accusative for depictive and with the dative for resultative meaning; and depictive ones can often be simplified by absorption.

‘in’ and ‘into’ often have to be translated with gmilkÌ. outside-cons-opposition-acc¹. ‘inside’ or with a fragmenting partitive, plus locative or illative, respectively. As described above, a simple spatial object is only appropriate if the location is either continuous or filled completely, or if an agent-centered case (scenic or allative, respectively) can be used. ‘on’ and ‘onto’ work with gmilnÌ. outside-cons-not-acc¹. ‘surface’.

Constructions such as mà gmilkÌar mÌge. make-fact¹ outside-cons-opposition-acc-loc² shipyard-acc-nom³. ‘become something in(side) the dock, be made into something in(side) the dock’ are pseudo-desorptions: this one would be a desorption if ‘in the dock’ were a property like ‘beautiful’ (i.e. an adjectival verb with with inner and outer accusatives).

Attributes

Temporal and spatial attributes are used to specify the time or place of a single object, rather than that of the whole plot. They can be phrased straightforwardly using the adverbial and adjectival constructions above; for adverbial and unabsorbed adjectival ones (i.e. those with the main predicate mà.), we need an inversion forming a bracket to get the object to the front.

An alternative to simple local attributes, especially with perceptual verbs, is an elative object of the main predicate; this moves the local information nearer to the predicate.

Measuring

Temporal and spatial verbs can also be specified with units of measurement, which are basically numerals with a physical dimension; and they used as abstract nouns like the exponential numbers. This of course means we multiply using the consecutive case. For more on units of measurement, see the appendix.

Units in combination with axis verbs also distinguish horizontal or vertical distance from angle.

Orientation

Orientation with respect to some object is expressed by stating that the object has a certain position in the oriented thing’s (or action’s) coordinate system. Obviously, resultative meaning requires the axis verb to be in the dative.

Some situations require two coordinate systems, with the advantage that we can use ‘classical’ predicative constructions with dative or accusative objects instead of spatial cases.

Comparison

Statements we would express as comparisons can often be phrased with a reference object. Qualitative objects are only needed if there is no reference object we can use.

‘The stone is in front of the tree’ (with neither the tree nor the stone having a front axis) can be expressed along the same lines.

The comparative verb tàcd. can be specified with a measurement in the consecutive case, typically giving a bracket. This construction is equivalent to ‘a bit faster’ but does not lend itself to compounding.

Tense

The time of an action, what many languages express as tense, can be conveyed by marking another action (often the parole) as a reference object. Simultaneous action (present tense) is simply expressed by a pronoun as a temporal object. Both constructions can be compounded to downtone the temporal information.

Many English present tense forms do not express present actions. ‘I dance’ is typically understood as a general statement and translated either simply with dràw. dance-fact¹. or with one of the aspects described in the next chapter to explicitly mark it as an iterative (repeated) or habitual action. The future tense frequently expresses an intention, opportunity or wish and so wants a topicalised tentive case or a modal verb for translation instead of a temporal object; I intend to treat modal verbs in the next unit. The past tense can often be translated simply as a perfect (with topicalised consecutive).

Furthermore, as has been mentioned in other contexts, tense markers can and should be omitted whenever possible. A story, for example, only needs temporal objects in the first sentence and when the chronological flow is broken by flashbacks or forecasts, and often not even then. ‘tomorrow’ or ‘an hour ago’ already express the future or past, respectively; so adding one of the above temporal objects would be redundant.

The active participle can also be marked for tense in Lemizh. As with the passive participle, this is rarely necessary.

Aspect

Aspect is a grammatical category describing the temporal flow, in a broad sense, of an acton: once or habitually, short-lived or extended, completed or continuing, etc. Lemizh often uses numerals for these purposes, but also the verb nàjw. ‘pursue habitually’ (akin to xwà. ‘pursue a hobby’: ‘habit’ is a gerund-like abstract noun). The progressive aspect, which expresses an ongoing action, needs an inverted ‘inside’ construction. The gnomic aspect, expressing a general truth, translates as a depictive predicative.

The aspect opposite to the gnomic, the episodic, is represented by specifying the time of the action, or with a semelfactive aspect. The momentane (short-lived) and durative (extended) aspects use weighting numerals in the durative case. The perfect, as well as beginning and ending of actions, are translated by topicalising the main predicate. Strengthening and weakening of verbs (augmentative and diminutive) make use of weighting numerals. The completive aspect uses the numeral jnà. ‘all, the whole’, as in ‘eat up’, among other constructions such as an illative object with verbs of movement; the incompletive aspect accordingly uses weaker weighting numerals or a negated final topic.

The perfective, describing an action as a simple whole, is usually best left unmarked; sometimes it can be translated like the completive. The imperfective is a cover term for aspects describing actions with an inner structure, such as the iterative, the habitual, or the progressive.

Exercises

	Translate:
	The ship will fly in.
	The children were playing under the table just now.
	We eat in the hotel [and that’s a law of nature]. (three possibilities; which is the best here?)
	It has rained for two days vs. It has been raining for two days.
	I am running towards the tree. (two possibilities, one making use of the first axis verb)
	the finger pointing upwards, the upward-pointing finger (‘finger’ is a tool noun.)
	Those houses a long way off are spread out over a large area.
	We are celebrating in anticipation of midnight.
	Under what circumstances would somebody phrase ‘men of Lemaria’ as Ìx gmilkÌar lemÌce.?

Unit 13