Re: Ablaut/Gender[was Re: A Conlang by de group: genders]

/Joe Mondello wrote:

>I am less in favor of a gender system that in more of a few standardized
>ablaut patterns, almost as in spanish [in only one or two isolated instances
>whisch i can think of].  for example, stems following a pattern:
>in animals:
>neko- to eat
>nako- food
>niko- eater, diner
>noko-restaurant
>niako-chef [causer of eating]
>nuiko-eating utensils [instruments of eating]
>nahiko-meal
Note: stems should end in a consonant (the -o I've been inserting
in my made-up examples is a dummy gender marker), and syllables
in a fricative, a nasal, /l/, or a vowel.

Ablaut is certainly not a bad idea, but a bit limitating. Maybe we could
change short into double vowels, and double into two syllables:

nako > naako > nahako (or reduplicating, nanako)

I'm not fond of Ablaut, as you see. But of course I'll conform to
the majority's opinion.

I'd feel better if we left Ablaut for two-syllable stems and longer,
changing the last vowel(s). For example

benol- > benaul-, benyl-, benool-
(diphthongization, rounding, lengthening pattern)


--Pablo Flores