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Re: Self-Segregating Morphologies

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Monday, May 13, 2002, 6:19
En réponse à "Mike S." <mcslason@...>:

> Hello group! > > This is actually my second post here. I tried to post a message > early yesterday but apparently it has to go through listserv, not > yahoo. >
Indeed! It's a common beginner's mistake :)) . Welcome anyway!
> > Are there any systems out there greatly different from the four that > I have mentioned? >
I've just realised that my Notya is pretty much self-segregating at the word level. It's managed through a strict CV structure, and a morphology where each and every word has to be ended through one of four affixes: -ma, -m, -na and - n. Only the last word of a phrase can appear without affix, and only when it's followed by a pause. And the pitch accent which is a phrase accent brings also self-segregation on the phrase level. So when you hear a sentence you always know where the phrases and words begin and end. But no specific system for self-segregation on the morpheme level, with no possibility to recognize whether a two-syllable word is a compound or just a polysyllabic simple word. But hey, self-segregation was not my aim when I created Notya :)) .
> > How much importance do conlangers in general place on self- > segregation?
Not much. I think that ambiguity is not only practically unavoidable, but also desirable. How can you make puns and wordgames without it?! :))) But then, I'm more in the naturalistic school (with the peculiarity that there aren't many features that I find personally unnaturalistic - in fact, I have yet to find a really unrealistic one :)) -). Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.

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Mike S. <mcslason@...>