Re: Tatari Faran update

On 8/8/06, H. S. Teoh <hsteoh@...> wrote:
> ObConlang: how do you express starting/stopping/continuing/trying in
> your conlangs?
Klingon uses a mixture of features for the above.

"Start" and "continue" use verb suffixes; "stop" and "try" use a
separate verb and the sentence-as-object construction.

For "start", I'd use {-choH}, whose basic meaning is that of change:
someone wasn't doing something, then he changed and started doing it.
For example (using "." to separate morphemes and "/" to separate
subject from object on verb prefixes),

    tlhIngan Hol vI.ghoj.choH
    Klingon language I/it.learn.change
    I'm starting to learn Klingon

For "continue", there are two things, depending on what exactly you
are expressing: {-taH} is an aspect particle marking the progressive
aspect, and {-qa'} indicates a resumption of a previous action; it's
often glossed as "again", though to my understanding, that's not quite
what it means -- the emphasis is more on resuming an interrupted
action than on starting a new action which happens to be the same as a
previous action.

    yI.ghoj.taH
    you/nothing-IMPERATIVE.learn.PROGRESSIVE
    Keep learning! (that is, continue learning; don't let me interrupt you)

    yI.ghoj.qa'
    you/nothing-IMPERATIVE.learn.resume
    Continue learning! (e.g. after an interruption)

For "end" and "try", use the special pronoun {'e'}, which refers to a
previous sentence, as the object of a suitable verb.

    bI.jatlh 'e' yI.mev
    you/nothing.speak that you/it-IMPERATIVE.stop
    Stop speaking! (lit. You speak. Stop that.)

    paq.vam vI.laD 'e' vI.nID
    book.this I/it.read that I/it.try
    I'm trying to read this book. (lit. I read this book. I try that.)

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>