Re: Nouns, they hate me!

David J. Peterson wrote:
>
> Well, I noticed that you have a proverb that carries tense for
> the verbs.  Why not something similar for the nouns?  Let's
> see what we have here:
>
> veci = brick
> jen = person
> osal = stone
> ianash = mud
> yedra = mortar (or yedr)
> -at = dative
> -am = accusative
> -n = plural
>
> Things that can go in front of nouns:
>
> -Prepositions (e.g., /i/)
> -Conjunctions (e.g., /wa/)
> -Possessive pronouns (?)
> -Mystery grab bag
>
> You might do something like this:
>
> wa veci = "and (a) brick"
> wan veci = "and bricks"
> wam veci = "and (a) brick (acc.)"
> wanam/wam veci = "and bricks (acc.)" (i.e., /-m/ is used in both sg.
> and plu.)
>
> i jen = "to (the/a) person" (no case marker because of initial C)
> it eya jen "to his person" (made-up 3rd possessive pron, V-initial)
> it osal = "to the stone"
> int osal = "to the stones"
> in jen = "to the people" (/n/ goes fine before "j"; not /t/)
>
> eya jen = "his person"
> eyan jen = "his people"
> eyat jen = "to his person" (the preposition's kind of a semi-word, so
> it can't take /t/; this one can)
> eyant jen = "to his people" (or just /eyan/ before C-initial words)
> eyant osal = "to his stones"
> eyam jen = "his person/people (acc.)" (same form)
>
> But what about if there are no prepositions, poss. pronouns or
> conjunctions?
>
> an osal = "rocks"
> ant osal = "to the rocks"
> at osal = "to the rock"
> am osal = "rock(s) (acc.)"
>
> /a/, of course, means nothing: just a place-holder.  (Not to say
> that it can't acquire a meaning over time.)
>
>
I like it! I had some vague notion floating around in my head about
replacing the case system with some sort of prepositions are particles,
but I really like the way you've laid it out here.  I will play with it
later this week when I have some language building time and see what I get.

Another thing I might do, now that I am looking at it again, would be to
reverse the case and number markings. "Vecinam" goes into the Grammar
Revision Machine and comes out "vecimen", which sounds better to my ear.
(No accounting for taste, as they say.)

I'll hammer it out and see what that Babel text looks like with both
possible revisions. I like having all these versions side-by-side to
compare, even if it is that much more work.

Mia.