Re: Finally delurking, and some info on Ciktal

Arnt Richard Johansen wrote:
> The idea is that the writing system to a certain degree reflects
> morphological boundaries.
Ah!  Okay, so if _dosam_ had been a single morpheme, would it have been
written as _do-sa-ma(rev)_?

The Kassi syllabry sometimes reflects morphology, depends on the
individual's preference.  Uatakassi has three vowels, i a & u.  The
syllabry contains characters for CV and CLV (e.g., kla).  There is also
a character for L by itself (for historical reasons).  In addition,
there are 7 diacritics (placed under the character), they are: Long
vowel, -f, -s, -z, -v, -n, *, * indicates gemination of the *following*
consonant, so ka(*)-ta represents _katta_.  With the exception of long
vowel, no two diacritics may co-occur on one character.  Some people
will write a smaller version of the L character as a diacritic for -l
instead of the actual character itself.

A complication is in something romanized with an apostrophe.  Ti, Di,
Ki, Gi, Si, and Zi underwent phonetic changes becoming /tSi/ /dZi/ /Ci/
/i/ (thru [ji] < [J\i]) [Si] and [Zi] ([S] and [Z] are still considered
allophones of /s/ and /z/).  Later sound changes created new occurances
of /ti/ /di/ /ki/ and /gi/ (/ti/ and /di/ are usually realized as [tsi]
and [dzi]).  I use {ti} for /tSi/, so /ti/ is written t'i (same goes for
d'i and k'i).  T'i, d'i, k'i, and gi (the original {gi} character was
lost when the sound was lost) are written as ta, da, ka, and ga with a
simplified version of the {i} character underneath it, as a kind of
diacritic.

Now, some people will write the plural suffix -i with the character -i
always, so that, for instance, _sullikani_ (children, in the sense of
offspring) consists of sul- (gender 3 plural) likan (child) -i (plural),
and may be written as either su(*)-li-ka-ni OR su(*)-li-ka(n)-i.  Any
case of a double consonant must be written with the geminate marker, so
su-l-li-ka-ni would be illegal.  Some go overboard with that and write
things like su-li-kan for _slikan_ (the singular of sullikani; s(u)- is
the gender 3 singular prefix), and you just have to know that there the
_u_ is not pronounced.  Most people just write sli-kan.  As you can see,
there is no one "correct" orthography.  The nearest to a standard would
probably be diz tiNlasta's style.  She is the one who founded their
religion.  She was completely on the phonetic side of the balance.

CF = Contrafactual
Irr = Irrational (non language useing)
Rat = Rational
Sing = Singular
Pl = Plural
Erg = Ergative
NP = Non-punctual
G# = Gender #
G#P = Gender # Plural

> Andi dosam eloske, ön ngimam elos.
> Andi     dos-am    e-       los- ke, ön  ngim-       am    e-       los.
> Everyone man-pl.an be.3rdPl-subj-if, not human being-pl.an be.3rdPl-subj
> If everyone were men, there would be no people.
Guiantanki nallakusi, usklaitanki fil suttakii.
Gu-   ian     -tan   -ki nal-lakus-i  us  -klai-tan   -ki fil sut-taki-i
If.CF-be.token-3PlRat-NP G2P-man  -Pl then-live-3PlRat-NP not
G3Pl-person-Pl

> Ön ökitan caavamëni!
> Ön  ök-    i- tan caava- më-             ni!
> Not vomit  -  imp bed    1stSing.present all
> Don't puke in my bed!
I don't have a word for "vomit", so I'll make one up, _piuku_ :-)

Piuku fil uanillukakua!
Piuku fil ua-nillu-ka      -kua
Vomit not G6-bed  -inessive-my

> Teni Olko varë maselos?
> Teni     Olko varë         masel-os?
> What.all Olko 2nd.sing.gen give  3rd.sing.an.past
> Who did Olko give yours to?
Flabil kusal Ulku subaaz piblalaiua?
F-   labi-l        kus       -al  Ulku subaa-z   pi-blala-iua
Past-give-3SingIrr man's.name-erg Olko who? -dat G7-thing-your

> By the way, thanks to taliesin and Nik Taylor for informing me that the
> Conlanger Code is in version 1.1.
That wasn't me, I don't use the code.  :-)

Incidentally, the genders are as follows:
1: Sentient female
2: Sentient male
3: Sentient epicene
4: Animals associated with people (includes non-speaking infants and
   mutes, as well as domesticated animals and household pests)
5: Animals not associated with people
6: Other animate (fire, wind, language, emotions, etc.)
7: Inanimate

There are a number of inanimate nouns in gender 6, the distinction
between 6 and 7 is somewhat unpredictable.

--
"No just cause can be advanced by terror"
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