Re: Tatari Faran update

As the COTS [1] seems to be encroaching dangerously upon the list
again, I thought it might be a good idea to provide another serving of
the proven COTS antidote: a Tatari Faran update from the volcanoes of
Fara. ;-)


1) I've finally worked out preliminary rules of Tatari Faran
intonation, which turned out to be immensely more complex than I had
thought at first. The description is about halfway through the
Phonology page:

	http://conlang.eusebeia.dyndns.org/fara/phonology.html

The rules aren't final yet, as there are still significant cases where
actual spoken Tatari Faran diverges from what is predicted so far. But
at least, it's a lot better than my first stab at it.


2) I've finally figured out how to make GNU plot do what I want, and
so I now have a nice graph of the growth rate of the Tatari Faran
lexicon here:

	http://conlang.eusebeia.dyndns.org/fara/lexcharts.html

This, of course, was inspired by a similar page from Arthaey's
Asha'ille. :-)


3) The lexicon search page now lets you specify word structure when
you search in Tatari Faran. For example, searching for "CVCV" in
Tatari Faran will return all disyllabic words without a final
consonant. You can mix explicit phonemes into the search string. For
example, "aCa" returns "aba", "ata", "aka", etc..

This feature also works in regular expression mode, for those of you
who know what a regular expression is. For example, searching for
"tsV$" in regular expression mode returns all words that end with -ts*
where * is a vowel.


4) The Tatari Faran grammar pages have been majorly revamped:

	http://conlang.eusebeia.dyndns.org/fara/grammar.html

There are now much better descriptions of adjectival clauses, stative
sentences, relative clauses, and stuff of that sort. Among the
highlights are the few Tatari Faran idioms and proverbs listed under
the "Verb Complements"  section in the grammar:

	http://conlang.eusebeia.dyndns.org/fara/complement.html

Particularly potent is the expression _kakari koko_ - "stupid words
stupids" (rough translation). I'm at a loss as to how to transliterate
that verb complement, which is *intransitive*.

Another significant feature is that adjectival statements require a
verb complement. For example:

	san sa  kiapat koko.
	man CVY stupid COMPL
	['san sa . kja'pat kOkO]
	"The man is stupid."

	sura  ina'an         sei pirat  inai.
	dress younger_sister CVY yellow COMPL
	['su4a '?ina?an sej . 'pi4at ?inaj]
	"[My] younger sister's dress is yellow."

These complements are not used with the adjective when the adjective
directly modifies the noun in a noun phrase:

	san kiapat na  patam           beira so  aku'.
	man stupid RCP hit_on_the_head rock  CVY COMPL
	[san kja'pat na . patam 'bej4a sO ?aku?]
	The stupid man was hit on the head by a rock.

	sura  pirat  nei kaja ina'           sei murimuun.
	dress yellow RCP wear younger_sister CVY COMPL
	['su4a 'pi4at nej . ka.dza 'ina? sej mu4imu:n]
	The yellow dress was put on by [my] younger sister.

(_murimuun_ means "enveloping"; implying that one envelops oneself
with clothing.)

I don't know if "verb complement" is an appropriate term any more
since they obviously apply to more than mere verbs, besides
conflicting with the usage of the same term in English grammar. Other
suggestions are welcome.

As usual, comments, suggestions, flames, fan-mail, are hereby
solicited.


[1] COTS = CONLANG list Off-Topic Syndrome. ;-)


T

--
hausi kei tsana tsuinit nei e, juerat kauna fei na. fei sa mopan
kuta'. e'aniin. tsuinit kei hena dana e, tse kei tsana be mei so
bei'aniin, bue'a era tse sei jamba itse akun nei. e'aniin.