Re: Self-Segregating Morphologies

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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