Re: Kaikutin is dead. Long live Okaikiar!

From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
Subject: Re: Kaikutin is dead. Long live Okaikiar!


> I am currently studying Latin, but at least consciously it had very
> little to do with the design of Okaikiar, much of which predates
> my Latin study.  So what makes you say that?
It was the case/declension system, as you guessed.  And yes, there are
plenty of other ways to get there, just as you have done.  One of the
reasons such systems are popular, though - they actually work.

> > With the "by me" form for "here", perhaps you should consider
> > distinguishing different locations, as many languages do.
> > If something is over here by me, not by you, use "by me".  If I'm
> > talking about something near both of us, use "by us".  If it's near
> > you, but not me, use "by you".  If it's far from both of us, try
> > "by it".  Oldvak does something like this, having four possible
> > locations based on near/far for speaker and listener.
>
> Good idea!  That's a useful distinction, surpassing the three-level
> distinction found in Spanish and Japanese (and Southern US English,
> for that matter: "here" = by me, "there" = by you, and "yonder" =
> not by either of us).
Actually, I got the four-location system from Spanish.  I don't know how
widespread it is, my Spanish knowledge only being from talking to people
around here (California), but there seem to be four locations.

aquí - here, by both of us
acá - here, by me, not by you
allí - there, by you
allá - there, away from both of us

There's a /k/ vs. /j/ distinction for near vs. far for the speaker, and an
/i/ vs. /a/ distinction for near vs. far for the listener.

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