Re: Latin grammar

On Tue, 3 Sep 2002 21:50:46 +0200, Christian Thalmann <cinga@...> wrote:

>--- In conlang@y..., Jeff Jones <jeffsjones@E...> wrote:
>
>> OK. To start with, here's the present indicative of {ca'dare} and
>> {bezire}
>>
>> stem     ca'da     ["ka:.d3]     beaze     ["bjaeZ]
>> 1ps      ca'da-go  ["ka:.doG_w]  beaze-go  ["bjae.ZuG_w]
>> 2ps      ca'da'    ["ka:.da:]    beazi'    ["bjae.Zi:]
>> 3ps masc ca'da-se  ["ka:.dES]    beaze-se  ["bjae.ZIS]
>>     fem  ca'da-sea ["ka:.dE.S3]  beaze-sea ["bjae.ZI.S3]
>> 1pp      ca'da`u   [ka:"dAow]    bezi`u    [bjE"Zuuw]
>> 2pp      ca'dase   [ka:"daeS]    bezise    [bjE"ZiiS]
>> 3pp      ca'da'    ["ka:.da:]    beazeo'   ["bjae.Zo:]
>
>Interesting phonology...  final vowels seem able to intrude into the
>preceding stressed syllable...  and is that a rounded voiced velar
>fricative there?  o_O
That's what it's supposed to be -- I'm no expert on X-SAMPA. My use of
phonetics for Rubaga is only approximate and somewhat inconsistent.

I posted some of the phonology to the list several weeks ago at

http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0207C&L=conlang&P=R21030

http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0208A&L=conlang&P=R98

>Do the apostrophes represent phonemic length?  What does the gravis
>represent?
An apostrophe, also written as acute over the (preceding) vowel, lengthens
the vowel (I guess that would be phonemic length) and indicates that the
following consonant is "hard". In certain cases, the apostrophe is implied
and omitted.

The uses of the gravis are
a) to indicate that the following consonant is soft (occuring between
consonants),
b) to indicate that the preceding consonant isn't affected by the following
vowel,
c) before {u} when this replaces {bo} and {lo}, and
d) before {i} when this replaces {le}.
The gravis can be written over the following vowel (except in the first
case, of course).

>I assume {ca'dare} means "to sing".  What about {bezire}?
{bezire} means "to come", but note that I haven't worked on general
vocabulary yet; all such words here are chosen to illustrate the other
stuff.

>> The enclitic subject pronouns (-go, -se, and -sea) are dropped leaving
>> the stem when
>> a)  an emphatic subject pronoun or other explicit subject occurs, or
>> b)  in answer to a yes/no type question.
>> In the latter case, some dialects will also use the stem form for 2ps and
>> less commonly 3pp.
>>
>> The pronouns tu (2ps), di and de (3pp) may be used for clarification
>> without being emphatic. De is an optional specifically feminine form.
>
>That sounds good.  Using clitics is a clever way to make new
>conjugations... and allowing them to be dropped increases efficiency.
>
>
>That was already quite informative.  Now how about a Paternoster? ;-)
I'm not sure it would be applicable. Di Rubage were pre-Christian Romans
who wandered off somewhere ... else. In any event, I'd have to work on
vocabulary before I could do a translation.

Jeff

>-- Christian Thalmann

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