Re: Spoken Thoughts ( My second, better formed, non crappy Language)

On Fri, Dec 29, 2000 at 09:29:35PM -0800, SMITH,MARCUS ANTHONY wrote:
[snip]
> Or you could add other dimensions to the definite/indefinite distinction.
> What about a distinction between the noun immediate to the discourse vs.
> another one? For example, use separate articles to specify the difference
> between "a man" vs. "a different man" and "the man" vs. "the other man".
Cool! This is exactly what I'm planning to do in my conlang, although it
won't really be articles, but particles that clarify which particular
instance of the modified noun is being referred to.

If anyone here recalls, some time ago I posted a long-ish message
describing the pronominal system of my conlang. You'll have noticed that
the "distant" pronouns can behave either as 2nd person pronouns or as 3rd
person pronouns. For example, the word "jumi'" can be translated either as
"you", or "him/her" or "it"! Now usually, the context will make it clear
what is being referred to; however, sometimes there's a need to be
specific.

So, there will be a set of particles that, roughly speaking, means "the
former", "the other", "the latter", etc., covering various nuances. So if
you're talking to a stranger (whom you'd refer to by the distant pronoun
"jumi'") about a 3rd object, you'd attach the "other" particle to "jumi'"
to distinguish it from the person you're talking to.

Furthermore, these particles can be applied to regular nouns as well: so
if you're talking about two different men, you'd refer to one as
"pii'z3di" (no particle) and the other as "[other] pii'z3di" where [other]
is a particle denoting another man. Various other particles could be used
to refer to "the man mentioned earlier", "another man that we've not
mentioned yet", etc..


T

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