Re: A Babel Text

Am 04/30 14:26  Christophe Grandsire yscrifef:

> [snip]
>
> Well, it's much better than my first six or seven langs :) . I personally think
> it's worth reviving. It found it nicely creole-like (or maybe I'm imagining
> things :) ).
>
No you are not wrong, during the development of this language I took a
liking to creole characteristics and they got borrowed.  I think I'll
give it an overhaul and get all the good bits working again.  I went
into the library and looked at the Encyclopedia of Language at common
sounds.

5 vowel system i e a o u

stops p b t d k g

fricatives s h

one affricate ts

nasals m n (I'm not sure if [ng] will be /Ng/ or /N/ yet)

approximants w l r y (the semi-vowels are allophones of i and u, similar
to Tokana)

Phonotactics is not my forte, but this language avoids or simplifies
clusters and word final consonants.

Pronouns:

  sg  pl
1 me  meme
2 te  tete
3 to  ga

Me and te are reduced to affixes m and t next to a vowel.  Meme and tete
become mem and tet before a vowel and suffixed -mme and -tte after a
vowel.  The pronoun to also becomes -tte after a vowel.  To and ga
combine with the adverb ya to form demonstrative pronouns.  The pronoun
ga is also used as a plural marker.

Verbs:

Nearly all verbs end in -o.  This is the prefered form.  If the stem
ends in a vowel then the first person singular present verb ends in -go.
Other tenses are indicated with verb markers (which I plan to revise).
There are three verb prefixes: na-, completive; ni-,
passive/intransitive; and, sa-, or -si-, causative.  There is also a
negative prefix e-.  The adjective form is ei.  It is also used as a
question marker.

Nouns are not declined.  The possessor noun or the adjective follows the
noun it modifies but is otherwise unmarked.  This language uses respect
language.

Now I should go away and fiddle.

- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@griffler.co.nz
http://hobbit.griffler.co.nz/homepage.html

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