location

Overview: location-suffixes (vüreševa)

There aren't any prepositions or postpositions in Taruven, their role are played by the location suffix complex, suffix position 3 after the noun root.

Some terminology is needed:

F is for Figure, and is the noun or nounphrase that is at a location. This noun is always explicitly marked with -ru, and eventual suffixes of case or number may follow.

G is for Ground and is the noun or nounphrase that acts as a location. This noun is either followed by -es, which is the generic locative, or the location suffix complex.

Cognitive Linguistics sometimes uses the term Trajectory for Figure and Landmark for Ground.

ru is the general locative. Adding -ru to a word indicates that the word is somewhere. Exactly where is not important.

<noun>ru <noun> is somewhere (but I don't know, and/or don't care to know, exactly where this is)

The suffix -es (standalone form: re), approximately meaning location, place, can be used as a suffix, taking on the meaning of "located at":

<noun>ru saìes<noun> is located at/by a/the river

This says nothing about how the noun is placed relative to the river; while it may often be ambiguous, the nature of the -es-marked word itself usually limits the possible meanings. If it is important to indicate exact placement, the -es can be replaced by a locative suffix-complex, from one to five suffixes that can pinpoint how the -ru-marked element is placed relative to the -es-marked element.

Structure of a location

By default, generic location

nounstem - -es

Specific location

nounstem - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Legend

The countability or dimensional shape of G
F's distance to the surface of G
F's placement relative to an imaginary axis with G as its anchor
F's movement relative to G
Whether F is inside or outside G

Countability of or Dimensional shape of G

G is a single point, area or volume/object

	nī	G is a line
	mā	G is at least a 2D area, plane or surface
	ŋō	G is a volume of 3 dimensions or more

G consists of two elements

G consists of more than two elements, but still countable

G consists of lots of elements, uncountable

surface

di	F on the surface of G
de	F stuck to the surface of G, through gravity, friction, glue, nails or similar
da	F not on the surface of G
du	F in the surface of G, neither out- nor inside, or through the surface of G, both inside and outside at the same time.

du is never used in combination with the in/outside markers.

3D

top (+z)	ur
center (z = 0)	u
bottom (-z)	uš
front (+y)		ar
center (y = 0)		a
back (-y)		aš
right (+x)			(i)re
center (x = 0)			i
left (-x)			(i)že

movement

Ø	F not moving relative to G (stative)
vu	F moving towards the surface of G (coinitial)
ve	F moving away from the surface of G (cofinal)
ny	F moving at a fixed distance (f.ex around, orbiting, along, on) from the surface of G
ða	F moving through/passing by/via the surface of G (transitory)

in/outside

il	F outside G
al	F inside G
ul	F in the surface of G, neither out- nor inside, or through the surface of G, both inside and outside at the same time.

These are never used in combination with du.

1. gavru saìal
  the dog is in the river
2. brenru saìil
  the car is by the river
3. brenru saìnyil
  the car is driving along the riverside
4. gavru saìnyal
  the dog is swimming/moving about in the river

A somewhat more complex example:

1. sāið mirrōruaþ brenaþal ū rīra
  
  sāið sā -ið 1s -BEN
  
  mirrōruaþ mirrō -ru -aþ cat -LOC -PAT
  
  brenaþal bren -aþ -al car -PAT -in
  
  ū ū 2s.AGT
  
  rīra rī -ra give -PAST
  
  "You gave me the cat that were in the car"

Effects of negating with ë: ëil = al, ëal = il, ëdi = da, ëda = di, ëvu = ve, ëve = vu

Metaphors of time

In Taruven, the past is below you and the future above you. Existence is seen as floating, flying or growing upwards. Time is an ever-rising ocean: what lives, floats in the surface (-du and -ul), what is dead sinks below, moves away from the surface (-ve, -uš), and what is to be floats in the sky and is caught up by the ocean or falls into it, moving towards the surface (-vu, -ur).

English prepositions that approximate Taruven suffix-complexes

across, through	-ða
along, around	-ny
in front of	-ar
behind	-aš
in the center, centered, in the middle	-uaìal
in, inside (of), within	-al
into	-veal
on	-di
out of	-vuil
out, outside (of)	-il
over, above	-urny
under, beneath	-ušny

English words for time

before	-ur -vu
after	-uš -ve
first	-aìš
last	-ris
next	-aq
previous	-im
early	-ša
late	-žy
during	-dha
during	-ga
current	-guì

when

Affixed to a noun that can only serve as a temporal 'anchor'.

If the temporal location is only valid for one sentence, the verb of that sentence is marked with [T]. If another noun(phrase) is temporally located, without affecting the situation, that noun is marked with [T].

1. šaìga ī taha geàl gaìes
  during the war (s)he rides the great gaìes
2. saìTes švaỳiga falru
  the water in/of the river during/in spring