En réponse à Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>:
>
> _miev-_ "day"
> - sg pl
> nom mieve mievine
> acc mevz mievins
> poss miva^ mivina^
>
> _deak-_ "sorrow"
> - sg pl
> nom deake deakine
> acc daks deakins
> poss daka^ dakina^
>
> _zdér-_ "death"
> - sg pl
> nom zdére zdérine
> acc zdés zdérins
> poss zdira^ zdirina^
>
What does |é| mark compared to |e|?
> _drieku-_ "boy"
> - sg pl
> nom driekuve driekune
> acc driekus driekuns
> poss drikuva^ drikuna^
>
Am I right to suppose that the difference of behaviour of the |ie| in |drieku-|
and the |ie| in |miev-| has to do with the number of syllables of those two
words? :)
> _zóx-_ "star"
> - sg pl
> nom zóxe zóxine
> acc zóxis zóxins
> poss zuxa^ zuxina^
>
Here too, what does the acute mean? I would suppose that it marks vowels that
don't diphtongize where they normally do, but I'd probably be wrong...
> On closer inspection, it's seen to be very regular, but the initial
> impression
> on the uninitiated must be pretty randomesque. Notice that final _-e_
> indicates
> an unrounded vowel somewhere on the line from [@] to [1] - essentially
> X-SAMPA
> [I\].
>
It looks quite like the vowel alternations that appear in Romance verbs,
especially in Spanish. ex.: morir "to die"
1s present: muero
3s present: muere
1p present: morimos
3s simple past: murió
French doesn't have as many of those alternations (many verbs were regularised,
like the verb aimer "to love" which used to have an alternation aim-/am-), but
it does have some. ex.: venir /v@'niR/ "to come"
1s present: je viens /Z@'vjE~/
1p present: nous venons /nuv@'nO~/
1s future: je viendrai /Z@vjE~'dRE/
1s simple past: je vins /Z@'vE~/ (although you'll rarely hear it, except from
someone reading a text)
Maybe that's why I didn't find those alternations randomnesque at all ;))) .
Christophe.
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
It takes a straight mind to create a twisted conlang.