Lower Sorbian to Uyghur: a target verb meaning go may instead contribute aspect
Separate the source journey from its intended action
Arkadiev quotes a Lower Sorbian sentence expressing that tomorrow the speaker will go and look for Lenka. The motion verb introduces a journey, and the following supine supplies its purpose. The account does not assert that Lenka has already been found or that the search succeeds.
In Uyghur, the UD overview identifies كەت, ket, literally go, as also occurring in periphrastic perfective constructions. It identifies كەل, kel, come, in an irrealis use. These target verbs can contribute grammatical meaning beyond an ordinary journey to or from a place.
For an original Lower Sorbian message about going to collect a parcel, the Uyghur translation must retain the intended physical movement. Finding a target form containing the lexical equivalent of go does not independently prove that the journey remains expressed. The form may be doing another grammatical job in the target construction.
The converse risk is adding a journey when the target combination merely characterizes how an event unfolds. A Lower Sorbian event report without movement should not acquire travel simply because a Uyghur auxiliary-like component can also be translated as go in isolation.
This distinction is particularly useful when the source includes both a movement destination and a nonfinite purpose. Preserve the destination as a destination and the intended activity as an intention. An apparently matching target verb cannot replace the interpretation of their combined relationship.
Not every familiar verb combination has the same grammatical status
The Uyghur overview also lists قال, qal, stay, and تۇر, tur, stand, in progressive constructions. It distinguishes a limited set of auxiliary uses from other combinations analysed as a semantically weaker verb with a nonfinite complement. The labels describe the target construction, not an instruction to insert a literal position or location.
DOBES describes the Lower Sorbian supine as a special form used after motion verbs. That source category is not established for every Uyghur nonfinite complement simply because it follows a verb in translation. The target needs its own suitable construction for the particular purpose relationship.
Compare an original source plan to go and search with a report that someone remains searching. The first supplies movement and purpose; the second describes an ongoing activity. A target progressive construction cannot substitute for the first merely because both involve more than one verbal component.
Likewise, a report that someone stands beside a person who is searching contains a genuine physical position. Treating stand automatically as a progressive marker would remove that location. The translator must distinguish lexical movement or posture from the grammaticalized uses documented for Uyghur.
The direction therefore requires more than matching Lower Sorbian motion vocabulary with Uyghur motion vocabulary. Identify the asserted journey, the intended search and any continuing or completed-event meaning separately. Then read each target verb within its construction, so that a grammatical aspect contribution is not mistaken for travel and actual travel is not lost behind a familiar translation gloss.
Language references