Re: THEORY: questions

En réponse à D Tse <exponent@...>:

> <<
> If you can translate a sentence such as: "if I see the man who walked
> on my
> flowers, I'm gonna make him eat his dirty shoes through his
> nose!" :)) without
> grammatical difficulties (I'm not talking about a lack of
> vocabulary), I'd say
> your language is pretty complete.
>
> Christophe.
> >>
>
> Hmm...I don't know...I have sufficient grammar to do that but my
> language is far far far from complete...
>
I was not talking about vocabulary, but about grammar. If you can translate all
the grammatical features of this sentence (hypothetical subclauses, relative
subclauses, causatives, adjectives, personal and possessive pronouns, past and
future, experiencing verbs, oblique complements, etc...), your grammar
shouldn't be far from completion. You will be able to do some refinements, but
no big additions I think.

> Anyway, wasn't it agreed upon a while ago that things like conlangs
> are open-ended and can't really be completed?
>
In lexicon it's true. But grammars are systems, and I think you can complete a
grammar. Of course, you can always refine some points, especially if your
language has exceptions. But in general, you can complete a grammar.

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.