Gevey object status in action

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Determining the appropriate status for a given object or pronoun in a particular situation may seem to be a dark art. Indeed, the number of grammatical rules governing the use of status may number in the dozens (a number of them have still not been formally described by Gevey linguists). And yet, these rules exist, and are deployed everyday by native Gevey speakers.

Teaching the grammar of object status use to students learning Gevey in later life is difficult, mainly because many of the grammatical rules have not been fully determined by linguists. Nevertheless, some of the more basic rules are discussed below.

Causative objects

Observe the following:

As can be seen, a causative object (in this case tusr-, dog) can use any of the three 'animate' status endings (simple, external, internal), depending on the context in which the object is being used. The object can also become applicative by taking the inanimate status. The rules governing the status of causative nouns have a little in common with the use of articles in Ramajal, but the two sets of rules (Gevey and Ramajal) are not equivalent.

The base status for causative objects is the simple status - whenever in doubt, this is the status a causative object should take. Simple causative objects have a similar meaning to nouns with an indefinite article (a, an, some) in Ramajal.

Similarly, external causative objects have a resemblance to Ramajal nouns using the definite article (the). However, the use of the external status is more restricted. It is used mainly to identify causative objects with which the speaker or narrater has a practical relationship.

A common use of the external status with causative objects is with the genetive pronouns ten and den: rjapto ten (my boy); yo tuseir ten (my dog); luutso den (your cat). This also happens with the demonstrative pronouns telaa, tuezaa, tagrjaa and bozaa. Each of these demonstrates a particular instance of the object - luutso telaa (this cat), rjapto bozaa (the other boy).

Internal causative objects represent a template, or model of the object. In Ramajal, objects associated with the phrase "in general" or "typically" would, in Gevey, use the internal status.The internal status is also often used in conditional clauses, or with future tense verbs. For instance: tog rjispana yu pouzul luutsa - the cat might chase the stick.

Names

People's names (and nicknames) tend to use the external status for when that person is present in the group, or active in the conversation, and the simple status for when they are not present. Thus you could say ...

... if John was standing next to you when you said it, and ...

... when John is not present in the group. Also, when a person introduces themselves, or when greeting someone, always use the external form of their name:

The internal form of a person's name can be used for people younger than yourself, but it carries a slightly insulting quality, like you consider that person to be "undeveloped" or "juvenile". The inanimate status should never be used with a person's name.

Applicative objects

The base status of applicative objects is the inanimate status. Applicative objects do not take into account the definiteness of the object - a painting and the painting are both translated as xablaku. Genetive forms also tend to use the inanimate status, except where a particular aspect of the object (discussed below) is being posessed - xablaku ten (my painting), xablaku tuezaa (that painting).

However, Gevey society believes that it is possible for, say, a painting to interact with its surroundings - in particular, a painting can have a very profound effect on someone who looks at it, studies it. Thus in Gevey xablake (simple status) is a legitimate word, and would be used to describe the painting in terms of the emotional impact it has on someone looking at it:

Gevey society goes further. To continue with the example of the painting, the choice and layout of the images themselves will have an effect. The way images are devised and laid out on the canvas give expression to the vision of the artist who made the painting. This can also extend to the materials used to create the painting - paint, canvas, frame, lighting, hanging. When discussing this external view of the painting, Gevey speakers will use the external status form of the object - xablako:

And there is an even deeper level of understanding of the painting. The images, and the way they interact suggest an underlying story - and imply the culture within which that story takes place. This aspect, the internal status, of the painting would be called xablaka:

Another example, this time using a mass applicative object: ëmiegvu (yu ëmiegev) - sugar. The default status of applicative objects is inanimate, which demonstrates the commodity:

However, when talking about the consequences associated with, say, using the commodity the simple status is employed:

When people are talking about the properties of the commodity, they use the external status:

Finally, discussions about the role of the commodity within society will use the internal status form:

To summarise:

  • the base status of applicative objects is inanimate
  • when discussing the impact on the narrator or writer of an applicative object, use the simple status
  • the external status is used when discussing the applicative object's constituent parts, outside of any context
  • the internal status is applied when considering the applicative object's place within the wider context of its existence

Emotions

Emotional states in Gevey are applicative objects. But unlike other applicative objects, their base status is usually the simple status: thus trjatedxrje (fun), trjaxneqe (sadness).

Personal pronouns

Third person personal pronouns, whether for applicative or causative objects, take the same status as the object they replace in a clause or sentence; be aware that using a pronoun implies that the person/object is being treated as 'old news' in the discourse rather than 'new news' (in other words it's been introduced or mentioned beforehand) and will tend to move to the end of the clause. Thus:

For the first person and second person personal pronouns, a different set of rules apply. These pronouns tend to take either the simple or external status, with simple status being the base case and external status being the emphatic case (this is slightly different to the useage given above for people's names - the present/absent differentiation is normally restricted to third person objects, with the normal/emphatic differentiation is used for first and second person objects).

While using the inanimate status with first and second person personal pronouns is not recommended (teenage angst poetry is instantly recognisible for the excessive use of tu, mizulj and ïsul), the internal status is often employed by people when discussing their spiritual, and sometimes even their secular or rational, development and fulfilment.

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