----- Original Message -----
From: "BP Jonsson" <bpj@...>
> At 22:59 29.3.2003 -0500, Sally Caves wrote:
> >My confusion has
> >always been that I considered even function words as serving some
semantic
> >purpose. I have trouble seeing semantic and grammatical (or syntactical)
as
> >distinct,
>
> Yeah, I have the same problem.
>
> At 14:21 31.3.2003 -0500, Sally Caves wrote:
> >The pronouns, because they are so old, and
> >so hard for me to change, have the old nominative/accusative case
markings:
> >y, "I"; ol, "me"; fy, "thou," fel "thee"; etc. The emphasized pronouns,
> >which do make a distinction between A and E, are taking over in
colloquial
> >Teonaht, and stand at the head of a sentence:
>
> You mean that the non-emphasized pronouns are old in the fictional
> timeline of Teonaht, or that they are old in terms of Teonaht as a
> conlang you have worked on for decades?
>
> If it is the latter it's utterly cool. Could be both of course.
They are old in terms of Teonaht as a conlang, which is over thirty years
old. Of course I have to explain these developments in terms of a fictional
timeline, too!
> Sohlob is only five years old (as old as my son, incidentally :)
Conlanging and parenting. Both forms of generation and nurturing!
> but I've got totally attached to a handful of words. I'm currently
> overhauling the entire system of pronouns and determiners (as well
> as the entire derivational and verbal morphologies for the umpteenth
> time) and try to bend things so as to be able to keep _zal_ "that, the",
> when properly it should become _zad_. OTOH I've discovered that "one,
a(n)"
> is actually _hah_, which makes for some interesting sandhi phenomena
> when it is attached at the end of words.
I've never completely understood sandhi; all I know is that it makes
learning Sanskrit fiendish.
> Moreover, after reading this thread I think Sohlob is becoming
> active rather than ergative!
Active is replacing ergative, I think, in popularity. When I joined five
years ago, the new thing was ergativity.
> And I have to stop pronouncing Teonaht as [te:O"naxt]! I know {ht} is
/T/,
> but how is it stressed?
On the first syllable: ['te:OnaT]
Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
Eskkoat ol ai sendran, rohsan nuehra celyil takrem bomai nakuo.
"My shadow follows me, putting strange, new roses into the world."