Re: Romula: tense system - request for comments

Am 01/04 19:51  Raymond Brown yscrifef:

> But I have to disagree with Andrew.  Both French 'il' and Italian 'egli'
> are derived from 'ille' ('illo' would've given *el in French); I believe
> Spanish 'el' is also from that form.
>
D'oh!  I missed that one.  I'll have to remember it for further
reference.


> French & Catalan use only forms derived from 'donare'.
Brithenig also uses a form derived from 'donare'.  Initially I didn't
want to risk fiddling around with verbs that could be reduced to *d'.
> >
> >The spelling haber strikes me as unusual.  I would have expected
> >something like *aver.
>
> Unless, as in Spanish, both 'v' and 'b' are pronounced alike, in which case
> 'haber' might've been "restored" spelling.
>
For the initial h- alone I think it must be a restored spelling.  The
'h' would have to be silent.

> It the present indicative that presents the greatest number of
> irregularities in the modern Romance langs.  Many are caused because the
> Latin vowels have developed differently according to whether they are
> stressed or not, cf. the Spanish present tense of 'dormir':
>         duermo       dormimos
>         duermes      dormís
>         duerme       duermen
>
> And as Andrew says, the past definite can be irregular, e.g.:
>        dormí         dormimos
>        dormiste      dormisteis
>        durmió        durmieron
>
> i.e. if the stem vowel is stressed it is 'ue'
>      if the stem vowel comes immediately before the stress it is 'o'
>      elsewhere it is 'u'
>
I have yet to come to terms with that shifting stress.  I managed to
avoid it in Brithenig.  There are also the odd, but common, survivors like
dico - dixi - dictum which I had in mind.

> The fun the Romancelangs lose by dropping noun cases, they sure make up for
> with their verbs   :)
>
I have no disagreement there - hours of fun!

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@earthlight.co.nz

                      "Piskie, Piskie, say Amen
                   Doon on your knees and up agen."

                    "Presbie, Presbie, dinna bend;
                   Sit ye doon on mon's chief end."
                               - Attributions unknown.