Re: yet another new lang sketch (sorry)

Jennifer Barefoot wrote:

> Phonology
Nice and simple. Looks like a sister language to Asiteya.
=20
> pitch-accent: acute accent on a vowel means high pitch stress, grave =
accent=20
> means low pitch stress
>=20
> tentative rules for spplication of accent: final vowels of >/=3D 3 =
syllable=20
> word have low accent
> second syllable of >3 syllable word has high accent
> final syllable of <3 syllable word has high accent
>=20
> Any suggestions on this? I think pitch-accent is really nifty but I =
don't=20
> have any experience with it.
Well, being a native speaker of a language that has pitch-accent=20
(i.e. Swedish), I must say it sure is nifty. But your system is
a bit hard to follow. Could you provide us with examples?

Let's see if I understand it correctly:

Final vowels of >/=3D3 syllable words have low accent.
Second vowel have high accent.

___/\______
           \
kunilasapa'a=20

Shouldn't it rather be with a high pitch at the end?:

___/\______/
kunilasapa'a=20

Or do you mean:
    _______
___/       \
kunilasapa'a=20


What about words with exactly three syllables, like 'amasi'?
Which rule apply to them? the '>3-rule' or the '<3-rule'?
Or neither? Is it:
____
    \
amasi

or
   _
__/ \
amasi

Third rule, 'amat' should be:

__/
amat

right?

In Swedish the pitch pattern looks like this:
Acute:         Grave:
  _
 / \_          /\_/\
tomten        tom-ten
'the site'    'santa claus'

Acute is a dromedary and grave is a camel.

Compounds always have a grave accent.=20

___/\_________/\_
kamel-drivar-byxor
'camel driver pants'

Regarding the Native American touch. Not knowing anything
about them, aren't they tone languages rather than pitch
accent languages?

Verbs:

> aspect infixes - fall after the initial consonant of the verb
>=20
> telic           -ix-
What's 'telic'?

Nouns:

I like that you have gender, and the 'softening' of the
final consonant in the plural is cool.

> One of the few sentences in this language thus far:
> ani al puyan musinaan ni'i al tisuuyaa
> I.rel the woman-acc see.durative-past at the doorway-loc
> I used to see the woman in the doorway.
What about the syntax?=20
The basic word order seems to be SOV, but does that
change to show the tense, like Asiteya does?

Could you clarify the case system? Is it a mixed=20
ergative/accusative system? How come you use the=20
relative case in your example sentence instead of
the nominative? Does it have something to do with
the verb 'to see', with the 'subject' being an
experiencer, or what?

> Suggestions? Comments? It's meant to feel sort of Native American,at =
least=20
> at first glance, so what else can I do it to this end? Does anyone =
actually=20
> read these all the way through?
Yes, of course. I can only speak for myself, but I'm pretty sure=20
most people read these through.=20
(Well, perhaps not Mathias' stuff, but... kidding! :)

> Jennifer Barefoot
Daniel Andreasson