Re: Workin' on some stuff.
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Thursday, August 24, 2000, 2:57 |
Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> BTW, is there a rule-of-thumb figure for how much of a language could be
> irregular?
Not that I know of. Some langs have no irregular morphology, others
have hundreds of irregular forms. In Watakassí, there are few
irregularities. They're limited to "hidden consonants" (consonants that
show up in the plural, and the genitive and dative singulars, always
fricatives, e.g. wa-kadí/waf-kadísi, sun/suns, -i = plural),
fricative/stop alternations (wa-saklás/waf-sakláti, moon/moons), three
different ways to pluralize long vowel stems (I - shorten vowel and add
-ki, most common, e.g., pifláa/pifláki, machine/-s, II, shorten vowel
and add -yi, e.g., su-tluníi/su-tluníyi, hand/-s, III, shorten vowel and
add -i, su-váa/suv-vái, that/those), and a single unique irregularity,
la-lásta/laf-lássi, bird/birds. Verbs have no irregularities that I've
discovered, provided you take (as is the norm) the first person singular
as the basic form.
--
"Their bodies did not age, but they became afeared of everything and
anything. For partaking in any activity at all could threaten their
precious and ageless bodies! ... Their victory over death was a hollow
one."
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor