Re: New Language: Zhyler (Noun Classes)

En réponse à David Peterson <DigitalScream@...>:

>
>     Rivers would have gone into the "non-living, indestructible" class,
> and
> roads into the "can't lift" class.  I thought about what you were
> saying,
> though--like the Japanese classifier "han" (I still don't understand how
> that
> works in Japanese.  It doesn't have noun classes, does it?).
Not really. Japanese uses the classifiers only with numerals (and I think with
the interrogative when asking "how many/much?"). Also, the classifiers apply
only to some words (referring to objects with certain properties of flatness,
length, circular shape, etc...), while all the others are conflated into
a "everything else" class which is much more important than all the other
classes together. This is in my opinion the only reason why it cannot be called
a class system.

  Maybe
> I'll
> conflate some of the animal classes and turn the more specific ones
> into
> different, image-schema classes...  We'll see.  Thanks for your input!
>
You're welcome!

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.