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Re: Case

From:Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>
Date:Sunday, July 11, 1999, 5:13
>On Fri, 9 Jul 1999 10:17:57 -0400, nicole ><now-im-nothing@...> >wrote: >>I'm just curious, but those of you who do use case in your language, >how >>many do you have? Where does it go from being "cool" to just plain >>unworkable?
Well, Rokbeigalmki doesn't really have cases, it has prepositions. But they're stuck on to their nouns (although they can disconnect) so i guess it's the same thing. There are 16 prepositions. All prepositions are a consonant + the vowel _a_, written with an apostraphe to connect it to the noun: ta'waju = in a home ra'esed-a = outside the boat la'galm-a = on the waves tza'amilm = of nations ya'ur = by means of fire sha'ash = me (object) sa'ush = with (or next to) it However, prepositions can double-up on one another, in which case the modified one becomes lengthened, the _a'_ /a/ turning into _aur_ /Or/. nga'laur goimla-a = from on the hill (in a context of motion) nga'laur goimla-a = over the hill (in a context of location; _nga'_ "from" is used in Rokbeigalmki to describe differences) wa'taur wajhwa = into home wa'waur wajhwa = towards home ta'saur gores = embedded in the side of a tree nga'naur eleni-a = under the dome The long forms also serve as nouns: la'laur-a = on the surface sha'taur-a = (object) the inside ta'waur-a = in the direction When attached to a noun, the preposition forces any adjectives to be pushed to after the noun, similar to the definite article _-a_: waju sudglend = a great house sudglend waju = a great house ta'waju sudglend = in a great house NOT *ta'sudglend waju OR *sudglend ta'waju, etc. waju-a sudglend-a = the great house NOT *sudglend-a waju-a Also, pronouns have two cases = subject and non-subject. Subjects are used in the subjects of sentences, and as resumptives (?; i think that's what they're called...). Non-subjects ones are by themselves used for the direct objects of verbs, and with prepositions for all other purposes. Subject pronouns end in Z, and non-subject pronouns end in SH. The non-subject case can be thought of as a generally prepositional case, but accusative without a preposition. Az mald = i (am) a human Azoi-guvdhab = i speak Azoi-manoi ush = i eat it Azoi-manoi sha'ush = i eat *it* (with the redundant _sha'_ preposition) Azoi-dal ush wa'ish = i give it to her Azoi-danetz osh ta'ush = i put him in it Iz, azoi-iip ish = her, i love her Uhmz, azoi-shus uhmsh = them, i want them -Stephen (Steg) ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.