Enhancing/Reforming the ZC Temporal Grammar Rob Zook Sat, 21 Mar 1998 19:00:57 -0600 Hi all, Back in Dec. I posted a message entitled "Spacial and Temporal Aspect words in English", parts of which Saul found objectionable. Since then he and I have tried to resolve the dispute over how to put some of my ideas in a form, which would fit in well with the few actionsart particles in the ZC. After much long debate, we have resolved the dispute for temporal tenses (I think ;-). So I now post a summary of said tenses, and how one could use them in Vulcan sentences. I have randomly chosen Vulcan particles for ease of demonstrating how the tenses would look in Vulcan and one should not consider the Vulcan particles as canon quite yet (at least not until Marketa tells us which ones she hates the look of, hopefully none ;-). Basic Tense: One can express time in several ways: first one can specify a location in time, relative to some other location in time. A location in time, by default in vulcan is relative to the moment of time in which the utterance occurs, afterward called simply "the moment of utterance". One can express this temporal location or tense in one of five forms: 1. past (li) 2. precessive (le) 3. present (la) 4. successive (lu) 5. future (lo) Example 1,1: th'k'tvehi k'wawjehi lehe th'-k'tvehi k'wawje -hi le -he I -write invitation-[direct object] [precessive]-[locative] "I wrote the invitation (immediately before now)" In this example the event "I write the invitation" occurred a immediately before now (the moment of utterance). Example 1,2: th'prala spok-hi li th'kahs'wanhe th'-prala spok-hi li th'-kahs'wan -he I -talk spok-[direct obj.] [past] I -rite of passage-[locative] "I talked to Spock (relative to my rite of passage in the past)" or more simply "I talked to Spock before my rite of passage" In this second example above the event "I talked to Spock" occurred some indefinite time in the past, not very close to the event - "my rite of passage". It's assumed both the speaker and the listener know when the event "my rite of passage" occurred. Duration: One can in addition specify that some event has a duration. When the duration of the event itself has some significance. very long time (ri-) long time (re-) medium amount of time (ra-) short time (ru-) very short time (ro-) Example 1,3: th'riprala kirkhi th'-ri -prala kirk-hi I -[v. long duration] -talk kirk-[direct obj.] "I talk to Kirk (for a very long time)" If the duration of the event has no significance for the utterance then one can simply regard the event as a point in time, as we did in example 1,1 and 1,2. Interval Contours: One can also call a duration and interval of time. Sometime one may find it necessary to describe the "shape" of the interval of time. One can call this the "contour" of the interval. In it's most general form, an interval contour can be regular (-ga), or irregular (-iga), for example on a time line these would look like: <-Interval Duration-> +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ + |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| Regular: 0----+----1----+----2 or <-Interval Duration-> ++ +--+ ++ +-+ +---+ |_| |_||_| |_| |_ Irregular: 0----+----1----+----2 For example in the book Dune, by Frank Herbert, the Freman walk in a very irregular, unrhythmic pattern. Since they live on a desert planet inhabited by huge worms which live under the sand, and the worms are attracted to rhythmic sound, by walking in an irregular step, the Freman disguise the sound of their foot steps making it seem like the natural shifting sounds of the sand itself. So they can walk the sands of Dune, safe from the worms. Since the time between each step varies by a different amount each step, one would describe it with an irregular interval contour. While the average human and vulcan walking, one would describe as regular since the period of time between each step is roughly the same (unless they limp, or have a missing limb, of course). Example 1,4: *Freman imroi'iga, uks *whl'q'n imroiga *Freman imroi-'iga uks *whl'q'n imroi-ga *Freman walk -[irregular] but *Vulcan walk-[regular] "*(the) Freman walks irregularly, but *(the) Vulcan walks regularly" The noise a siren makes, for example, may have a regular interval contour, while white noise has an irregular interval contour. Vulcan also has more descriptive interval contours like continuous(-fe) /intermittent(-ife), rhythmic(-bu)/arrhythmic(-ibu), harmonious(-ve) /dissonant (-ive), sine-wave-like(-fo), triangle-wave-like(-wu), square- wave-like(-ne). Period Contours Another set of interval contours describe how multiple occurrences of an event, proceed during a period of time. For example if I write stories every day, one could say I do this often. One could get more specific and say not only do I write often but I do so habitually. Some of the period contours one finds in Vulcan: frequently(-ba)/infrequently(-iba), habitually(-je)/non-habitually(-ije), ..,etc (more complete list in the works). Example 1,5 th'k'tvehije net'no'kwahi th'-k'vehi-je net'no'kw-e -hi I -write -[habitually] story -[plural mut.]-[direct obj.] "I write stories habitually". Event Contours: Alternatively one may need to specify the location of points within an event, and the sum of all the points one can describe in an event is called an event contour. One can describe the contour of an event in Vulcan, as having ten distinct parts: 1. (-ba-) premature initiation - before expected start of an event 2. (-tci-) initiation - the beginning of an event 3. (-no-) postmature initiation - after expected start of an event 4. (-tsu-) duration - an interval within the event 5. (-mu-) continuative - any instantaneous point within an event 6. (-vza-) suspension - pause during the event 7. (-gzo-) resumption - resumption of the event after a pause 8. (-di-) premature completion - completion of an event before it's predicted end 9. (-kse-) completion - the end of an event. 10. (-pe-) postmature completion - completion of an event after it's predicted end One uses these to describe the parts of an event and how they all relate to each other. We could expand on examples 1,1 and 1,2 like this: Example 1,6: th'k'tvehi k'wawtcijehi lehe th'-k'tvehi k'waw -tci -je -hi I -write [invitation1]-[initiation]-[invitation2]-[direct obj.] le -he [precessive]-[locative] "I wrote the beginning of the invitation (immediately before now)" One could also say th'k'tvetcihi k'wawjehi el-he, which would mean, "I began to write the invitation (immediately before now)". Example 1,7: th'prala spok-hi li th'kahs'tsuwanhe th'-prala spok-hi I -talk Spock-[direct obj.] li th'-kahs' -tsu -wan -he [past] I -[invitation1]-[duration]-[invitation2]-[locative] "I talked to Spock (relative to the duration of my rite of passage)" or more simply "I talked to Spock during my past rite of passage". Interval Aspect: Sometimes an interval one wishes to describe does not end or start evenly with the relative moment, or moment of utterance. In these cases one can describe this with a set of Interval overlapping particles. Really this consists of an expansion of the Event Contour -tsu- (duration). 1. (-in-) before and during (imperfect - initial) 2. (-ex-) before, during and after (progressive) 3. (-ad-) during and after (imperfect - final) 4. (-tsu-) during 5. (-od-) before and after, but not during Example 1,8: Surak kja li 'Ankhexhe Surak kja li 'Ankh -ex -he Surak exist [past] The War-[progressive]-[locative] "Surak existed (relative to before, during and after the past WAR)" Order of affixes: Naturally one can form very complex statements of how events proceed in time, and you may have a tense, a duration, an interval contour an event contour, and an aspect all applying to the same event. So one must apply the particles in the appropriate order to prevent confusion. 1. [tense] 2. [duration]- 3. First syllable of infixed word- 4. [interval event contour]- 5. [interval aspect]- 6. Remander of infixed word- 7. [interval contour] 8. [periodic contour] 9. [locative suffix] If you have to use more than two of any of these particles (not including the tense), then you combine all the particles (with the tense if it is used) in the above order and place in front of the word it applies to as if it were it's own word. Example 1,9: whl'q'ne 'mnuba kahs'wonhi li 'Ankhod'he whl'q'n-e 'mnu -ba kahs'won -hi Vulcan -[plural mut.] mastery-[frequent] "rite of passage"-[direct obj.] li 'Ankh -od -he [past] "THE WAR" -[before and after]-[locative] "Vulcans mastered the kahs'won frequently, (relative to before, and after the WAR)" *Not sure if Vulcan should have definite articles or not, if it did one would need to place such an article here. End Notes: I'm thinking that in formal mode, you would always need to specify the location reference, even if the if the reference is null(for the moment of utterance). So formal mode "immediately before the invitation": k'wawje lehe, and informal mode: le k'wawje Rob Z.