Re: Lost in Space....err, Time

Dan Sulani wrote:
> Tell me about it ! Sometimes I don't even have a chance to  _use_  a new word
> before the language starts giving me
> broad hints. Most recently, I tried to add a new word for "field" to my dictionary
> lists. It was originally supposed
> to be "polgu".  But it kept appearing as "palgu". Correcting the mistakes only
> resulted in the continued appearence
> of "palgu".  Forget "a mind of its own" --- this was starting to border on
> haunting! Anyhow, I gave in and concluded that rtemmu wanted an "a" and not an "o"
> in this word.
I've never had that happen to me, however, I have had similar phenomena
with the grammar.  I've several times decided "this is the form I'll
use", but then when I actually write something in Watya'i'sa, it won't
come out that way, it'll sound "wrong", so I'll end up accepting another
form, and often will spend more time trying to figure out the new usage
(and whether it's an unwarrented anglicism) than actually deciding what
it *should* be.  :-)  Especially true with my journal.  I write in
English, of course, but I start each entry with _Sukaltina'u'tu'
walaza'z wali'z_ (I start writing about today, roughly), and ends with
_Sukaltina'u'l walaza'z wali'z_ (I'm done writing about today, roughly),
not the original forms.  I also will write out one or two sentences in
Watya'i'sa summarizing the day, and there I'll find that my original
plan does not work out properly.

If you're interested, a morphemic analysis of those phrases:
Sukaltina'u'tu' = Su-kaltina'-u-tu; su- = antipassive, kaltina' = write,
-u = 1st singular absolutive; -tu = inceptive aspect
Sukaltina'u'l = Su-kaltina'-u-l; -l = cessative
walaza'z = wa-laza'-z; wa- = gender 6 marker; laza' = day (24-hour
period), -z = genetive
wali'z = wa-li'-z; wa- = gender 6 marker; li' = this; -z = genetive

Originally, I used an active form of the verb, kaltina'ltu'-ku, -l = 3rd
singular, irrational absolutive; -ku = 1st singular nominative clitic,
and kaltina'lla'-ku, -l = 3rd singular, irrational absolutive; -la =
cessative; but they just sounded somehow wrong.

--
"In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats." --English proverb
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