Re: Do you speak english?
| From: | Amanda Babcock Furrow <langs@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, March 27, 2006, 5:14 |
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This is tricky! The only way to form questions in mërèchi is from
the oldest layer of the language, and I don't feel it fits the language
at all anymore. :(
In fact... um... it would appear I don't know how to ask a non-wh question
in *any* of my languages :)
Well, this is easily solved. mërèchi will want an interrogative mood
attached to the verb. Toma Heylm will want a particle. And Mli Vjacgu,
which is not ready for this yet, may just use word order.
I really hope the characters I entered came out as Latin-1. My mail
program is getting too smart for me these days.
I dub the mërèchi mood prefix së-, s- for short.
mërèchi:
sëtésap'da (sëtésap'fö) à tagéaty'c mërèchi?
se'tesapda (se'tesapfo) 'a tag'eatik me'rExi?
se- te -sa -p -da a tageati -k merExi
INTER- speak -ABIL -IMP -2S ART language -ACC merechi
-fo
-2P
INTER: Interrogative mood
ABIL: Abilitative suffix
IMP: Imperfective aspect
2S: 2nd person singular inflection
2P: 2nd person plural inflection
ART: Article
ACC: Accusative case
The Toma Heylm particle ki will be extended - currently it modifies the
"tye ... delye" pattern, turning "if" into "what if". Now it will also
turn "mere ... delye" from "is able to" to an ability question, and will
occur alone with delye to ask a question about whether an event occurs.
Toma Heylm:
Mere ki lo (lhi) delye tomil (tomyok, tomrai) Tomayu Heylm?
'mErE ki lo (l_0i) 'dEljE 'tomIl ('tomyOk, 'tomraj) to'maju 'hejlm?
mere ki lo delye tomil toma -yu heylm
ABIL INTER 2S.NOM IRREAL speak.F language -ACC 1P.POSS
tomyok
speak.M
lhi tomrai
2P.NOM speak.PL
ABIL: Abilitative particle
INTER: Interrogative particle
2S.NOM: 2nd person singular, nominative
2P.NOM: 2nd person plural, nominative
IRREAL: Irrealis modal
F: Feminine agreement
M: Masculine agreement
PL: Plural agreement
ACC: Accusative case
1P.POSS: 1st person plural, possessive
Amanda
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