Re: asking for the bathroom

Praxian cannot "ask" _per se_.  Instead, the imperative of "tell" is used:


1. A man of the Tribes speaks to a man of the Tribes that he is "related" to.

/ap-'lar-on en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

2. A man of the Tribes speaks to a woman of the Tribes that he is
"related" to.

/ap-'lar-kon en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

3. A man of the Tribes speaks to anyone of the Tribes he is not "related" to.

/ap-'lar-kun en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

4. A man of the Tribes speaks to a foreigner of apparently greater status
(it might happen).

/ap-'lar-pav en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

5. A woman of the Tribes speaks to a man of the Tribes that she is
"related" to.

/ap-@-'kET-on en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

6. A woman of the Tribes speaks to a woman of the Tribes that she is
"related" to.

/ap-@-'kET-kon en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

7. A woman of the Tribes speaks to anyone of the Tribes she is not
"related" to.

/ap-@-'kEt-@-kEr en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

8. A woman of the Tribes speaks to a foreigner of apparently greater status.

/ap-@-'kEt-i-pav en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/

9. Anyone of the Tribes speaks to a foreigner of apparently equal or lesser
status.

/ap-@-'kEr-pav en-'jip-tans-bET-@ di-'mor/


basic parse paradigm for all of the above:

dat.-1st per. sing.-2d per.  gen.-"place"-"forget-hole"  imper.-"tell"

Basic Praxian word der is SOV.

A literal word-for-word to English (discarding genders) might go
something like:

to-me-you of-place-"forget-hole" tell.

A translation would be "You, tell me the location of the latrine."  One
has to infer from context, intonation, and apparent emotion as to whether or
not this is a request or a command.


Instead of the interrogatives that we are familiar with, Praxian uses
words that we would translate as "identity of", "function of", "purpose
(teleological) of, "origin of", "location of", "composition of", and many
other standard "hemiprepositionals".  Indeed, in Praxian, it is not
possible to ask the general question "What is that?"  One can ask what it
is named, what it is made of, where it is, where it came from, what it is
used for, what it does, why it exists, but never specifically what it
*IS* as we have the term.  The closest the Praxians have would be "You,
tell me the identity of that."  However, for Praxians, names are very
important and are the key to the *IS* of anything.  Thus, in the Praxian
world, the name is the *IS*, or as close as one can get.  This is why
Praxians have many names for important things, and the more important
something is, the more names it has.  This has a twofold function.
First, every name is a "handle", so it is a multiplicity of ways to get
"a handle on" something important.  Second, the more names something has,
the harder it is to "grab" all the "handles" at once.  Of course,
Praxians all have their most secret of personal names told to nobody.
Only a mother knows her ungrown children's secret names, and she will
kill herself by throwing herself to be devoured by cats before divulging
this.  An adult's secret name is only know to the individual.

Powerful shamans can wrest this knowledge from spirits, of course.


PS:  A latrine is a "forget-hole" and is masculine in gender.
     A midden is a "forget-pile" and is feminine in gender.

Praxians do not distinguish among dung, feces, or trash.  They are all
things that are just left behind and forgotten when one moves the clan.

PPS:   A city is a "forget-pile" that is foreign in gender.

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