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Re: basic vocab

From:dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Saturday, September 16, 2000, 13:38
On Sat, 16 Sep 2000, Roger Mills wrote:

> Dirk Elzinga replying to my post: > > >When mapping meanings to roots, I found myself unconsciously selecting > >certain types of roots over others (eg; roots ending in -u are not as > >common in Tepa as roots ending in other vowels, though there is not > >phonotactic prohibition against it). This process has given Tepa a > >perhaps more natural feel. > > > I did that too, perhaps more consciously in at least some cases-- I decided > early on the /p/ and /f/ would be rare. More or less unconsciously, however, > words with final /p/ started grouping themselves into a naturally > "pejorative" class.
One of my most interesting discoveries in Tepa was the appearance of the suffix _-ppi_, which attaches to combining forms to create words with a generalized meaning of of 'small buzzing, flying thing; usually a pest'. Hence: huppi 'gnat' lauppi 'yellowjacket' pippi 'fly' qeppi 'mosquito' sappi 'cicada' The residue after removing _-ppi_ is never an independent root, and these forms are not found elswhere. The word for 'hummingbird' is the exception that proves the rule: tippi/tiwippi 'hummingbird' (hummingbirds are not pests) The form _ti-_ is found elsewhere and is transparently related to _tiwi_ 'bird'. Note that _tiwi_ is also a base for suffixation of _-ppi_. The resulting form is exceptional in a couple of ways: the stem is productive and the derived word doesn't have the "pest" connotation. All of this was accidental. Well, most anyway; I don't remember which words came first to make me aware of the nascent pattern, and which words were consciously constructed after the pattern was available. -- Dirk Elzinga dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu